Cracking campus interviews

Going through the process of campus interviews to crack your first job offer can sometimes be a grueling experience. With proper planning and preparation, this phase can be sailed through with lot more ease than one expects.

Every student must remember and realize one fundamental aspect of this phase. So far, as a student you may have worked very hard, studied hard for the exams, achieved good grades, took up meaningful student projects or internships and did everything you could.

Now is the time to present all this work through your resume and communication to convince the recruiter that you are indeed a Rockstar.

Many students often mishandle this process with some misconceptions about the hiring process. We will cover what these misconceptions and how you can avoid.

My grades will get me a job:
First common mistake is to overestimate your academic achievements. You could have been a topper of your class or college all through.

But don’t let that achievement cloud the importance of other preparation you need to add to crack the interview. You have to remember that once you are shortlisted for an interview, you are just one among several interviewees and need to compete with others.

Your academic achievements may speak about your candidature but if you are unable to convince the recruiter why you are the right candidate for their company irrespective of your academic excellence, you will falter.

My resume will speak for myself:
Second common mistake is to undermine the importance of personal articulation of your candidature to the recruiter cohort. You may have prepared the best resume on the campus, but if you fail to articulate the contents of the resume well, this will thoroughly disappoint the recruiter.

Especially for a great resume, a recruiter will mentally prepare to meet a Rockstar interviewee. So, you have the responsibility to live up to the resume you have sent. Never assume that recruiters read through the entire resume and will realize what you are worth.

On an average, each recruiter will spend 30 seconds to 1 minute flat on skimming through the resume before they take a call to whether or not the candidate should be called for an interview. Thus the better part lies in sealing the deal in person.

I have to Master everything:
Third common mistake is to misappropriate what you need to prepare for the interview and wrongly prioritize your preparation. Your seniors who sat through this similar interview is your best bet get a handle on the scope of the preparation for an interview.

Not all companies focus on the same content. Some companies really will grill you on your coding skills, while others may focus on your aptitude skills. Always, draw a fine scope of what needs to mastered for the interview depending on the type of the company and the interviews they have held before.

Now that we have covered few common don'ts of the interview process, there are certain things that you need to absolutely ensure are taken care of to succeed in this game.

Prepare on your resume to the last detail:
In almost every interview, the interviewer and interviewee sit across the table facing each other and interviewer fires question after question.

However, almost all these questions arise in the mind of an interviewer from the content he or she is reading from your resume. If you are not familiar with what you have written in your resume inside out, there is a good chance for the interviewer to think that you have fabricated the resume. One way to avoid this is to, prepare in phases.

Divide your resume into multiple chunks or sections. Start with each section and read it with a fresh perspective although you are reading someone else's resume. Write down all the questions that come to your mind.

Questions you have on the content or the questions that an interviewer thinks might ask. Continue this exercise until you scan through the entire resume and prepare an inventory of questions and then prepare on how you would answer those questions. This will leave no room for blind spots in your resume.

Prepare on the projects that you have worked on:
An interviewer is not interested in knowing just the fact that you have worked on some projects. They want to know what has been your contribution to it and what have you gained out of it.

So, for any project that you have taken up, always answer these questions. Your motivation to be part of that particular project, what was your specific contribution to the team, what challenges you have faced and what have you learnt from this exercise.

Elaborate on these four factors and prepare an articulation and rehearse it few time for you to be confidently present the same during an interview.

Be honest and transparent:
Many a times, you may encounter questions that you have not anticipated and not prepared to answer. General tendency is to make up an answer on the fly and hope to move on to the next questions.

Any seasoned interviewer will know immediately if you are trying to circumvent the question. Never do that. Unless you are confident on the answer, say something like, I have not encountered that but I can give it a try or rather come clean saying you do not have an answer. Your honesty will go a long way than your enthusiasm to provide an half-baked answer.

Research the company and fit:
Along with your academic and aptitude preparation, interviewers are often interested in seeing how well you know the company you are interviewing for.

Just on the day of interview go through the company website and prepare for facts like, when the company was founded, who founded it, what is the vision and mission of the company, how much is the stock worth and what are the products offered etc.

Ask questions at the end
Every interviewer will ask at the end of an interview if you have any questions for them. Do not walk away without asking anything as this will reflect disinterest from your side to join the company.

At the same time, do not ask mundane questions which the interviewer is not excited to answer. Always try to interest the interviewer in the conversation. Ask something like, what you can do if you are offered the job to be ready for day1.

Talk about a recent news item on the company and ask what the interviewer thinks about it. Make a string impression as a person who has done all her homework and is eager to join their company. After all that is the whole point of an interview.