Key parameters taken into account for assessment during GD
By: Madhav Sharma
Being a good listener, making relevant points, talking politely, and speaking clearly are the basic points considered while judging a candidate in a GD.
First of all, the candidate must know the difference between debate and GD, i.e. Group Discussion. In the debate, the candidates have to stick to their point and try to prove their opponent wrong. Also, they always try to put their point on top. the candidate always disagrees to the opponent’s point. On the other hand, in a group discussion, one has to discuss the given topic. Instead of keeping your point on top or disagreeing with others, you have to put your point and also think about other’s point of view. Also, if you think that someone else’s point is valid then you could give your support to that person. For example, if your family members are discussing on some topic and if they ask you about your opinion then you can put your view over there and if they find your view or your suggestion good then they could do that work as per your suggestion.
Now talking about the skills required for GD, the first thing you must have is the confidence to speak while putting forth a point. If you don’t have the confidence to speak in public then you will not be able to discuss anything. The candidate would be quiet during the whole discussion and this would lead to not clearing the GD round. With this, the candidates should also know about the topic of discussion and if they don’t know anything about the topic then it would be impossible to discuss any point. In such a situation, one could just listen to others very carefully so that they would have a little idea about the topic and will be able to put at least one to two points forward. Active listening always helps the candidate as this would help in finding more points to put forth in the discussion.
The candidates are judged based on the content they have spoken, and the way they put forth their points. It is also observed whether or not the candidates are listening to each other. Also, the tone should be soft not aggressive as the panellist also gives points on this. Never argue with anyone during the discussion and always stick to the topic. Also, in case if the discussion is moving away from the topic then try to bring it back on the topic. So, these are some criteria based on which the performance in a GD is judged.
The number of panellists is not fixed. There might be only one panellist or more than three panellists. There might be one person from the HR, one or more technical persons, or domain specialists.
They have their criteria to judge the performance of the candidate. One has to focus on the basic things as mentioned above and always give their best.
About the Author:
Madhav Sharma is a student at the University of Petroleum and Energy Studies. He is pursuing Computer Science Engineering at the institute.
