Soft Skills

MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED GENERAL INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

1. Tell us about yourself. Sample Ans : I am Suresh. I am a BE graduate from Anna University. I have 2 years of J2EE experience. I am currently employed with XYZ Technologies. My native is Trichy. My father is an agriculturist and my mother is a house wife. 

 

 

(or)

 

I am much honored to introduce myself here. My name is ABC. I am 24 years old and I come from XXX, the capital of Hunan Province. I am seeking an opportunity to work with XXX as a Engineer. My professional experience and my awareness of your unparalleled reputation have led me to want to work for your company. I have a bachelor degree with a major in Electronic field. I graduated from XXX University-widely considered one of the most beautiful universities of the world. During the 4 year undergraduate study, my academic records kept distinguished. I was granted scholarship every semester. Additionally, I applied a XXX patent, it was authorized in 2005.

In 2005, I got the privilege to enter the graduate program waived of the admission test.I selected Electronic Engineering of XXX University to continue my study. In the passing 1 year, my research and study dedicated to Linux. I applied another patent which was still in applying. I won the scholarship in 2006.

Besides, I participated in many school activities, which widened my horizons and gave me many opportunities to do practical work in companies. All of that were very useful to my major study.
During this period, I have learnt much. I learned the values of teamwork and commitment, how to win, how to work hard, how to concentrate and focus on goals, and how to balance my time and priorities. The passing years offered me a good chance to give full play to my creativity, intelligence and diligence.

With a healthy body, with the solid professional knowledge, with the youthful passion, with the yearning for the future and the admiration of your company, I am eager to enter your company and make my share of contribution to it.

2. Why do you want to leave your current job? Tip : Have some good reasons to leave.. never say anything negative about current job,manager or the company.
Sample Ans : For the last 6 months in my current role, i had a feeling of technical stagnancy. Whatever i was doing became very routine devoid of challenges and competition. So i am looking for a change to move forward.

3. Tell me about your greatest accomplishment. Tip : Think something which you are proud of and which would sound great.
Sample Ans : I was part of a young team that built a great software product.

4. Tell me about your worst failure. Tip : Talk about a failure which is outside the current job perspective.
Sample Ans : I started a business 3 years ago dealing with medical diagnostic products. It didn't take off.

5. Where do you want to be in three or five years time? Tip : You should have clear picture of your career path. Dont anwser "I want to be in your in your seat". That would sound great only in movies.
Sample Ans : I want to be an Architect/Project Lead/Project Manager,etc are some good reasonable answers.

6. What do you know about our company? Tip : You should certainly know something about the interviewing company. The best place to gather information is their website.
Sample Ans : A CMM Level 5 Company specializing in banking products.

7. Why do you want to join our company? Tip : You should have had a reason to attend that interview.
Sample Ans : I think there would be good growth prospects. Interesting domain.

8. What are your strengths and weaknesses? Tip : You have to be clear about yourself. Weakness should be a bit of a strength in itself.
Sample Ans : I think my strengths are being responsible,hard working, creative and i am a good trainer and my weakness is being straight forward.

9. How do you manage stress? Tip : Basically when you are stressed, you have to do something you love. It could be something below or if you have your own stress busting technique, tell that.
Sample Ans : For immediate stress releief, i go for a 5 minute walk round the office block and for long term relief, i do gardening which oozes out stress and also read inspirational books.

10. Do you have any questions to us? Tip : Ask something which is really necessary to ask.
Sample Ans : Yea. Can i know the domain and technology used in the project which i am being interviewed for. Do i need to learn something which would be helpful when i join here?

Most Frequently Asked HR Interview 

Tell me about yourself?

What are your achievements?

What are Strengths and Weakness?

What are your Hobbies?

What do you know about our company?

Why should we hire you?

Why you came to software field?

Why you don’t go for MS?

Explain Your Academic Project?

 Notes on introducing yourself in interviews

  Try and make your introduction positive and enthusiastic.

Try and appear friendly and approachable.

Speaking clearly and loudly is good. Mumbling and whispering should be avoided.

If your work or hobbies could be perceived as controversial you may need to put a different spin on your introduction. Generally, interests in controversial politics (e.g. communism and fascism), terrorism, fundamentalism, guns, and bombs should be avoided.

Even good intentioned hobbies like helping the environment, charitable work, campaigns to stop the wars, for truth, etc. can be perceived as ‘trouble making’. Safe hobbies are sports (not guns), food, travel (not to war zones), film, TV opera, and theater.

Discussion Group Guidelines and Roles

Overview:

     The group discussion process, headed by the group discussion leader, should facilitate participatory, egalitarian (to the extent possible) discussion among group members, and not the lecturing or domination of the group by one or two members. It won’t work if people are passive; you all must be active both in listening and sharing. The ideal behind this is that active participation enables students to more fully engage the materials and arrive at a deeper understanding of them.

These are the four main areas tested in your GD:

i. Content
ii. Communication skills
iii. Group dynamics
iv. Leadership

General Guidelines:

 A group that functions well should adhere to the following:

• Group members must come prepared to discuss the readings (having perused them at least).
• Group discussion is a cooperative, not competitive, learning process.  Good results depend on everyone sharing their thoughts. Through active discussion you all will often come up with new insights that no one had previously arrived at individually, through a dialogic learning process.
• Every member of the group is given the opportunity to participate and makes some contribution to the group discussion process, taking turns doing so. Group discussion leaders should hold other members accountable by actively seeking their input.

·  Material from the readings is discussed (stay on topic), though not necessarily comprehensively, as the group should go more in-depth key points of its choosing.

 Group Process

 Step 1:   Introduce yourselves

 Step 2:    Identify and discuss main ideas and themes from the readings, & your reactions to and critiques of the readings

       Students often focus on examples of main ideas or themes here, which is fine (be they real or hypothetical, from the news, your personal experience, or your imagination). However, try to remember to link you examples to a point from the readings, and not get lost in details of various examples, i.e., stay on topic. Also, react to and evaluate the readings a bit

 Step 3:   Groups report to the rest of the class  (3-5 minutes per group)

      The discussion group leader presents to the rest of the class what seems to have been the most important or difficult point discussed, or the best new insight your group generated. This is key test question material; pay attention and take notes!

 Group Discussion Leaders’ Roles

       Note: Your RDP’s should adequately prepare you for group discussion, though just doing the readings will suffice.

  

      1.Initiating

        Get the discussion started or restarted to avoid group silence. One way group discussion leaders can do this by posing a few specific questions on the particular readings. 
          
      2.Facilitating participation

        It is very important that you make sure that all members get at least an opportunity to participate or speak. If anyone or few dominate a group, it is your responsibility to try to rectify that; this may mean going around in-turn or calling on people.

    3.Expediting and summarizing

        Keep the discussion on topic and moving. It is also includes summarizing what the group has said and moving on. In addition you should be prepared to clarify (try to explain) information and synthesize it on occasion (draw connections between different readings or points), or ask the professor for help when needed.

     4. When provided, use some of the guidelines, questions, or other materials I will provide to give guidance or focus for specific topics or readings.

Roles for All in group discussion:

 Giving and asking for information & reactions & critiques

      You must TALK & LISTEN to each other to get information, and more so to raise new points and insights that may only emerge through discussion. Group members should take seriously and respond to each other’s comments and contributions. The point is not to each give presentations, but rather to engage all members in an interactive discussion (statement and response, and further response, etc.). 


Discussing and Questioning each other’s interpretations of materials

       Explaining, questioning, and debating various interpretations of the readings and related issues they raise facilitates greater learning and understanding! Various group members may have differing interpretations on what the readings say or mean (which is natural). It is important to solicit, question, and discuss each other’s interpretations of the readings or the larger issues they raise, because this typically enhances the learning process for everyone.

Stay on topic

     Though this exercise ideally often leads to a free-wheeling discussion, it is important to not stray off topic too far, and instead try to link your comments to the readings in some way, at least occasionally – e.g., referring to them as a point of departure for your comments.

How to prepare?

i. Content

~ Develop subject knowledge on current affairs, general awareness and business trends.
~ Structure arguments on selected topics, considering both sides to the argument.
~ Plan for short and lucid points.

ii. Practice

~ GD skills cannot be learned from books. Get into practice groups.
~ Get skilled people to observe and get feedback.
~ Spend a lot of time analyzing each GD performance. Plan specific improvements.

DO's For a GD :

1. SPEAK - very important

2. Be a good listener

3. Address the whole group,not a single person

4. Initiate & Begin - BUT only if u have a good point

5. Utilize the lull - speak when others r quite

6. Be Involved

7. BE Coherent
 

DON'Ts For a GD :

1. Don't be INERT

2. Don't be too AGGRESSIVE either

3. Avoid one to one discussions

4. Don't Rush

5. Avoid Hindi

6. Don't Interrupt Abruptly - to calm down say

" you are right..............but I Think ..........."