Some weeks ago, I had given a talk to our Indore and Ahmedabad students (Ahmedabad over our video link) about how to interview successfully for a job. I am not a total expert on the topic, but I have interviewed scores of candidates for various jobs, and I thought my experience might be helpful.
Here I recount the basic ideas that we discussed that day, in bullet points.
The five steps to clearing a job interview:
1. Know and feel the company
2. Know and feel the role
3. Decide and feel your “avataar”
4. Know the selection process
5. Perform well on the big day!
1. KNOW AND FEEL THE COMPANY
CHECKLIST for what you should know
a. What it does
b. How does it differentiate itself
c. Structure and size
d. Locations
e. Internal culture - which aspects is it proud of?
f. Clients
g. Competitors
Where to go for information?
a. Website
b. 3rd party sites – Hoovers, Fundoodata, etc.
c. Intelligent web searches
d. YouTube
e. If you are lucky, people you know
2. KNOW AND FEEL THE ROLE
CHECKLIST to understand completely the job offered:
a. Title
b. Job description
c. What you will do day to day
d. What skills they consider compulsory
e. What skills they consider "good to have"
f. Career path related to this job
g. Recruiter worries (e.g. is this a job where the biggest worry is that the candidate will get bored and move on?)
Sources of information:
a. Careful word-by-word reading of the job posting
b. Similar job postings on the Internet (e.g. naukri.com) by the same company or similar companies
FEEL the role - imagine yourself in that job.
3. DECIDE YOUR AVATAAR!
The 2-4 reasons why are you the best person for the job.
What might you have that they are they looking for?
a. Positive attitude?
b. Attention to detail?
c. Computer skills?
d. Patience and persistence?
e. Summer internship experience?
f. Process oriented mindset?
g. Specialized education?
h. Ability to communicate well?
i. Writing skills?
j. Long term view on salary?
Choose your avataar and address the interviewer always FROM, AND ONLY FROM, THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE JOB BEING OFFERED.
Tailor your resume so that it shows how you fit the job being offered.
Prepare yourself for the interview to show how you fit the job being offered.
4. KNOW THE SELECTION PROCESS
Don't be surprised. And if you are surprised, don't be. :-)
5. PERFORM WELL ON THE BIG DAY!
a. Show enthusiasm and eagerness
b. Dress very well - wear a new white shirt
c. Watch your mannerisms
d. Be comfortable, moderately polite and confident
e. Give your answers from the interviewer’s point of view!! Don't give general answers!
f. If you make a claim about yourself, explain why. (Not "I am a team player", but "I am a team player, which may come from playing in the college football team".)
g. Ask intelligent questions
h. Show you understand the company and the role being offered
i. Don't forget to offer references
j. Remember your avataar!
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Where is the law?
Some days ago, I came across this sign at Gurgaon. It said, "NO PARKING ZONE: VEHICLES SHALL BE DEFALTAD (sic) BY ORDER - PRO FAC".I was quite impressed with the severity of the order, and the fact that it seemed to be working - notice there are no parked vehicles behind the sign. Then I began to wonder, "What does PRO FAC stand for?"
Turned out PRO FAC is not the title of a government officer, it is the name of a private security agency employed by the nearby residential complex! What right does a private security agency have to put up a signboard on what is apparently public land? More, how dare a private security agency deflate anyone's tires?
Is there any provision in law for even the traffic police to deflate tires as punishment? I don't think so. Neither is there a provision for a traffic policeman to swing his lathi at rickshaws and rickshaw pullers, or even motorcyclists. But all this happens. (By the way, no traffic policeman would dare to swing his lathi at a car, especially an expensive car.)
This "might is right" approach is seen everywhere in India, and mostly results from the absence of adequate laws or appropriate methods of enforcement. People, including individual policemen, then take the law into their own hands.
Can you imagine that before 9/11 and Guatanamo, I was far more comfortable facing a US police officer than I was facing an Indian policeman? In those simpler times, I could more or less expect full due process under law in front of the US cop, which I could hardly hope for in India.
Zero Percentile now in bookstores at Indore and Ahmedabad
Some weeks ago, I had written about my friend Neeraj Chhibba's first book, Zero Percentile. I am now finding this book prominently displayed at bookstores all over India. Rupa appears to have a strong distribution channel.So I checked and confirmed that it is also available at Indore (Sohan Book Store) and Ahmedabad, and of course it is also available on www.flipkart.com as I mentioned earlier.
If you want, we can invite Neeraj Chhibba to Proton once you've read the book and want his autograph on your copy.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Forcing sleep: Techniques that work for me
I am fascinated by the subject of sleep and dreams. I hope that I have some time later in life to do some research and experimentation on this subject.
Luckily, I never have a problem falling asleep. I use the following three techniques and find them quite useful. While the first two are fairly common, I don't know any one who has tried the third - in fact I have not heard of it elsewhere. But it works for me unfailingly.
1. Progressive relaxation: This is similar to a technique used to enter shavasan, as far as I know. Start with the toes - tense them for a few seconds, relax them to the point that they no longer exist for you. Then the middle of the foot - tense and then relax and imagine it no longer exists. Then the back of the foot, the ankle, and so on up the body. By the time I get to the neck and start up the back of my head, I am so peaceful and relaxed that I fall asleep. I have NEVER finished the entire exercise and found myself awake. The sleep you get in this way is usually deep and restful.
2. Blackening out your vision: I close my eyes and then begin imaginarily layering black paint across the back of my closed eyelids starting at the top left. One band from left to right and the next band a little lower from right to left and then the next a little lower from left to right again and so on, a little like raster scanning in traditional CRT televisions and monitors. This too never fails to put me to sleep. The sleep is light though and it takes some time for you to fall into a deep sleep.
3. Flashing images ("Imagening"): This is my own invention and it works the fastest. I just close my eyes and generate random images in my mind - perhaps a crow, a book, a horse, a car - it is important that they are as randomly selected as possible, right at that point in time. I keep each image in my mind about 2-3 seconds, which gives my eyeballs some time to trace a part of its outline in the act of "seeing", then I just think of another image and "see" it in my mind for 2-3 seconds, then the next image, and so on. After perhaps the third or fourth image, the images start to flash involuntary (i.e. I am not consciously deciding which picture to flash next) and right away some dream plot begins to evolve and I am asleep... mostly in less than a minute, often in 15 or 20 seconds! This sleep is most dreamy although not very deep.
Do you have any favorite techniques of your own to fall asleep?
Luckily, I never have a problem falling asleep. I use the following three techniques and find them quite useful. While the first two are fairly common, I don't know any one who has tried the third - in fact I have not heard of it elsewhere. But it works for me unfailingly.
1. Progressive relaxation: This is similar to a technique used to enter shavasan, as far as I know. Start with the toes - tense them for a few seconds, relax them to the point that they no longer exist for you. Then the middle of the foot - tense and then relax and imagine it no longer exists. Then the back of the foot, the ankle, and so on up the body. By the time I get to the neck and start up the back of my head, I am so peaceful and relaxed that I fall asleep. I have NEVER finished the entire exercise and found myself awake. The sleep you get in this way is usually deep and restful.
2. Blackening out your vision: I close my eyes and then begin imaginarily layering black paint across the back of my closed eyelids starting at the top left. One band from left to right and the next band a little lower from right to left and then the next a little lower from left to right again and so on, a little like raster scanning in traditional CRT televisions and monitors. This too never fails to put me to sleep. The sleep is light though and it takes some time for you to fall into a deep sleep.
3. Flashing images ("Imagening"): This is my own invention and it works the fastest. I just close my eyes and generate random images in my mind - perhaps a crow, a book, a horse, a car - it is important that they are as randomly selected as possible, right at that point in time. I keep each image in my mind about 2-3 seconds, which gives my eyeballs some time to trace a part of its outline in the act of "seeing", then I just think of another image and "see" it in my mind for 2-3 seconds, then the next image, and so on. After perhaps the third or fourth image, the images start to flash involuntary (i.e. I am not consciously deciding which picture to flash next) and right away some dream plot begins to evolve and I am asleep... mostly in less than a minute, often in 15 or 20 seconds! This sleep is most dreamy although not very deep.
Do you have any favorite techniques of your own to fall asleep?
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Opposites attract, but birds of a feather flock together
Some weeks ago, Deloitte came recruiting to Indore. They were offering a modest paycheck, and I suspect many of the PROTON students flubbed the aptitude test and interviews so as not to be offered a job that they'd have to take as per the student body's own placement rules.
Today, it is clear to the same students that industry has tightened its collective belt. If a company is recruiting, it is going to try to pay as less as it can. It is a buyer's market. Those students must be regretting their actions.
This topic brought the proverb to mind, "Do not look a gift horse in the mouth".
Instantly, I thought of a saying that argues for quite the opposite approach. "Beware of strangers bearing gifts".
Most times I think of a proverb, I am reminded of another that seems to advocate the exact opposite.
"Well begun is half done". But "it is not over until the fat lady sings".
"Curiosity killed the cat". However, "nothing ventured, nothing gained".
I found a few lists of such pairs of proverbs on the Internet.
I guess life is all about balance.
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Today, it is clear to the same students that industry has tightened its collective belt. If a company is recruiting, it is going to try to pay as less as it can. It is a buyer's market. Those students must be regretting their actions.
This topic brought the proverb to mind, "Do not look a gift horse in the mouth".
Instantly, I thought of a saying that argues for quite the opposite approach. "Beware of strangers bearing gifts".
Most times I think of a proverb, I am reminded of another that seems to advocate the exact opposite.
"Well begun is half done". But "it is not over until the fat lady sings".
"Curiosity killed the cat". However, "nothing ventured, nothing gained".
I found a few lists of such pairs of proverbs on the Internet.
I guess life is all about balance.
To share this blog on Facebook, click here:
Share
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