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Give the Interview
You can be Proud of
The Art & Science to Ace Your Dream Job Interview. Tame the Inner Demons, Shine in Group Discussion,
Devise Perfect Resume, Get Hired
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Publishing-in-support-of,
EDUCREATION PUBLISHING
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Website: www.educreation.in
________________________________________________________________
© Copyright, 2018, Ankit Singh
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, magnetic, optical, chemical, manual, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written consent of its writer.
ISBN: 978-1-5457-1905-3
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Printed in India
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Give the Interview
You can be Proud of
The Art & Science to Ace Your Dream Job Interview. Tame the Inner Demons, Shine in Group Discussion,
Devise Perfect Resume, Get Hired
Ankit Singh
EDUCREATION PUBLISHING (Since 2011)
www.educreation.in
Sample Copy. Not For Distribution.
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Introduction to the book
Hi friend. I would like to extend my heartiest thanks to you
for buying/downloading this book. Congratulations on
beginning the exciting journey to ace the selection process
of your dream company or dream college.
Interviews are not a stand-alone process and Group
Discussions form an important stage of selection. A good
CV/resume means you are already halfway through the
process. Hence the book has covered all three of them to
ensure integrated preparation.
What you will learn
The book has proven strategies to succeed in all three steps
of selection- CV/Resume, GD & interview. It has sample
answers for commonly asked questions and also mentions
the common mistakes that candidates make .A big issue is
of generating content to speak therefore that issue is also
addressed. The book focuses not only on the art of handling
the external factors during an interview but also lays a great
stress on the internal factors, those inside the mind, which
so often create a huge difference between selection and
rejection. You will learn techniques which employ Science
and Psychology to drive the interview in your favour and
help you get closer to the flawless interview you always
wished to give.
*****
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vi
Who the book is for
If you are nervous or are unsure what to say in an
Interview or find yourself out of content in a GD then this
is THE BOOK for you.
Anyone who is going for an interview/GD or is planning to
give one, be it for a job or an MBA entrance. Even if you
are planning to rework on your CV/Resume then too this
book will be beneficial.
Whether you are a student, a recent graduate or have
work experience, this book will certainly guide you to
prepare better for the interviews and GD.
*****
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vii
About the Author
My name is Ankit Singh. I am an entrepreneur and trainer. I am the Founder of XLRATE Cognitive Connect (xlrate.in), a platform to connect industry professionals with students to
make them more employable and Co-Founder of Gravycart. Com, an online food delivery portal. A Mechanical Engineering graduate from NIT Durgapur and MBA from
XLRI Jamshedpur. Before venturing out as an entrepreneur, I worked as an officer in a Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and my last corporate stint was as Vice
President of Trident Group, a reputed Indian MNC.
I love interacting with young people and mentoring
them. I strongly believe that with the right guidance and
channelized effort anyone can succeed. This is the reason
why I walked away from the corporate cushion and decided
to take the road less traveled.
I have come across countless people who despite being
academic bright failing to clear interviews. Through this
book, I hope to help all those who wish to achieve their
potential by achieving success in selection process.
*****
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viii
So Let’s Get Started
It is time to raise our preparation to the next level.
The best way to read this book is by practicing it step by
step. Follow the advice in the book to beat nervousness.
Know the common interview mistakes and learn how to
avoid them. Understand how you can make your
CV/Resume stand out from the crowd. And yes, do stick
with the checklists to avoid any oversight and give the
perfect interview.
So let us begin and find out how to get the job that we
dream of!
“MAY THE FORCE BE WITH YOU”
*****
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ix
Table of contents
SR. Chapter Page
Chapter 1
Things worth understanding about interview
1.1 What is an Interview? 1
1.2 Humans are Cognitive Misers 2
Chapter
2
Interview Techniques -Part 1
2.1 Reflection 3
2.2 Predicting Interview Questions 7
2.3 Know your CV completely 14
Chapter
3
Interview Techniques- Part 2
3.1 Fake it till you make it 15
3.2 Visualisation 17
3.3 Gambit 19
Chapter 4
Answering Commonly Asked Interview Questions
4.1 Tell me something about yourself 20
4.2 Tell us something not written in the CV
26
4.3 Tell us about your strengths 29
4.4 Tell us about your weaknesses 32
4.5 What are your short term and
long term goals?
35
4.6 Why this company? Why MBA? Why this College?
38
4.7 Why should we select you? 42
4.8 Why did you leave your last job? 44
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Chapter 5
Preparation for Group Discussion
5.1 Some important aspects of GD
5.2 Different Kinds of GD
48
49
5.3 What is all evaluated in a GD? 49
5.4 How to prepare for a GD? 51
5.5 Some important approaches 52
5.6 Some important things to keep in mind for GD
55
Chapter 6
CV/Resume Preparation
6.1 Why is it important? 56
6.2 Parts of a CV 56
6.3 Some of the common mistakes candidates make while preparing CV
58
6.4 Things to do before making a CV 59
6.5 Points to remember while
making a CV
60
Chapter 7
Techniques to lower last day jitters
62
Chapter 8
Important checklists
8.1 Checklist before the selection
process/interview
65
8.2 Points to keep in mind during interview
66
Final Words
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Give the Interview You can be Proud of
1
CHAPTER 1
THINGS WORTH UNDERSTANDING
BEFORE WE BEGIN PREPARATION
1.1 What is an interview?
A very common mistake made by many candidates,
especially the candidates who have never ever given an
interview think that interview is something like a viva or an
oral exam. Interview is a conversation where the interviewer
asks a lot of questions to the candidate to judge whether the
candidate is suitable for the respective post but this is more
than an oral exam.
In a viva, only the knowledge of the candidate is of
prime importance but in an interview, factors like
communication skill, etiquettes, personality and self-clarity
also play a very important role in selection. Hiring is being
done of an individual and not of a machine which will just do
few tasks. Every HR manager who is entrusted with hiring
has to ensure that the selected candidate fits the company
culture, would be productive and will stay for a considerable
time. Reducing attrition is also an important responsibility
and so if a candidate with great knowledge does not come
across as a right fit to the organisation, then chances of
selection reduce drastically.
Therefore, it is important to have a conversation. Just
the way a candidate wants to be selected, an interviewer
also wants to select a good candidate. A good but formal
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Ankit Singh
2
conversation helps the candidate to better explain the
candidature. If the interview becomes a question–answer
round instead of a conversation, it is very likely that even
the interviewer may get bored which will lead to a lower
score in the interview.
1.2 Human are Cognitive Misers
This statement means that human beings always try and
reduce the effort of solving a problem. The term „Cognitive
Miser‟ was first introduced by Susan Fiske and Shelley Taylor
in 1984.
How is this important for an interview? Actually, very
much. In fact, this is the most important thing to
understand. Subconsciously, the interviewer will try to use
as less mental effort as possible to select a candidate. No
interviewer can get 100% information about any candidate;
the sources for information would be CV, certificates, form
filled by the candidate and the things said by the candidate
in the interview and body language. Nothing much could be
done with certificates but CV can be made better and most
importantly, interview could be given in a proper manner to
highlight the positive side of a candidate and drive the
interview in the right direction. So if you drive interview in
the direction of your strengths, then the information that the
interviewer gets to process is loaded with your positives but
if you make the interview a one-way conversation, then
interviewer may ask questions that you are not comfortable
with and thus, you can be evaluated on the basis of
information which is mostly your negatives and can lead to
your rejection. Therefore, the most important quality of a
good candidate is to drive interview in a favourable direction
which would increase the chance of selection.
*****
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