How to excel in an Interview - V

I fail to understand why do I get rejected in an Interview?

                  Now as we have successfully figured out as to how to answer “Tell me something about yourself?”, we are successful in creating a positive inquisitiveness in the mind of our interviewer. Now the interviewer starts thinking in the line like ‘give me a few more reasons to just stamp you as a select’. Hence, what’s next? Next is the testing of specific skills of yours, suitable for the job. No matter what sort of questions would be coming up next, they would all be checking out on your skills on offer - in detail. Hence, here you don’t necessarily need to mug up 100 different kinds of answers to the most common interview questions, with an expectation to remember the best one for the time to come. From heron strategizing the process is what that best works.

How to excel in an Interview - IV

Tell me something about yourself?

This is the question you must have encountered numerous times during your career path and might be hearing it many more times in the years ahead. This is actually the “on your marks, get set go!” of the interview. Before this, you and your interviewer were just settling down in their respective positions. It is also projected in some more polished manner like, “run me through your resume” or “walk me through your background” or “tell me what is not in your resume” and many more variations of it. Basically, this is an icebreaking question of the interviews and also the base of all the questions that will be hurled at you during the conversation ahead. It is also termed as a “positioning statement” by many interview coaches.

How to excel in an Interview - III

First Impression

How to conduct yourself at the reception area.

         It may sound inquisitive as to “What the hell! Do they watch us at the reception area also?” The answer is no. Nobody watches the visitors at the reception area until its some kind of an intelligence agency. You have to keep in mind that all your preparations in form of your imaginative interview actually starts taking shape right there at the reception area of the organization that you are attending the interview for. Let me assure you that at least half the chance of the interview to be a success or a failure is set up there in the mind of the interviewee right there at the reception area where you are waiting for your turn. If you don’t believe me, just remember the thoughts which were going on in your mind while waiting for an interview in the reception area from your most recent of the experiences, if you can recall.

How to excel in an Interview – II

As I had suggested that we will move on the topic with the flow of the day so that we can take up each and every aspect as it comes by and hence we will start with the first thing for the day i.e.

Getting ready for the day! 

Have a good night sleep before the interview day

It is easier said than done but try to think about other things in order to get a good night sleep otherwise it will only add to your stress and you may even sit up in the middle of the night to revise a certain hopeless topic that you are not able to recall. You have had so many days to think and recreate your interview in mind and you cannot change anything at the last moment. You should look fresh and ready for the day.

How to excel in an interview - I?

           Getting through an interview is the biggest nightmare of the intelligent and the dumb alike. You all must have felt nervy before an interview at some point or the other in your career. Must have also wished that you had answered that question differently or negotiated with the situation more tactfully.

Let’s face it.

Interviews are not normal conversations. Why? Because you are there in the hot seat and the interviewer is the authority figure that has all the power to select or reject you. This is scary, isn’t it? Panic creeps in with the fear of failure. The biggest mistake that the interviewees commit is that they over prepare for an interview and that to in the manner they prepare for their written tests and exams. All this preparation seems futile after coming out of that ordeal. It’s also difficult to actually assess as what went wrong because you either never get or wrongly get a feedback on how have you performed in an interview.

How to increase resume visibility on Job Portals? - III

Keyword Optimization

I apologize for not including the Keyword Optimization methodologies and techniques in the last post. I did that on purpose. First the post would have become lengthy and I wanted to discuss this at length covering all the aspects where the Keyword Optimization works.

Consider it in the same way as Search Engine Optimization (SEO). For those who are not aware of the term, it is the methodology by which one ensures that his/her website ranks higher on the various search engines, i.e. SEO increases the visibility of your Website on Search Engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN, Bing etc.

How to increase resume visibility on Job Portals? - II

In the last post we have realized how important a role our resume visibility on Job Portal plays in our chances of landing into our dream job and giving a direction to our career growth. Hence, without wasting much text I will start discussing about the various factors that actually influence our resume visibility or ranking on the Job Portals how to use these factors in our favor. 

Common Mistakes we make while posting our profile on Job Portals:-

How to increase resume visibility on Job Portals? - I

How to increase my resume visibility on Job Portals?

How to get relevant interview calls?

How to grab maximum interview calls?

Such questions arise in your mind often when your resume is lying on all the major Job Portals and even then your mobile ain't disturbing you by calls from recruiters or maybe if there are calls, they are for irrelevant job openings. 

FAQ on Labour Rights - II

    1.       What to do if I am working on direct contract with a PSU without any increment for three years?

Ans: According to the section 25B of Industrial Disputes Act 1947, if an employee is in continuous service for a period if he is, for that period, in uninterrupted service, including service which may be interrupted on account of sickness or authorised leave or an accident or a strike which is not illegal, or a lock- out or a cessation of work which is not due to any fault on the part of the workman; he shall be deemed to be in continuous service under an employer, for a period of one year, if the workman, during a period of twelve calendar months preceding the date with reference to which calculation is to be made, has actually worked under the employer for not less than two hundred and forty days (240 days).

FAQ on Labour Rights - I

    




  
1.     What are the Laws & Acts under which the rights of employees are commissioned?


Ans:
1.1               The Factories Act, 1948
1.2               The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947
1.3               Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, 1986
1.4               Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1976
1.5               The Employment Exchanges (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act, 1959
1.6               Apprentices Act, 1961
1.7               Employees Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952
1.8               The Employees State Insurance Act (ESI Act), 1948
1.9               Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972
1.10            Payment of Bonus Act, 1965
1.11            Payment of Wages Act, 1936

2.       Are employment bonds at the time of joining, legal?

FDI in Retail Sector

I think there are two categories of citizens in India - Politicians and Non-politicians. Whenever, some special qualities like telling blunt lies without hesitation and repentance, mending ways by hook or by crook, sycophancy, being manipulative etc. starts to show in a child, family members proudly say – he/she will become a politician one day. What more to say about this category. Words may look for cover with shame. They are such people who give a new meaning to the word “confidence”. With crisp currency notes popping out of their pockets, they can be heard saying, “If I have taken even a penny, hang me.” Sometimes I feel that it’s our eyes that are seeing things.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on Resume Writing

Here are some common Frequently Asked Questions regarding Resume Writing and responses from the point of view of the Recruiters and Interviewers.

1      What is Resume for you? What is a recruiter’s definition of a resume

Ans : Resumes are the eyes of the recruiters through which they look at the world (corporate world), feel and judge.  An irrelevant and loosely prepared resume can be a big turn off for a recruiter and a perfectly matching, appropriately informative resume is the bread and butter for a recruiter. It is a multipurpose tool of a recruiter. They not only look at candidates profile in a resume but they judge and follow the market and industry trend, even the technology enhancement and up gradation. Now you can very well understand the significance of a resume for a recruiter. You may be amazed, how precisely a real recruiter can judge a person by his resume.

Know about your Resume?

“Hey Ravi! Come over! See this.” Bikash’s head could be seen popped up above his cubicle.

Ravi immediately pressed ctrl+alt+del on his keyboard and rushed to his side. He knew by Bikash’s sarcastic smile that he must have encountered something funny. It was common among them and actually a refuge for them from the arduous work of selecting relevant Resumes from the heap. Ravi could see the most common site of his life i.e. a resume on Bikash’s screen.  His eyes immediately started searching for that funny thing but everything seemed normal.

“Read through the resume?” Bikash asked looking up at Ravi’s curious face.

The increasing menace of Unemployable Graduates - III (Parenting)

Last related post : The increasing menace of Unemployable Graduates - II

This is a story that I think everybody would be aware of and might have read or heard during their childhood. However, let me refresh your memory.

There was a man who lived in a small town with his small family of three - he, his wife and their only son. They were leading a fairly simple life. The boy was a brilliant student who was doing quite well in his academics but his father never seemed to be happy with his efforts and result. The boy loved his parents a lot and wanted to see them happy but his father’s discontent with his academic result always bothered him.

Phd. - II

..........Contd. from Phd. - I

In all this heated discussion the main question perhaps was left behind. Yes! You may also be wondering why Shalini chose this topic. Yes, there is a story behind this. Every individual has some stories in life – some said, some unsaid. The unsaid ones remain suppressed deep in our heart and there can be as many reasons for it. For some it is the fear of society and for some it is fear of family reputation, some are suffering from the feeling of guilt and some are leading a dual life. I wonder what type of uproar it will create in the society when all these unsaid stories of life are disclosed. Many a times there is a very ugly story behind the beautiful lives of people.

Phd. - I

Phd.

All eyes turned to her. There was admiration in men’s eyes and envy in women’s. She was the centre of attraction. Why not? She was looking stunningly beautiful in a light blue chiffon saree and light pink sleeveless blouse. Her free flowing long hair was falling below her waist. She had a very light makeup on but it was her dazzling smile which made her face lit up.

India Against Corruption Movement - Victory

When Anna Hazare broke his fast after 12 long days by accepting juice from a Dalit and a Muslim girl, there was a sigh of relief for all, though it did not carry the reasons alike.  The PM was relieved that he would not have to make another speech in the Parliament to prove that he existed, the council of ministers were relieved that they will not be forced to eat their own words further on an hourly basis, the MPs were relieved that they escaped further humiliations from the dais of Ramlila ground, people concerned about Anna’s health were relieved for the right reason, people who had lost hope on the right consciousness of the Govt. were relieved that the consciousness finally prevailed, the first timer middle class revolutionary was relieved because they couldn’t have continued to overlook their busy day to day life any further.

The increasing menace of Unemployable Graduates - II (Education System)

90% of Graduates, 75% of Engineering Graduates and 77% of MBAs in India are unemployable.

The above figures are official and have been arrived through certain surveys. The question is that how have the officials arrived at these specific figures?

This is the average percentage of candidates that are rejected from the number of applicants. The final figure has been arrived after collating the facts and figures from various employers across the industry.

I would like to question this approach to arrive at such disheartening numbers. I had cited an incident from my personal experience in my last post, giving an insight about the recruitment & selection process followed in the industry for you to understand the shortcomings.

Through my questions I will discuss all the problems that actually looms over the future of our youth and in turn our country.

Should our school and colleges train the students for our industry over and above the basic education that they provide?

The increasing menace of Unemployable Graduates - I

“What made you go for Engineering in Computer Science?” I asked stretching back in my chair expecting an interesting answer from the fresh engineering graduate sitting in front of me in the conference room.

He was at ease by then due to my unconventional way of conversation during an interview. He smiled and I smiled back tweaking my eyebrow encouraging him to answer.

“Because I like computers.” was his answer. He was aware that it was not enough.

A Day in a Fresher's Life - Inference

Read: A Day in a Fresher's Life - III

You must have inferred so many things on reading the emotional narrative of a Fresher in search for a job. I received so many feedbacks on the narrative and everybody identified with the protagonist in some way or the other.  That reveals that at some point in our life most of us have gone through a similar phase in life. So what did we learn from that? Can we ask this question from ourselves?