At a certain point of our life, particularly if you are an undergraduate, we all have to face a job interview (of course, not if you are planning to start your own business). I have faced about 4 to 5 Interviews and most of them are tech related jobs. Believe me, You'll find no difference in a job interview related to HR with a tech one ( not to talk about aptitude tests etc)
Interviews are structured
There is no process of hiring a candidate using single interview by the HR manager or the CEO (yep, there are few backstage hiring and referrals too). Most of the times, the first interview you'll face will assess your technical competencies. This can be also coupled with a written test which is specifically designed for the knowledge area. Then you'll be directed to a middle level manager, mostly the head of the division that you going to work or HR manager. The final interview will be with the CEO or the head of the organization. This is a 3 step structure that I have described and there may be different approaches. But in most cases, you'll find these 3 steps.
Technical Competency
"Hello, I'm Sanjeew from Virtusa. Can you come for a small aptitude test on Monday?"
The words I heard over the phone after two days from the university job fair, driven me crazy at the time. I was there before 1 hour to the test and faced the quiz quite well on that day. It was a test designed to measure the IQ. Very next day, I got another chance to sit for an Test from Hsenid and it was on SQL.
Technical Competency
"Hello, I'm Sanjeew from Virtusa. Can you come for a small aptitude test on Monday?"
The words I heard over the phone after two days from the university job fair, driven me crazy at the time. I was there before 1 hour to the test and faced the quiz quite well on that day. It was a test designed to measure the IQ. Very next day, I got another chance to sit for an Test from Hsenid and it was on SQL.
Any organization that gets thousands of job applications will filter the required number of candidates on this first step in which they give a technical test. For an instance, KPMG will give you an test based on mathematics and English language while Virtusa will ask you to sit for an aptitude test.
Second Step
"Say, you have two cups of 3 liters and 5 liters. how do you fill a 6 liter container with these two?"
The question I took several minutes from my interview and answered finally. It followed with a similar question. One organization directed me to a project interview at the second stage while another organization wanted me to meet the CTO of the company ( CTO stands for Chief Technology Officer and has nothing to do with Computers )
This will be vary according the organization but most of the time, you'll find a HR interview on this step. And a typical HR interview will consists of questions such as What do you know about our company
Final Chance
No quotes anymore. This is where you nail the job offering. Forget about the previous two stages and the marks you got for the test. If CEO don't like you, neither does HR manager. Believe me, You should give a good first impression on this last interview. Those small etiquettes and manners don't matter on previous stages. Use them in this one.
Related: How to Shine at Your Interview
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