 Initially, I had thought of beginning the interview sessions with interviewing some of you, but now I do know a lot many of you. So perhaps I would plunge into the interview skills straight away. But before I really move into it, again, I always call it an attitudinal shift. When we go for an interview, when our students go for an interview, what they are looking at is money. All of us, you know, we look at money and we all why for the top most organization. When we don't compete there, we look for the second ladder. We are not even there. And perhaps towards the end, there is a handful who are waiting for placements. Very tough time for them. Very tough time for them. And as role models and moderators, as coordinators for this course, it is very important that we tell them that it is not the end of the road. And believe me, I have gone through phases. I have seen things. So when I talk it is not, you won't find any theories in my depiction out here because I practice what I preach. I have two sons. One of them is employed. He's a mechanical engineer. And as a mom, I did want him to work with one of the best organizations here. But he went and he's pursuing a career in an educational firm. And he said, mom, I'm very happy here. I'm not making much money, but I'm very happy here and I'm learning a lot. So the focus has to be what you are looking at. There are some who are working with very good organizations, but are planning to leave their jobs because of the 16-hour schedule. So and this generation, it wants money. It wants life also out of that money. And therefore, when we teach those students, when we mold those students, we must tell them that when you go sitting for an interview, first sit back and think what you want out of life. Are you going just for the brand name or are you going for something that is going to satisfy you? That is first thing. Another thing, as we said, there is a lot of unpredictability. It's very difficult to say how you can crack an interview. We are only training our students. We are not training our interviewers, right? We are not training our interviewers. So to say that this is the process by which you can nail an interview, I would be hypocritical if I say that. Because I do not know how the interview is going to shape. But what I can tell them is, I don't know whether you've watched the three idiot movie. Yeah? I loved the way that person with a 5-point or a 6-point came and said, I hope how many of you understand Hindi out here? I shall translate it otherwise. You know something like that, after much difficulty and after going through so much hardship, I have gained my integrity and confidence, I'm not going to let it go like that. If you think you like me, take me. Otherwise, I'll find something different for myself. Okay? So at this juncture, you may say again, madam, that is just, you're talking theory again. But when we speak with our students now, that is something which comes out. We have to tell them that interview is an assimilation and not an elimination process. I'm looking for something. I was looking for a TA. I was told I need to have a TA. And I just wondered, okay, my God, who do I select? And my fair lady, she said, ma'am, I find it so difficult talking in front of other people. And I said, there cannot be anyone else better than her. And here she is so confident. Ayukunam, thank you so much. That's how you mentor, okay? I could have chosen somebody, my seniors, some of my senior students also. But that is how we work towards assimilation process and not the elimination process. She must be, you know, I had a very busy period. I am having a very busy period. And perhaps every single night, I would put something up, how could you do this? With her workload, she still would do it. Maybe she must be cursing me. What is this, Dr. Jha? You're just putting everything, slides, all slides, uploading things at random. But now when she'll go back and work on those slides, she will see what Professor Moorthy was talking about, then she was talking about the elevator pitch. There has to be a lot of recasting. There has to be a lot of editing. Before you finally come to that elevator pitch, she was talking about. We'll talk about it later. They test you for what you know and how well you know. Do not fake or beat around the bush. Be sincere in an interview. She had said it again. Professor Moorthy had said it. Practice it in front of the mirror. She had made a very interesting point. Put your strongest point out there, okay? In your elevator pitch. So that you could steer the interview around that. My brother-in-law, 25 years back, he's a very eminent doctor now. He was in his final year of medicine. My dad-in-law again, a very eminent doctor. And he's, you could say, kalasar if you know the disease kalasar. He's the whole story. You could say whatever medicine is in the market is being tested in his clinic first. So this brother-in-law of mine said, Bhabhi, I don't have any issues with the interview. You know, all those people who are coming, I'm going to steer the interview towards kalasar and there I'm the boss. Okay? What happened in the interview? They all knew that he was the son of this doctor. None of them allowed him to talk even for 30 seconds on kalasar. He was tested in every other field but kalasar. There is always that risk. Okay? So when you keep on harping about something, it could be that somebody in the panel would say, Okay, you have done it. So why do I need to ask it? What was your second best subject? Right? Because in a couple of seconds we know what you've done. So always be prepared for what you are putting out there and you should have a contingency plan as well. Right? Do not memorize those. Recently itself. We were in an interview and somebody came and it was one after the other, one after the other, one after the other. He continued for two minutes. And we could say that he had mugged it up. But then it was quite good because we felt at least he has worked on it and tried to present something of himself. So it doesn't go wrong. If you have an elevator pitch, it doesn't go wrong. Do not attempt manipulation. That is where you make it or mar it. Anything which you feel, I mean our students normally, they may have done a little thing in a project but they would put it as they have done the entire project themselves. Please, we need to ask our students not to do that if they have worked on a specific aspect of the project. Let them say so, that they have worked on this specific aspect of the project. Because once they start asking, they would feel that you have more to hide. And then what they do, in one of the interviews, we literally checked the credentials of the student. Okay? So we need not, we have to tell the students, be honest in your resume, be honest when you are talking because those sitting on the other side of the table are not fools. They have been in your shoes. They have been there, done that. So today, please don't try to manipulate them. There will be better manipulators than you could ever think at that particular stage. Sir, the content part is extremely important for an interview. Communication is important. But then how you present your content, over here I feel it's more important. For an academic interview, if I'm there, I normally say, okay, fine. If you think he's sound on the content, I shall handle the communication part. But if we have a good mix, but if we have people, nine-pointers are there. Right? They're all nine-pointers, let us say. We have come for the interview. And if somebody has better communication skill and you have to make one selection, who would you go with? Better communication. Better communication. And that is why we are trying to strike a balance somewhere. Body language has to be positive and we are going to talk about it now. Confidence and sincerity. Over here, I'm not going to dwell more upon the content part simply because if I've mentioned, for our own, if we have mentioned that 99 percentile is the cut-off, most of you who's there would be at 99. Right? With a 99 percentile, what more am I going to ask you about the content? You would more or less be the same. So the differentiation is on how you are applying your content, the application of what you have learned in those years. So when I give you a question, it would be, the students need to be told that they should be prepared for the application of the course. And not merely for what they did. How did they apply it? Did they apply it? They may have worked on the projects. Did they apply it anywhere? They need to be aware of that. If they have not applied, no ma'am, no sir, we did not get the chance to apply. So do you think it can be applied? What made you select that topic? So these are the questions which we need to throw at our students and help them prepare for the interview. Every word that they have mentioned in the resume leads to a question. Therefore the resume needs to be scanned champion, table tennis, ok? Champion, where? Was it a national championship or was it a school championship? Don't mislead. Kinesics in an interview. Postures, gestures, facial expression. Often I have been asked how do we enter? How do we sit? Where should our hands be? What posture should we have during our interview? And my class today, my session today would be just a reference to it. Something which our students need to know. Because what I have felt is they are solid on their content. It is just the posture or the confidence that they are worried about. Again, you have made obviously you are allowed to enter. Come there and perhaps wait for a couple of seconds. The interviewer is bound to ask you to give a seat. Ok? You put your feet firmly on the foot. Is it ok? Your hands loosely in your lap. If you are carrying something heavy let us suppose you are carrying a folder and a laptop as well. The interviewer is that side. I am sitting here. I am still not a part of the organization. So what we do is I need to put my folder on the table. So you need to seek the permission of the interviewer. May I? And you would say yeah, feel comfortable. So then you put it on the table. Now that portion becomes you because you have touched the permission. I am going about the corporate interviews where business, where kinesics is very important. I am talking about those. Ladies, we normally cross our feet at the ankle or put it very firmly towards the back. Our hands just as her posture is loosely held like this. Remember one of my interviews I went there and I was asked to make myself comfortable. Gosh, I just hope it doesn't fall. So I sat like this. Okay? I was very nervous. Very nervous. I didn't know what to do. I was very nervous. And I had a PhD by then. And yet I was very nervous. I was an English student. I was an XG, a new alumni. And yet I was very nervous. I sat there. And my interviewer says make yourself comfortable. Twice he said and then he says leader make yourself comfortable. I am not going to ask you to do so again. And then I realized that I was sitting on the edge of the chair. I made myself comfortable. It happens when we are nervous. We do not realize. Okay? So when our interviewer says make yourself comfortable. Make yourself comfortable. Force that. It is all. Why do I need to talk about these things? Because some of you who allow yourself to adapt to the situation subconsciously act that way. But some of you who are very nervous needs to be told like Hanumanji was told when you have this potential to fly, fly from Lanka and get that Sanjeevani booty. You need to be told that it is within you to act like that. When you are asking a question or you are answering you lean a little forward. Okay? Or perhaps if the interview goes beyond 20 minutes and the interviewer relaxes you can actually move on to 120 degree. Let's move on to the postures. Do not slouch but relax a bit to avoid looking rigid and authoritative. Any question here because it's a very important thing. Any question here? My question is sometimes do the students who are facing interview should they be honest in answering? For example, sometimes their ethics are tested. For example, there might be a question like if you are selected for our company are you going to lie for us? If I could lie for you I could be lying right now myself. Okay? If I could lie then perhaps I could be expected to lie now also. Okay? That could be one of the answer with absolute integrity on your face. To be prepared since we know the answers we have such a fantastic you know group of people here if only we could share the answers that comes within us and put them on the boodle or put them for everybody to share we would have you know a set of questions and then a set of answers as well. One question for example do you have any other offer at the movement or have you been attending any other interviews? We did throw the questions to our students and I feel this generation is very clear about things the answer in the affirmative if they have an opinion they let them know. I personally feel that they should let them know. If they have an offer from an institute which is graded higher than them that's a good impression if it is lower than them again it's good not an issue at least they have an offer okay? I am more for you know the ethical side of it because with all the transparencies patterns evolving everything being linked to your other card and things I think we need to be more transparent in our dealings today and that's how we change the generation any other question? they are not bluff in the interview they will not allow you they can see through you I told you the body language expert is not a body language expert for nothing he is a psychologist and the movement before lying perhaps you do this you do this or maybe your eyes yes the eye contact will not be there and in that instance you would know that you are lying so don't lie that body language expert is actually a lie tester lie detector out there another thing that really goes is you know what at times you could be in the habit of it at times it could be sure nervousness just one suggestion we could give to our students is think of some very positive association out there very positive association I am putting forward my own interviews just to let you know that I have been through that process my English honors interview the first person to get in and here I am sitting out there my entire I am otherwise a confident person very confident person but that was the first time I guess there was a formal interview and it would be held only for the English department my entire body was shaking it was like this I tried to hold the pen it was going I could feel it I could literally feel it and the interviewer says what's the name looks at the paper the sheet that has been given Lina Khan and then he says are you a relative of Changi's Khan college days all of us were very impressed by Imran Khan who was playing then the moment he says Changi's Khan I thought of only he could have said Imran Khan and the very thought of Imran Khan was you know was there to you know lighten me up the entire interview went very smooth what I mean to say I don't think about the we should not be telling our students to think about their boyfriends girlfriends idols but then you know they could associate positive thoughts it helps to calm you okay is there any technique for that because many of them are having as you are telling postures many of them like pretend that they are old actually but inside there will be a big shivering I think everybody knows actually so if it is the case what sort of things which we can impart our students to make before the interview it is very important to tell them it is now the end of the road first thing also tell them that you may or may not get through the interview but the onus may not always lie on you it is about the interviewer he may be looking for a different profile altogether you may not fit into the profile despite everything that you know so there could be some other job waiting for you it is very important to see that the confidence remains intact and another thing is the same thing is they to actually pretending is different right as such you are showing that you are not shivering you don't have to how long will you pretend that's the thing I believe you no it is there but is there anything like which we can control and we can really become bold and going to the interview confidence is there anything like that okay students you should face the interview not for the job right face the interview face the questions so that is first confidence level can be high right besides that because in our classrooms in our non-verbal communication we are showing up a lot of the body language and make the practice when we are going to conduct that PI sessions at that time we are convincing them so by these things we can develop their confidence level when the confidence level will come to face the interview only not for the job I am going to talk about it so when we are going to convince the students to face the interview at the time they will face the interview with the full of confidence and partially we may not be shivering or like these things thank you it is my opinion thank you very much for your opinion it is quite a valuable suggestion what he wants to know that despite everything if you are shivering out there what are you going to do madam I have one point to add so just to tell how the confidence of the student should be enhanced like first the student should get prepared that like many students they will go to the interview that I should get the job but a feeling should be cultivated among them that I should give the tough competition in the interview so then certainly he will get a chance of getting more success in that so where he can decrease like he is a stress in the interview this will certainly help in getting enhanced his confidence another very important and technical point for his would be you may be shivering but if you know the answer to the first question perhaps a lot of confidence will come back tell me something about yourself and that is why we say rehearse the moment the person would say tell me something about yourself you are in your somewhat comfort zone if you have said that thing properly perhaps your confidence level will be back and if there are smiles stress will definitely because you have scaled it and that is why we need to have elevator pitch or our answer to the question I have questions it is mainly the fear of failure that makes them fearful and for that what we can train them to have second plan so plan 2 when we have plan 2 like already you be prepared for okay if I am get selected it is okay otherwise so I think that may help them to come out of this fear yes it is all about money if we make it in the first go if we make it in the best of the organization excuse me ma'am yes one last point ma'am sir is asking how to make the sense confident so I would like to make him understand very clearly this is also the part of making confident how to make the students confident this is the very first part and very first stage of a process to bring them into kind of process how to appear this is a kind of a Ghana is there Bonotera whatever is so this is the appearance if they can't appear with a kind of personality so next round will not start with this is the very important part of interview without this we can't go to the second stage and third one okay thank you so much thank you so much what we have talked about was the posture how we sit we know the other things how we lean when we are talking how we lean when we are listening to the person now we are going to talk about the gestures the interviewer is asking some question I don't realize right it's going I don't realize but and then the interviewer says ah your pen and I put it down it's an interview you know it's going to get money for you you know it's going to shape your career and therefore it is a conscious thing we have to become aware of the fact that we are moving into our business parlance and we have to take certain things consciously we cannot say that I do not realize whether my pen is going tick tick tick or not we have to tell ourselves that since I do it I shall not let the pen be in my hand I'll keep it there and I shall have to keep telling myself okay post every answer that I the rough work which I try out there I'll keep my pen out there I used to forget my keys so somebody told me when you put your key somewhere wait for a second register it here and then go similarly we have to it's going to get me money in laps and so if I have to make myself aware of the tick tick tick tick I'll make myself aware of the tick tick some of us gesticulate a lot okay especially when we are talking about something which is our passion GDPI is my passion I've been doing it for long business communication is my passion I've been doing it for long now okay but since but because I have been doing it for long I get so involved in it that I don't realize that I am all that type gesticulating so much okay we need to put our hands in control we need to again be aware that gesticulations are appropriate especially in professional sphere only to make a point only to prove a point okay you should do a bit of gesticulation otherwise it would appear rigid okay robotic but then you should not go overboard with your gesticulation sorry ma'am which one is important from the interview success perspective is it answering questions in interview or handling questions both but normally they say handling question will bring greater success I don't know they say handling if you handle the first question then all the other questions will be in your area of control no please do not underestimate the interviewers we need to tell our students please do not underestimate your interviewers you answer the first question right and you set the tone for yourself you are confident you also set the tone for the rest of the interview it could depend on who the interviewer is we do not know okay so what happens is both are important when you say how would you handle this question we have selected a couple of students who said sorry sir we do not know anything about it okay what happens is that person may have been answering one after the other the questions and then we take the tempo to a level where he realizes that he doesn't know it is beyond his comprehension he has not studied that it is beyond his comprehension he has been trying it he tries it does a few application and then says sorry sir I do not know about it I will take that person why because he had shown a logical progression not I I think most of us would go by that he has shown a logical progression and then he says that I do not know perhaps I go I have a learning process here I will go back and find about it so now I know that this person is somebody who is interested in learning as well his learning has not stopped with the college so handling becomes important as well okay fiddling with hair, pen or any other object conveys nervousness causes destruction and moving on to the next one I contact I think I have given you several displays of what eye contact can do during the group discussion also maintain eye contact this is again another question which I have often come across madam what should be the duration of the eye contact actually what happens is we have TCS we have reliance we have laymen brothers we have slumberger okay a global mix of interviewers and depending on the profile that they are interviewing a lot from the multinational bands as well and depending on the profile that they want we have the interviewers now what happens usually we are getting a little into the cross-cultural communication out here if we have somebody from the west especially from the American United States of America and if somebody who has been working out there and he is there to interview you perhaps he has been groomed into a culture where and whenever you talk you make the entire point looking at the person okay the western world our culture I still remember since childhood till now I cannot look into the eyes of my father and prove a point or make a point I have been tutored into that in the corporates, multinationals startups in India still we cannot do so with our seniors so we have come over you know program you could say or a policy wherein a process rather wherein we say 10 to 15 minutes of eye contact if you have asked a question and I am answering to you maybe I would start answering the question and look at you for 10 to 15 minutes 10 seconds and then perhaps she is the other one on the panel I would move my gaze to her or I would just wink for a moment and then resume the communication to be on the safer side we normally tell our students maybe 10 seconds of eye contact a brief closure and then once again resume it the voice modulation I think we need to record especially the first one the elevator pitch that we have talked about this works pause and breathe before answering a question let us suppose and I do give it the stress interview if I know that the student is well oriented so I do wish to push things further and over there we need to tell the students that if you feel that things are actually burning now or about to burn they are blazing condition yourself to the fact that perhaps it is a stress interview and if it is a stress interview believe me the chances of you being selected is more than the rest of them they will only give a stress interview one thing if in the very beginning you have acted smart over smart or increased you for your potential and they would be they are just trying to see how further can we take things okay so there in a stress interview or when perhaps you feel you need time to think tell them so because you would often come across interviewers who would say ah take your time so we need to tell our students that if there is something for which you need to conjecture thoughts you need to bring thoughts together take your time and work there may be a time in an interview that you have been so nervous you have been so tensed and now that you are comfortable you need a glass of water normally it is there you could ask the interviewer for that glass of water because again just as I said a GD is about finding certain things and interview is also about presenting yourself in the best of manner so if that glass of water is that sip of water can help avail of it the interviewer is not as high headed as you think him to be more than you believe in that particular mantra more than you he is under stress of hiring you one good hire and his company makes a lot of money one wrong hiring and the company suffers so we need to tell these things to our students that brings up their confidence you know for business communication for any communication be it letter, writing be it report writing be it GD meetings GDPI whatever there has to be an introduction there has to be a body there has to be a conclusion remember our essay writing days even there we used to have these things so now we are at the last leg of our interviews and we often come across the question again from the student sector how should we conclude it at times we feel that it has ended abruptly the questions may have been asked and at times the interviewer ask you would you have any question to would you like to ask any question ok stay poised take a quick mental review of what all you have said and if there have been any instance where you felt like asking a question if yes ask the question otherwise two category if you are confident we come across not came we come across these things in our interviews I think that is the latest trend these days if you really had a learning experience through the interview let them know that it was a learning many a times you realise that ok perhaps they are looking for a different profile and I may not even get there and yet if it has been a learning experience let them know about it why because if you end it on a positive note perhaps the corporate would put you in the waiting list they might need somebody later somebody likes you later always end it on a positive note do not say it if you don't mean it that is very cliche normally what happens we go for the cat preparation we go for the gregmat preparation over there we have classes on gdpi and there we are talking so many things which we actually have to unlearn when we move into the corporate field so be honest if you have really learnt something tell them it feels good we are also human beings all of us we are human beings we may be sitting on the other side of the table but if somebody praises us we like it don't we yeah the last but not the least I get a very important aspect of the interviews do not initiate or offer a handshake imagine in a day I may have to interview 50 of them and each one comes and shakes hands with me by the time it ends I will have to go for a manicure I guess or maybe a massage that person shakes hands with just one but we have to shake hands with them all together 50 times do not initiate also it is an indicator normally if you have done pretty well and we want you in we initiate it so that's an indicator we must tell our students not to offer handshakes be gracious even if you feel raw as it may have been a stress interview and greet politely before taking leave I wasn't once and it paid off for me long back I had gone for an interview it was just the beginning of my career it was just the very beginning of my consultancy career and I went there and there he was sitting you don't fit the resume your qualifications don't fit the resume yeah so why are you here that's how the interview had begun why are you here you don't fit your resume your position I was like taken aback from I had a long day that day and I had come from there directly from my workplace for the interview so I said okay you called me that is why I'm here no no it doesn't suit it doesn't fit in here I didn't know what to do well if you're here you may as well sit down yeah I sat down and then he says again he makes a comment very long back he makes some comment and I couldn't take it as it is I had a very long day I was already in job what I did was I just picked my back and I literally told him listen here I was trying to teach your students I could teach your teachers also and if it's like then it struck okay it was for a cool you know at that time perhaps intermediate kind of a thing so I said okay fine and then I just picked up my bag and I said thank you very much and I moved out and then he realized okay fine sorry something has gone amiss he said no no please sit down could you just bend the bell and ask for some tea for me so at times why did I bring that topic stress interview is something different but we need to tell our students that if in an interview there is something which hurts them personally you have to differentiate between the two if there is something which hurts them personally he or she must take a stand that shows the integrity of the person being interviewed I think during a GD the point of submission came at no point we need to sacrifice our ethics something we believe in for monetary benefits that is something we need to let our students know we had been talking about the elevator pitch and I said it has to be different on a slide it doesn't look too good because we have several lines out there but one of the slide is for when I applied earlier so this is the one I would send in my resume the paradigm shifts from English to business communication if you could just read it for a couple of minutes and then I will move to the other one the second one which perhaps is more suited for the book I plan to publish once they know their throughput know the inventory the throughput is bound to increase that's the perfect pitch for a technical institute I am opting for a human resource thing or if I am the age of humanity perhaps I would tweak with it and I would write something different so your elevator pitch would change okay why? we need to change it we have enmasked so much of it so much of experience so obviously we need to showcase it on that note it's really been an honour to be here with the brains of India people on mission thank you so much for being so patient