7 things your Interview preparation should include
Hello Friends,
I was thinking about what should be my first post for you and suddenly I realized that I should start with the one of the most common topic which is hardly discussed and educated among all of us. Yes I am talking about Interview. We face it a lot and yet are worried about it every time we appear for it! Here I will try to share my experiences and suggestions to make life little better for you.
Interview preparation is the key to make the process smoother. No matter how talented you are, you will need a preparation. Lets take a look at basic things you should consider while preparing for an interview.
1. Job profile
How many of you actually read each and every sentence of job profile? I guess very few do that. I have seen people applying for job just by seeing its title or when one of the skills matches with theirs.
This method works sometimes but believe me it is not effective and the chances of failures in interview are higher if you are blind about the job profile you applied.
In reality, Job profile has more than its title and required skills. If you read carefully, it describes the type of employee Company is expecting. With roles and responsibility defined in description, you can ask questions to yourself if you really fit into that role and are really ready to take such responsibilities. For example, a senior position for Java expects not only technical knowledge but also team and process management skills. Companies having offshore clients are off course going to expect good communication skills.
Once you start analyzing these points and relate to yourself, you will be able to find if the job suits you and if not what are the areas you are lacking the knowledge and skills. Once you know that, you will be in a better position to apply or reject the jobs in more comfortable manner.
Not every dress suits you, you have to find the right by looking into the mirror!
2. Company Profile
Company is as important as the job is. Always read about the company profile before you apply for an interview and decide if company suits your need. Simple example is, you were expecting a company good in culture and having flexible timings and ended up with a company having late night working like a hell! Would you be happy? Definitely you will regret yourself about not reading about company before applying for the job.
Company profile also helps you to understand its history, its growth and how good it is at giving employee satisfaction including salary and increments. It also helps you to see the interview process of that company, reviews of current and past employees of it. There are couple of sites which provide such information in detail manner. One of them is glassdoor which is really good at its service and helped a lot people. Again, never trust each and every information on such sites. Always try to gather information from multiple sources and then conclude.
Better you know company, better your chances to get in!
3. Resume
Remember that resume is the first impression you create on companies trying to evaluate you for their job vacancies. So if your resume is just a paper filled with random and copy pasted words then you should reconsider to rewrite it with the best possible way you can.
Keep it short and self explanatory. It should highlight not only your strengths but also how those are going to benefit company. In my upcoming posts, I am going to explain in detail about writing good resume. For now to summarize, all sections of your resume should be clearly defined in a way that one reading it finds out to be worth.
No one likes to read user manuals, so keep it simple.
4. Skills
Skills are very important aspects of preparation. But the common mistake we make is to focus on the things which we know and ignoring what the job profile is demanding. Always read carefully how job describes its required skill set. There are mandatory skills that you must prepare always and for the skills which are marked as "good to have", always have a practice to prepare or at least read.
Preparation should be focused on basic concepts as well as the work you did for the same. Do not stick with the theoretical knowledge but do conduct practicals for your skills. Also do not try to read each and everything of all skills. Always keep few skills as primary in which you are very good or expert and then others as secondary where you are in an intermediate stage.
Trying perfection in everything may slow you down, sometimes you have to run before you walk!
5. Self Introduction
For me, self introduction is the part where you try to explain a product, its benefits so that others will buy it and here the product is YOU! So it becomes necessary to clearly describe yourself in short and clear words without boring the other party. Remember no one wants to listen incomplete information nor they are interested to listen essay on your life. So be specific and to the point when you are introducing yourself and you can do this only with proper preparation.
Read my post Tell me about yourself - How to answer in better way to learn more.
Once you know what to sell, people will learn what to buy.
6. Soft Skills
This is a helping hand for your interview and must not be ignored. I have seen people who are strong in their skills but failed interviews because of poor communication or lack of confidence and the count is more. Having poor communication is something which you should improve and not regret. The only reason you have poor soft skills is that you have ignored them in whole life. Remember there was a time you started with only single Skill of your field and ended up by learning other skills just to get the job? How did that happen? How a person can know from one point to many points?
The reason is, to crack interviews you have always prepared for the things which are "asked" and ignored the things that are "observed". Communication, Body language, Gestures, Eye contact are the things which are learnt by practice and no tutorials can help you. These are things which are observed and means a lot to the company. So do never ignore and always improve in such areas.
People do observe you
7. Attitude
Attitude is everything, a common line I have heard a lot. But I am not here to explain what attitude is. I guess everybody knows that. The only thing you might not thought of is how it affects your interview and why you need to prepare for that as well.
Positive attitude does not mean thinking of getting the job. When you fail and rise up again to prepare for next is what I called positive attitude! Attitude is either in born or you have to bring it by practice. Companies do prefer loyal, confident and positive people. You reaction describes your attitude. Even accepting your mistakes is an attitude where many people fail to do so.
Attitude is not a thing to show but to carry.
Hope it was a good start for you in terms of interview preparation. Though there are many points to think of before you go for an interview, I tried to mention few important of them. I would like to elaborate all of them sooner, but can not exceed length of this post or else you will feel sleepy!
To conclude, never underestimate the interviews. No matter how good you are, always prepare to get better!
Do you think there could be any other thing that should be also considered while preparing?
I was thinking about what should be my first post for you and suddenly I realized that I should start with the one of the most common topic which is hardly discussed and educated among all of us. Yes I am talking about Interview. We face it a lot and yet are worried about it every time we appear for it! Here I will try to share my experiences and suggestions to make life little better for you.
Interview preparation is the key to make the process smoother. No matter how talented you are, you will need a preparation. Lets take a look at basic things you should consider while preparing for an interview.
1. Job profile
How many of you actually read each and every sentence of job profile? I guess very few do that. I have seen people applying for job just by seeing its title or when one of the skills matches with theirs.
This method works sometimes but believe me it is not effective and the chances of failures in interview are higher if you are blind about the job profile you applied.
In reality, Job profile has more than its title and required skills. If you read carefully, it describes the type of employee Company is expecting. With roles and responsibility defined in description, you can ask questions to yourself if you really fit into that role and are really ready to take such responsibilities. For example, a senior position for Java expects not only technical knowledge but also team and process management skills. Companies having offshore clients are off course going to expect good communication skills.
Once you start analyzing these points and relate to yourself, you will be able to find if the job suits you and if not what are the areas you are lacking the knowledge and skills. Once you know that, you will be in a better position to apply or reject the jobs in more comfortable manner.
Not every dress suits you, you have to find the right by looking into the mirror!
2. Company Profile
Company is as important as the job is. Always read about the company profile before you apply for an interview and decide if company suits your need. Simple example is, you were expecting a company good in culture and having flexible timings and ended up with a company having late night working like a hell! Would you be happy? Definitely you will regret yourself about not reading about company before applying for the job.
Company profile also helps you to understand its history, its growth and how good it is at giving employee satisfaction including salary and increments. It also helps you to see the interview process of that company, reviews of current and past employees of it. There are couple of sites which provide such information in detail manner. One of them is glassdoor which is really good at its service and helped a lot people. Again, never trust each and every information on such sites. Always try to gather information from multiple sources and then conclude.
Better you know company, better your chances to get in!
3. Resume
Remember that resume is the first impression you create on companies trying to evaluate you for their job vacancies. So if your resume is just a paper filled with random and copy pasted words then you should reconsider to rewrite it with the best possible way you can.
Keep it short and self explanatory. It should highlight not only your strengths but also how those are going to benefit company. In my upcoming posts, I am going to explain in detail about writing good resume. For now to summarize, all sections of your resume should be clearly defined in a way that one reading it finds out to be worth.
No one likes to read user manuals, so keep it simple.
4. Skills
Skills are very important aspects of preparation. But the common mistake we make is to focus on the things which we know and ignoring what the job profile is demanding. Always read carefully how job describes its required skill set. There are mandatory skills that you must prepare always and for the skills which are marked as "good to have", always have a practice to prepare or at least read.
Preparation should be focused on basic concepts as well as the work you did for the same. Do not stick with the theoretical knowledge but do conduct practicals for your skills. Also do not try to read each and everything of all skills. Always keep few skills as primary in which you are very good or expert and then others as secondary where you are in an intermediate stage.
Trying perfection in everything may slow you down, sometimes you have to run before you walk!
5. Self Introduction
For me, self introduction is the part where you try to explain a product, its benefits so that others will buy it and here the product is YOU! So it becomes necessary to clearly describe yourself in short and clear words without boring the other party. Remember no one wants to listen incomplete information nor they are interested to listen essay on your life. So be specific and to the point when you are introducing yourself and you can do this only with proper preparation.
Read my post Tell me about yourself - How to answer in better way to learn more.
Once you know what to sell, people will learn what to buy.
6. Soft Skills
This is a helping hand for your interview and must not be ignored. I have seen people who are strong in their skills but failed interviews because of poor communication or lack of confidence and the count is more. Having poor communication is something which you should improve and not regret. The only reason you have poor soft skills is that you have ignored them in whole life. Remember there was a time you started with only single Skill of your field and ended up by learning other skills just to get the job? How did that happen? How a person can know from one point to many points?
The reason is, to crack interviews you have always prepared for the things which are "asked" and ignored the things that are "observed". Communication, Body language, Gestures, Eye contact are the things which are learnt by practice and no tutorials can help you. These are things which are observed and means a lot to the company. So do never ignore and always improve in such areas.
People do observe you
7. Attitude
Attitude is everything, a common line I have heard a lot. But I am not here to explain what attitude is. I guess everybody knows that. The only thing you might not thought of is how it affects your interview and why you need to prepare for that as well.
Positive attitude does not mean thinking of getting the job. When you fail and rise up again to prepare for next is what I called positive attitude! Attitude is either in born or you have to bring it by practice. Companies do prefer loyal, confident and positive people. You reaction describes your attitude. Even accepting your mistakes is an attitude where many people fail to do so.
Attitude is not a thing to show but to carry.
Hope it was a good start for you in terms of interview preparation. Though there are many points to think of before you go for an interview, I tried to mention few important of them. I would like to elaborate all of them sooner, but can not exceed length of this post or else you will feel sleepy!
To conclude, never underestimate the interviews. No matter how good you are, always prepare to get better!
Do you think there could be any other thing that should be also considered while preparing?
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