Students’ Speak: Things you must not do during GD & PI round

By: Athira Anand

Today communication with better soft skills is an integral part to grow in your career. It is important how we present ourselves to others and this is exactly why Group Discussion and Personal Interview (GDPI) are a difficult task.

Today communication with better soft skills is an integral part to grow in your career. It is important how we present ourselves to others and this is exactly why Group Discussion and Personal Interview (GDPI) are a difficult task. Showing confidence, fluent English and interpersonal skills presentation are essentials when it comes to your GD/PI. Everyone has their own weak points and there are many challenges like not getting solid points to speak about the topic, not being able to express, improper English, showing aggression and raging over others, exhibiting wrong behavioural skills, etc. All these are likely to happen for GD or PI and it's important to overcome each and every point before leaving the rest of it on luck.

Specifically for GD, one has to have valid points that the other person cannot counter. But again, if the point is not solid enough rebuttals can happen and ultimately you'll lose your play. Improvising on English skills is important and there are coaching centres for help, books, movies, all of which can help to put up a good show. Again if we show aggression in GD, it will directly bounce back on you. It's good if you calm down and ask questions if you feel the other person is not right.

Coming to PI, it's the deciding factor of your fate, so why take a chance by not being fully prepared for it. Speaking of challenges, one needs to hold back emotions and not display a low-confidence face because it will give a negative signal to the interviewer. Also, instead of saying "I don't know ", bluffing over questions will also not help since it's easy to guess that you are not sure about the answer.

Interview skills can be again gained by going for classes, doing mock interviews with friends or asking faculties to take mocks when they are free. Smile and confidence are important aspects of presenting yourself to the interviewer. Let me share my experience for both GD and PI and things which I wish I could have done instead of goof ups.

We were given a topic and at one point, I felt the other person is not right with his point, instead of keeping calm, I started acting awkward and cutting off others' arguments which gave me minus points. Again never cut off others' points and place your own ones, let them complete their statements full and then you can start speaking. For the interview, I stated terms which I wasn't sure of, in the spur of a moment. I thought I'll be able to make up to what I said, but then when questions came I couldn't convince the interviewer with my answer. So, again making statements that you're unsure of will definitely backfire. Apart from the challenges I mentioned most important ones to be noted are communication skills and knowledge of topics and subjects which you've learned. Just have a calm mind and go for it, rest assured you will be better motivated and definitely put on a good show.

About the Author:

Athira Anand is pursuing PGDM in Infrastructure Management from Adani Institute of Infrastructure Management. She is a civil engineer forged by learnings in Infrastructure and is keen to build a career in consulting domain. She is passionate about exploring more in the Techno-Commercial sector.