Be it our first interview or our tenth, the word ‘interview’ never fails us to give Goosebumps.  An interview, by a simply definition, is a conversation where questions are asked and answers are given. Even this simple definition puts a lot of stress on the word ‘conversation’. Most of the time while getting ready for the interview, we put a lot of stress on getting appropriately dressed. We put a lot of focus on our appearance and forget about the conversation or communication part of the interview. We go smartly dressed but when we start speaking then it gives the impression of a wolf in the sheep’s clothing.

We have good knowledge of our subject matter and are technically very sound but we don’t know how to get this knowledge communicated to the other person. Due to this, some of the most learned and deserving candidates fail to get a good and suitable job. Ludwig Wittgenstein rightly said that “The Limits of My Language are the Limits of My World”. The more efficiently and effectively you are able to communicate with the larger population, the larger is your world and more is your success.

Communication plays a very important role in all facets of our life, especially in formal settings where you are conversing with an unknown person. In such a setting, communicating your thoughts effectively is very important as one mistake in communication can land you in trouble. For this, we need to be extremely comfortable with our language of communication.

English has emerged as a globally acceptable language in corporate world. As the organizations are going global, they are looking out for those candidates who have good command over English so that they can communicate easily with their colleagues and clients in other nations. People who have good command over English don’t shy away from taking assignments in other countries.

Due to these reasons, a lot of studies have come up to the conclusion that people having good command over English tend to be more success in their lives. Working on improving your English sometimes becomes a tedious task. Working on increasing fluency alone becomes boring, makes a person laggard and above all doesn’t provide a benchmark to assess oneself on. With job it becomes difficult to find a good English speaking institute which suits your time also. Learn how to improve your vocabulary.

To overcome these hurdles, ‘WizMantra’ an online training institute, has been working very efficiently to provide flexibility in learning along with making it fun through its innovative teaching techniques. It not only makes it easy for the learner to grasp the concept easily in the first go but also helps to embed those concepts in memory for quick and appropriate usage later on. ‘WizMantra’ offers different cost effective modules that suits different needs of the people and help them to be a part of larger ‘English Speaking Community’. People feel more confident and empowered in all their social interactions.

Communication plays an extremely important part in all our social interactions specially the professional ones. As a result of this, even for the most technical profiles, candidates are being assessed on their fluency in English. While going for an interview, it is always advisable to be properly dressed as that forms the first impression of the candidate. The candidates should know their basics well and should be fluent in English to get their thoughts across to the interviewer in an effective way.

Apart from practicing on technical questions, the candidates should also practice well on certain general questions which should be aligned with the culture of the company. Apart from reading about the business of the company, the candidate should also be aware of the general guiding principles and culture of the company. This helps the candidate to formulate his responses in a better way.

Some of the general questions on which all the candidates need to focus on are following:

• Tell me about yourself: this is the most common and first question asked in an interview and also acts as an icebreaker. Though it sounds like an easy question but most of the people commit mistake in this very first question and end up boring the interviewer. Instead of telling the interviewer about where you were born and how many siblings you have and about your family structure, you should pay more attention about what you have been doing in the past few years, your passions and hobbies. Things that describe you in a better way and are aligned with the qualities required for the job you have applied for.

• State some of your strengths: Please don’t go overboard in answering this question. This is a very important question through which you can market yourself in front of the interviewer. To answer this effectively, you need to be well versed with the requirements of the job you have applied for. The positives that you state about yourself should be aligned which qualities that the interviewer is looking out for. Kindly don’t use mere adjectives while answering this question. Support those qualities with suitable examples. Some of these strengths could be:

1. Good team player: state some example from your past job or academic setting in which this quality helped you in achieving some goal efficiently.
2. Proactive: how you like taking initiative instead of waiting for something to happen. You can state an instance of first mover advantage or focus on your learning curve.
3. Punctuality or good time management: support this with an example in which you were able to achieve a target within time limit.
4. A calm headed person: can keep you cool under most adverse condition and support it with an example.
5. Good negotiation skills: mainly useful for sales and HR people. Support it with a suitable example where you helped your company or institution get a better deal.

Though you should be thorough with all your strengths and supporting evidences but the thoughts should be expressed in a fluent and impromptu manner instead of giving a feeling of being memorized. In order to judge your presence of mind, the interviewer could ask this same question in a different way such as: what makes you a good fit for our company? Why do you think we should hire you? What sets you apart from other candidates?

So be ready in making changes to your script according to the question being put in front of you. For this, good command over English is required to make impromptu changes.

• The subsequent question to the previous one could be to state your weaknesses: don’t get defensive while answering this question. State your weaknesses which have professional significance and also your efforts in overcoming those weaknesses. The interviewer is just trying to judge your insight and what steps you are taking to overcome your weakness. An example could be, too much of focus on perfection which delays deliverability sometimes.

• If this is your first job interview then the interviewer might ask you about your academic background. Don’t go into too much of details by starting from your elementary education. State those educational qualifications which are in sync with the job you have applied. Support it with some certifications, if any.

• If you were employed earlier then they might ask you the reason for you looking for a job change. Please don’t state any negatives about your previous company. State some reason which focus on your long term future growth.

• Another tricky question could be where you see yourself 5 yrs of 10yrs from now: state your professional aspirations here instead of your personal ones. You can focus on your learning curve etc. but please don’t be too ambitious in stating your aspirations as you might appear as a threat to the interviewer himself.

• Salary expectation: be realistic in answering this question. Don’t down play yourself as you might appear too eager for this job and don’t over sell also as that might be out of their budget. Kindly don’t say ‘I don’t know’. This would show that you are not interested in the job and this interview is just a casual affair for you.

• If the interviewer asks you if you have any questions for him then please don’t say a blunt NO. Ask some pertinent questions such as the kind of projects being offered to the person who holds the same profile as you, the learning initiatives being taken up in the company for future growth etc.

Apart from working on these questions, work on your vocabulary and learn grammar to get a good command over the language.  Use jargons pertinent with the job you have applied but kindly don’t use big words or jargons whose meaning you don’t know. Be aware of the usage of the word in a sentence. These qualities come with regular practice. Read a lot. Pick up new words, search for their meaning and practice their usage.

To stimulate the learning, join ‘WizMantra’. ‘WizMantra’ provides the required impetus to stimulate your learning and to embed it properly in your memory. A lot of time we know certain powerful words which can be used in certain situation however, we are unable to recall them at that moment leading to ‘Tip-of-the-tongue’ phenomena.

This happens because those words were not memorized properly in the first place. With its innovative techniques, ‘WizMantra’ helps us to memorize those words efficiently. So it’s always better to take professional help in the beginning and then to make it a lifelong learning process.

Job interviews are not scary. After all they are just conversations. Prepare well, keep your calm and be fluent with English so that you understand what the interviewer is trying to ask you and at the same time you are able to express yourself aptly. Good command over English gives you a lot of confidence in every social setting. This is not a one day job. Practice regularly and be proactive in learning new words and their appropriate usage.

ALL THE BEST for your interview preparation.

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