Let me begin by telling you that the art of cracking a GD and interview is very simplistic. Don’t get overconfident after reading it; you will need a little practice mastering the same.
Most of you would have been a part of several group discussions during the final placements during your undergraduate. In all probability, it would have turned out to be a fish market, and you would have walked out of the room cursing your group. Well, it’s going to be no different in the group discussions that you would soon be giving. Aspirants would cease upon any opportunity they get to enter the discussion and present their point. How do you stand out in such a noisy environment and catch the attention of the panellist? The key is not to always start the GD, or speak the most or even conclude. Yes, it might gain you brownie points, but only if what you speak is relevant. Remember, the panellist is a professor or some eminent personality who knows better than you do and would have moderated many group discussions.
Then what do you do? From my personal experience, the key is to speak what is relevant to the topic. Sounds quite simple but trust me group discussions tend to go south as the discussion proceeds. Bringing back the group to the main point and discuss what is relevant catches the attention of the moderator. It will showcase that you can lead the group in the right direction, a desirable trait any future manager should possess. Bringing out correct facts related to the topic makes you stand out, as it shows that you have your fair share of knowledge regarding the topic.
If you just stick to these two very simple, yet not so easy to implement points that I have mentioned above, you increase your chances to clear the GD. When you do this, someone from the group (even if it’s a fish market) will support your point and bang, brownie points earned yet again. Support from the group will highlight the leadership quality in you since you were able to make others listen when everyone wanted just to talk and not listen.
Now comes the most important part of the journey, the personal interviews. Now you must have heard people and mentors talk about how you should be well versed with your profile, have some standard answers ready and revise the basics. Well, they aren’t wrong in saying that, and some basic level of preparation is required. I will not be touching upon the basic questions, rather talk about something more important than that.
But what most of us fail to understand is that it is you who has to drive the interview and not the interviewer. Startled? Wondering how would you do that? Well its very easy. It’s highly probable that the first question is going to be ‘’Tell me something about yourself’’. Now if you fail to impress the panellists in the first two minutes and fail to arouse their interest, they will for sure make up their mind to not select you, until some miracle happens later.
So how do you arouse their interest while introducing yourself? You do that by putting loose ends in your answer. By loose ends, I mean that you do not explain everything about yourself, your achievements, your work experience. There will be something good in your profile that you would like to tell them. You don’t explain those good part while introducing yourself. Rather, you just mention it, pause so that it gets noticed and then move on to the next point. You let such three to four loose ends in your first answer, and there are high chances that the next question from the interviewer will be ‘’you mentioned about the XYZ thing, tell me something more about it’. That is how you drive your interview and take control. Keep letting loose ends at your strong points and keep driving the interview. So, in the whole interview, you get to answer questions that you are comfortable answering. If you let the interviewer drive the interview, god knows what he might ask.
In the end, it’s all about displaying your confidence. ‘’Treat every interview like a blind date where you need to impress the person on the other side of the table with your wit, your knowledge, and your confidence’’.
I have done this in all the GD’s and interviews I have given, and trust me the points above work. For some of you, it might come superfluously, while some of you might need some amount of practice mastering these skills, but you have enough time to prepare for the same.
Wish you all good luck!
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