5 Easy Tips to Crack your Dream Job Interview

In this blog, Vanya shares her perspective on cracking the dream job interviews. Vanya is an MBA (Tech) student of IIT Jodhpur. For her summer internship, she worked with Tata Elxsi in their marketing department. Post completion of her internship, she was offered an opportunity to continue working with Tata Elxsi in a live project for the role of Business Solutions Executive for the strategic accounts of Tata Elxsi’s Medical Electronics Business Unit. Besides Tata Elxsi, she has full-time and internship work experience at TCS, DRDO, and Stanza Living. Her interests lie in marketing, strategy, and behavioral science. You may follow her on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanya-tripathi

1. Do your homework:

Research about the following topics well before you give an interview. Which industry does the company I am interviewing for belong to? What is its market capitalization? Who are the people leading this company? What is its history? Has it been in the news recently? If yes, what for?

2. Research about the sort of questions that are usually asked:

‘Tell me about yourself’, is one of the most common interview questions asked at the start of an interview. It serves two purposes, one is that it allows the interviewer to understand you better, and second, it gives the interviewer context to ask other questions. A mistake many people make at this stage is that they either have it memorized or they start thinking of what to say only during the interview and not before. The former approach may make you seem like an underconfident person, while with the latter approach you risk missing out on some key details that you would have wanted to highlight or worse, fumbling right at the beginning of the interview itself. Another thing to remember is that you should use this question as an
opportunity to let the interviewer know what your interests are and what you can bring to the table by joining their team. Avoid reciting what is already there in the resume. Your interviewer has already gone through that. You must instead share something new that is not already there in the resume and talk about how you can use your skills for their job. Many websites like Geek for Geeks and Glassdoor have a repository of interview questions, do go through these questions before your interview. There is a high chance the questions asked for a particular job role may be repeated. This will make you better prepared.

3. Be confident:

This interview may mean a lot to you, so it’s alright to feel nervous. Remember that everyone else applying for that job role may be as nervous or even more nervous than you are. Use this nervous energy before the interview to be as prepared as you can be. However, once you enter the interview room or get on that interview call, you must leave all your anxiety behind and present the most confident and interesting version of yourself. The interviewers have taken the time to speak to you, to understand you better, to gauge your personality and aptitude. This is not a viva. Take this interview as an opportunity to connect with the interviewer and engage in a discussion with them.

4. Be respectful:

It might happen during an interview that the interviewer tells you that you are wrong regarding something. Take that as an opportunity to learn. Acknowledge your mistakes and seek to improve. Similarly, when asked about why you are leaving your current job or how your previous manager was, badmouthing any of this is akin to digging your own grave. No matter
how difficult the circumstances may have been for you, try to highlight the aspects you are genuinely grateful for about your previous workplace and manager.

5. Radiate warmth and competence

Every employer is looking for someone who can get the job done. What they are not looking for is someone who gets the job done but is a misfit in their company culture. Feel free to add your hobbies and interests to your resume. It might lead to a very interesting discussion between you and the interviewer. After an interview is over, it is a good practice to send your interviewer a thank-you note via email or LinkedIn. You may thank them for taking the time to interview you, probably mention something about the discussion that you particularly liked, and let them know that you are excited about this job opportunity. If all goes well, you may get the job. Hurray! However, if you do not hear back from them, wait for at least 2 to 3 weeks before reaching out to them again. If you are not selected, don’t lose hope. There may be many factors at play. Perhaps, there were some aspects of your profile that did not align with what they were looking for or maybe you ticked all the requirements but some of the other applicants outperformed you. Remember, that is okay. Competition is never in our control. What is in our hands is to follow the 5 tips listed above and get slightly better with each interview we give.

~ Vanya Tripathi

Vanya is an MBA (Tech) student of IIT Jodhpur. For her summer internship, she worked with Tata Elxsi in their marketing department. Post completion of her internship, she was offered an opportunity to continue working with Tata Elxsi in a live project for the role of Business Solutions Executive for the strategic accounts of Tata Elxsi’s Medical Electronics Business Unit.
Besides Tata Elxsi, she has full-time and internship work experience at TCS, DRDO, and Stanza Living. Her interests lie in marketing, strategy, and behavioral science. You may follow her on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanya-tripathi