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How to Prepare for a Walk-In-Interview

How to Prepare for a Walk-In-Interview

Walk-In-Interview is a format of interviewing in which candidates can directly walk to a venue for the interview without taking any prior appointment. The companies usually decide upon a date and time slots at which any candidate can come to the office and wait for their turn to get interviewed. Such interviews are used as an initial screening tool in the recruitment process and candidates which qualify this round are shortlisted for the next steps in the hiring process. Here are some useful tips for the candidates to get themselves prepared for a walk-in-interview and help them get their dream jobs:

Do Research About the Company: Researching about the company you are going to walk-in is the most essential thing in the to-do list while preparing for the interview. Having a complete knowledge about the company’s history, culture, vision, objectives, etc., shows how well-prepared you are for the interview. So, always read about the company by visiting its official website or by checking its social media accounts beforehand.

Make an Up-to-date Resume: Your resume is the most important document while going for an interview. Update your resume with your latest qualifications, job experiences, skills, certifications or any other achievements. Mention only that information in your resume which might be relevant to the job description and which can help you get hired.

Dress in a Formal Manner: Whenever you appear in any type of interview, always dress yourself professionally. Wear formal clothes, trim your nails and nicely comb your hair before going to the venue. It depicts your sincerity and professionalism towards the job.

Carry Your Documents: In a walk-in-interview, always carry your important educational and professional documents like resume, mark sheets, degrees, experiences certificates, etc. Also, keep original and photocopies of your ID proofs, accompanied by passport size photographs, a pen and a notepad.

Pay Attention to Your Body Language: Your body language conveys a lot of things to your hiring manager during a face-to-face interview. Sit in a comfortable position with both your feet on the ground, hands resting on your lap and with a straight back. Also, try to maintain a fair eye contact with the interviewer which reflects how confident and well prepared you are.

Reach the Location Before Time: Double check the address of the venue where the interview will be held. Look into the directions to the venue, how much time it will take to reach there and which mode of transport you will be using in advance. It is always suggested to reach the venue atleast 30 minutes before your scheduled time slot. It will leave you with enough time to settle down and make yourself feel relaxed.

Prepare Common Interview Questions: Preparing well in advance can always take you a long way in your career. Look up for common HR interview questions and practice your answers for them as much as you can. This will make you feel confident when you’ll be actually presenting yourself during the interview.

Thank the Interviewer: Always exit the interview room by thanking the interviewer for giving the opportunity and his time. No matter how your interview went, thanking the interviewer shows that you value their time and also reflects your professionalism.

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What is an Automated Interview?

What is an Automated Interview?

An Automated Interview is a structured interview in which the candidates have to answer a predetermined set of questions using a software or platform, provided by the recruiter, by recording a short video of themselves. The questions and instructions for such interviews are pre-recorded by the hiring company.

Usually an email is sent to the candidates, which consists of the instructions related to the interviewing process and a link to the video interviewing software to be used. Such video introductions generally range from 1-2 minutes. The candidates just have to record their answers and send those videos to the employer before a deadline. Also, some software provides an unlimited number of retakes to the candidates to record their videos in case of any discrepancies. These software also provides a feature to personalize the prompts or job application as per requirements of the job role offered.

It also works as an Application Tracking System (ATS) in which video introductions of the candidates along with their resumes can be evaluated and shortlisted not only on the basis of their qualifications and experience, but also on the basis of the soft skills and communication skills that they possess.

Benefits of Automated Interview Process:

Overcomes Unconscious Bias- If a company conducts a manual recruitment process, an element of biasness occurs in such process, whether intentionally or unintentionally. But with the help of automated one-way video interviews, the companies can overcome the limitation of unconscious bias by asking the same set of questions to all the applicants in the same sequence.

Saves Cost of the Companies- By opting for an automated hiring process, employers can cut down on their costs which they incur on their employees such as travelling expenses, training and development costs for conducting a pre-screening interview, and other miscellaneous expenses which ultimately reduces the cost per hire of the company.

Flexibility to Both the Recruiters and the Candidates- The candidates can enjoy flexibility in recording their answers at a time and location which best suits them and take as many number of retakes as they wish to, in few cases. Recruiters can also take advantage of such an automated recruitment process. They can evaluate a number of videos in a few minutes whenever they have spare time and can also share them with their team members for additional reviews.

Reduces Time to Hire- Unlike traditional interviews, the recruiters need not to go through a pile of resumes and end up wasting their whole day in screening those resumes and still don’t come across a resume of a dedicated candidate. By using a video interviewing software, recruiters can easily shortlist the candidates which actually meet the job requirements and have potential to perform that particular job.

Standardized Hiring Process- Automated hiring process follows a structured interview format in which the same questions are asked to each and every candidate and in the same order. This ensures that the candidates are evaluated on the same aspect which brings uniformity in the whole process. A standardized interviewing process provides consistent results and eliminates the scope of biasness from the process as well.

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Virtual Interview Outfit: What is the Ideal Wear?

Virtual Interview Outfit: What is the Ideal Wear?

After the disruption of covid-19 pandemic, virtual interviews have become the new reality in the field of talent acquisition. Most of the companies are opting for online interviews to abide by the social distancing norms. What to wear in a virtual interview is not as simple as it appears. To have a good first interaction with the company, what to wear should be decided in advance with proper planning. Here are few tips to consider while choosing your job interview outfit:

Outfit and Color Selection- When appearing in a virtual interview, your outfit plays an important role in creating a good impression on the interviewer. Just because you are giving an interview from the comfort of your home doesn’t mean you can wear your pyjamas and expect from the company to hire you. It is always suggested to wear a formal dress, particularly a shirt, blazer and pants with a tie (in short a suit).

Try to wear neutral color clothes which suits you and also goes with the background. Colors like blue, black, grey and white are often suggested to clothe oneself in a job interview. Avoid bright colored clothes like red, orange, yellow, etc. Have a pre-dress rehearsal to check how your outfit looks in the webcam, checking for proper lighting and background and remove any distracting things before the actual interview.

Study Company’s Culture- Do research about the company’s dress code. You can visit the company’s website or social media accounts to observe what kind of dress code its employees are following. You can match your outfits similar to the company’s culture so that you have a greater chance of getting hired.

Dress-up Your Bottom Half Also- Most of the people get themselves dressed up upto the waist only. But, what if you mistakenly stood up to take something during the interview or the interviewer asked you to stand for any reason and you are in your pyjamas. How bad will it look? So, always dress-up professionally from head-to-toe, so that you also feel confident, focused and professional about yourself during the interview.

Wear Minimal Jewellery- Wearing accessories is a great way of showcasing one’s personal style and dressing sense. But when it comes to a job interview, keeping them minimal is a good sign of showing your professionalism. Avoid wearing heavy necklaces, bracelets or watches as they may give some glare on the screen which might distract the interviewer. Also, if you are using a lapel mic, earphones, air pods or headphones, make sure your accessories don’t hit or cover them.

Contrasting Background- During video interviews, your background matters a lot. Your background should be clean, tidy, organized and manageable. Also, the background should be in contrast with what you’re wearing. It should not overshadow you or completely blend with your outfit. So, make sure that you check in advance if your suit is going with the background or not.

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Different Types of Interviews

Interviews are the most important part of the recruitment process. Companies conduct various rounds to make sure that they hire the best talent for a specific role. Majorly there are types of interviews, i.e., in-person interviews and video interviews.

In-person interviews are conducted offline at a physical location in which there is a face-to-face interaction between the interviewer and the interviewee. Whereas, video interviews are conducted online either as a live session or a pre-recorded video interview. But, both these types of interviews follow a format. Thus, we can say that the interviews can be of following types:

Formal Interview

A Formal Interview is one which is conducted in a formal manner. The candidates are intimated about the interview prior to the interview in written. Whether it is questions, venue, date, time or method of interviewing, everything is planned in such types of interviews. That’s why they are also known as planned interviews.

Informal interview

Informal Interviews are unplanned interviews. They are conducted without any prior written communication with the candidates at any place. Nothing is fixed in these types of interviews. Informal interviews are conducted to analyze the interests and psychology of the candidates. The questions to be asked and their sequence is also not planned in advance. That’s why these interviews are somewhat friendly in their approach.

Stress Interview

Stress Interviews are mainly conducted to find out how the candidates behave under stressful situations. The interviewee is deliberately put under pressure and tension to observe his/her behavior in stress and strain. Such interviews are conducted to know whether the candidate is best suited for a stressful job or not.

Structured Interviews

Structured Interviews are those interviews which are pre-planned in nature. A set of questions are predefined and designed by the employer. Same questions are asked to each interviewee in the same order. That’s why these types of interviews are more systematic and give reliable and consistent results and also fastens the recruitment process.

Unstructured Interviews

Unstructured Interviews are those interviews which are not pre-planned. The questions are not pre-decided. The interviewer frames the questions on the spot according to the behavior and answers of the candidate. Either the questions to be asked to the interviewee or the time to be given to a candidate to answer the questions, nothing is pre-defined in unstructured interviews. The candidate can speak freely until both the parties are not satisfied with his/her answers. Often, this might result in the wastage of time and efforts for both of them.

Group Interview

When a group of candidates are interviewed together is known as a group interview. Each group is given a problem or topic for discussion, and the interviewer, then, observes each candidate carefully, as which candidate is active or in-active, who is leading the group and other aspects of the candidates. Such interviews are conducted when there are a large number of applicants and few vacancies for a job or the company has a shortage of time.

Panel Interview

In Panel Interviews, a committee or group of experts, usually 3-5 people, takes the interview of candidates. Such types of interviews involve group judgement, as the panel judges the performance of each candidate and prepares a merit list. These experts ask questions to the interviewee and then collectively take decisions regarding the selection of interviewees. They are also known as Board Interviews.

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How to Impress the Interviewer in a Video Interview

Video interviews have gained momentum in recent years. The technological advancement has increased the acceptance of video interviews all over the world. Video interviews can be conducted in two ways either through a live session or a pre-recorded session in which the candidate records his video answering the given question using a platform like Intromagic.

When it comes to a video interviewing, it is both a boon and bane for the companies. It is a really advantageous technique of recruiting the best talent for a company with a little bit of downsides, and that is very negligible as everything in this world has some shortcomings.

So, after this brief introduction of what a video interview is, let's move on to the core of this article, i.e., how to impress the interviewer in a video interview. Here are some tips that you should consider during a video interview:-

 Introduce Yourself in the Best Possible Way

This is the most crucial part of any interview.  How to introduce yourself in a video interview is the most simple as well as difficult question to answer. So, start by greeting your interviewer with nice words. Then, begin with your basic info, family background, qualifications, hobbies, interests, professional experience, skills that you have and your career goals.

Be honest and confident about everything that you speak. Don’t go into much detail of every aspect, instead just give a brief overview of each thing.

Research About the Company

Researching about the company, in which you are applying for a job, is as important as a pen or pencil to write something. If you have prior knowledge about the company’s values, beliefs, history, work culture, industry to which it belongs and the job description, then you’ll be in an advantageous position.

Make yourself Presentable

One should always give an interview by dressing up professionally. Virtual interview doesn’t mean you are sitting in baggy clothes, recording a video and expecting a company to hire you. That doesn’t work. So, always dress yourself in a formal manner from head-to-toe to create a good impression on the interviewer.

Keep your Technology Intact

Always join a video interview 5-10 minutes earlier than the scheduled time to check technical functionality of the platform that you will be using. Make yourself familiar with the technology prior to the interview by having a demo session with any of your friends or relatives.

 Figure out Your Location

Choose a place which is quiet and free from any kind of distractions or noise. You should be able to sit in a comfortable position and in a good posture. Your background should be clean, organized, simple and manageable, as it will depict your sincerity and professionalism.

Practice Common Interview Questions

There are some common interview questions which are usually asked by every interviewer. Make sure you prepare them well in advance, so that you’ll be able to answer them appropriately. Practicing beforehand will make you more confident during the interview, afterall practice makes a man perfect.