Etiquette for Placement Interview

Go for a mock exercise before the real talk at the job table Hone your interview etiquette................ Churn the right mix of deportment, attitude and dressingskills for a great job talk ! Never make the big mistake of treating an interview lightly. It's not an impromptu thing where you depend on your improvisation skills. An interview requires careful thought and planning before you take it. Keeping in mind some basic attitudes and presentation techniques will help you sail through it with panache. So if you thought that going for an interview just meant pulling your best suit out of the wardrobe and updating your resume, please think again. You are forgetting the other essentials: body language, basic etiquette and attitude. Remember that you are actually selling an entire package and the packaging, in this case, is as relevant as the product inside. Ultimately you are presenting yourself as a valuable professional to a new job environment. And you can't do that without minding the basic interview etiquette to get you ahead of the rest of the pack. An interview is the sum total of many parts. It's not just what you say but how you say it that matters equally. So it's good to brush up on more than just your training skills when you do go in for an interview.

ATTIRE
How you dress for an interview is perhaps as relevant as the way you lay out your resume. Says Nina Kochar of Upgrade Management Services, an organisation which coaches' executives in the basic rules of corporate etiquette: "A person who is sloppy in appearance shows a sloppy personality, so you have to be decently dressed." Of course, decently dressed does not necessarily mean being dressed to the gills. In most cases, this would mean you would wear long sleeved shirts and a pair of formal trousers. In fact, Nina Kochar does not recommend suits, especially for younger people. "A lot of young people do not have the money to invest in suits, consequently, they wear ill-fitting or borrowed suits and that looks even worse. A tie, shirt and pant should do the trick for most junior level positions." Most HR experts would also tell you to mind the accessories like ties, belts and shoes. To be sure, badly matched shoes and ties can have a jarring effect on an interviewer. Similarly, please avoid heavy jewellery or personal accessories as they would look incongruous on you.

ENTRANCE AND INTRODUCTION

Even though most of us are primed for the basic grilling that we would face during the interview, we seldom pay attention to the way we enter an interview room or how we introduce ourselves. Says Subhashish Mitra, deputy manager, Essar Cellphones: "A lot of people do not think it important to knock properly while entering the interview room. They assume that as an interview is taking place, the panel will be expecting them. To my mind this is a very major faux pas which really jars."

In fact, the best way to enter an interview is to knock, ask for permission to enter and then wait for a while before you actually sit down. Few interviewees know this but the interview panel needs a little quiet time to discuss the previous candidate before they get around to the next one. So your silence till you actually get seated would be very valuable. Try and keep a bag with you for all your papers and certificates; make sure this bag is an unobtrusive as possible.

ATTITUDE AND RESPONSE

This is a grey area for most interview candidates. While dressing up and resume writing are skills you can Go for a mock exercise before the real talk at the job table handle with a little practice, cultivating the right attitude as an interviewee requires a lot of patience and reading between the lines. The usual complaint of most interviewers is that few interviewees are able to stri perhaps the best thing you can do for getting your answer right. Most interviewers like to give a lead to the candidate in the way they ask the question, so it's entirely up to you to note facial expressions and the tone of the words. Do you show your certificates immediately to the interview panel? Not till you are asked actually. You might already have sent in your resume, so you shouldn't try and offload all your achievements and skills onto the panel till a turn in the interview leads to such a situation. Try and take cues from the tonal variations, facial expressions, and thrust of questions from the interview panel. That in itself will give you a clue as to where this interview is heading.

Way of Answering
Regardless of what type of question you are asked, you will find it easier to respond effectively if you keep in mind some basic question answering strategies: You can never predict every question that you will encounter, so approach the interview with an inventory of important points. Make a list of the points about yourself that you want the interviewer to know. For example, if you were to apply for a job as a Sales Representative, you might want to list the products you have sold before, types of customers (by industry, age, etc.), languages spoken, personal experience in that industry and related knowledge (perhaps from your academic program). Consider each question an opportunity to provide some of this information. Don't assume anything. You will be evaluated on your answers, not your resume. Therefore, ensure you incorporate the relevant information from your resume in your answers. Pause a couple of seconds before you respond to each question, even if you know exactly what you want to say. Take this time to quickly plan your answer, this helps to avoid misunderstandings and produces much more concise answers. If you don't understand a question, ask for clarification. This is expected and is preferable to providing an unsuitable answer. If you need time to collect your thoughts - take it. When people are nervous they tend either to "draw a blank" or to babble. It is better to think for a few moments and make sure that your answer is doing you justice and that there is a point to what you are saying.

Always expand. Never answer a question with a "yes" or "no." The interview is an opportunity for you to sell yourself. Don't be afraid to 'blow your own horn.' As long as you can back up what you are saying with examples which demonstrate that what you are saying is true, you are not bragging. Third party observations can also be mentioned. For example, "My last employer told me that I was promoted because of how I handled conflicts with clients." Be very positive. Don't complain about anything - from your former employer to the weather - and don't apologize for experience that you don't have. Just sell what you do have and let the employer decide if you have what he/she is looking for. Also, avoid negative words. For example, you would not say "I have a little experience...," you would say "I have experience......" Don't be afraid to repeat important points. In fact, it is a good idea to do this.

Basics to Remember
In addition to doing research and practicing your answers to common interview questions, you should be aware of general interview etiquette. Remember the following points when preparing for an interview: Review your resume, and make sure that you can explain everything on it. Arrive at the interview ten minutes early to give yourself an opportunity to collect your thoughts and relax. Be aware that many employers will have their receptionists record the time you came in. If you rush in at the last minute, an employer may have serious concerns about your ability to arrive on time for a normal day at work. Get a good night's sleep before your interview. You will think more effectively in the interview if you are rested. Also, yawning will not impress anyone. Eat something before the interview. If you are worried about your stomach growling, you will not be able to concentrate on the questions. Dress appropriately for the position that you are applying to. Try to dress like the people who work there would dress if they were representing their organization at some function. If you are unsure about what to wear, always err on the side of being too dressed up. Make sure that you are clean, neat, and well-groomed. Interviewers do notice your appearance, and first impressions are critical in an interview situation. Take a copy of your resume, transcript, references and perhaps a portfolio or work samples with you. Also take a pen and paper, as you may wan to record some important information.

TEN THINGS THAT AN INTERVIEWER LOOKS IN YOU!

1. Family Background 2. Education 3. Experience 4. Stability 5. Initiative 6. General Ability 7. Interpersonal Skills 8. Confidence 9. Aptitude 10. Pleasant Looks

How one wished that an interview were a simple meeting of minds and hearts. Just one casual meeting where an employee's future gets sealed. Unfortunately, it's not something as pre-ordained as you would like it to be; it's a pre-meditated exercise which fetches you dividends only if your homework is done right.

Some great tips on pitfalls of bad resume writing:

In our eagerness to obtain an job interview, we sometimes have a tendency to provide a prospective employer with inappropriate information that would be detrimental to us, resulting in both a loss of interest & an job interview. Keep in mind that a prospective employer, who must review 200 to 400 resumes for an advertised position, is busy & has to rule out or disqualify all but a handful of those resumes in an attempt to find only qualified candidates. If he or she can't easily find what they are looking for immediately (in 20 seconds), it probably will get discarded. In order to avoid having your resume land in the "round file," here are a few hints. Avoid nicknames, using your business name & middle initial. Don't try to impress or insult the employer with fancy words as you may frustrate them & perhaps have your resume rejected. Never include personal information such as age, race, gender, height, weight, religion, national origin, marital status, children, health, physical appearance, or a photograph of yourself. Do not handwrite your resume. Typewriters are fine, but a computer & printer should be used if possible. Be sure to use tabs instead of the space bar when typing. In your Objective, never tell an employer what YOU expect out of a job -- only what you can contribute. Keep in mind that it's not up to the employer to motivate you & present challenges . it's up to YOU. If you mention in your objective that you wish to advance within the organization, this could work against you in that the position for which you are interviewing may be a dead-end job. If using a Profile, don't include the same information listed on the resume. When listing your current & past employers, omit street names, zip codes, telephone numbers, & the names of supervisors. You really shouldn't go back any further than 10 to 15 years regarding employment, unless it is directly related to the position for which you are applying. When listing job duties, don't use sentences or paragraphs, as you don't want to be too wordy & bore the reader. Instead, use bullets without punctuation, maintaining consistency throughout. Don't eliminate a previously held job just because it doesn't relate to your career goal. You don't need to elaborate -- just mention it -- as you don't want a gap in employment. Never divulge the reasons why you left each place of employment nor your availability to begin working for the company -- both of which should be discussed in the job interview.

 Don't place Education before Employment unless you are a current or soon to be graduate or have received your degree within the last two years, unless your education relates to the position for which you are applying. Don't include your GPA unless it is at least 3.0 or higher. Salary or wage should never be mentioned until an offer is presented at the job interview & only if brought up by the prospective employer. The only exceptions would be if salary history or requirements are mentioned in the ad, in which case you need to follow the directions given. Hobbies & personal interests should be omitted unless they represent your career goal, such as "golfer" for a position at a golf course. Never list your references or the words "references furnished upon request" as this is an insult to the prospective employer's intelligence. Of course you will provide these if he or she requests them -- which wouldn't be until after your job interview. So why give them information they may not need? Don't forget to put your name on the second page, in case it separates from the first page. Don't use cheap paper, carbons or onionskin. Don't use wild or bright colors for your resumes, as you want to remain conservative andbusiness-like. Upon completion of your resume, have your copies professionally reproduced -- not on a copy machine. Don't submit a resume longer than two pages. Never print on two sides of the same paper. Make sure there are no typographical or grammatical errors, erasures, white outs, scratched out or rewritten text, & that your paper isn't dirty, ripped, ink-marked, stained or wrinkled. Check that your verb tense is proper, using past & present tense when appropriate. To keep the professional image, it is suggested that you don't staple your resume. Prior to sending your resume, check to see if you placed adequate postage on your envelope & put a return address on it. Don't forget to include a cover letter with your resume as this is expected in the business world. Keep in mind that you are marketing yourself with your resume. Be creative, honest & assertive. Before you mail your resume, review it one last time. Then ask yourself this question, "If I am a prospective employer, & I just read my resume, would I hire me?"