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Facing the Interviewer’s Gaze

People keep asking me what would be an ideal interview process and what do interviewers really expect from a candidate.This article is authored by Chandan Chattaraj President – HR (India & Global) Uflex Limited

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In my career spanning over three decades, interviewing has been a part and parcel of my job. I have been witness to interviews from varied functions, varied levels across businesses. The interview process has surely evolved over the years from unstructured to structured, traditional to competency-based and from stress to comfort etc. As talent war is getting more and more fierce, the importance of interviews as a science and as an art is ever increasing. 

People keep asking me what would be an ideal interview process and what do interviewers really expect from a candidate. The answer may vary from case to case but at the end of the day, an interview should be designed in a way where the interviewer is able to clearly assess the fitment between the position and the candidate and the entire process results into a mutually learning process.

Talking about my organization Uflex, we are a global multinational with group revenue in excess of $1.5 bn. The company over these years has grown exponentially with state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in 6 countries across globe and product presence in over 140 countries. At Uflex, we have a robust recruiting platform that facilitates a structured hiring process and offers options that best fit the organization.  We focus on targeted selection interviewing process and evaluate candidates competencies based on their past behavior. While applying this process, we specify all the critical requirements of the job which includes skills, qualities, knowledge, and behaviors required for the job. Before starting our interview process, we meet key leaders of the specific business to hammer out which skills/priorities are most important for success. Post this, we work to create a concrete list of assessment benchmarks based on the competency framework of the business and then evaluate all candidates methodically based on consensus check-list.

From an interviewee perspective, I personally believe that the candidates should focus on the basics of the interview like they must be fully prepared, confident, cheerful and relaxed in order to give their best. They must gather in-depth knowledge about company, product & services it offers, people demographics and all other information available in any domain. 

Interviewing is like a chess game. It is not the person with the most assets that wins. It is the person who uses his or her assets most skillfully that wins. The reality is that you can be the absolute best candidate for a position and still not get the offer. The way to consistently get the offer is by influencing interviewers to believe that you are the best candidate. Having talent, genius and education is not enough; you have to show the interviewer you have these attributes along with the passion to perform.

To conclude, I must mention that as an interviewee it is important to be confident and have a positive mindset before entering into an interview. Yes, there is some luck involved in the hiring process but the winning interview mindset requires you to recognize your value, to believe in yourself and your ability to succeed.



Tags assigned to this article:
human resources interviews Organizations candidates skills

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