Typical Questions in Interviews

8/6/2019 Typical Questions in Interviews

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fear of blowing their own trumpet. Do a detailed self-analysis of

your strength and weaknesses and make a sincere and honest

attempt to narrate your major strengths and weaknesses.

It may look very simple but this question reveals your attitude

towards life, your confidence level of being yourself and self-

understanding. It is better not to fake the answer. Remember

your non-verbal cues will reveal your insincerity. Unless you are

an expert at faking your body language never take the risk of

telling a lie. This is a great opportunity of self-assessment, it is

better to work on assessing your ability. Self-assessment brings

the ghost in us to the forefront. The prospects of facing our

inadequacies are very scary. As such we run away from self-

assessment exercises. Take my word once the initial challenge

of facing the ghost is over, one discovers the beauty in oneself.

Honesty is the key success in any interview. The strength and

weakness discovered through self examination will exude

confidence in you and it will give energy to overcome all the

traps created by interviewers to corner you. It is like a batsman,who does not understand his strength, flashes at the wrong

delivery and gets caught at the slip. If you have to play to your

strength, thorough self understanding only can make you do

that. You need to substantiate your claim if you have said ability

to work in a team. However trivial it may seem to you, it is good

enough. One boy gave an example or organizing to lay claim on

his organizational quality and he was accepted. If you findsomething else beyond the list, go ahead and write it down for

discussion with your parents, teacher or friends who understand

you but are not very critical about you.


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Be honest with yourself, and do not use any clich answer for

weaknesses like I hate people who do not take work seriously.

While answering your strengths, you should not sound cocky or

pompous but still you have to convey your strength. Your innerconfidence should be without any pompous display of bravado.

For that, try to talk in a very soft tone without using adjectives,

it is better to use facts Instead of saying I have leadership

quality say, in capacity, as the class cricket team captain, our

class went to the semi final in our college tournament. Practice

speaking softly but loudly in front of the mirror. You can copy

somebody who you think has these qualities. Use your morning

walk or other period of loneliness for a self assessment. You canbe creative too in answering these questions. Discover thyself

and you can bring in wonders.

Write a commercial about you

The key to handling a request to tell

about yourself is to memorize-

literally memorize a one to two-minute commercial about yourself.

Think about what a commercial

does. It focuses on selling a product

in a minuscule amount of time. It

grabs your attention immediately

with information of your interest.

Then it sells why you should buythe product.Thats exactly what your

commercial should do. Grab

interviewers interest with a

Sample Commercials:

Heres a commercial for a

prospective new graduate:

I have always found the businesworld both exciting and

challenging. Thats why I choos

study business, and Ive also fou

I love it even more because of th

I cant wait to start working in a

MNC.

I will graduate in May from theuniversity of Pune with a Bache

of Arts in Economics, I was feat

writer in college magazine. At th

same time, I managed to mainta


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confident statement about yourself

and then support that statement

with specific facts. Concentrate on

selling your strong points tellemployers exactly why they should

hire you instead of someone else.

The better you know your

commercials, the more confident

youll feel. Memorize your

commercial and practice it until it

sounds natural, Just like an actor,you need to learn your script and

deliver it in character.The information in your

commercial is too important to

leave anything out. So make sure

that you know it backwards and

forwards.

Your commercial can include any

of the following information:

Your academic degree

Position of leadership in different

associations of clubs.

Specific skill applicable to the

careers.Specific training either on computer

or any profession.

Date of expected graduation (if

applicable)

high marks in our pre-degree. I w

even the secretary of the dramat

association. It gave me a great

exposure to leadership throughorganizing activities pertaining

my role. Working and attending

college full-time taught me to

organize and priorities for super

time management skills- I woul

have succeeded without these sk

Considering the demand ofdeadlines, I see these skills aare

especially important in a career.

Heres another, shorter example:

I will graduate in June from the

University of Pune with a major

marketing. Through a series of

students jobs, I managed to earhalf my college expenses. But I

found time to participate in cam

activities- for instance; I was

elected vice president of the stud

marketing club.

Usually, I have an upbeat outloo

about life. I dont have any troubdigging in and getting started on

project. I like working with peop

and I especially like doing my

best to persuade people.


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Honors of achievementsgoals (not long-term)

Career philosophy (not pretentious

or preachy)

y Tell us about your family backgroundThis question is asked by the interviewers in order to determine

the social, cultural, religious and economic strata you come

from. It could reflect your basic attitudes. The best approach for

such a question is to bring out not only your parentage and

background but also some of the good principles you havelearnt. For example, you may be able to say that you have been

brought up in a disciplined atmosphere where punctuality,

respect for elders, etc. is a way of life, You may also be able to

mention some of the human values like honesty, truthfulness,

etc.. Which you have imbibed as a result of your family

upbringing. Emphasize brothers and sisters accomplishments

and achievements. In all cases, it would be safe to talk of the

human value taught to you irrespective of what background you

come from.

y How do you spend your spare time?This is a loaded question, which can give considerable clue to

your personality. If your spare time activities are reading,

painting, cooking, listening to music and the like, you are likely

to be creative, introvert, or a loner. If your sports activities aremainly individual sports such as swimming, athletics, tennis,

badminton, etc. You are again likely to be interpreted as a loner.

Other games like football, hockey, basketball, etc. are likely to

indicate you as a team man who can get along well with others.


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Neither of these are right or wrong nor are they absolutely true

indicators. Those who appear to be group oriented are likely to

be preferred.

Another aspect of how you spend your time is whether you take

on active or passive pursuits. If you are active, you would play

games, go on sight- seeing or tours, or undertake any activity

that involves physical effort. Interviewers will prefer the passive

type for sedentary desk jobs whereas an active person is

preferred or job which involve traveling for any predominant

physical activity.

y Why did you choose your particular field of work?This is asked to ascertain your temperament, attitude, and

personal qualities. It is advisable at this point to bring out your

best qualities linking them with the job. For example, you may

say that you chose a sales job because you are an extrovert, love

travelling and you enjoy meeting people and this job gives you

the opportunity to do so. Never give an answer like youveadvised to take up this job by so and so, or that you really dont

like it but you dont have any choice and so on. Whatever may

be your reasons for choosing a particular line, support and

substantiate it fully since you are now applying for the job.

y Where do you see yourself in 5-7 years time?This question is aimed at ascertaining your aspirations, It is

necessary that you are reasonably ambitious in your aspirationso that your performance is conducive to your growth. At the

same time, you should be realistic and should not be out of

context with reality. Today it is advisably to reveal you attitude

and your interest for personal growth. You have to design your


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answer in such a away that above requirement becomes self

revealing. Your aspiration should be for a career and not for a

job.

TYPES OF INTERVIEW

In order to find out about this whole man, different types of

interviews are held as given below

Direct Interview:

This is almost a question-answer session type, where the

interviewer gets a proper look at the candidates and assesses his

suitability through a series of questions. Direct interview is

usually not a planned affair. Sometimes the candidate does not

get the opportunity to expose himself. The candidate has to look

for proper opportunity to expose himself more.

Indirect Interview

In this type, some open questions are asked like What are your

views on the general economic condition of our country? etc.

Here the candidate will have to talk more to give his views

which give ample opportunity to the interviewer to judge the

candidates conviction of thought, clarity of speech, depth of

knowledge, etc.

Hence, it will be in the candidates interest to state his reply in a

precise form point by point so that time could be properly

utilized by him.


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i) Pattern/Guided Interview:

Instead of making the interview absolutely open as in the

indirect interview situation, in the pattern interview, certain

planning is already done as to the areas to be covered in the

interview and also the types of the questions to be asked to know

more about the candidate. This facilitates the interviewer to

cover wider area.

ii) Stress Interview:

This is used normally for selection to the post where the

candidate would invariably be under stress. There are different

variations of the stress interview starting from being put inawkward situations by asking some very ticklish questions,

What the interviewer is trying to find out is how a person reacts

in such a stress situation. i.e. whether he gets ruffled, upset,

nervous or maintains a tolerable balance of mind to face the

situation. In some interviews, they try to unsettle the candidate

as one of the interviewers stands behind the candidate during the

interview process.

iii) Group Interview:

This helps in finding out how the candidate reacts to a group and

what traits he exhibits while dealing with the group .This is done

in two ways i.e.

y By Group Discussiony By Group Task

In the Group Discussion a general topic is thrown open for

discussion, say, topics like, No change is possible without

revolution or in law nothing is certain but expenses or Every


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man for himself only etc. The members are initially given

opportunity to express their viewpoints for about a minute each

and then have open discussion. The total duration could be about

30 minutes.

Before starting the actual discussion the candidates are given

adequate time to gather their thoughts and jot it down before

they start speaking.

The points being judged in this situation are as follows:

a) Address, i.e. Devotion with direction of attention, skill,

energies.

b) Articulation, i.e. Capable of clear expression

c) Participation, i.e. sharing

d) Logical presentation of things

e) Depth of knowledge and quality of ideas.

f) Co-ordination, i.e. adjustment of relation.

In the Group Task some problem is given with adequate

information made available to solve the problem. It is for the

group to decide how to go about this task and arrive at a


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consensus solution. For this naturally they have to analyze the

facts, plan their action, decide on different results and finally

come to conclusion.

y The traits which are being observed for each individuals inperforming the group task are:

y Ability to follow direction

y Cooperative attitude

y Ability to plan

y Application

y Leadership

y Communication

It is interesting to note that if one observes carefully the

performance both in discussion as well as group task then one

can more or less come to the conclusion regarding some

predominant traits of the individuals.

The process could be an end in itself for selection of candidates

or it could be that those who come out successfully in this may

be required to appear in further interviews.


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Panel Interview:

In this situation the candidate has to face a panel of interviewers

ranging from about 3 to 10-12 in number. It is obvious that for a

candidate, this becomes more of a stressful situation than one-to-

one interview. This is because while the candidate is replying

there would be so many to observe him and it is also not certain

that from which corner what type of question will follow.

Hence, it requires great acumen onthe part of the candidate tokeep the members of the panel in good humor and yet present

his best form possible.

Who are the members in the interview Board?

Interview Board invariably consists of persons having adequate

knowledge in their own field and with long years of practical

experience.

In some Boards there can be psychiatrists silently observing the

performance of the candidates and making notes. There can be

experts on certain field depending on the job and of course there

would be senior persons from the organization itself both of

technical as well as non-technical background.

In spite of the Board Members being experienced and trying to

be objective, interview is a subjective situation where human

failures and weaknesses in Board Members cannot be

completely eliminated. Knowingly or unknowingly some bias,


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prejudices, halo effect, hunches, etc. creep in to color the vision

of the interviewers. For example, some might be tempted to give

a little bit more marks to candidates from his own state, religion

or institutions or for having similar hobbies as the interviewer.But the interview Board tries to minimize the negative effects of

it by having some sort of discussion after each candidate and

deciding on a probable gradation like excellent, very good,

average, below average etc. To further narrow down the

differences, in some Boards they discuss if a candidate is good,

or +good i.e whether he comes in the higher range or the lower

range of the marks allotted for the category good. Thus the

members try to become as objective as possible within the givensituation.

While some interview Boards are not extra helpful to the

candidates there are some Boards where some member or the

other comes to the rescue of the candidate in difficulty or ask

some leading question to help the candidate. For example onecandidate was asked where Vizag Steel Plant is. On his

answering that is in Tamil Nadu a Member of the Board gave

him three choices by saying. You decide whether it is in Tamil

Nadu or Andhar Pardesh or Karnataka. Thus, an opportunity

provided to give the correct answer was missed.

Generally the main purpose of the interview Board is to select a

person and not reject him and hence they try to make theatmosphere as congenial as possible for the candidate to give his

best. But it is for the candidate to take advantage.


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What exactly is being assessed in the interview?

As already stated earlier, interviewers are trying to find out the

many facets of the candidate and not only his intellectual

capability. Today the candidates are expected to take sufficient

interest in the events, which are happening around him-self,

modern current thoughts, new discoveries, current affairs,

society at large. Hence in the interview various traits are being

assessed and not only his ability to perform a particular type of

job.

In an open competition, ones family background should not

matter but it is seen that the family background influences a lot

and is projected in the attitude and behavior of the candidatesand also at times gives indication whether the candidate would

really fit in a particular circumstance.. Knowing the family

background enables the interviewers to know the candidate

better. For example, a simple question was asked to many

candidates like What is our family like? Many candidates did

not mention about their mothers while talking of their family.

When further asked about mother, many felt shy to tell that theirmother is a housewife, as if, unless one has a working mother,

she not counted as one of the family, where as in many families

it is the mother who plays a pivotal role in bringing up the

children. Hence, what the interviewers are trying to find out can

be listed as under:Physical make up: i.e., Physique, Appearance, Manners, etc.

How agreeable are his bearings, speeches and appearance?Attainments:

What type of education he had and how has he fared? Whether

he has any training or specialization in any particular field?

Knowledge:


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Breadth and depth of understanding in his discipline and in

general knowledge also.

General Intelligence:How quick is his comprehension? Is he mentally alert: Is his

exposition clear and logical?

Analytical Mind:

Can he make in depth diagnosis and critically analyze? Are the

solutions logical? How balanced is his judgment? Has he the

critical power of assimilation?

Special attitude/interest:

Does he possess any special interest?

How deeply is he involved in that?

What is the variety and depth of interest?

Is he an introvert or extrovert in his interest?

Is he especially good for something?

Personality:

Communication:

With clear and logical exposition.

Mental Caliber:

Understands Problems, makes decision.

Emotional Stability:Confident of his ability, capability of meeting stress, capability

of talking about strength and weaknesses, capability to

appreciate others viewpoints which are opposed to his own.

Motivation:


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Responsibility oriented achievement and development oriented

willingness and keenness to work.

Disposition:Dependability, Persistency, Social, self-reliance. How

acceptable does he make himself to others?

His self-restraint. Ability to communicate and listen.

Circumstances:

His family life. What others do in the family?

Leadership:

Ability to take risk. Ability to make others follow his leadership.

Efforts to improve his own self. Capacity to take negative

feedback.

Sensitivity to the environment:Society, Country, the World.

Moral Integrity

There could be some more. Needless to say that all these

qualities are desirable in a person but it will be a Utopian idea to

expect anybody to posses all these qualities to the maximum.

Hence, the interviewer concentrates on certain areas, which will

be more relevant to the nature of the job.


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Group Discussion

Group Discussion is a process of selection in manyrecruitment situations. The number of participants in a

group can vary but the group will seldom be smaller than8 people or exceed 15 people. In most cases a topic or asituation will be given and the group members will have todiscuss it for a short period of time, usually between 10and 20 minutes.Depending upon the infrastructure at the venue, thegroup is asked to sit in different arrangements circular,block or U shaped arrangement. Sometimes you may begiven a choice to choose your seat and at some othertimes the panel allots you the seat.

A GD is usually not a patent elimination round. Most of theinstitutes/companies follow up a GD with a personalinterview. The rules for GD are explained after the initialintroduction by the panel. These include the time limit, thepanels expectations etc. While the panel specifies anapproximate time for the GD, it may cut-short or extendthe time. Thereafter, a topic or case is given fordiscussion. The panel at its discretion may provide sometime for thinking on the topic or case. While the discussionis on the panel observes each and every candidate andmakes notes.Generally the group discussion is unstructured, whichmeans any one can participate at any time and not in anyparticular sequence. It is totally up to the group and thepanel does not interfere. But on occasions the panelinitiates a structured GD, wherein each participant is givena chance to speak as decided by the panel. In the case of


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some institutes both structured and unstructured GDswere adopted. Desirable traits as expected in an individualand as related to group behavior are discussed below,

A group discussion is used for two major reasons. First, itallows the selector to observe and form an opinion abouta large number of candidates in a relatively short period oftime. This is very useful when there are many candidatesapplying for a position in a company or for admission intoan institute. The second reason why a Group Discussion isused is because it gives the selection panel an opportunity

to assess certain traits and skills of the candidates that arenot possible to observe in the application form, curriculumvitae, written exam and interview. Some of these traits areleadership, analytical or problem solving skills and oralcommunication skills. Also on display is the candidatesability to handle people and the extent to which he is ateam player. The Group Discussion performance provides

valuable information to the selectors about a candidate.A Group Discussion can be used as a tool for eliminationor selection. In the first type some candidates are rejectedafter the Group Discussion itself. In a selection type GroupDiscussion no candidate is eliminated. Candidates goforward to another stage in the selection process- usuallya personal interview, after which they are either accepted

or rejected.

A Selector looks for various things in a Group Discussionperformance. Some of the questions an evaluator asks


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himself about the candidate at the end of a GroupDiscussion are: Did the candidate speak at all?

What are the knowledge levels of the candidate? Do people listen when he speaks, What are hisanalytical skills like? Was he able to provide leadership to the group? Did he carry people with him or did he antagonizethem? Is he a team player? Is he a good communicator?

Is he a good listener? Does he understand, appreciate and respect otherspoint of view? Did he speak win-win? Did he speak sense? Is he able to sift through a mass of information andquickly focus on the crucial issue?

Does he have win-win attitudes?

Common perception that one needs to be very aggressiveto succeed in a group discussion is misplaced. GroupDiscussion is team work. One needs to be quite polite aswell as assertive to succeed. Group Discussions are notmad houses where everybody shouts at the top of his or

her voice without listening to each other. In fact effectiveleadership in a group discussion requires a lot of patienceand positive attitude towards others. Empathy is the keyto success in a group discussion. Empathy does not meanagreeing to another persons view point. It rather means


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putting yourself in the other persons shoes withoutyielding your own view point. The free for all fight in agroup discussion should be totally avoided.

Todays Group discussions are usually leaderless forums. Apersons attitude in a group or his/her confrontation levelwhile expressing his view points is observed. Aggressionor submission is a sign of discomfort in a group. Anassertive person doesnt try to impress rather heexpresses his view points by being totally at home in a

group. The following points need to be noted whileparticipating in a group discussion:

Speakup:-the first principle of participating in a GroupDiscussion is that you must speak. If you are an introvertand reserved person, you may not feel confident to speakat the beginning of the discussion. Fair enough, wait and

watch with your mind ticking away, listening andanalyzing. Then make your contribution. Do not waitforever; otherwise it will be too late to make any positiveimpact. The bottom line is you must speak.

Openthe discussionor not:- In most Group Discussions theopening speaker is the person who is likely to get the

maximum uninterrupted air time. The reason is simple atthe start most of the participants in the Group discussionare still trying to understand the basic issues in the topic,or are too nervous to speak and are waiting for someoneelse to start. Therefore the evaluators get the best chance


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to observe the opening speaker. If he talks sense naturallyhe will get credit because he opened the discussion andtook the group in the right direction. If on the other hand,

the first speaker does not have much to say, he willattract the undivided attention of the evaluators to hisshort comings. He will be marked as a person who speakswithout thinking and merely for the sake of speaking. Alsohe may be marked as someone who leads the group inthe wrong direction and does not make a positivecontribution to the group.

So remember, speaking first is a high risk- high returnstrategy. It can make or mar your Group Discussionperformance depending on how you handle it. Speak firstonly if you have enough sensible things to say. Otherwisekeep silent and let someone else start.

Speakwin-win:- Win-win speaking means dont downgradeanother person (i.e. speaking win-lose). When two peoplespeak win-lose to each other a quarrel starts. Even dontallow another person to undermine you.

Speakwithinfirst three minutes:-If you dont open your mouthin the first three minutes somebody else may snatch yourpoint. Your initial impact may lose its significance evenafter some time.


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Remember it isanopendiscussionandnotapublicspeaking:-AGroup discussion involves a free flowing exchange of ideasamong participants. Even though there will definitely be

chaos in most competitive Group discussion as allparticipants will be keen to be heard any suggestion oforder such as speaking in turn is not acceptable.

Speakinginturnisneveragoodidea:-A discussion has to flownaturally. Group members, most likely, will ignore yoursuggestion and try to speak when they have something to

say. We have never seen a strategy of speaking turn byturn succeed in the Group Discussions we have evaluatedso far. Also, there have been no instances of anyone beingselected after suggestion that participants speak turn byturn. The result of speaking in turn is that not only is thediscussion unnatural and disjointed, but it also loses itspunch and variably has a lot of lapses of silence, since

participants have nothing to say when their turn comes.

Adopt Kiss :-Keep it short and simple never speak morethan forty seconds at a time. Speak to the point but usingsimple words.

Adopt PREP:-

Position

Reason


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Example

Position

PREP sequence is the best mode of speaking. Firstly stateyour position on the topic i.e. your stance on the topic.

GDisgoalkeepingorgatekeeping:-People go to a GroupDiscussion with the idea of hitting others idea s for a sixer.This strategy has every chance of being boomeranged.The other members will take it as an offence as a result

they may hinder you from speaking. Accept others ideahowever contradictory it may be to your idea then try toconvince the person. Goal keeping does mean doingselective listening to good ideas. Even if you try it will bepretty difficult to listen to all the speakers. Find out fewparticipants who are speaking qualitatively and react tothem. Never ever use the goal keeping method of not

listening at all.Secondly give maximum three reasons corroboratingstance. If you have more than three points find the bestthree. If you go for more number of points you will not


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get time to explain. A cohesive argument requires fewerpoints to be explained.Thirdly give an example on the points. Examples will

determine your level of understanding on the topic: Findout examples from the contemporary topics:

At the end give a conclusion which will again state yourposition clearly.Dont waste time:- Remember Group Discussion is not a 5days match. It is a one dayer, you have to hit the nail onthe head from the word go. If you have a tendency to

build a preamble, desist from it.Dontact likea leaderoracoordinator:-Leadership is assumed.It is not forced upon. If you act like a co-coordinator, itwill be taken negatively inviting unnecessary hostility. Assuch your group effectiveness will be hampered. Dontadapt any role, let yourself go. When you want to speaktry to make an entry and speak out your view point

assertively.Dont bepersonalinagroup:- Best way is to treat everybodyas discussion members only. Dont accuse a lady by usingwords like you women are such.. it will put you ina negative light.Avoid Extremes: It is better not to be emotional in a groupdiscussion, control your words while providing your points.

Express your opinion, you need not get into a verbal duelwith another member.Maintainuniformityofeyecontact: Look at every oneuniformly while speaking. Dont only speak to the personwith whom you are familiar.


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Dontact likeascribe:- Express your opinion and dont pickup the role of a journalist who asks questions only.Intervene minimum five timesand dontinterrupt:- Intervening

means coming out with your view point. While, interruptmeans stopping a person from making himself clear.Desist from stopping a person who is speaking before hecompletes his speaking. If you allow other people to speakthen only others will allow you to speak. Moreover, if theother person does not stop and carries on speaking evenafter your interruption it will end up being a fish market.

And you will be made responsible for the starting the hullbulla resulting in negative marks for you.

Enunciate Clearly:- Speak clearly, avoid using artificiality inyour articulation.Handle theaggressortactfully:-An aggressor is a know allkind

of a boy who tries to control the proceedings of a groupdiscussion his way. He can be found out from thebeginning itself. He sits on the brink of a chair stoopingand having his left leg forward. Yes.but is part of hisvocabulary; usually this person speaks with a louder voiceand does not allow the other person to speak. He may bequite an intelligent fellow but the ultimate analysis is in his

impatience he is going to be killed.The best way to handle him is speak firmly and dont getswayed by his questions. Ask him not to interrupt till youfinish your idea.


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Mentalnotesare betterthanwrittennotes:-If you write downnotes before speaking it is good but many times you mayfall into the mode of writing down notes while the Group

Discussion is on. This impedes you from having activeinvolvement in group processes.Haveanentrystrategy:- However boisterous the group maybe there will always be a lull after an uproar. Use the lullto make an entry inside the discussion. Once you haveentered speak clearly and loudly without stopping. Yourhesitation can be taken advantage of by more aggressive

members to snatch a point from you and speak on it.Use yourlistening toestablish rapport: Rapport buildingrequires conscious practice by keeping yourself in theother persons shoes. It is immaterial whether the personagrees to you or not. A person has a tendency to agreewith the person who is like himself and again a personwho tries to listen to him. You must agree to disagree with

other persons view point. Shed the attitude of thinkingthat a person who is not agreeing to your point is againstyou. View with respect other persons thought andcontradict his points and not the person.

You can manipulate your body language by mirroring thetone of your voice. Dont speak in a uniform voice; varyyour voice on the basis of the person you are talking to.

This is the best procedure of establishing a rapport withothers. Flexibility in approach is the key success to in anycommunication.Passingvalue judgmentis likeinviting the bull to yourchinashop:-

Desist at any cost from branding anybody or anything.Speak clearly about your view points without getting


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emotional. The moment you pass a value judgment likewomen are meant to be subservient you will find everyonecharging on you as if you are a culprit. This will bring in

unnecessary and uncalled for hostility.

Paraphrasea lot whileothersarespeaking: Saying yes or Iagree or someone liner is the best way of active listening.If you have listened to others they will make it a point to

listen to you. As such your view point will be heardwithout much interruption. You may observe some ofthem may stop another person from interrupting you.Agree to disagree to thepointsofanotherpersonandnot the

person:- When you contradict another person disagreewith his points. Dont say you are wrong or you aremistaken my friend which will bring uncalled for hostility

againAvoidarguments: If you are falling into a trap of arguingwith one of the members .It will unnecessarily pry intoothers timing by not allowing them to speak.SpeakonlyinEnglish andnoother language whengroup discussionisinEnglish:

Beactiveinthegroup throughout the discussion: Even afteryour turn is over resort to active listening likeparaphrasing or interjecting with newer ideas.Handle disagreementsserenely: Dont get flustered when youare pushed to a wall by everyone. If many of them startpouncing on your point dont get panicky or getaggressive, both the reactions will put you in a negative


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light. Stress management in an emotionally chargedsituation is the key to success. Dont detract from yourview points.

Assert yourrights:-Being assertive in a group meansholding on to your rights without offending anotherperson. Exercise the following rights in GDs.

1. You have a right to disagree.2. You have a right to intervene. 3. You have a right to stop somebody if he over speaks4. You have a right to speak5. You have a right to be heard.

Dont conclude unless you are asked to concludeDos and Dont in GD:-Dos

y Seat yourself comfortably.y Listen to the topic carefully.y Organize your ideas before speaking.y Speak at the earliest opportunity.y Be polite.y Identify your supporters and opponents.y Allow your supporters to argue your ideas.y Keep track of time.y Share time fairly.y Listen to others points.y Maintain eye contact-while speaking, listening.y Take a scratch paper.y Note down the topic as soon as it is announced.

DONTSy Be in a hurry to start discussing


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y Be silenty Dominate Vocally/ Physicallyy Assume the role ofachairmany Introduce the topictothe groupy T

ake extreme stance

y Enterintoanargumenty Passvalue judgmentsy Lookatthe facultyy Shoutdowninertparticipantsy Move excessivelyinyourchairorleanonthe tabley Throwallyourideasinone shoty Speakfasty Digressfromthe topicy Use slangy Getemotionaly Payattentiontobulldozersy Indulge inparallelconservation

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Typical Questions in Interviews