Monday, September 19, 2016

Your intro sequence in an interview speaks volumes!


In our previous article, we discussed the various ways in which we can be prepared for the infamous 'Tell me about yourself' query (catch up with the post here if you haven't already!) Imagine, once you have brainstormed and collected your thoughts, memories, experiences etc. and that you are at the interview. The time comes and when you get asked the very question you are been waiting for, and you are brimming with excitement to tackle this question and blow their socks off! You start by telling them about yourself (quite literally so) and rattle off several points from your notes, as and when they come to your mind, ticking them off one by one. Now let's back up a bit and ask ourselves this question. Would that really work? After all, you did make sure all your points were covered. But is that the best manner? The answer, in many of these cases, is no, and it would probably backfire as your thoughts were not organised in any recognisable order.

In our previous article, we spoke about 5 points to get you to a great start on this question. However, even if you did pen down your thoughts, practiced them every day and kept an eye out for the smallest of gestures; if you did not clearly connect and rally the points in a sequential manner, your response would fall short of making the needed impact on the interviewer.

After preparing your raw material, connecting your points not only makes you come across as an organized and an logical candidate, but it also speaks volumes about your personality and attention to detail. It's like a jigsaw puzzle. You collect all the essential pieces, and they are all required to make the picture whole, but you need to connect them at the right points so that it all adds up and weaves into a beautiful image. Here is a strategy I would recommend to help you create a natural bond amongst the myriad of stories you may have and the experiences you possess to link them into a concrete story.

P.S. If you are a student, substitute the current job/venture on the flowchart with your college work experience, extra-curricular experience, part-time job or any internship experience.




Here is an example of an introduction I recently came across :

“Hey, my name is Avni Mathur, I am from Mumbai. After completing my graduation in business management from Delhi University, I joined ABC as a business analyst to get hands on experience with data analysis and better understand the working parts of an organization. In 2 years, I was promoted based on my performance to a senior business analyst position, where I closely collaborated with the sales team, familiarizing myself with premium sales tools in the industry, including SalesForce in process. In that role, I was instrumental in moving the revenue needle for the sales team by 20% every quarter, by analysing key trends in the market for our sales team to be on top of.

My short term ambition is to continue learning skills from key departments and gain further exposure into the workings of organizations. I applied to the Sales Associate role in your organization with the goal of stepping out of my zone, with the opportunity to make direct revenue impact vs. indirect revenue influence, experience pure sales and learning the face-to-face skill sets I believe necessary to succeed in the long run. I was an intern sales co-ordinator in my 2nd year, and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I am looking forward to applying the skills I picked up there and from my Analyst position in the Associate role at your company.

In the long run, I dream of running my own business, and believe the skills I am looking to gain in these coming years will greatly contribute towards my ambition of becoming an entrepreneur. Personally I am a fitness buff, and I have disciplined myself into breaking distance barriers every week. At present the longest I have run in one go is 17 km, and I aim to run a half marathon this August. Looking forward to the interview, all yours from here.”

Now let’s co-relate the structure of Avni's answer to the flowchart above. Avni clearly starts chronologically - with the past, talks about the current and then moves on to the reason why she is at that interview, looking for that role. She then connects it all with her long term ambition to round off her answer. The logical progression of her answer helps the interviewer follow along, stay intrigued and understand her moves. In terms of timing, if read at a normal pace, Avni probably finished her introduction, end-to-end, in 90 seconds or less. Here, not only did she cover all her basis to provide a complete picture, she opened up the interview and stirred it to her favor by inviting the right follow-up questions about her past and the movements.

With this insight, you are now ready to bake your thoughts (from the points previously collected as suggested in our previous blog) into a structured story and start your interview strong, with your best foot (or story) forward!

Do comment with your well-built intros! Share your thoughts and as always, stay tuned for our next post where we will talk about how to best deal with a blank-out in an interview (they happen more often that you think, but not to worry - we are here to help)!

Author - Manish Gaba
Editor - Vaishnavi Ravi

Pic courtesy - HSGTalents

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