Way Forward!!!
By JV Prasad
jv.prasad@gmail.com

Agenda
1. The Purpose of an Interview
2. Self Assessment
3. Dress Code
4. Interpersonal Skills
5. Five ways of assessing candidates
6. Various Ways of asking questions
7. Types of interviews
8. Behavioral Event Interviews
9. How to Master the ‘STAR’ Technique
10. Job Search Strategies
11. Job Interviews: Preparations
12. SWOT Analysis before going for an Interview
13. 9 Unexpected Interview Questions that Reveal a lot about Candidates
14. Create a Great Resume (and Land an Interview) in 10 Easy Steps
15. Personal Documents

The Purpose of an Interview
A interviewer facilitated discussion so as to collect pertinent information about the candidate. Amount and kind of data gathered during the
interview is critical to decision making process. It may lead to a decision to hire, not hire or schedule additional interview.
1. To find if the candidate has the right attitude and fits the requirement and company culture
2. To find the best candidate to fill a vacancy
Typically, information in following areas is gathered:
• Work History and experience
• Knowledge
• Skills
• Education
• Attitudes and behaviors
• Your capacity to take pressure
Information Gather
• About the job: Tasks, challenges, most time-consuming tasks, responsibilities, reporting relationships, authorities, decisions made
• Competence: Experience, behavioral & business competencies, other wanted behaviors, key success factors
• About new technologies, expected changes in market place, current market scenario, new products

Self Assessment
 Appraise your true ability
 You need to be qualify for the job
 Understand your own valuation
 What are my skill sets, What are my capable accomplishments that I have
made
 Share your accomplishments statements: Distinguish from others!!
 Transferable skills: Required from moving to one industry to another
industry
 What are your strengths against the Reality?
 Need to articulate yourself
 Need to come prepare for the Interview

Dress Code
• If you call for an interview, you come in certain way with a proper attire
 Dark Suits / Navy Blue / Back always looks good
 Use natural fiber suits
 Matching tie / Black leather belt / Wear dark socks / Make your shoe polish
 You being assessed, little things will distinguish from others, do due
diligence what is acceptable to the organization where you are going for an
interview
 Please have your hair well groomed / cuts your nails
 No Jeans / No casual dress / No spiky heals / No glittering dress

Interpersonal Skills
• At personal level – I am shy and calm at individual level but
• At professional level – That is a deterrent, require practice to overcome, will
create stumbling blocks professionally
• Break the ice: Rapport building / Its part of your Energy / Smile / Do Voluntary
things that require you to speak & act with people
• Need to Negotiate yourself some times how to overcome the stumbling blocks,
to be effective communicator, the more you practice you will overcome and
become stronger

Five Ways of assessing candidates
• Aptitude Profile (Verbal Ability, Numeric ability, Logical Reasoning)
• Psychological Profile
• Interview
• Behavioral Interview
• Reference Check

Various Ways of Asking Questions
• Open questions
• Probing questions
• Direct questions
• Evidence based questions
• Hypothetical questions
• Leading questions
• Multiple questions

Types of Interviews
• The Behavioural interview
• Structured and Unstructured interviews
• The Telephonic interview
• The Video interview
• The Panel interview
• The Assessment day
• Group interviews
• Individual (face to face) interviews
• The Stress interviews

What is Behavior Event Interview?
• Employer need to know not just if candidate can perform, but will they perform
and how will they perform
Features:
• Interview is standardized through the use of similar questions
• Focused on past behavior as the best indicator of future behavior
• Recent events and more similar circumstances valuable for assessment
• Quested asked around competencies needed as per job requirement
• Uses probing questions to fully explore the situation, task, actions and results
• Normally uses same evaluation form for each candidate

How To Master The ‘STAR’ Technique At A Job Interview
• If you’re preparing for a job interview at the moment, you’ll probably have heard
the phrase ‘STAR’ technique mentioned once or twice – and for good reason!
The ‘STAR’ technique is an effective way to communicate how your skills and
experience qualify you for the role in question – and it’s a popular tactic for
competency-based interviews, where the interviewer is actively looking for
examples of previous work challenges and situations you’ve encountered.
• When it comes to the ‘STAR’ technique, there tends to be four parts to your
answer – ‘Situation’, ‘Task’, ‘Action/Activity’ and ‘Result’ – and the employer will
be carefully listening to each part of your answer to see how relatable it is to the
job you’re being interviewed for and how you well you explain each aspect.
• With that in mind; in this post I’m going to talk you through what the employer
is looking for in each aspect of your answer – and how you can tackle each part
to effectively convince the employer you’re the right candidate for the job.

How To Master The ‘STAR’ Technique At A Job Interview
Situation
In the ‘Situation’ part of the answer, the employer is
expecting you to set the scene for the rest of your answer, so
you’ll need to outline 5 Ws – Who? What? Why? Where &
When?
Obviously with any interview answer like this, it’s a good idea
to choose a situation which is really relatable to the role
you’re being interviewed for – and of course, one which
shines you in the best possible light.
Task
In this part of the answer, the employer wants to hear about
the challenges and the expectations you faced. In this part of
the answer you can give more context into how you
approached planning for this task – and what your individual
role was within the team.
Action/ Activity Results
Now you’ve established the background, in the Action/Activity
section, you need to explain exactly what action was taken
and what tools and tactics were used to help the client
achieve their objectives. As I mentioned before, with this type
of answer, if you can, try and mention tactics and tools which
relate directly to the role you’re interviewing for. Why?
Because this will help to convince the employer that you’ve
got the practical skills and experience you’re looking for.
In this section, the clue is in the name – you need to talk
about the results that were achieved on the back of the
project. Relate this part of your answer back to the client
aims and objectives (which you mentioned in the
Situation/Task part of your answer) and try and include as
many facts and figures as you can remember (referring to a
notebook to ensure you get these figures right isn’t the worst
thing in the world!). Be sure to explain how the
client/company felt at the end of the project – and also what
you learnt as a result.

Job Search Strategies
Traditional way of looking for Job search: It’s a wrong way to look at!!
1. Company websites
2. News Papers
3. Online Job portals
4. Staffing/ Temp. / Placement Agencies
5. Networking – friends who are already working in that firm
6. Currently where you are working, may be the job you are not looking for but within the Company
you can aim for Higher position
Right way of Job search:
• You should first start within the Company – see how well you close – if this is not working, then
• Referrals – Networking – Building social capital – making connections – following with people
• The above will not cost anything to the candidate. While in other cases, candidate needs to spend
man-hours / money in comparison with above two points.

Job Interviews: Preparations
• Look at Employer’s website
• Check out with any alumina/ friends/ ex-colleagues/your own individual
resources / people above you - check with them their experiences in that firm
about their recent and specific knowledge that helps you in your job interviews ,
need to make an effort to know about your job
• What should I bring to the interview: your Intellect, your personality, Who you
are? Cultural and value fitment
• What questions can I expect: Questions on your work experience / likes vs.
dislikes/ Strengths vs. weaknesses/ last experiences/ Your expected to see your
self in next 2 years along with Market and Technological changes/ Your career
plans/ Behavioral questions.

S W
O T
S
O
W
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SWOT Analysis before going for an Interview

9 Unexpected Interview Questions that Reveal a lot about Candidates
1. It’s 12 pm. One year from now. What are you doing? - The goal of this question is to
determine confidence.
2. What is the one thing you like most about your current manager, and what is one thing you
would change? – It helps you better understand the type of work environment they excel in
and how they best communicate and learn in that environment
3. How would your manager describe you? Now tell me, how would your best friend describe
you?
4. Give me an example of someone that you coached and developed and were able to promote.
What did you work on with them to make it happen. – This question shows how passionate
they are about coaching others.
5. Can you share a story (about anything) that speaks to who you are from a values perspective?
6. What is your perfect job? – to understand a candidate’s motivations
7. How would you describe yourself in one word?
8. Give me an example of a time that you lost your temper. Tell me what happened. What was
the outcome?
9. How long are you willing to fail at this job before you succeed?

Create a Great Resume (and Land an Interview) in 10 Easy Steps
1. Research the target Company
2. Customize your resume to match
3. Provide relevant accomplishments
4. Use the target company’s buzzwords
5. Edit your resume down to one page
6. Keep it simple
7. Update your LinkedIn profile
8. Get your resume copyedited
9. Cold email the hiring manager
10.Send your resume AFTER your first meeting

Personal Documents
• Everybody should be ready with job readiness and related documents
• Resume ready to go – online or physical resume – always your resume will be
developing and evolving…
• A covering letter – should be more detailed amplifications of certain skills and
accomplishments that are related to the job. A covering letter is a partner with
resume always
• Your credentials should be ready anytime – PAN Card/ Aadhaar Card/ Educational
Certificates / Previous Company offer letters and reliving letters/ Form 16 / Passport
Copy / Current Company appointment letters/ Pay Slips / Certificates or Licenses – to
produce any time with the prospective employer to complete the paper work.
• Be prepared, you never know, typically they don’t make decisions on the spot, if you
have your paper work ready, there is no stopping your progress that momentum is
created.
• Take this paper work seriously…