Crack the meaning behind every question to crack the interview
By: Amit Sharma
At times interviewers touch upon certain points related to your long term goals. They have a hidden meaning and purpose behind such questions. They are concerned about two things one is the tenure of your association with them and the other one is how visionary the candidate is who they are going to hire.
As discussed in my previous article regarding the significance of the introduction and hobby part in an interview process, this article is continued on the same lines emphasising on different interview questions.
Let us start with one of the important aspect of your professional decision that is what you choose to become and why? For instance, if you have decided to opt for Masters in Business Administration (MBA) degree then “Why MBA, why not some other course?”. Similarly, questions can be asked about your choice of specialisations. Answer of these decision-based questions reflects your confidence and rationality towards your professional goal. Now, the simple way to answer these questions is to match your inner and outer personality traits with the requirement of your career. Say for example if an interviewer is interested in knowing the reason behind choosing MBA, then the appropriate answer should include the logic reflecting your personality traits, skills and interest, matching with the requirement of this stream. Say marketing job requires good communication skills, confidence and good knowledge about the current business scenario. If the interviewer could sense the positive relationship between your potential and the requirement of the job, then the chances are very bright for you to get in.
Another question they always want to ask for the purpose of assurance is, “Where do you see yourself in five years?”. Most of the time I have observed students answering these questions as “sitting at a position of the person sitting next to me right now” or students also say I aim to be the vice president or at some higher position. However, here the challenge with these two responses is that these are unrealistic and an illogical way of influencing the interviewer. Within five years is it really possible for you to be at someone’s place who has given 10-15 years or more than that to the industry? Another challenge with this response is here you are directly hitting the person and his potential. If you can achieve the position in five years then what the interviewer has been doing there in the industry from the last twenty years to reach there. This response would go illogical and would create a negative impact on the assessor, it would seem to be like you are challenging someone who is actually trying to asses you. Another response also has no logic as it takes a reasonable time in an organization to be at higher or top-level management. Organizations have their own time framework to promote people. Big organisations, good brands and MNCs take four to five years to promote an employee one step up. They have their full-time chart for their specific hierarchal system. So the appropriate answer should reflect your opinion in support of the specific organisational policies.
This means that a candidate should always try to give simple answers like, “Sir I would reach the appropriate position as per the policy of the organisation”. While answering this you can add a few sentences which show your determination, hard work and zeal to achieve your goal.
At times interviewers touch upon certain points related to your long term goals. They have a hidden meaning and purpose behind such questions. They are concerned about two things one is the tenure of your association with them and the other one is how visionary the candidate is who they are going to hire. One basic response is “Sir I wanted to start my own business after having three to four years of experience and become an Entrepreneur”. This response sounds as if the organisation which is going to hire you is the training center. It will give you training for three years to start your business and then you will leave the organisation easily.
Friends companies put in their efforts, time and money to prepare a candidate. Why would they hire someone who is planning to leave the organisation after few years? Good organisations always believe in retaining their employees. So they won’t prefer employees who plan to leave early.
So, concluding this discussion I would say that, every time when the interviewer asks you general question please do not take them lightly, because each general question has a hidden meaning. Hope these tips will help you in understanding the interviewer better. The year 2020 has come with lots of opportunities in different fields, avail the same with full confidence.
About the Author:
Amit Sharma is serving as an Assistant Professor at Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, since 2013. With an experience of seven years in academics, Sharma conducts faculty development programmes at school level and management development programmes at organisational level across the industry.
