How to impress me?

How to impress me?

Sunder Rajan, Sr. Vice President and Head-HR, Infinite Computer Solutions

Striking the right chord with the interviewer, during an interview, is absolutely imperative. You may possess an impressive academic and professional track record, with degrees and recommendations to substantiate your mettle, but, it’s how you present yourself and your skills during the 30-45 mins of interview duration that makes all the difference. Different interviewers judge you on the basis of different parameters. So, how do you impress them? In this ‘How to impress me’ column, Sunder Rajan, Sr. Vice President & Head-HR, Infinite Computer Solutions, talks about how an interviewee can impress him. 

How can a candidate strike an impression on you?

The opportunity to make a good first impression is very small. Having eye contact is a must during job interviews. The candidate should speak at our pace and volume level. Nervousness might make them talk too fast.

The candidate should try to avoid sounding rehearsed. The answers sound better when they are more conversational.

Most importantly, their body language can say more about how nervous they are than their answers. We watch out for the non-verbal cues such as jittery movements or twitching.

Basically the candidates who are relaxed, interesting, strong, ambitious, mature and pleasant are the ones who tend to get hired.

Any candidate that you came across who struck a chord with you? How did he/she do it?

Most recently, a candidate I met for a senior role created a very good impression in my mind purely because of the ease with which the candidate responded to both skill related questions as well as general questions about themselves. More than the ease with which this candidate answered the questions, what stood out was that the interview became more of an intellectual discussion on business and economics. It does help to know not just your subject matter but be able to translate it into practical thoughts and insights.

As an employer, what turns you off in an interviewee? 

One of the major turn offs is a candidate’s casual approach to the initial interview. Most interviewers won‘t even give a second thought to someone who has a negative presence or seem like they almost need to be talked into the job.

Candidates with a perfect resume fall completely flat during interviews if they are not able to rise up to the claims they have made in their resumes. The candidate might have been a star performer, but if he/she can’t back it up with a personal experience incident, it doesn’t work.

Also, sounding rehearsed makes one loose interest in knowing more about them both professionally and personally.

What questions are you most likely to ask at an interview?

I always begin by asking candidates about themselves because everyone loves to talk about themselves and it helps put candidates at ease before moving on to specific job-related questions. These could be anything from where they grew up to their passion outside of work and such.

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