Watch below an interesting video recording of an interview for a marketing position.
Here are few important dos and donts that can be drawn from this video. Make a mental note of these points before appearing for a job interview.
Dos
- Convert negative to positive
The lady being interviewed in the video hails from a farm. In the second version of her interview where she does well, she puts across a point that she earned the qualities of being a straight talker, knows to work in a team and has the ability to plan rough conditions ahead owing to have grown up in a farm. This is how you convert a weak point into a strength. - Ask interesting questions
Come prepared with a list of questions to be asked at the end of the interview. Ask questions that make you sound interested in the job rather than asking about paid leaves or other allowances. You could ask about career opportunities, growth and responsibilities.
Donts
- Don’t be desperate
Don’t show verbally or in actions that you are desperately looking for a job. Remember that recruiters avoid candidates who show desperateness to get a job. They tend to attribute the candidate’s over-interest to unfitness for securing a job elsewhere. - Don’t complain
The lady in the interview introduces herself with a complaint. She tries to rationalize her delay in turning up to the interview by blaming the unclear instructions given by the employer to her. Later in the video, she blames her previous employer for not valuing her work. Don’t talk such things. It gives a really bad feeling about you to the interviewer. - Don’t tell your negatives
Know your negative points yourself first before doing the interview. It could be anything ranging from a gap in career to scoring poor grades in college to not having relevant experience. Avoid speaking about your weak points yourself. Would you buy a cola drink if they had advertised that their product contained pesticides and fats? - Don’t assert without evidence
You should be able to reason out why you are the best candidate for the job. Simply asserting statements that you are “a committed person with excellent work ethic” does not help. Try to give evidences from your previous experiences when you excelled at work. Support your statements with proofs.
About the Author: Sridhar Jammalamadaka is the Editor of Interview Mantra. He's a typically non-typical Software Engineer from Pune, India. He likes entrepreneurship, web technologies and Micro Controller programming. He enjoys playing cricket and piano (but rarely does these activities). Through this website, he wishes to gather a large community of aspiring engineers, entrepreneurs and professionals from all parts of the globe. You can connect with him on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/sridhar.j