Interview from the Perspectives of an Interviewer :
There is a lot of information available on how a candidate must maintain their Do's & Don'ts during an interview, but to add a cherry on top of the cake, please let us go through how an interviewer may be thinking & proceeding with the interview process.
A) Application letter, content of your CV summary & the layout of CV with key words makes the very first as well as a lasting impression. That is because it is well understood that any candidate who can be very impressive in their presentation, is believed to be very particular with whatever profile they are working on.
B) So if there are some 10 to 15 applications & you happen to be one of them to be called for an interview, there is a probability that either you are already been considered & that the interview is an formality to ensure that their selection is worth and valid, and if you are not that one, than the second options is that you are one of the options to help them give a comparison with yet another favorite of the candidate that they have already considered.
C) Nevertheless, every interviewer is aware that not all the candidates are so very precise & capable of their presentation skills, so if we look at the probability that they already have their choice made & rest of them are to give them some kind of reassurance, then too as long as an interview is being offered, with a proper follow through of their expectation in your response, the favorite position can be switched.
D) We will not talk about timeliness, dressing, body language or personality. Interviewer is aware that the points mentioned in CV are all made to learn by heart & that in true sense if they want to find out the level of skills, commitment, dedication & maturity level with professional acumen, the candidate will have to speak outside all that is mentioned in the CV.
E) It must be understood here that though a fixed set of questions are mostly used to get the answers from every candidate & based on those answers the selection may be considered, but not necessarily the flow of questions may follow any exam patterns.
F) In order to let the candidate feel relaxed, comfortable & confident, some basic questions are asked to allow them to have a soft landing, like how was your journey? What time did you leave your house? How is your family? How much did you spend on your transport & so on?
G) How does your routine day at work look like? Mostly the question is to find out how many of such activities & functions you are handling on daily bases that are falling in the criteria of their profile requirement, so it is expected here that all the major tasks & functions that you are performing must be mentioned.
H) Do take care that their next question is definitely going to come from your last answer, provided you did mention something that is already on their list of questions, if you see that they end up asking you entirely a different question than there is probability that they were not satisfied with your last answer.
I) Keep a check on the details of your present employer, do not share, it's a trap on your level of integrity.
J) Do not mention any key words related to your or any other profiles that you do not have detailed understanding about, that may rather land you in an grey area, heading nowhere.
K) Can you cite any examples of your experience on XYZ? The question is to find out how you are able to view the pressure situations. How maturely & professionally are you able to evaluate the situation? How well are you able to coordinate at every level to offer a solution for the situation ? What did you do then to make sure that the same does not repeat again?
L) How do you manage a difficult colleague or senior? This is asked to evaluate professionalism in practice. Are you getting emotional remembering either of them? Or are you jumping to some recent experience & giving away an example of someone?
M) What do you do in your free time? Of course everyone prays, wash & clean, that is not what is expected to be learned. The question is to find out how you are effectively maintaining work & life balance. If you say that you like reading, the next question will be what kind of subject? If you mention the subject, the next question will be why? So try to remain straight forward with whatever you are doing & if possible try to give an impression that you are a different personality altogether in your personal life.
N) How about your family members, where are they and what do they do? The question is meant to give an idea about your interpersonal skills, how close you are to your family? How much do you care for their well being by keeping in touch? For example, if your father is a businessman, then you should be able to answer every detail of their business as the interviewer from those questions will find out how detailed you are in your efforts.
O) Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years? The question is to find out your zeal to grow. How much self motivated are you to take up new challenges & more responsibilities? Breaking down the 5 year projection into two with short term goal of 2 years to see yourself in the next hierarchy level in the present place & then on to next level in another 3 years after 2 years, is close to what is expected to be said, do not fall for projecting seeing yourself in their position, or mention about any business plans.
P) What values do you bring? Unless your interview is being done by the owner of the business or a very senior position in the organization that may be above 5 to 6 level in hierarchy, the question is a formality & does not carry any value in itself. But to the owner it means a lot, that while they remain invested in brining fresh talents & train them, they will expect people to stay with them, hence then it is expected to be responded accordingly.
Q) I do ask this particular question, what will you do if you win a lottery worth of your 5 years salary? The cutest reply I ever got was, I will give my money to my father, as he knows how to invest it & let it grow without risk, the reply showed that the candidate knows whom to trust, how much & why? The question was for sure not meant to share fancy ideas on how to spend out the money in fastest manner or jump into any business with little or no experience.
Responses to such proceedings with many more such investigative questions may help the interviewer to make their calls, nevertheless they are not noting down either of your answers unless there are some specific details to it, so the call still relies on their wisdom & that is totally depended on how truthful & sincere you were with your spontaneous replies.
All the Best!
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