Cracking an interview

Paul Maritz, President and C.E.O of the software firm, VMware, describes the criteria to be hired as,” First of all, you want to make sure that people have the necessary intellectual skills to do the job. Second, you want to see if people have a track record of actually getting stuff done. Then, third, you want to look for people who are thoughtful and that tie into learning and being self-aware”. It’s important to know the interviewer’s perspective as it is quintessential to land a job .The preparations made before the interview are focussed on what is required for the job. The real exploration begins with first round, where it is confirmed if the candidate is interested in the role or not. The trick to utilise this step is by probing. The information received may primarily be on the periphery. If any detailed information about the KRA is not shared. Suggestion including what the role would be , needs to be made. This leaves a room for correction by the interviewer, which would offer necessary information to the interviewee. Preparation taken before the interview is from an external perspective. Even though there are many sources to prepare for the probable question including internet, peer group, mentoring and etc. The answers would require to be altered to fit the role . Few areas to be covered during the interview are as discussed below:

Attention trap: Read the body language of the interviewer. If they are drawn to read the resume, its positive. If they are distracted with any other actions such as taking telephone calls during the interview or looking away. Remain humble and breathe. When they attend back to you, paraphrase what were the last few lines discussed before the distraction and then take it ahead. It will demonstrate that the interviewee is accommodating and not hostile.

Answers Trap: If the interviewer asks questions its imperative to answer it followed by a suggestion in that area. Often, they may not probe, but expect the interviewee to come up with more relevant data towards the role.

Acknowledgement: Paraphrasing the discussions shows attention. This needs to be coupled with data towards the strength of the candidate maintaining the focus on the role. For e.g.: A detailed discussion on the technical questions measuring the depth of the interviewee’s knowledge requires to be followed by the certain inputs, made by the interviewee including, few escalations handled in the area. This would establish the level of the knowledge for the interviewee.

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