Students’ Speak: These tips can help you ace Personal Interview round

By: Bisharah Saeed

Sometimes candidates get this in their head that the panel consists of directors, experienced professors etc. sitting behind the desk. While all of that may be true, should it be really tough to answer a few questions? So, stay calm and never get tensed in an interview.

Just like the GD session, Personal Interview (PI) is the next evaluation criteria on the basis of which you will be selected whether it is regarding the admission into an institution or for a job. Basically, PI’s are conducted to get an idea about the candidate’s communication skill in front of a panel, their body language, attitude and how a person would react if they are subjected to pressure. Yes, sometimes that can happen too depending on the institution or the company. From my experience, what I would say is to stay calm and composed during a PI. The reason is that if you are tensed and if that is evident from your face, the panel will really scrutinise you or put you under stress. On the other hand, if you stay calm and talk freely, they will get an idea that you are a person who can handle stress or tough situations. Besides, in an interview, sometimes they only ask you general questions or questions to which you already know answers. The biggest problem is that sometimes candidates have this feeling about the panel in mind where there might be directors, experienced professors etc. sitting behind the desk. Yes, all of that may be true. So, think about it, it’s really not that difficult to answer a few questions, right? So, stay calm and never get tensed in an interview.

Another thing is that make sure you always maintain eye contact with the panel. Failure to maintain eye contact means that you have difficulty facing people while talking or maybe you are not interested in the interview. Also, while speaking, speak at a steady and slow pace so that everyone is able to understand you. Sometimes, the panel may shower questions on you. In this case, the situation might get a little difficult. But make sure that you hear the question, think about it and answer accordingly. It’s ok to take a little time to think before answering. If there is any question that you don’t know about, it’s ok to say that you don’t know about it. 

Most importantly, some panellists might ask you questions based on your own CV. So, lying on your CV is not an option at all. If you are able to explain the questions regarding your CV in a professional way, you have reached halfway into passing the interview. Taking my own experience as an example, I did my Bachelors in Automobile Engineering and I worked as a customer service consultant for eight months after that. These two don’t match at all and I was questioned on this during an interview at SCMS Business School. So, what I told them, “I wasn’t interested in working at a dealership at that time. So, I went for the next best option and I have learned a lot from that profession”. Likewise, if you are able to justify yourself, you will have no problems in cracking an interview.

Regarding the panel, it can differ according to the colleges that you are applying for. In my case, at Rajagiri Business School, there were three panellists and all they had working experience above 10 years.

About the Author:

Bisharah Saeed is a second-year Post Graduate Diploma in Management (PGDM) student at Rajagiri Business School. He has a Bachelor's degree in Automobile Engineering. Bisharah has over 10 months of work experience at Amazon.