Campus Placements : Ace Your Interviews

Interviews are crucial when it comes to campus placements. It is an integral part of any recruitment drive and candidates are tested for things like : communication skills, behavior, personality, ability to work hard and work under pressure, cope with transfers during the job, problem solving abilities, and your knowledge and leadership qualities.

We must understand that interviews are more of a one-on-one interaction, a conversation between two people and are not something to be scared of. Whether or not you believe us, in an interview YOU have the power to steer this conversation in a favourable direction. However, more often than not candidates give in to the pressure and forget this very essential point!

Understand this:-

Why do organisations interview candidates?

While aptitude tests may help in finding the right person for the job, an interview helps a recruiter find the person best suited for a company.

And for that exact reason, an interview is aimed at getting to know ‘YOU’ better. The  interviewer wants someone who will fit in the culture and work environment of their organisation. He/ she wants to gauge how would you react to various situations that might arise at the workplace and whether you would make a good ‘colleague’, without making it too explicit.

In this post, we would give you tips to help you perform exceptionally in your interviews.

First of all, take care of the following external factors to avoid any nervousness on their account.

• Dress appropriately : Casual clothes must absolutely be avoided. Your attire determines the kind of first impression you will give your employers. So make sure you make a good one!
• Good Body Language : Sit up straight, don’t slouch! Maintaining a good body posture indicates that you are eager and attentive. Do not indulge yourself in nail-biting, fidgeting, shaking legs, playing with your resume/pen/hair, etc. Nod when required and maintain strong eye contact with the interviewer(s) and smile. And trust us on this one, it goes a long way.
• Know the Company Better- Before appearing for an interview, you should ensure that you have a good knowledge of the company, of their work culture and recent news related to that organisation (if any).
• Know YOURSELF & your RESUME better- What we mean to say is that you should know what your strengths and weaknesses are. You should be able to come up with real life stories that are indicative of those strengths. You should know why did you make certain career decisions. Hence, an introspection, is a must! Also, most of the starting questions are regarding the projects or activities mentioned in your resume. Hence, make sure you know the how & why of each and every word on that piece of paper.

Campus Placement Interview Preparation: What factors matter during an interview?

Consider the following image:

As you can see from the picture, poor communication skills and improper body language are major reasons why candidates are rejected in an interview. Hence, the ability to clearly express your thoughts is critical.

A great way of doing that is interviewing yourself. Start with asking yourself a simple question like: ‘what are your strengths’, while standing in front of a mirror and cross question yourself. Note your body language, if there is any shaking or fidgeting; make a conscious effort to stop it.

Campus Placement Interview Preparation : Tips For Technical Interviews

One of the most dreaded part of campus placement interviews is the “Technical Interviews“. Many a times you will be asked questions you don’t know how to answer or don’t know the correct answer to. However, keeping quiet in a such a situation is absolutely the worst thing to do!

Consider the following approaches to a difficult question:-

First of all, do not panic! Understand that if the interviewer has asked you such a question, he probably knows the effect it might have on you and just wants to see how you react under stress. Don’t simply blurt out “I don’t know.”

Try the following:-

1. Thinking Out Loud (Approach 1)

This is by far the most effective way of tackling such a situation. And most of the times, your prospective employer will ask you such a question only to understand your way of thinking.

So after you’ve taken a few minutes to gather your thoughts on the question, state them, out loud in a logical manner. Explain what you think, how you think and why do you think so.

If it helps you to write things out do that. Explain on the whiteboard in the room, if there is one. This gives the interviewer the opportunity to step in and offer a hint. Work out the logic as you go along to show the interviewer how you are thinking about the question and possible solutions.

2. Redirect (Approach 2)

No matter how hard you try to attempt such a question, it may seem that you’re only beating around the bush. Here, one should try to bring in similar topics you’re thorough with. Try to tell them what you do know but at the same time bring up other topics that you are more familiar with.

For instance, you are asked a question about ‘Net Neutrality in India’ and you just know the very basic answer, that internet access (for all sites) won’t be free. Now, both you and the interviewer know that this is not enough. So, what you can do is say what you know and then start talking about how it will impact the economy’s growth especially when India is a developing country and how access to the Internet is crucial for the same.

This way, you have redirected the question to a topic you know a good deal about without really giving away that you didn’t know the answer to the question asked in the first place. 

Remember that you have the power to steer an interview in the direction you want based on what you say.

Campus Placement Interview Preparation : Commonly Asked Questions

Non- technical questions

1. Introduce yourself.
2. What is your favorite subject and why?
3. Why do you want to work for us?
4. If company X offers you a better package than us, what would you do?
5. Would you be OK to work in shifts?
6. What have you done in your project?

Technical questions

1. What do you mean by 3NF in DBMS? 
2. What is join in DBMS?
3. What is pass by value and pass by reference? 
4. What is Operating System?
5. Difference between C++ and Java.
6. What is pointer? 
7. They asked some tricky questions on pointer.
8. Also asked to write double linked list programs. 

Click here to prepare for the technical test NOW!

Some quick tips:

• Be thorough with your project. 
• Your favorite subject should be the one you’re most confident in.
• Have knowledge about the company.
• Be confident.

Hope this helps.

All the best!