What do you like about current job?

Possible Intention:

• To know what kind of interest and passion you work with in current job.
• To know whether you have generally a cribbing attitude.

Insights:

• Keep in mind that you are going to leave this current job. Do not over glorify what you like.
• Introspect and keep this answer ready. There is definitely something you like about your current job, but you may have ignored it until now.

Example Answer:

1. I was involved in projects on testing of finance and healthcare related application. As I saw curious about financial markets, working on the financial project was fun. Working on different business domains and involvement in the load testing of production ready system, exposure to new testing was really exciting for me.
2. I am working on GBD group. Lot of security configuration, server hardening, technologies such as virtualization are part of regular work. It is really exciting to work with a new set of servers, provisioning and making the network more secure from hacking attempts.
3. I am working on .NET technology project. In the group there are technology discussion on design, architecture and deployment. Every week freshers like me, are supposed to research a topic and present how that technology can be used. This environment is very conductive for learning and it helps us to learn from each other.

Anti Pattern:

• "Nothing" is the worst answer. Since there are chances that this might happen in new job also.
• Do not talk about a specific person or situation which is peculiar to your previous job. If the new organization cannot provide what you like then your performance might be affected.

Interviewer's Interpretation:

• Something arbitrary irrelevant answer indicates you are not appreciative of good things.
• Non-enthusiastic answer shows cribbing attitude. It will be a "task" to motivate you.
• In the new job you would be happy about certain things and that would keep you motivated.

Why did you quit your last job so early?

Possible Intention:

• To know the reason for your job switch.
• To check if you are just a mercenary who works for whoever pays more.
• To know your experience that made you leave the previous job.

Insights:

• Be ready with a convincing answer. The interviewer is trying to judge whether to hire you or not, if you have left your previous job after a very short stint.
• Have a list of reasons which do not say bad things about your previous employer.
• If you have had disagreement with your previous employer, do not wash dirty laundry in public.
• Do not give a flippant reply. It shows that you are not a responsible person and do not take your job seriously.

Example Answers:

1. I had to leave in a very short period due to some family problems and continuing my job was not possible. Since I had not completed my probation, getting leave was difficult, when my family needed me the most. But I assure you that nothing of this sort will happen again now since the problem has been sorted out.
2. I had few disagreements with my manager in the earlier employment, and as I could not make compromise with my core believes, I thought it would be a good idea to seek out like-minded people who can foster those believes.
3. There was a gap between what I do with my life and what the organization needed, so rather than having a disturbance in my personal life as well as work envirnment, I decided to approach people with same vision as mine.

Anti Pattern:

• Do not say left because you did not like the work environment or the project that you were assigned. It may indicate that you are not adaptable.
• Do not say that you did not like working at the earlier organization and hence left the job.
• Do not elaborate and dwell on the problem you might have faced earlier.
• Do not portray yourself as a victim.

Interviewer's Interpretation:

• The interviewer may appreciate you honesty and forthrightness as long as you can justify what you core beliefs are.
• The interviewer will understand that you have the courage to take strong decision, but not out of malice.
• That you are a sincere, thoughtful and responsible person who is capable of taking the right decisions,

How long would you expect to work for us if hired?

Possible Intention:

• To know if you are seriously thinking of staying long term.

Insights:

• "I will stay until retire" is a good answer but very hard to believe today.
• You are not expected to give time period in years or months.
• Expectation is what you like and will keep you happily going in the organization.

Example Answer:

I am not a person who switches jobs very frequently. I like to do challenging work in technology which will give me pleasure of creating new solutions. I strongly believe that the kind of projects and technology your organization is into, can keep me in high spirits to continue working for longer period.

Anti Pattern:

• Do not say time period like five years etc. without any justification.
• Never say till you get challenging work rests with the employing organization.

Interviewer's Interpretation:

• Display the extra commitment can be regarded as falsity.
• Some indirect indication of time would be sweet music for interviewer's ears.

Interview Tips For Success

Here are some important tips for success in personal interview.

• While answering any question, be consistent with the information you have provided in the resume.

• Never tell untruth or manufactured stories. Be honest.

• No short answers of one or two words. It shows disinterest.

• When you state any fact, support it with the real data points or statistic. It strengths the answer.

• Come what may, ever answer should end with an upbeat note.[Even when asked about your failures.]

• Every question asked is an opportunity for you to narrate your success stories though the question may not directly demand so. Hence each of your response should contain a success story.

Do you have offers from other organizations?

These words from HR are most significant from interviewee's perspective. Interviewee's reply may leave a negative impact if not handled carefully. But on the other road it also gives a chance to proof your value to him.

Possible Intention:

• To know if you actually have offers from any other organization. If you are good, then the interviewer has to close the decision quickly.
• To know if any other organization has evaluated you and found you to be worthy.
• To know where recruiting organization is in the list of your preference.

Insights:

• Be truthful
• If you have offers in hand obviously the next question would be which organization you would choose and why.

Example Answer:

I have in 3-4 organizations and have given interviews. I have already one offer at hand and by end of this week, I am expecting another from one more organization. They are in the similar technology space. However, given a chance, I would like to work in your organization considering the kind of growth I can have. Your organization really works on different business domains and different technologies which is very exciting for me.

Anti Pattern:

• Do not lie to create an impression, it may backfire.
• Never disclose the name, position etc. if you have offers in hand. This can be useful later when you would negotiate salary.

Interviewer's Interpretation:

• If you have other offers then you might be a better choice.
• She/He has to take a quicker decision if you do well in the interview.

What are your views about polotics?

Politics is a trending topic since last decade. Politics has changed mindset of people as well as professionals. When politics is concerned in interviews, it has following possible intentions.

Possible Intention:

• To know if you are aware of latest happening which are related to you and might affect you in some way.
• To know if you can think and correlate the facts you know.
• To know if you have opinion and can state then firmly and support them. 
• To know if you have a habit of keeping yourself updated on regular basis.

Insights:

• Browse most read newspapers in printed format or on internet.
• Look at some important events in the last 8-10 days. And of these topics could be selected.
• While reading the news see what you agree with or disagree with. Try picking up some topic and give opinion on it as a practice.
• You need not be right or you are not expected to know everything in politics and economics etc. Interviewer judging your ability to assimilate information and opinions and draw your own inferences which you stand by.

Example Answer:

Though I do not have inclination of playing a participative role in politics, it is very important for social and Economic Development of the country. Due to lot of corruption and malpractices followed by political parties, generally educated youth is staying away from the politics and government. Politicians have enormous power in terms of sanctioned budgets to fund projects to build infrastructure power projects, educational reforms etc. Politics is being viewed as dirty game due to personal agendas rather than welfare of the country. In this era we still have people like Anna Hazare who selflessly work for people.

Anti Pattern:

• Keep it short and to the point though you may be aware of certain thing due to your background.
• Do not keep quiet if you do not know anything about it. Say so explicitly or ask the interviewer can I say something about "XYZ" thing which you have read recently and remembered.

Interviewer's Interpretation:

• If you can narrate well, you are well informed and and well read.
• You can assimilate information and draw inferences from it. This shows you have capability to draw good inferences and possibly take informed decisions.

Tell me about some situation which you consider as your failure.

Possible Intention:

• To know if you have courage and honesty to accept failure as your own.
• To know when you make a mistake do you learn from it.
• To know if you have the ability to own up responsibility without giving excuses.

Insights:

• Talk about the incidents that disappointed you and shed light on how you could have acted differently to change it if you were to be given a second chance.
• Do not try to shift the blame of the failure on somebody else's shoulders.

Example Answer: (For Freshers)

I had a possibility of securing First class with distinction during my SSC board examination. Due to loss of focus on my part, I missed scoring enough marks. However, I learnt a lesson; in HSC board exam I did not let that happen and scored more than 75 percent marks.

Example Answer:(For Experienced)

There was a bug which I was trying to fix on the last day of the delivery of the project. After 4-5 hours struggle, I could find out the bug and modified the required files. In hurry I forgot to add the correct file in the code repository. Before sending the code to the onsite, my lead tested the code on the sample basis and bug re-appeared. I was unable to understand why the same bug was not visible in my PC. I almost went into panic mode as it was my first project. My team lead sat with me to figure out the issue and we could get the correct  version of the file from my PC and use it in the release. I learnt to keep my head cool even in stress situation.

Anti Pattern:

Do not get into detailed explanation of why do you failed. Keep it simple and short. You are not supposed to be spending time remembering details of your failures.

Interviewer's Interpretation:

The interviewer is not really interested in knowing your failure but more so in your courage to failure and learning from it.