Two sides of an Interview

If you thought attending Interviews are tough and being on the other side of the table is easy – think again. It is equally difficult doing an interview.

Heading a company I am made to conduct many interviews. The interviews are for positions ranging from Dev Leads, Project Managers, Accountants to BDM’s.

For all of them, irrespective of the role I have my standard questions aimed at knowing their Attitude, Presentation, Communication, Job Experience and most important their Trustworthiness. Each of the roles have to be quizzed on their respective topics – for some of them like Sales/Marketng in which I have no formal education, I prepare by talking to experts on the subject or reading on the Internet / Books / Magazines. This reading is not for me to pretend that I know the subject, but to get a first hand feel of the candidate after which they can be referred to an external/internal expert on the subject before hiring.

When doing these interviews I find many times candidates come less prepared. With demand for IT Professionals increasing day by day in India, candidates seems to take interviews easily – especially when you are starting your career I always recomend people to take your interviews seriously, come prepared for it. After all it is a small world, you don’t know you will meet again or where. So if you are less prepared you can leave a lasting impact that you will regret. Recently I found this good article about “How to Answer These Tricky Interview Questions by Kate Lorenz” in MSN, check it out.

For candidates taking a new job can turn out to be rewarding, but it always carries a risk and anxiety. Similarly for a company hiring a candidate is also risky as well – they spend so much money, time and effort in every interview and the interviewer is equally or more keen in finding a candidate quickly. So I suppose the risk balances!