Have an impressive resume

In an interview, you must have an impressive looking resume as that becomes the basis for the questions that you would be asked. If you are appearing for interviews in companies of different engineering disciplines, it would be good to have a separate set of resumes. For example, if you are getting interviewed for a Mechanical Engineering job, have a resume which highlights your activities in that area and if the application is for an IT job, have that highlighted. One resume for all may not fit well.

To understand what should be highlighted, you must know what your job is going to be like in that company. That comes from what is known as a “job description”.  The interviewer will not  give a written job description to you, but it is in your interest to understand that based on company profile, their business and taking help from your seniors who may be working there or similar company. A look at their website would be of use in this regard.

Accurate Description of job involves

·         Core responsibilities

·         Quantifiable performance measurements

·         Reporting structure

·         Experience and technical knowledge requirements

·         Personality strengths necessary for the position

·         Corporate culture

·         Description of working environment

·         Management style required

Points to remember in resume

·         Clearly printed correct telephone number, email id – may be two email ids.

·         Use one simple font – may be Ariel or Times Roman size 11.

·         Make the headings bold and underlined

·         Do not use italics and all capitals.

·         Put all contact details – name, address, email ids, telephone numbers at the top.

·         Objective – optional. If you write an objective, you must be able to justify why you have written that.

·         Educational qualifications with year of passing and percentages from 10^th onwards

·         Skills and special abilities that you possess, with examples

·         Project work done and your exact contribution.

·         Achievements in school and college. Highlight team leading or team membership

·         Hobbies and Extracurricular activities

Honesty is the best policy when it comes to resume writing. Do not tell half truths and lies. There is so much fraud going on in resumes and interviewer can catch you if you have been dishonest. Any hint of dishonesty will forever bar you from any job in that company.

I once interviewed and selected a candidate and recruited him in my department. He had a prior experience in three companies and he gave satisfactory answers to all questions and I selected him and he joined. However, as per the policy, when the company conducted actual verification of his experience by sending verification agents to his past companies, it was revealed that instead of 2 years that he had claimed, he had worked there for 1 year only. He wanted to cover the gap in his job profile by adding that extra one year, but when it was found out, he had to resign and lose his job. As freshers also, if you tell a lie regarding what project work you have done, or what your actual contribution was, it could lead to rejection during the interview. Be truthful.

I have found a website which gives good details of how to write a resume. Please visit the site:

http://www.chetanasinterview.com/articles/1/1/Resume-Writing-Tips-for-Freshers--Experienced/Page1.html

Also please visit me on Facebook and Linkedin. My id is cdrvijay123@yahoo.co.in

Talk in specifics not on general terms in an interview

Many of us may make the mistake of telling the interviewer that we are goal oriented, hard working, sincere, humble etc – all very good adjectives, which unfortunately carry zero meaning in an interview. These are general information and if you speak on these lines, the interviewer is sure to ask you to give an example of each of these. So if you are using these words better have examples ready. For example, if you say you are hard working, do you have a case where your hard work resulted in a project being completed in time? If you say you are a team worker, you must have a ready example. Same way, if you say that you are a goal oriented person, the interviewer can ask you what goals you have set in the past one year and how have you tracked it? Have such an example ready. Lesson to remember – Do not speak in general terms, but only on specifics.

Check the youtube video for an example of what we discussed above.

  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxbRWsYljyE&feature=fvw

Importance of having goals in your life

This would be a standard question in interviews – “Where do you see yourself five years from now? How do you answer that if you have not thought about your goals?

Goals are important in life. If you do not know where you have to go, any road will take you there. However, we have limited time on this earth and unless we plan what we want to be remembered as when we are gone, we will end up wasting our life without reaching anywhere. What we want to become has to be contained in our personal mission statement which we must think deeply and write down. That gives us a direction. Based on this we must write long term goals of 5 years from now and then break it down to six monthly goals and then weekly goals. We must dedicate time each week to do those tasks which have a bearing on our long term goal and hence the mission statement.

There is a beautiful “doha” or duet by Sant Kabir which reads as under:

Kabira Jab Paida Hue To Jag Hansa Hum Roye

Aisi Karni Kar Chalo, Hum Hanse Jag Roye

You can listen to the full song at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-vUzgmN7p0

This is for the whole life. But we cannot achieve the life’s mission unless we work every day towards it so that when we go out of this world, we go laughing with the full satisfaction that we have achieved everything that we wanted, while the world grieves that it has lost a good human being.

Achieving the life’s Mission is by having meaningful goals.  Goals need to be SMART:  It means that they have to be: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time bound.

Based on the life’s mission, we must have some clarity of our goals for the next 5 years and should be able to convince the interviewer that we are working on a weekly basis towards that goal. But ensure that the goals you have is in line with the job that you are trying to get. If they are at cross purposes, the interviewer will see that you are just interested in the job only for a short duration and that the job does not fit your goal.

Have some goals based on what you think you want to do in life and do such actions that lead to that goal. You should have such answers ready as there will be questions asking you such as “Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?”

Importance of speaking up in group discussions

In 1974, after my M.Sc, I went for a selection test for Management Trainee in a leading textile manufacturing company of that time. Those days, there were very few MBAs and companies got their management cadre by taking graduates as Management Trainees and training them on the job. I passed the aptitude test with very high marks and the next stage was group discussion. I was not aware of what happens in a group discussion and went totally unprepared. It was my first group discussion experience.

The topic was of general knowledge, but I could not talk as I was shy during that time and my English was not as fluent as that of others in the group. I just listened to all other speakers who were all speaking quite eloquently, but I hardly opened my mouth. Naturally I did not pass that round.

After this bad experience, I analysed my shortcomings. I realized there were at least two – (a) Inadequate fluency in English and (b) No in-depth knowledge of topics.

These two are solvable problems, if only one takes adequate measures well in time. Fluency needs a good set of vocabulary so that you can sue the right word for the right meaning. Knowledge comes from reading.

Here is how I went about getting enough vocabulary for myself - I used to read English newspaper (The Hindu that time), but never bothered to find out the meaning of words coming there. After this debacle of group discussion, I started noting down five words every day, getting their meaning and using that word in my own writing. Those days, there were limited opportunities for writing – so I started writing letters to the Editor. I must have written 60 letters over a period, and none of them got published. But I learnt my English. At the rate of 5 words per day, in a year I could accumulate around 2000 words. You may be surprised to know that normal Business English just needs this many. So start today so that you have your stock of words. There is no short cut to this. These days, you have ample opportunities to write. Either start your own blog or write comments on this blog, using the words learnt. Even if no one reads your blog or comments, you will have improved your own English.

Secondly, you need to be aware of general interest topics. Make a point of reading newspapers, business magazines, journals, websites, TV news channels related to general interest and industry related topics.

If you do the above two, you will have adequate knowledge of topics and fluency in English. What you need now is good speaking skills and also good listening skills. In a group discussion, if you completely dominate others and do not listen to others or put others down, no one will like you. You need to be knowledgeable, but humble and give enough chances for others. This needs practice. So go ahead and make groups of your friends, select topics and actually get mock interview practice at your level.

What is your weakness?

In 1998, I took voluntary retirement from the Navy after serving for 23 years. Looking out for a job, I had some interviews lined up through a placement agency. The first one was with a small IT company of 300 staff based in Mumbai. I was told by the placement agency that the interview was for the position of Training Manager.

Two rounds of interview went off quite well and the last round was with the MD. That too went off smoothly to my satisfaction. There was one question: “What is your weakness?” I said that I am an emotional person and cannot see people in distress and gave an example of how I feel for people. The interview continued with other questions and concluded on a happy note.

I did not get the job. When I checked up with the agency, they said that the interview was for the post of HR Manager and the first thing they wanted the HR Manager to do was to sack some 40 excess developers that they had recruited for an anticipated project which did not materialize. My “weakness” that I am an emotional person made me unsuitable for the role.

However, my being emotional has never been a setback to me in my 23 years in the Navy. Though I feel sentimental about it, once I am convinced about the need for a certain action, I was always able to take a decision without feeling emotional. I might go out and help those who suffer, but the decision was always taken as per the requirement of the organization. Hence my statement without qualifying it that I am able to decide impartially made me lose the job.

One needs to be honest, but if the weakness is something that you are working on, please state so clearly. If it is really a weakness, then do not take up the job. For example, if your interview is for programmer skills, there is no point in taking it up if you do not enjoy programming. Similarly if the interview is for a Sales job and if you cannot sell anything however hard you try, there is no point in hiding that. Only you will know what your real weakness is and then if it is something you can overcome and you would like to overcome, tell that to the interviewer.

You need to introspect and find out your real weaknesses and work on them to overcome them.  Start today.

Importance of speaking up in an interview

Today I saw someone wearing a t-shirt with the inscription: “Your dress will speak a lot about you, but not if you are dumb”. To make an impression, you need to speak up. If you fumble when the interviewer asks a question such as “Tell me about yourself” or “What are your strengths?” and you blame it on your shyness, you cannot get that job which you deserve. Start preparing your answers well and practice in front of a mirror and then with your friends and then it becomes easy for you to speak. Only precaution is that your answers need to be honest. If you tell outright lies and if you are caught in cross questioning, you have ruined your chances. Even when telling about your weaknesses, tell in such a manner that you have already taken measures to overcome that weakness and have improved. A known weakness on which you have taken an action will not come across as a real stumbling block in your selection. So go ahead and find out what your weaknesses are by introspecting, by asking for feedback from friends and take action to overcome them. You can do it.

Be aware of first impressions

I was to fly to Kolkata from Pune and I had just boarded the flight which was already late by 1 hour. Plane was just taxiing off when I heard a loud voice from four seats in front of me shouting “This plane will not take off, stop it”. All passengers were wondering and I even thought it must be a hijacker. But the person shouting was a well dressed man over 70 years of age. As the frightened  cabin crew came running, he repeated his earlier sentence and added “I am telling you from last 15 minutes that I have lost one of  my mobiles and am not able to get any replies from it when I call. That mobile contains all my contact numbers  and if I lose it, there well be loss of crores of rupees. I  have to get out of the plane now”. Attempt to pacify him by cabin crew and finally pilot failed and they decided that he would be disembarked. But it was not that simple – his baggage had to be taken out from plane and cabin baggage of all of us other passengers needed to be identified which took another 30 minutes. Finally, the doors opened and ladder cam to take the passenger out when a curious air hostess went to the seat he had just vacated and found that the mobile was lying on his seat. It was in silent mode and he was possibly sitting on it without knowing that it was there. There was an option of retaining the passenger as the need for disembarking hi was no longer there as his mobile was found, but all of us shouted that he shoud not be allowed to stay back. We had already formed an impression in our mind that he needed to be punished.

First impressions are easy to form and difficult to erase. Ensure that you start your interview with a good first impression.

How to face interviews for campus selection?

After passing through the written tests and technical interview comes the crucial stage of an HR interview where the focus would be on communication, attitude and fitment to the company's culture. It is very essential that you should be well versed with the company profile and the type of work that they do. Unless you are able to demonstrate that you know what you are getting at, the interviewer may consider you as one who has just prepared  for the interview process but is not good in the subject. You should never take selection for granted due to over confidence. After all, you get this luxury of corporates coming to your college only during the campus interview. If you do not get selected, it is more difficult later, though not an impossible thing. Why not make use of the chance now, by proper hard work now?

Distinction between personality and character

Some years back, I was posted at Goa. We were staying in the staff quarters and the land outside was an eyesore. I thought I must do something and there must be large plants if not trees. But to grow a plant was  diificult as the land was rocky.

I thought of an easy alternative. I got big holes - the size of a typical flower pot dug in the rocky land surface outside our house - and filled them with garden soil and fertilisers. Then we planted fully grown plants taken out from flower pots. Overnight we had a beautiful garden outside our house. Every one appreciated and congratulated my ingenuity.

But  as fate would have it, the garden just lasted just a month and started losing all the leaves and withered, even though we had taken care to water them regularly. When we uprooted the plants we found that the roots had rotted.

What we see above the ground in a plant is the equivalent of personality and what we do not see but which is present below the ground is character. You can uproot a plant from somewhere and use it to decorate your garden for some time, but if the roots are not healthy and strong, it would not be able to withstand the pressures of life. Same thing goes for interview success.

What preparing questionnaire for an interview can do is to look after the upper part - but if those are just prepared answers and have no bearing on what you really are from the inside, the interviewer can find out soon. So work on both - character and personality and there are no short cuts. As we can say in Hindi - "Bano andhar se strong" and success will be yours.

K Vijay Kumar

Some sample questions

As a candidate, you should always expect some compulsory questions. Even if they do not ask explicitly, you should be able to speak about these things during the interview so that you sound an attractive candidate.

Tell me about yourself

 

This is a question generally asked in the beginning of the interview. This requires lot of thought and planning and you must keep such an answer ready, but should not sound as if you have committed it to memory. Focus should be on what you are as far as the potential job is concerned and do not talk about family and academic background. Your strengths and achievements should come out but in a humble way. do not criticize any one. Start from the past and end with the latest achievement which has a relevance to the job. Try and present what you have done in team situations and your contributions to a team, however small.

 

Watch this youtube video and other videos by searching in youtube.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ezFNrWMTlc

 

Do you consider yourself Successful?

 

You should always answer yes briefly explain why. You should be able to demonstrate that you have set goals for yourself in the past and that you have achieved them - if not 100%, to some extent and that you have learnt your lessons where things did not go always right. Here is a video on setting goals by Zig Ziglar who is an internationally famous trainer based in the USA. There are two more videos on the sabject by him in youtube. Check them out too.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae-VJ_lauCw

 

What do you know about this organization?

 

This question is one reason to do some research on the organization before the interview. Find out where they have been and where they are going. What are the current issues and who are the major players.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XNUXP8GQA8

 

A bad answer which you should avoid is in

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26ovia1xACA

 

All the best - you will keep getting blogs every week on this subject. Try and read and watch the videos, but more important -  PRACTICE, PRACTICE and PRACTICE. Feel free to write commenst so that I know if I am making sense.

 

K Vijay Kumar

How to dress for a campus interview?

Check out this video on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWxhiQHZNYA