The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. It is relevant to quote the great Chinese scholar Lao-Tzu here, as the life of a working professional revolves in and around it. The employees working for an organization, in a quest to achieve better employment opportunities, work-life balance, or simply a higher salary, migrate from one organization to another. Even the freshers, and young graduates, are willing to work in established business organizations and institutions. Whatever the case may be, they just have to start with the first step, which is sending resumes. Post which, if the ATS gods are merciful on you, you would get an interview call to showcase your talent, skills, and expertise in front of an industry veteran.
Attending and nailing an interview session is in itself a daunting task which is quite intimidating for some that, even the thought of it might either upset the stomach or run down chills through the spines. Through this article, we aim to simplify everything and would guide you completely for your big day.
Pre-requisites Of A Successful Interview Session
Before even embarking upon a journey of thousand miles, which in our instant case is an interview, there are some tasks to be done and things to be followed. A job seeker must undertake the following activities, before going for an interview session:
1. Revise Your Core Subjects
An interview session is all about analysis and examination of your core profile, personality, and attitude. Around 60% of the entire interview session would consist of questions that would test your core profile, practical skills, and academic aspects. There will always be questions, relating to the concepts and fundamentals that you studied in your college or high school.
Hence, Prepmycareer advises that you always study and revise your college as well as high-school notes, so that all the vital concepts and methods are once again fresh in your mind.
2. Research About The Organization
As per a general rule, you must have working-level knowledge of the organization with which you sought to work. The official website of the organization is the best source to gather a few relevant facts and information about the organization in relation to its rich history, facts, and also the latest developments. You can expect around 2 to 3 questions from this area which would test your seriousness as well as commitment towards the organization.
3. Understand The Job Description Completely
Ultimately, you have to execute tasks and duties at an organization. The tasks to be done would be more or less similar to the job description issued to you by your employer, hence always read and understand the job description issued comprehensively. There would not be any direct question from the job description, but by reading it, you will be able to give quality answers, which are quite relevant, crisp, and to the point.
4. Read The Frequently Asked Personality Examining Questions
Around four out of every ten interview questions would be aimed at testing and understanding your overall personality and attitude. This is a very important area and the value that these questions possess is immense. Prepmycareer is pleased to present you with a large number of exclusive posts covering these interview questions in detail. Boost your preparation and browse through each of the below mentioned frequently asked personality evaluating questions:
- What Are Your Strengths?
- What Motivates You To Work?
- How Do You Prioritize?
- If You Were an Animal What Would You Be?
- How Do You Handle Failure?
- What Is Your Ideal Company Culture In A Team?
- What Is Your Prioritization Strategy?
5. Prepare Quick Notes
We recommend you to prepare quick notes either on any mobile application or by using traditional pen and paper. In these notes, you are advised to cover and note down the following three elements:
| Weightage | Name of the Element | Explanation | |
| Element One | 50% | Core Profile | Whatever you studied in your college and school, now is the time to note it down in an extremely concise format. You are advised to prepare a written report and mention all the key concepts, terms, and formulas, using short forms and acronyms. |
| Element Two | 10% | Mention Key Company Facts | Visit the official website of the company and note down the key points from there for the purposes of quick revision. |
| Element Three | 40% | Frequently Asked Personality Evaluating Questions | Evaluating and analyzing the personality of an individual is another major objective of conducting interview sessions. There will always be questions related to your strengths, motivational factors, weaknesses, etc. Just write these down along with a suitable answer. |
What To Do During Your Big Day?
It is common for candidates to feel nervous and anxious while appearing for an interview session. This is a common human emotion and the fear of uncertainty starts playing tricks on our mind, which if uncontrolled can prove fatal to our selection chances. Thus, below is the list of some tasks to be done just before the start of an interview session, which are:
1. Practice Deep Breathing Excercise
During an interview session, you would most certainly be nervous and worrisome. Let this anxiousness not go deep inside your mind, and thus, prefer deep breathing exercises. Just minutes before your interview turn, start inhaling the air deeply and exhale calmly. Repeat this ten times, and you are good to go. There are immediate effects of this exercise, and you would see that you are now calm and relaxed.
2. Meditate
Meditation is another good way to soothe your nerves and to become calm and composed. Through effective meditation, you will also end up enhancing your concentration and attention enabling you to understand as well as respond accurately to the interview questions. This is another effective and proven exercise, which you could do for around ten minutes before the start of an interview session.
3. Visualize
Visualization is a technique that is followed by most celebrities, sports personalities, and athletes before their own big day. An interview session is your big day, and you must make it count. Increase your chances of selection through effective visualization, which could be done using the following steps:
- Visualize that you have entered the interview room confidently.
- Imagine that you are being asked interview questions, which you prepared for and you are answering confident and to the point answers to all those interview questions
- Imagine that you are not at all nervous and is maintaining a high level of confidence
- Visualize that your interview ended just as expected and you are coming out of the interview room with a beaming smile.
4. Revise The Quick Notes Prepared
The quick notes that you prepared earlier, will come in handy now. All your effort that went into compiling information and preparing crisp, sharp, and concise notes is about to bear fruit. Today is your big day, and you would certainly want that all the important core concepts, historical company-related facts, and personality evaluating questions remain fresh in your mind. Hence, just read those notes prepared and you are as good as a champion entering through that interview door.
Follow-up After Finishing Your Interview
Usually, an interview session is concluded with the question, “Do You Have Any Questions For Us?” If you hear this question, be assured that your chance has ended, and now the waiting game would begin. You would certainly leave the interview site and would wait for destiny, the lazy fox to kick start. But, in the meanwhile, we recommend you to send a follow-up letter, preferably through email, within 24 hours, to your HR manager or interviewer at their official email address.
What To Include In A Follow-up Letter?
A follow-up letter is also known as an appreciation letter through which you basically appreciate and express gratitude. Cover the following points in a follow-up letter:
- Tell your interviewer that you were really happy and overwhelmed to have got an opportunity of getting interviewed.
- You were really grateful to the interviewer as he or she took out the time for you, from his or her busy schedule.
- Mention two or three important events that occured during the interview session
- Always remember to mention your name, designation for which you applied, interview timing, and batch code (if any) assigned to you while writing a follow-up letter as this would help your interviewer to easily recognize you and also recall all the events.
Sending a follow-up letter can increase your chances of selection considerably, and is strongly recommended by us.
References
- https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12913-021-06104-0
- https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/87606
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Sandeep Bhandari is the founder of PrepMyCareer.com website.
I am a full-time professional blogger, a digital marketer, and a trainer. I love anything related to the Web, and I try to learn new technologies every day.
All the team management, content creation, and monetization tasks are handled by me. Together with the team at PrepMyCareer, the aim is to provide useful and engaging content to our readers.