SECRET BEHIND SUCCESSFUL JOB INTERVIEWS !!!

“I have applied everywhere but i do not even get an interview call”

“tired of applying everywhere, jab hona hoga hojayega !!!”

“25 interviews de diye hen … nobody calls back”

“all these jobs related websites are ineffective; they don’t even see CVs”

“sirf parchi chalti hai yaar…. Talent .. Merit kuch nahi hota”

“why don’t i get an interview call?” etc

These are the answers which most of the fresh graduates (including me) and some of the fresh graduate/jobless people give when you inquire about their jobs.

Neither am I a specialized Human Resource consultant nor did I do Human resource majors in MBA but I have been in the market for almost 5+ years now and I believe I have taken enough interviews to write this blog about Dos and Donts of Interviews !!!

Here are few tips, which I have learned over a period of time, through personal mistakes, blunders, readings and experience:

COVERING LETTER:

Should not be lengthy, should be the highlight of your CV in few lines and instead of scattering lots of information, the candidate should offer specific and relevant experiences that the reader should focus on.I read one of the articles at Harvard Business Review and I liked it a lot:
Best Cover Letter : Harvard Business Review Blog

CV:

• Should not be more than 2 pages (If you have less than 10 years experience)
• Specific & relevant experiences, achievements and education ought to be highlighted
• Avoiding irrelevant information would do wonders to your CV !

COMPANY INFORMATION:

Before going for an interview, find out all the relevant information of the company, competitors, recent achievements with the help of website and all other related info about your relevant department (like if you are going for Finance department then you should have all the financial info on your finger tips, if you are going for marketing dept, you must have information about all the brands and their marketing strategies)

DRESSING:

“Looking good and dressing well is a necessity” (Oscar Wilde)

Your dressing sense speaks for itself even before you utter a single word; make sure that your dress is neat & properly pressed.

• Appropriate color combination, tie and suiting (If you could afford and if the post you have applied for requires).
• Proper shave (clean, mustache, bearded) and neatly trimmed hair
• Not so penchant perfume
• Polished shoes are a must

TIME:

You need to reach 15 minutes earlier at your informed time, trust me it really helps. Never trust your vehicle and especially Karachi’s traffic. Reaching earlier would not only give you time to observe the environment, rather it also gives you time to calm down nerves.

You should always have an extra copy of CV even if it is required or not and you should learn your CV by heart, because at times you tend to forget the important info (dates etc) which might leave a bad impression on the interviewer. Never consider the interviewer an idiot; if he is asking you to inform something, don’t tell him that it is  already written on your CV!  You have to answer when you are asked.

BEHAVIOR:

• Knock the door before you enter, say Assalam o alaikum, shake hands and introduce yourself
• Even if you know someone in the interview panel, you need to behave properly
• If you are offered water, tea or biscuits; accept the offer but take them in a nice way
• Never bad mouth about your previous company, colleagues and bosses

STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES:

This is going to be the most common and most tricky question of your interview

• Remember you have to cleverly utilize your strengths according to the need of the job
• One more thing, never be shy of telling your true weakness and tell them that you are working on it
• Nobody is perfect, even the interviewer knows this! So rather than manipulating standard and so called “repeated” answers of such questions, be genuine but make sure, you have proper justification for it and don’t forget to tell that you are working hard

ACHIEVEMENTS:

Make sure the stories or the achievements you are sharing are worth sharing!!! And if you have something as your achievement, don’t hesitate to share it

DIFFERENTIATING POINT:

Let’s face the reality: “We all are products and we have to market ourselves in a proper way to attract our customers”.

Like the way in marketing you gotta portray yourself according to the consumer (Interviewer needs), and make sure you don’t lose your real identity while portraying something for the sake of job.

Your U.S.P. (Unique Selling Point) or your differentiating point is sometime going to be the very important, as many of the interviewers would ask this question (Why should we hire you? What is your differentiation from all other prospects etc). Make sure you have a proper and attractive sentence to make a lasting impact on the interviewer.

Important Suggestion:

I would quote one of my favourite teacher’s (Mr. Samin Ahmed) sentence over here:

“In your life you will get lots of job offers, choose wisely…..there are 3 important things to be considered in those offers:

1. Job Designation
2. Job Description
3. Salary

So select the job, which offers enough growth opportunity, suits your personality and which you would love to do!!!

As they say it ” If you love what you are doing, you never do a single day of Job in your whole life”

At the end I would just say that ask your mother to prayer for your “halal and easy job” and you will see the magic, don’t forget to recite Darood shareef and all the related wazifas for your job!!!

Best of Luck to all my friends