Types of Interviews:

1. Promotion interviews:

Promotion interviews are conducted for an employee who is a candidate for a higher job position
within the company. Moving up from the inside of the company as an internal candidate often is
easier than gaining access as an outside candidate.

What is a promotion interview?

A promotion interview is conducted for internal employees who are applying for a new job role
or position that has more responsibilities within their department or outside of their current
department. Many companies require internal candidates to go through a similar hiring process
as external candidates. Since you are already a part of the company there are likely many things
that are known about your job performance already, which can be an advantage to you. However,
the promotion interview is necessary for your employer to do a comprehensive assessment of
how well you will handle the responsibilities that come along with being promoted.

How to prepare for a promotion interview

Your employer may want to promote from within the company, but they have to make sure you
are the best person for the job. It is important that you thoroughly prepare for a promotion
interview so you can ensure that your employer is impressed by your skills, abilities and
expertise. Here are some tips for you to prepare:

1. Talk to your manager: Discussing your decision with your manager is important to do
before you apply for a promotion. This way your manager hears the decision from you
instead of from someone else in the organization. It also provides you the opportunity to
ask for feedback about your current work. They may have valuable insight into the
expectations of the new role you will be interviewing for.
2. Research the role: Gather as much information as possible about the role you are
applying for. What are the daily tasks? What key skills are necessary? You may try
looking up the job listing for the job title to get an accurate idea of what this new job will
include.
3. Review company information: You should know a lot about your company since you
are already employed with them. However, you may want to review their mission, vision
and values. Then you can adapt some of your answers to include aspects of what the
company prioritizes. You may also want to be aware of any new projects the company
may be starting. For instance, if your company just took on a new client that they have
been trying to get for months that you will be dealing with in your new role, you may be
asked questions regarding that work.
4. Anticipate criticism: It is likely that your interviewer has consulted with your current
manager and read your past performance reviews. They may critique the weaknesses you
have in your current role and apply what they have learned about you to the questions
they ask. It is important that you address the criticism with confidence by being prepared
for it.
5. Build a list of accomplishments: Write down any awards you have won and any other
areas of accomplishment within your current role. Prepare specific examples of steps you
took to win those awards or accomplish those tasks. For instance, if you have helped your
company achieve a higher net operating income and you received an award for the first
quarter, you may want to bring that up in the interview, when appropriate.
6. Differentiate yourself: Think about the things that make you different and more
adaptable than external candidates. You may want to write down accomplishments from
outside of work as well that make you a good candidate for this role.

2. Appraisal interview:
An appraisal interview is an exchange between a manager and an employee that is
designed to evaluate the employee and create a career development plan. The appraisal
interview can lead to several challenges, including a lack of input from the employee,
improper preparation from both parties and improper expectations of what can be
accomplished. Understanding the appraisal interview downfalls can help reduce them.
 Preparation
The manager needs to review her notes on the employee's performance throughout the
year, become familiar with the job description and review the employee's self-evaluation
to determine where the employee's perception of her performance may be different than
the manager's. Management should encourage employees to prepare questions for the
interview to allow two-way conversation.

 Expectations
The manager can prepare a career development plan for the employee, but it is only
effective if the employee agrees to take part in it. One of the downfalls of the appraisal
interview is that a manager can expect the employee to be open to a developmental
program. Managers need to present a full evaluation to an employee for the employee to
understand the need for development.

 Input
Employees should be encouraged to comment on their own performance and feel
confident in being able to present opinions about the manager's performance. Employee
input can help improve the relationship with the manager, and it can also give the
manager insight into employee needs.

 Follow-Up
It is important to monitor the employee's progress in her career development plan and for
the manager to provide frequent input on how the employee can improve. Assuming that
the appraisal interview process ends with the initial review meeting is a mistake some
managers and employees make.
 3. Exit interview :
An exit interview is a survey conducted with an individual who is separating from an
organization or relationship. Most commonly, this occurs between an employee and an
organization, a student and an educational institution, or a member and an association. An
organization can use the information gained from an exit interview to assess what should be
improved, changed, or remain intact. More so, an organization can use the results from exit
interviews to reduce employee, student, or member turnover and increase productivity and
engagement, thus reducing the high costs associated with turnover. Some examples of the
value of conducting exit interviews include shortening the recruiting and hiring process,
reducing absenteeism, improving innovation, sustaining performance, and reducing possible
litigation if issues mentioned in the exit interview are addressed. It is important for each
organization to customize its own exit interview in order to maintain the highest levels of
survey validity and reliability.

Common questions include reasons for leaving, job satisfaction, frustrations, and feedback
concerning company policies or procedures. Questions may relate to the work environment,
supervisors, compensation, the work itself, and the company culture.

Examples:

 "What are your main reasons for leaving?"

 "What did you like most/least about the organization?"
 "What, if improved, would have caused you to stay at the organization?"
 "Would you recommend the organization to others as a good place to work?

4. Problem solving interview:

Problem solving interview questions are questions that employers ask related to the candidate's
ability to gather data, analyze a problem, weigh the pros and cons and reach a logical decision.
Also known as analytical skills interview questions, these questions will often focus on specific
instances when the candidate analyzed a situation or had to solve a problem, including what steps
they took to gather and understand the necessary information before solving the problem.
These types of questions help employers better understand how a candidate gathers information
from various sources, uses critical thinking to evaluate information, makes decisions that help
the business and communicates their findings or recommendations to team members. Employers
ask these questions to gauge how candidates will address complex situations that they are likely
to encounter on the job.
Let's take a look at a few of the most common problem solving interview questions that you may
encounter during an interview. When preparing for your interview, consider a few different
examples of when you successfully solved a problem, including what the problem was, what
steps you took to solve the problem and the outcome:

1. When you are faced with a problem, what do you do?

2. Describe a time when you faced an unexpected challenge at work.
3. How do you weigh the pros and cons before making a decision?
4. How would you handle a disgruntled or dissatisfied customer?
5. What metrics do you track on a regular basis? How do you use the information to adjust
your approach?
6. Tell me about a time when you had to change your planned course of action at the last
moment. How did you handle this situation?
7. Your manager wants to buy new software to help increase the team's productivity, and
she asks for your recommendation. How do you respond?
8. Describe a time when you had to solve a problem, but didn't have all the necessary
information about it beforehand. What did you do?

5. Stress Interview :
A Stress Interview is one where the interviewee is put in a deliberately stressful environment to
simulate certain workplace situations where the candidate might have to deal with stress or harsh
situations. Knowing what a stress interview is and how to deal with it is essential and it can go a
long way in helping you to appropriately handle one.
Firstly, we must understand the purpose of putting a candidate through such a process. If you
understand the interviewer, you can respond to him/her better. The interviewer wants to simply
test how you would perform under pressure. He tests your capability to deal with a tough or
unexpected situation while keeping your calm. If you do not crack under the pressure and avoid
being outright rude, while maintaining assertiveness, they have found a winner.
Now, the bigger question is How Do You Deal with Stress Interviews and How to Prepare for
Stress Interviews?
While there is no guaranteed right or wrong way to deal with a stress interview, as a number of
ways might work, there are some basic things which we must keep in mind to mentally prepare
us for the stress interview.
 Be Calm and Collected: Not losing your temper and dealing with the situation while
keeping your wits about you will leave a good impression on the interviewer as it will
prove that you have patience.
 Take a stand if necessary: An interviewer might deliberately push you into a corner and
make allegations or berate you just to see whether you get intimidated or are too polite to
speak up. In certain situations, it becomes necessary to take a stand for yourself or for
something you believe in.
  Do not confuse assertiveness or firmness with rudeness: Even when you have to take a
stand, as mentioned in the last point, there is no requirement to be rude. There is a fine
line between being assertive and being aggressive or rude. You need to learn not to cross
the line while not staying too far from it either.
 Keep Smiling: Irrespective of how much they are grilling you, show them that you have
a good tolerance power and nothing they say or do can shake your self-confidence. Keep
smiling and take their behavior head-on. If you stop believing in yourself, there is no
reason for them to believe in you.
 Be Mentally Prepared for the Unexpected: There may be interviews during which
random or seemingly unrelated questions are thrown at you. They may even try to
unnerve you by asking irrelevant personal questions or quirky puzzles. Even if you do not
remotely know the answer, buy some time to think by asking the interviewer to clarify
the question or ask them for details which you feel are required. Then, rationally,
demonstrate your way of thinking. You do not always have to arrive at the correct
answer. What is most important is your thinking style, so don’t be afraid to think out
loud.
 Give the interview as if you do not need the job: While it might be your dream job that
you are interviewing for, it is better to go to the interview with a mindset that you do
NOT need this job. The reason is that when you desperately want something, it shows.
Also, the need to get the interview right might make you behave differently from how
you are naturally. You take on an additional pressure in your head when you are
desperate to ace the interview, thereby, reducing your chances of actually acing it.

The above points are just brief guidelines about ‘What a Stress interview is and How to deal with
Stress Interviews’. There is no guaranteed way of acing a stress interview but learning how to
deal with situations might help. Also, sometimes, humor or sharp wit will go a long way in
leaving a lasting impression. The best advice for the interview is to Be Yourself.