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How to Face A Personal Interview.

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After you have made it through your first round of telephonic interview, and you think you have performed moderately sufficient to impress the interviewer and the same idea is running in the interviewer's mind, most probably you would be called for a face to face encounter.

Don't worry this is not the encounter you have seen in movies. But more or less there would be some question shootings and a rapid fire round. So better be prepared to save yourself.

So how to perform, how to talk in a personal interview, lets discuss. As mentioned in the earlier article "How To Crack Telephonic Interview", interviews are just about the matching mechanism between your knowledge and the organizational requirement. Building a bridge between this two is your job at the interview. In person interview is a place where the employers tries to see your actual potentials in respect of the following details;

1. Knowledge in respect to the projects' worked.
2. Domain knowledge or expertise of a particular environment.
3. Your learning pace.
4. Your contribution to past projects.
5. Problem solving ability.

Also there might be some personal questions particularly on your likes dislikes regarding your current assignment and understanding why you are going for a change.

Just to keep in mind, as a good start always gets a lead during the entire race, similarly, giving a first good impression would surely give a spark to your selection possibility. So make sure you strike right at every opportunity you get. Let's start with the basics, Dress Well: - Wear clean nicely pressed (ironed) formal clothes with matching shocks and polished shoe and of course belt. You can also wear a Tie but it is not a mandatory. Though most organizations do not have a dress code but when it comes to interview, most of them still prefer a person who is professionally dressed. Make up well: - Well what is this, make up for interview, give me a break, are you out of your mind, I am going to appear for interview and not shooting for a movie. Relax, I know this, just try to imagine you are the interviewer and you get the option to select one of the two, who are having equally good potentials. The only difference is that one is unshaved, with untrimmed and uncombed hair. The other one is nicely shaved with businessmen's haircut and has taken time to comb his hair neatly..

Do take time to do a basic make up of your pleasant face, it definitely impresses if the person at the other end is of opposite gender.

Bring with you a good notepad (paper) and a pen (make sure it is writing to save you from last minute embarrassment).

Reach the place of meeting before time, a 10-15 minutes before time arrival is a good gesture to show that you respect time. As you reach the place, greet the interviewer with a firm repeat FIRM hand shake. You might be offered drinks as a gesture of courtesy; I would gently decline the offer with Thanks. You would be then escorted to the meeting room and then the session would start. First there would be some informal questions on whether was there any difficulty to find the place and then there would be a brief introduction about the group and the task they perform in that group. After this the interviewer would like to hear from you. First and the most frequently asked question is "Tell me about yourself"? Try to match the same (a bit more elaborately) you mentioned during the telephonic interview, if there was no prior screening process, give a brief introduction on the following aspects.

Your work experience in the industry with areas of expertise and position held Your current position, project and role/responsibility attached to it. Technology used in your current project.

While talking on these aspects, try to emphasize on things which are mentioned in the requirement description for this job, to give a signal that you have, what they need.

At this time the interviewer would get into serious business and start asking about your knowledge and skills. Some companies have standard format but some interviewer go beyond it. Whatever be the case, do not get too tempted to answer anything you know nor get nervous when you do not know something. Some interviewers like to hear a NO to feel happy that they know more than what you know. While answering give ample number of examples and make sure that the person at the other end understands what you say. Use your notepad or if there is a writing board present, use it to explain your points. This tells that you do not have stage fear and you are quite sure of what you say. Also sometimes you would be asked to do it, just to see your presentation skills.

While talking about your Domain, stress also on the business aspect of it this would let the interviewer know that you know what you are doing and "why" you are doing. Do not disclose all the business policies that you have learned thought out the years. Just say, that you have signed a non-discloser agreement with your current company and shorten your answer. There might be questions regarding how fast you can adapt yourself and whether you are a self starter, talk confidently about it and mention examples from the past project.

The most critical situation comes in a personal interview, when you would be given a problem on a piece of code/design/bug and you would be asked to solve it without a time limit. Do not think that you can sit there for the rest of your life to solve it. Try solving it with a bit of pace but do it with patience. If you see there is more than one solution, discuss all of them with positive and negative points and your choice of solution. If you see you are not able to solve it entirely, just mention that it is very interesting problem and show the way you approach to solve it. Try taking notes of important questions and also if you do not know any of the answers say it firmly. You can also ask back to the interviewer but do not hammer on it. Not all good interviewers like to teach the interviewee. Just take a note of it and try to find out the answer later. While suggesting a solution if you can give solid reasons behind your logic, there is nothing better than this. Use diagrams to make your presentation loud and clear.

Finally, you might be asked whether you have any questions to ask. It is better to ask about the role and responsibilities you are going to be hired for. It is not a very good practice to ask about your performance right then and there. If there is a chance the interviewer might ask questions like "What is the notice period for your current employment" or "How soon you can start with the Job". Questions like this, gives a clear indication that you are one of their choices. Give genuine answers, even if you are free (job less) say that "at least a week notice would do but let me talk to the current employer".

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