Interviews can be quite intimidating for most students – especially when you don’t already have another job in hand.  When you look around, you see there are multiple applicants for every job on offer.  Research indicates that while 70% of students get an interview opportunity, only 20% get selected. It is therefore critical to put your best foot forward in an interview to increase your chances of landing a great job.

The selection in an interview is based on a number of factors including (but not limited to) your technical knowledge and how well you can present yourself to the interviewer.  Technical requirements vary depending on the field of study (e.g. computers or mechanical) & type of company (e.g. product Vs services Vs manufacturing) and are already the focus area of students. It is the other soft aspects of interview process, where students are found lacking and many a times, these are the differentiators in getting or not getting the job.

In other terms, Technical knowledge is a necessary condition but not sufficient condition.

Now, coming back to interview, there are 3 main steps to an interview process 

• Preparation – Extremely Critical Step.It includes researching the job, employer, Industry, practice, fine tuning your CV, anticipate questions employer might ask, list down questions which you would ask employer etc. 
• Actual Interview  – The act itself. 
• Closure of the Interview – The step of gracefully closing the interview to ensure you remain in the game.

Each of these steps requires you to focus on different aspects. 

We will discuss these in subsequent chapters along with tips and guidelines.