Interviewing: Things to Remember

In the previous segments, you came across multiple frameworks to use in an interview that will help you understand the problem that your company or a client is facing. One thing that you should always keep in mind is that asking the right questions and following a structured approach are not the only skills required. There are other things as well that are important to achieve the expected results from an interview.

Let’s go through the video, where Anand discusses how you should interact in an interview.

In an interview, you should follow all the points that Anand mentioned in the video above, which are as follows:

• You should have a skeptical mindset when you are listening to the interviewee. You should not have any preconceived notions or prejudices before entering the room. This will hinder your ability to ask the right questions and is highly unrecommended.
• You should keep on probing what the interviewee is stating. This will help you gather more information and validate the points mentioned.
• While probing, you should always be careful when dealing with any sensitive topics. You should always make the interviewee comfortable because they may carry the thought that if they share their shortcomings, there can be some future consequences.
• Always try that the interviewee replies with the information that can be tested or verified. It is always advisable to have some supporting data for it. You should also compare the responses of people from the same team and check whether there is a huge difference in their answers.

So far, you have gone over the pointers on how you should behave in an interview. In the real world, you will come across people with different traits, and the same approach will not work for all of them. In the next video, Anand will tell you how to deal with different types of individuals.

Among the four types, the best type of interviewee is the “I Know It All”. They believe that they have all the answers and are willing to share their knowledge without any reluctance. The toughest type of interviewee will be “The Stone Face”. You will have to put more effort into getting the information from them.

If you are able to identify the type of the interviewee, tailoring the conversation accordingly can result in a good information source. This is a skill that you will have to practise and develop over time.