Tell Us a Story.
This question has some variants, for example, “Describe yourself”, “Tell us a story” , “You have mentioned in your CV that...”, etc. Generally, this kind of question is asked at the start of the interview. Interviewers understand the psychological aspects that a candidate can be tense, stressful, and is in a new situation sitting in front of altogether unknown people whose status is certainly above him. This question is aimed at putting the candidate at ease and giving him an opportunity to speak in an area about which he alone knows the best—that is the candidate. But it should be understood that the “first impression is the last impression”, so a candidate must put his best foot forward and sail through the interview successfully.
As far as the word ‘story’ in this question means is not the story of Alif Laila that the interviewer is interested to listen. He wants the candidate to describe himself. Now, do not start giving a verbose description of those feats that you have achieved and have already mentioned in your CV or the questionnaire that the organisation might have asked you to fill in when you arrived for the interview, and which is lying before the interviewer. As a matter of fact, repeating the facts and feats already mentioned in the CV is a misconception showing your inability to put forward anything new in a new situation.
Then how to tackle this question? The right approach should be to bring out some positive traits and attributes and make upon them to show how you have improved upon them in your personal capacity or for the previous employer or organisation that you have worked for. It remains a fact that there is no one fully perfect person in the world. Everyone has some or the other negative attribute or shortcoming, but a prudent man always works to impove upon them. It is not a bad idea to put yourself in good light, but it is also a sheer folly to overstate such facts. Remember, the interviewer is trying to know how you fit the job well. He is not going to hire you as a mechanical worker serving him in the capacity of the post, but it includes your whole personality. What he wants is a man, who besides being a specialist in his job and post, is also a person with positive traits—pleasant and adaptable, assertive and confident, social and affable, and is passionate about work and interaction with the colleagues and customers, and the other persons who with the organisation has to deal.
The other meaning that can be ascribed to this question is how you tell your interests and hobbies which you may or may not have mentioned in your CV. The candidate must be well prepered for this question revealing his personality in compact, whole form rather than in fragments.
Where You Find Yourself Five Years Down the Line.
This is a common question that surfaces in the interviews for middle and higher middle posts in an organisation. By asking ‘Where do you want to be in ten/five years from now?’ the interviewer is trying to ascertain whether the candidate has made any strategies for his career advancement. To answer this query, one needs prudent thinking and clever arrangement of thoughts and words about oneself. Since the answer to this question would depend on the kind of post a candidate has applied, he should frame his answer telling about his ambitions and how he plans to achieve them. It is not at all necessary that his ambitions are set only in the perspective of the intended organisation. It should include possession of skills, specialisation with due consideration to changes and upgradations required to achieve it. In other words, a candidate should put forward his concrete plan how he wishes to ascend the success ladder. One thing that should be given a due thought is that one should suitably give out his plan with the time periods that are likely to be involved for climbing from one post to the higher one, so that a proper plan is made out.
Secondly, the goal one sets should be in conformity with the post he has applied, the opportunities that an organisation provides for advancement, the role the candidate wishes to play in it and the methods he would like to adopt for his and organisation’s advancement. After all, a candidate cannot be expected to become successful when his organisation is faltering.
Thirdly, a candidate should be careful enough to exclude all such extraneous points, such as salary, designations,etc. By any means, good performance brings these things as a bye-product.
And remember, don’t boost. It can only aggravate for the worse. As a matter of fact, a successful employee should be in a (senior) manager’s seat in five years and should be heading a department in about ten years. But again this depends on various other factors including skills and specialisation, working, performance and achievements, size of the organisation, etc.
This question has some variants, for example, “Describe yourself”, “Tell us a story” , “You have mentioned in your CV that...”, etc. Generally, this kind of question is asked at the start of the interview. Interviewers understand the psychological aspects that a candidate can be tense, stressful, and is in a new situation sitting in front of altogether unknown people whose status is certainly above him. This question is aimed at putting the candidate at ease and giving him an opportunity to speak in an area about which he alone knows the best—that is the candidate. But it should be understood that the “first impression is the last impression”, so a candidate must put his best foot forward and sail through the interview successfully.
As far as the word ‘story’ in this question means is not the story of Alif Laila that the interviewer is interested to listen. He wants the candidate to describe himself. Now, do not start giving a verbose description of those feats that you have achieved and have already mentioned in your CV or the questionnaire that the organisation might have asked you to fill in when you arrived for the interview, and which is lying before the interviewer. As a matter of fact, repeating the facts and feats already mentioned in the CV is a misconception showing your inability to put forward anything new in a new situation.
Then how to tackle this question? The right approach should be to bring out some positive traits and attributes and make upon them to show how you have improved upon them in your personal capacity or for the previous employer or organisation that you have worked for. It remains a fact that there is no one fully perfect person in the world. Everyone has some or the other negative attribute or shortcoming, but a prudent man always works to impove upon them. It is not a bad idea to put yourself in good light, but it is also a sheer folly to overstate such facts. Remember, the interviewer is trying to know how you fit the job well. He is not going to hire you as a mechanical worker serving him in the capacity of the post, but it includes your whole personality. What he wants is a man, who besides being a specialist in his job and post, is also a person with positive traits—pleasant and adaptable, assertive and confident, social and affable, and is passionate about work and interaction with the colleagues and customers, and the other persons who with the organisation has to deal.
The other meaning that can be ascribed to this question is how you tell your interests and hobbies which you may or may not have mentioned in your CV. The candidate must be well prepered for this question revealing his personality in compact, whole form rather than in fragments.
Where You Find Yourself Five Years Down the Line.
This is a common question that surfaces in the interviews for middle and higher middle posts in an organisation. By asking ‘Where do you want to be in ten/five years from now?’ the interviewer is trying to ascertain whether the candidate has made any strategies for his career advancement. To answer this query, one needs prudent thinking and clever arrangement of thoughts and words about oneself. Since the answer to this question would depend on the kind of post a candidate has applied, he should frame his answer telling about his ambitions and how he plans to achieve them. It is not at all necessary that his ambitions are set only in the perspective of the intended organisation. It should include possession of skills, specialisation with due consideration to changes and upgradations required to achieve it. In other words, a candidate should put forward his concrete plan how he wishes to ascend the success ladder. One thing that should be given a due thought is that one should suitably give out his plan with the time periods that are likely to be involved for climbing from one post to the higher one, so that a proper plan is made out.
Secondly, the goal one sets should be in conformity with the post he has applied, the opportunities that an organisation provides for advancement, the role the candidate wishes to play in it and the methods he would like to adopt for his and organisation’s advancement. After all, a candidate cannot be expected to become successful when his organisation is faltering.
Thirdly, a candidate should be careful enough to exclude all such extraneous points, such as salary, designations,etc. By any means, good performance brings these things as a bye-product.
And remember, don’t boost. It can only aggravate for the worse. As a matter of fact, a successful employee should be in a (senior) manager’s seat in five years and should be heading a department in about ten years. But again this depends on various other factors including skills and specialisation, working, performance and achievements, size of the organisation, etc.
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