Professional Interview Preparation

Get the job you want with ‘How to’ training in proven techniques.

From the people that train the recruiters

Ritu Sharma

Prof. Sanjay Chandwani

Rachna Bansal

Aakash Dubey
 Situations:
• You finally get an interview for a job
• The interview is pretty difficult
• You don’t get any real feedback
• There’s a lot of competition for the job
• You don’t get the offer and
• You’re back in the job search
~This guide will fix that
 Successful Interviews:
A job interview is your opportunity to:
– Work for a better company
– Develop your skills and relationships
– And not to forget, make more money

But there are no prizes for second place, unfortunately!

– Giving interviews is difficult, competitive and stressful
– Being interviewed is a skill that we don’t practice often
which means we’re not as good as we could be

~The solution is Interview Preparation

You’re in safe hands
We train managers how to interview and we partner
with recruitment companies

This is why we know better than anyone else what

recruiters are looking for in job candidates

A little interview preparation can go a long way, because

the average job candidate is unprepared and untrained in
interview skills
7 Ways to Prepare for Interviews
There are many ways to prepare for an interview~
1. Use a checklist
2. Revise interview questions and prepare answers
3. Research the company and the interviewer
4. Review your own resume
5. Take a psychometric assessment
6. Have mock interviews with friends and family
7. Go in for Professional Interview Coaching
The Best Interview Preparation
Method
Professional Interview Coaching is the best way to
prepare for interviews. Because a coach can:

• Adapt training to your needs

• Identify what mistakes you’re making

• Give you open, actionable feedback

 Overview
Interviewing for a job is a multidisciplinary activity. This
guide will cover the following topics:
• What recruiters want
• Using Interview Checklists
• Body language and building rapport
• Company and interviewer research
• Resumes
• Finding and communicating your USP
• Difficult interview questions
• Expected interview questions
• Behavioural interview questions
• Psychometric tests
• Anxiety and self confidence
Are you ready?
Interview preparation isn’t for everyone.
• Would you like a new (better) job?
• Is it a competitive job market?
• Do you want to control interview anxiety or improve
your confidence?
• Have you failed at interviews in the past?
• Do you want to take control of the interview process?
• Do you want to know what recruiters do with your
psychometric assessment?
If any of the above apply to you then interview
preparation will improve your interview success.
~But you must also be prepared to follow the process.
■ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkFS7lNnEMA
What recruiters want:
Recruiters want to know that you:
• Have the skills and abilities to do the job,
• Are motivated to apply yourself and stay and will fit in with the
organisation (team, values and culture)
In short recruiters want to know that you will add value.

Job skills are different from interview skills.

Remember that there can be a situation where you could be great

for a job, but fail at an interview
Make and Use Checklists
Checklists are an excellent method to record important
steps.
Good for:

• Planning

• Dress code

• On the day drill

Body Language and Building Rapport
Body language and “connecting” with the interviewer
are at least as important as saying the right things.

A couple of easy to follow recommendations:

• Making eye contact and smiling- surprisingly effective
• Sitting straight but not stiff. Shoulders pulled back
• Attentive expression when interviewer is speaking
• ‘Mirroring' the other person
• ‘Labeling’ the thoughts of the interviewer
Research
A little knowledge can go a long way. It’s vital that you research these
three domains:
1. The Company:
– Sources: Google, Company/Group Website, Social media,
Linkedin, Glassdoor
– To know: Group, products, industry, bit of history, milestones,
awards, promoters, key personnel, recent coverage in media,
latest initiatives
2. The Job:
– Sources: Job description, recruitment consultant, Glassdoor
– To know: Required skills, deliverables, challenges
3. The Interviewer:
– Sources: LinkedIn, recruitment consultant
– To know: Common ground, personality type
Resume Review
• Your resume is meant to sell you. Keep it updated and oriented towards
job/organisation/role that you have applied for. Keep a few versions with
variations ready with you and remember the version that you submitted.

• Typing mistakes, grammatical mistakes and unclear resumes create a bad

impression.

• Have someone knowledgeable and credible to definitely review your

resume.
You need to be prepared for interviewers who:

1. Have scrutinized your resume and will drill you on details

or

1. Who haven’t read your resume and ask you to explain it.
Finding and communicating your USP
It has become relatively tougher to get a job:
• The market is saturated with qualified candidates.
• Companies are becoming choosy.
• Interviews are getting tougher.

USP = Unique Selling Proposition/Point

• Work out how your unique skills are best for the role
and how they will add value.
Difficult Interview Questions
The job of recruiters is to ask tough questions to identify the
best candidates. Be prepared for any difficult interview
question:
• Warm up by practicing a set of questions.

• Buy time to think by clarifying and repeating the question.

• After answering, do try to use phrases to ask if you got it
right.
• If you have no clue, say so and ask
them to move on.
Expected Interview Questions
Certain interview questions are so common that
interviewers expect you to be prepared for them. For
example you need to prepare for:
• Tell me about yourself.

• What is your biggest weakness?

• Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

The real key is to understand exactly what the interviewer is
looking for.
Behavioral Interview Questions
More sophisticated interviewers use behavioral interview questions.
Behavioral questions ask what you did in a past scenario.
• Spot them: They sound like “Tell me about a time when you
XYZ.”
• Complete them. Use the STAR technique (Situation, Target/Task,
Action, Result)
• Expect them: Behavioral interview questions relate to job
competencies. Knowing the required job competencies warns you
which questions to expect.
• Smash them: Recruiters are looking for certain indicators.
Behavioral Interview Question-Example
• Spot the
– Non behavioral question: “Can you manage a budget?”
– Behavioral question: “Tell me about a time when you had to achieve a
challenging budget?”
• Expect them:
– This question is asked when budget management is a key job
competency
• Evaluation criteria:
– Positive: Achieved target, planned in advance, monitored,
consultative, made contingency plans, didn’t reduce service levels
– Negative: Missed target, complained, reduced service
• Example answer
– “I managed a cost budget of Rs. 37 lakhs in the operations department
and I had to make a 10% saving. I brainstormed with my team to
identify and evaluate our options. We agreed what to cut to achieve
the target plus a contingency fund. I implemented monthly reporting
and a standing agenda item. We achieved a total saving of Rs. 4 Lakhs
with minimal impact on operations.”
The need for feedback
Have you ever done an interview, not got the job and
then wondered what you did wrong? In job interviews:
• Interviewer doesn’t give you open, useful
feedback,
• This makes it difficult to improve.
• A little objective feedback will increase your
interview success.

When preparing for interviews, get feedback from

objective, skilled persons. Whether friends or a
professional coach.
Psychometric tests in interviewing
The truth is that a personality test can eliminate you from a job

• Different types of people suit different types of jobs

• Recruiters use psychometric assessments (commonly called
personality tests) to match applicants to jobs
• If the recruiter knows your behaviour profile but you don't, you
will be at a disadvantage
• Worst case: many job applicants are eliminated because of
concerns raised from their psychometric assessment
• But it is possible to address these concerns if you know what they
are.
• Sample Psychometric test link:
https://www.practiceaptitudetests.com/psychometric-tests/
• https://www.assessmentday.com/psychometric-test.htm
Anxiety and Self Confidence
Interviews are stressful, important and we don’t practice them
often. Understandably this leads to high anxiety which
decreases interview performance.

• Anxiety can be controlled through breathing exercises

• Becoming familiar with various kinds of

Questioning techniques can build self-confidence.

Next Steps
Congratulations on completing this interview preparation.
You are on the path to being a much better candidate. The
next steps are:

• Identify your problem areas.

• Learn how to apply the techniques in practice.

• The following pages identify options.

Options: Developing Interview Skills
1. Professional Coaching
2. How to Present
3. Resume Review
Special mention:
• Salary Negotiation
• New Job Transitions
• Managing your Boss
Professional Interview Coaching
• Identify interview mistakes you’re making.
• Get tailored coaching and objective feedback.
• Identify your relevant strengths.

• Work out strategies to compensate for weaknesses.

• Know what questions you will most likely face in your interviews
(these vary for different jobs).
Virtual Interview Tips
#1. Be on time. Agree on how and when you are going to meet. Decide
who is going to call whom. Install software/create social network
accounts ahead of time

#2. Lot of times we see people in movies/ads/media attending online

meetings while dressed in a formal shirt and beach shorts. That might not
be a smart move here. Dress the way you would for an in-person
interview. Firstly, this prevents any accidental embarrassing situations.
Secondly, it can set your mind into the interviewee-mode.

#3. Eye contact communicates confidence. Remember the eye here is the
webcam/camera. When answering, make sure you look straight into the
camera and not the eye of the person on the other side.
Virtual Interview Tips
#4. Make sure there is no background noise

#5. Also, make sure that the frame that gets displayed to the
interviewer is clear, clutter-free and something that will not steal
the focus away from you.

#6. Check connection status and seek confirmation if the

audio/video is functional before beginning.

#7. If desired, you could do a trial run with a friend or create a

video/audio recording to check what is working and what’s not.
Mock Interview

• Good Luck for the mock interview in the next

session.
• If you have any queries related to the interview
process, kindly ask them now.
• Share your CV/Profile/Resume on the E-mail :
[email protected]
■ INDEDUC in alliance with MIBM

Thank You!!