Interview Preparation
It was a scene straight out of a nightmare…well…not exactly nightmare but the news that my brother was called for an interview gave us the shivers. Our concerns were for ourselves alone and not for him. We can still recollect the days of note-keeping, grooming, confidence building that otherwise turned our clean well kept home into an interview preparation coaching mess!
With his last debacle at the tables turning into a complete disaster, my sister decided to give him a one-on-one on behavioural interviewing! Am I not putting on my best behaviour? Why do I need one now was his refrain.
Armed with all the information that my sister had gleaned from a recent article that had caught her interest, she proceeded to teach, preach and impress. Her point of view, behavioural interviewing has rapidly become the most popular way to interview in the U.S.
1. You have set your alarm clock to wake up but it fails to go off and you lose two precious hours. How would you handle that kind of situation?
My brother’s immediate answer was that he would work overtime to compensate for the lost time. The answer seemed partly good, but will that impress the interviewer?
Most likely not. As the question was intended to see how a negative scenario could be turned into a positive one, my sister proselytized that the likely best answer would be what immediate steps would a person take in such a situation. Step one could be to call up the office and inform them of your coming in late. Step two to entrust any pending work to a co-worker, finally make up for the lost time by staying late.
2. How would you adapt to unexpected changes or you were asked to plan and coordinate a project from start to finish due to your senior falling sick.
My brother was a bit perplexed as he had never undertaken a project leave alone plan or coordinate a project from the start to finish. In such circumstances, my sister advised to frame his words carefully so that the interviewer would be impressed. But to honestly inform the interviewer that he never had the opportunity to execute a project from the start till its completion, given the chance would love to do it as he is confident he can with a little guidance from his seniors carry it off with great elan.
There were some that were based on the peremptory question of salary, another on the preparation of the interview, on adaptability, on ambition, on analytical thinking and so on.
Thus continued the preparation for a full-set interview between the two while I wondered who had devised the behavioural method of interviewing!
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