Sealing the deal

I have made to the final round of interview for my dream company. Please could you give some guidelines to crack this and get my dream job? -Vasavi, Hyderabad

Firstly, hearty congratulations for making it to the final round of interview! You are now very close to getting the job and you should be proud that you could make it so far. This is because the hiring manager could see that you have the right skills; the final interview on site is generally to determine whether you will fit in the organisation and how you will stand out. Regarding the expectations from this round, here are a few tips to seal the deal.

As this round decides how you could have an edge over other finalists, you should first get control of your shaken nerves and try and connect with the interviewer or the panel judges.

Remember to take all the required documents

It’s excellent to show that you have an attitude that can sync with the company’s attitude; however it’s always good to have your own perspective.

Conduct some research about the company and get as much information as you can, by visiting their website, examining the company’s annual reports and a few external sources. Find out about the industries and countries where these companies do business. Most of the companies have on their website a section dedicated to investor relations, and there is a possibility of finding the annual reports in this section.

Familiarize yourself with the role you would be hired for and do ample research about the responsibilities and duties you are supposed to perform. Determine your USP based on this research, remembering the fact that this is a competition.

Depending upon the company, you could be either be interviewed by a single person or a panel of interviewers, so find out how it would be for you. Be prepared for different types or different styles of interview, try keeping it fresh even if you have to answer the same questions every time and do not forget to repeat your USP.

In a behavioral interview, the interviewer will present examples of challenging situations and ask you how you would manage them. To face such situations, you have to before-hand review notes from early stages of the interview and predict questions that may arise and practice these questions with a peer.

Do the necessary home work to find out the salary range for the position you are being interviewed for and therefore try to remain as flexible as possible in the salary discussion. Do not start the discussion with your salary expectations. Try to interact and ask questions. It will impress them and you will succeed in closing the deal. The questions shouldn’t be ones that have already been covered or basic ones that you should know.

When you reach the venue for the interview try and understand the organization’s corporate culture. This will help you understand how the organisation treats its employees, dictates acceptable business practices, etc. Finally I would suggest that you focus on the value that you would offer the company.

By:Shehre Banu Kagalwala