While changing a job gives a very positive feeling, however facing a job interview unprepared is nothing less than a nightmare no matter at what stage of career one is.
It has happened with all of us that a job interview call raises hope and excitement but as the feeling of facing an interviewer sinks in, excitement gets replaced by anxiety. What questions will be asked in the interview? Will I know answers for all of them? What if I fumble or don’t know the answers?
Relax, it is not only you, but a TimesJobs Study reveals that over 50% candidates fumble in job interviews. Nearly 46% India Inc. employees consider company reviews when taking the final call for job offer. And 28% respondents further consider interview questions as one of the most important parameter in company reviews.
Facing interviews is certainly a big deal for Indian employees as over 40% candidates polled have faced between 10-20 interviews in their careers and 10% candidates have faced even more than 20.
Abhishek Rastogi, a 35-year-old IT professional from Pune, recently shifted his base to Delhi to work with a multi-national ITeS company. He says that he researched at least 2-3 company review websites to know about the interview procedures and the kind of questions he would be asked before going for the job interview. This preparation actually helped him get the job.
TimesJobs’ Vikas Deep Verma, Head of Product and Marketing, explains, “The job market is highly competitive, and the best way to ensure fast career growth is to choose your battles carefully, do your research and target the company culture that best suits your attitude and the role that best suits your aptitude.”
Verma continued, “TimesJobs’ offerings help you chose the best-suited company with interview questions and company reviews by thousands of current and previous employees, who give candid insights into the company culture, work-life balance, career growth, interview processes, etc. to ensure you join a company whose culture fits your personality.”
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“Furthermore, a host of personalized self-assessment, skill enhancement and salary benchmarking tools help you to ascertain your own aptitude and set your self-development, career growth and salary expectations, to ensure you ace your interview,” Verma concluded.
However, TimesJobs’ study clearly shows that every job interview story does not have a happy ending. 71% of the candidates felt they were turned down as they hadn’t researched the role and the company and 50% felt that not appearing interested or engaged during the interview were the reasons for their rejections.
Another noteworthy highlight among the most common interview mistakes as recognized by 25% respondents was, making up answers during the interview.
If not a benchmark, these data points are a strong indicator that not researching about the company, not reading reviews and frequently asked questions can take job interviews in the wrong direction.
Commenting on this, Swati Dayal, Co-Founder & Executive Director, Sagoon.com said, “Job-seekers doing their homework before coming for an interview is not new. Everybody has been doing that. However, with the advent of social networks and the Internet, the task is now a whole lot easier. Reviews and ratings by fellow applicants and existing employees are emerging as real-time decision-making tool for job aspirants. Social and professional networks are used for gaining awareness and narrow down on preferences.”
“Typically, job seekers use online mediums to know more about the company they want to apply for. They also consult with their peers while preparing for the probable questions that could be asked. Candid reviews of existing and ex-employees help in getting a 360-degree view of the organization which in turn helps them make a more informed choice,” Dayal added.
According to Rajesh Tripathi, VP & Head-HR, GHCL, “The job seeker should undertake their due preparation before appearing for the interview in a very scrupulous manner. They should browse the company’s website and other social networking pages of the organization to acquaint themselves with the company information. TimesJobs has surveyed over 700 working professionals pan-India for this study.
Image credit: firstpost.com
