The Idiot's Guide to Successful Interviews
WHILE at the Hindu Opportunities Job Fair, I took time off from the Employability Seminars I was doing downstairs at the MRC Centre, to creep about upstairs at the stalls and interview room to eavesdrop to see how they were going. I was horrified. At the stalls themselves, I could hear young, certainly qualified people talking in a way that would guarantee a negative answer. I wasn't surprised when I found some of the exhibitors saying things like, "I'm sorry but we are not looking at B.Pharm graduates at this time." When they had just asked another similarly qualified candidate not five minutes ago, to proceed to the private interview rooms set up for the purpose. What did all those who were not successful (during my reconnaissance) have in common? They spoke badly; even rudely, to the exhibitors. They displayed characteristics that are entirely unhirable like head-scratching, or worse, nose picking, and one even had the unbelievable idiocy of attending to his mobile phone rather than to the exhibitor who was talking to him!I was itching to collar the young people I saw doing this and chivvy them into my seminar on interview skills, but since they disappeared, and may not even have acquiesced in my herding them around, I thought I'd publish a checklist that will make sure that they don't shoot themselves in the foot at the next interview they attend.
1. Speech Skills: I was appalled to note the very poor speech skills that almost all the unsuccessful candidates displayed. Their total lack of vocabulary, syntax and pronunciation was amazing. It is all very well to study hard and get good marks to get a degree, but people must remember that speaking the language of business well is what gets them hired. Institutes of higher education are, to some extent to blame for this, because they do little to improve the communication skills of technical or professional people. They adhere so closely to the technical aspect of their courses that they forget that interviews, not certificates, are what will get their graduates into a good, well-paying suitable job. It's not only colleges that make this mistake. Parents do the same, asking their children from a really early age to concentrate on Maths, Physics and Chemistry rather than on language skills, so that totally tongue-tied, verbally challenged young men and women move about listlessly at job fairs looking for a job they might qualify for technically, but cannot secure, because of their inability to sell themselves.
2. Zero Research: Many candidates did not even listen to the exhibitors talking about the company. They also made the cardinal mistake of not reading the very informative supplement published on the first day of the Fair that gave a précis of what every company does and what they want in their employees. A Job Fair is a place where you go to get employed, not to shop for a job! I actually saw some candidates ask at several stalls what they did, and then proffered their CVs asking whether their qualifications fit the profile. In short they did not bother to listen! The total lack of preparation by candidates was so apparent that I actually felt sorry for the exhibitors though my heart was and always will be with the job seeker.
3. Attitude: Job Fairs are not places to show off. They are places to display what you have. Some candidates thought perhaps that if they were loud, brash and pushy, they would get a job. Nothing can be further from the truth. Managers do not hire because they like to have bulls rushing around their shops that stock glassware. They look for people who are willing to learn, to conform and behave with quite gentility and exhibit some charm of manner and modesty above all. One candidate blotted his copybook by saying that the only reason he was there was because his father had insisted that he attend. He was more eager to sample the free snack than go around the stalls.
4. Dressing Down: I had written several articles advising people to dress well, as if they were going to be attending an interview. Instead of which they shuffled in wearing slippers, wearing unclean shoes and looking uncombed and unhygienic. Not too many companies are seduced by this kind of grungy look. Neatness counts. Cleanliness counts. Well-pressed clothes count. Well-cut hair counts. Body odour, unshaven chins and dirty clothes are a definite turn-off.
5. Avoiding Evasion: Though I only audited a few minutes of conversation at every stall, I was shocked that candidates actually lied so much! There I was, an onlooker, who could make out the blatant disinformation being rendered, I wondered that the exhibitor did not summarily call the security to remove the offender. The cases I refer to are those when an exhibitor asked if the candidate had attended the pre-placement presentation the company had made downstairs, and the candidate answered in the affirmative. Then the candidate asks what the company does! Not the best way to get hired. Another actually pocketed a pen from the table he was being interviewed at. I really admired the coolness of the interviewer who said while closing, "Oh, and by the way, next time, do bring your own pen to the Fair." The candidate was not even ashamed and walked off without a care in the world and oh yes, I must add, without the job either! Remember, be honest, nobody willingly looks for and hires those who are dishonest.
Finally
There were several other `candidate crimes' I saw, but they would not have cost them their chances. The ones mentioned above certainly did. And since all of them are so easily avoidable - avoid them!
ABHIMANYU ACHARYA
Abhi.hyd@cnkonline.com
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