What is Personal Interview? How To Crack It?

Introduction

personal interview is basically a meeting organized by a recruiter in which he evaluates a potential employee for prospective employment. However, this meeting should be considered as a two-way process between the candidate and the interviewer. The interviewer looks to find out how well the candidate could do the job and fit in with their organization and team and the candidate aims to show that they are the best person for the job and for the organization.

A personal interview should be considered as the time to shine and to sell your candidature in an efficient and warm manner.

What goes on in a personal interview?

Job interviews are usually face-to-face meetings however, in recent times, telephone interviews and Skype interviews have become more commonplace especially in uncertain times of covid.  Interviews last approximately 25-30 mins, although telephonic interviews may be slightly shorter. But it all depends upon the nature of conversation two parties get into i.e, mostly the profile you have applied to. Depending on the type of job you have applied for and the seniority of the role, the interview panel may vary between one to four rounds and may be followed by an assessment task. Usually, the more senior the job, the wider the composition of the panel.

Personal Interviews are a means of two-way communication between the recruiter and the candidate in which a meaningful conversation leads to a productive understanding and contract between the two.

Now if you are still wondering after the above technical definition about What Personal Interview really are? How to face personal interviews? Why do companies conduct them? And most importantly, how to crack them!

Now, the above explanation is sufficient to understand – what does a personal interview (PI) mean. These interview sessions with eligible candidates have become so important and prominent in today’s job sector that there’s absolutely no company hiring new candidates without this crucial step – Personal Interview!

Read all of the below steps to know how to crack an interview carefully. After reading this article there won’t be any doubt. You can surely crack all the interviews easily without hesitation or anxiety.

Quick steps to help you tackle most situations during your D-Day.

1) Be Careful While Creating Your Resume

The purpose of your CV is to show your interviewer- why you are the best person for this job. Your CV is the first thing that goes to the interviewer representing your candidature. This is the first impression for you to get the job. And remember – ‘The First Impression is the Last Impression’. If a person is inattentive in making his CV, then he has a lot of chances to lose the job in the CV Screening round. Making CVs well is also important because it reflects you as a tentative employee for the company. Make sure to include these pointers while drafting your CV –

(a)Your CV should look professional. Use a template if confused!

(b) Use bullet points instead of big paragraphs; these motivate the interviewer to read CV more.

(c) Ensure no spelling mistakes.

(d)Try to highlight those points which are related to this job.

2) Put Yourself in place of Employer

Think about what you would have looked for in an ideal candidate if you were an interviewer is the third step for how to crack interviews. Try to understand the specific need of the job. Carefully go through the Job Description and you can showcase the qualities that are needed to fulfill the qualifications. For example: If you are going for a marketing job, then you can highlight your traveling hobby, but if you are going for the job of operations then you should not highlight it. Depending on the different job requirements, you can change your CV, and make it even more effective by emphasizing the pointers that can be relevant to the employee during the PI round.

3) Prepare Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):

Some questions are very common in job interviews, which are asked in almost every interview. Prepare such questions properly before going to face the interviewer with your file of skills!

Some of the Frequently Asked Questions during a Personal Interview Round are :

1. Tell me about yourself?
2. Do you want to ask any questions? (Asked at the end of the interview.)
3. What’s your current job and role?
4. Why do you want to join this company?
5. Why did you leave your recent job?
6. What are your weaknesses/strengths?
7. Why should we choose you over other candidates?
8. What’s your biggest achievement so far?

4) Run the entire interview process several times in Mind

The fourth way for how to crack an interview is to run the entire interview process several times in mind before you actually present yourself. By doing this the mind becomes very clear about many things. The most important part of this is to visualize you interacting with the interviewer. By doing this many times such questions come to mind, whose answers you might not have prepared. Sit and prepare yourself more with patience.

5) Focus on Non-Verbal Communication

What we communicate reaches the front in two ways, Verbally and Non-Verbally.  Verbal communication, i.e., what you speak, or write whereas non-verbal communication includes- in what tone do you speak, your way of sitting, eye contact, even your dressing sense. Remember, only 20% of our total communication is verbal and 80% non-verbal. Therefore, it is very important to pay attention to this 80%. While interacting with the interviewer, you have to pay attention to a few things:

• Seeing that you are genuinely interested in this job, you can dress up well and reach the venue from time to time.
• Your voice should not be dull, it is very important to show enthusiasm and confidence.
• A light smile is important when you meet for the first time, and you should keep a friendly gesture even during the interview.
• Your enthusiasm for the job will be clear from your preparation, so do your homework well and go for an interview. Specially, you should have a good knowledge of the company, and current developments related to your field.

Few Quick Personal Interviews Tips

1. Instead of answering a question with incorrect knowledge about the topic, reply – ‘I don’t know’ in the interview. Be humble and state that you are not aware of the facts.
2. To answer the most frequently asked question – ‘Tell me something about yourself’. Talk briefly about your family, education, career goals, hobbies, and interests, educational background, and future plans.
3. To answer the interview question– ‘Where do you see yourself five years from now?’ Talk about skills development, increased responsibility while highlighting your goals as achievements.
4. Be polite in an interview. Sometimes interviewers make you go through a stress interview to check your patience and stress management.
5. During the interview, try to drive the interview towards your areas of strength. This will help you establish yourself in the room with self-confidence among the interviewers.
6. Don’t lose composure and stay calm. There may be moments when you don’t know the correct answer to the question asked. Only by being calm, you can tackle such situations.
7. Maintain an erect body posture and positive body language. This is such an important non-verbal communication during a personal interview.
8. Be thorough with your CV so that you know anything is asked from your resume.

Final Thoughts

The crux is – Personal Interviews whether conducted by companies for job applications or my Colleges for higher education applications (mostly MBA), the basic purpose is to interact with a set of shortlisted candidates to know how well they fir into the job description or the college vision.