Dear Friends,
Welcome to Anbusivam’s Blog.
Are you in the final year of your graduation…? Are you waiting for your placements…? Are you a fresh graduates appearing for an interview…?
Here are some thoughts and experiences based on my encounters with thousands of engineering graduates in my profession. Some general Interview Tips for Fresh Engineering Graduates in their final year appearing for campus interviews.
First and foremost, “What is an Interview…?”. From placement perspective, “Interview is a formal meeting, in which one or more persons from an organisation evaluate or assess the qualifications and abilities of a person who could be a prospective employee of the organisation”. From my grandfather’s, the first and foremost question asked in any interview is “Tell me about your self”. Most of the times students are trained by some external training agencies who teach in a systematic way of how to handle this first question. Students write down few points about themselves in the same systematic order and memorize the same. When they fail to clear the the interview, then they think “Why am I not selected inspite of me answering the way I was taught..?”.
I am listing down some important Interview Tips for Freshers as below:
1. Decide what you want in life:
Many of the young graduates I’ve interacted are not really clear on what they want in life. They just attend the first company that comes for hiring in their campus and go on until they are placed. Very rarely I see students preparing seriously and sincerely for one or two core engineering companies of their area of interest. Most of the others just go with the crowd without any great ambitions. Kindly remember “A ship without a clear target destination will be taken by the natural strides to any unwanted shore”.
“Without goals, and plans to reach them, you are like a ship that has set sail with no destination.”
You are the captain of your own ship called career, decide where you want to go, understand the ways and means to reach that destination, work hard with sincere commitment towards reaching the goal.
- Identify your core area of interest
- Identify few of the best companies working in that area
- Check who are all hiring among them
- Talk to some of your seniors who are working there already
- Understand their hiring process, written test question patterns, interview pattern, selection process, etc
- Spend all your time and energy, with sincere commitment and ambition to prepare for the interview
2. Do Your Homework:
Just don’t walk into campus hiring programme without knowing anything about the organisation. Do a simple Google search just to see what you can find about the company in the web, it’s history, business, products and services, customers and it’s leadership team. Visit the company’s website, search for it in social media sites, talk to the existing and former employees of the organisation to understand it better. Make sure that you also use the information collected during the interview appropriately.
3. Rehearse Beforehand:
Some of the very commonly asked questions are “Tell me about yourself”, “What are your strengths and weaknesses?”, “Why do you want to work in this company?”, “Why should we hire you?”, “What are your hobbies?”, “What are your career goals?” etc. Conduct mock interviews with your teachers or trusted friends. Do as many rounds as possible. Do a through rehearsal beforehand. Also be prepared to face some unexpected questions as well.
4. Tell me about yourself:
Answer this question in a most creative way, rather than going by the same monotonous, boring, systematic details which is already there clearly printed in your resume. Please understand that the very purpose of this question is just to make you comfortable and to start the conversation. Interviewer will get to know more about you based on which he will ask his next further questions.
- Clearly pronounce your name and tell how you would like to be called.
- Give a precise and only relevant information about yourself, your education, academic achievements, interests, hobbies and family.
- Very personal details are not really important.
5. Come with a Pleasant Smile:
As you enter the interview room, look straight into the eyes of the interviewer with a pleasant smile. Simple smile opens up the bridge between two persons and that also makes each other comfortable for further discussions. A smile shows not only confidence, but a pleasant nature. As a human being, it is very common that we would love to talk to a person who has a good smile rather than a stiff person. Smiling will actually help you feel more relaxed, feel positive, and good about any situation. It will also reduce your interview fear and anxieties.
6. Be Confident and Energetic:
Bring in lots of energy when you enter the interview room, have a firm hand shake and be confident. Entering the interview room with full of energy, enthusiasm and motivation is always wonderful. Energy must be sparkling from your body, there must be this sparkle in your eyes. It should automatically demonstrate your determination and enthusiasm about the job.
7. It’s Really Ok to Say “I Don’t Know”:
Please remember, it is not that you are supposed to know everything. It is absolutely fine to say “Sorry, I Don’t Know”. Having said that, please also remember that you should also show the confidence that given a chance you will be able to quickly learn the same. Do not ever try to fabricate the answer with what you really don’t know. Most interviewers will appreciate your honesty if you say I don’t know rather than trying to give some worthless attempt to fabricate the answer which will obviously understood by the interviewer.
Please share your interview experiene here as comments for the benefit of other students.
Wishing you all a wonderful placements.
Thanks for Visiting my Page.
With Love,
Anbusivam
