ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY
1
Interview
Dos and Don’ts
Maintain basic etiquette
Turn off your cell phone before entering
Knock and ask permission before you enter
Face the interviewer and Sit upright.
Look alert and interested
Smile and maintain a pleasant expression
Maintain eye contact. Look at the triangle
made by the
Project confidence
Use a polite, formal tone and language
Address all the interviewers
Expect some small talk; relax and be yourself
Think before speaking
Be positive in your attitude
Highlight your good points
Staying focused on the question
Try to give concrete examples of every
quality and achievement you have
Try to understand what information the
interviewer is actually seeking
If asked about failures, share the lessons
learned
Be honest and fair
Be proactive; offer information you consider
necessary
MATERIALS FOR ENRICH ENGLISH PROGRAMME
Do not have chewing gum in your mouth. Do
not smell like smoke
Do not keep your phone in vibrating mode. Do
not use it to check time or anything else
Do not try to peep in through any opening on
the door
Do not slouch
Do not be distracted
Do not look nervous or stressed or frightened
or tired or morose
Do not stare at the interviewer’s eyes. Do not
look here and there.
Do not fidget
Do not tell jokes during the interview. Do not
use colloquial words or slang
Do not forget to look at everyone when you
answer
Do not respond to small talk by trying to be too
friendly yourself
Do not be too quick to answer
Do not talk about all the things you do not like
or begin complaining
Do not talk about weaknesses until specifically
asked to
Do not go off on a tangent
Do not be vague and just try to define the
qualities asked about in general terms
Do not take all the questions at face value and
answer with only a yes and no
Do not blame others
do not try to fake
Do not act desperate
 ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY
2
MATERIALS FOR ENRICH ENGLISH PROGRAMME

Stress what you can do for the company, not
what the company can do for you
Thank the interviewer before you leave
Do not talk about salary till asked to and even
then talk realistically – remember you are a
fresher
Do not be rude or behave arrogantly even if the
interview did not go well

Steps to Remember
 Knock on the door before opening it [make a moderate sound; not too loud and not too
soft]
 Seek permission to enter [May I come in please?]
 Walk in smartly [Make eye contact, don’t drag your feet, make sure that your shoes
don’t make any inappropriate noise]
 Greet the interviewers [Good Morning or Good Afternoon or Good Evening, sir/ ma’am]
 State your name and purpose [I am ........., from the ......... department of Academy of
Technology, sir/ madam. I am here for my interview.]
 Wait till you are offered a seat [If you are not offered one, you may seek permission to
sit - May I have a seat please?] [Say Thank you when given permission to sit]
 Always remember to be polite and pleasant.
 Use your research on the company and the company presentation to answer questions
like ‘Why should we hire you?’ ‘How can you be an asset to us?’ ‘Do you have any
questions for us?’ If you prove that you are interested in the company they will be
interested in you.
 At the end remember to thank the interviewers for their time. [Thank you, sir. I learnt a lot
today. Or Thank you, sir. It was a very nice experience talking to you. Or something similar]

What you Need to get the Job

 Communication skills (including listening)
 Analytical skills
 Interest in industry/company
 Interpersonal comfort and skills
 Enthusiasm
 Having a clear goal
 Leadership skill
 Confidence
 Personal presence
 Credibility
 High energy (But not overwhelming)
 Ability to work well in teams
 Professionalism
 ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY
3
MATERIALS FOR ENRICH ENGLISH PROGRAMME

 High degree of intelligence

 Ability to think creatively
 Personal "fit" with company
 Clear, concise answers
 Honesty
HR Questions
With hints on how to answer them

1. Tell me about yourself/ introduce yourself.

Tell them what kind of person you are, and what your professional strengths (i.e. technical and
soft skills) are. List your projects, trainings, achievements and awards (academic and other). Tell
them what kind of work you like doing and about your hobbies. End by talking about your
interest in the company you are interviewing for.
Keep it short. Give specific examples. Family background is optional. Be yourself, but
remember to sell yourself properly. Don’t be ashamed about blowing your own trumpet. Be
honest but do not talk about weaknesses.

2. Tell me about your family.

You can refer to whether you have a joint or nuclear family. Give a very brief introduction of
your family members and talk about what qualities & values you have learned from your
family members. Also talk about cooperative, supportive and inspiring nature of the family
members, etc.

3. How was your day/ your experience of today’s interview/ exam?

Keep your answer positive. Show interest and enthusiasm.

4. What is the meaning of your name/ surname?

Tell the meaning of your name and if your name justifies your personality mention that. You
can also talk about why you were given that name.

5. What is your native place? What is it famous for?

Know your native place well. List all the well known places. If the place has any historical or
social significance tell the details. You can also talk about famous persons who were born there
& special local customs and foods.

6. Tell me about your college.

Speak positively. You can add some of the things (constructive) you enjoy doing at college.
If you do not like anything about the college you are expected to do a healthy & positive
criticism and cite examples how the problem can be solved. This type of question is asked to see
 ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY
4
MATERIALS FOR ENRICH ENGLISH PROGRAMME

your attitude. Instead of listing the negative side show them where you can see scope for
improvement

7. Tell me about your college life.

Besides telling them the routine jobs you have done at your college, tell them about your
achievements, your constructive ideas, contribution to the college and your attitude towards
your friends. Here you are expected to give the answer like a professional and not like a kid.

8. Why do you want to work in this industry [and not in an educational institute]?
Thorough research about the company is expected. Show them how you are a perfect match;
how well you can gel with the work culture of the company.

9. Do you have any plans for further education?

Do not state any degree [M. Tech or MBA], unless the company is known to sponsor employees
for it. You can talk about self improvement courses. Relate your plans to the company’s needs
and desires. Your career goals should benefit the company.

10. Why is your CGPA not higher? What are your plans to increase it?
Cite reasons that are beyond your control. Do not blame anyone (person or organization) else.
Take responsibility for your failures (just like you take credit for your success) and talk about
what you have done to compensate for low grades. Reassure the interviewer that it will not be a
hindrance to your performance. While taking about a plan do not simply say “I will work
hard”; say something concrete.

11. What were your favourite subjects/ courses/ teachers and why?
Mention a subject that has some connection to the job you are applying for. Do not say that you
like it because it is easy or because you get good marks in it. Emphasise what interests you in it.
When talking about your favourite teacher know his/ her full name. Choose a teacher who has
taught you recently. Emphasise what you learnt from him/ her and what is special about the
way he/ she teaches.

12. What changes would you make at your college?

Remember to be positive and constructive. Identify areas where there is scope for improvement.
Give suggestions that demonstrate your ability to analyze, and your innovative and methodical
approach to issues.

13. How would you describe your ideal job/ company/ location?
The only right answer is to describe what this company is offering. Make your answer
believable; add specific reasons why each quality represented by this opportunity is attractive
to you. Sound sincere. Put their virtues high on the list of exactly what you’re looking for.
 ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY
5
MATERIALS FOR ENRICH ENGLISH PROGRAMME

14. If you were hiring a person for this job, what would you look for?
If your strongest point is your technical skill, highlight that. If it is your interpersonal or
leadership skill, highlight that. In short, the person you describe should be a splitting image of
yourself.

15. What unique skills can you bring to our company?

Your strengths

16. Which challenge/problem was the most/least rewarding?

Choose a challenge that taught you the most when talking of the most rewarding one; choose
one that taught you the least in the other case. Do not refer to short cuts. Instead demonstrate a
quality like presence of mind or time management or innovation.

17. What is your biggest accomplishment/failure?

Refer to a recent accomplishment and it is always better to cite an example where you can relate
the accomplishment with the job position.
If you are talking about failure it is better to talk about an insignificant one and do not forget to
tell them the lesson you have learnt from the failure and how you are working on it

18. What accomplishments have given you the most satisfaction in your life?
Similar to biggest accomplishment

19. What are two or three examples of tasks that you do not particularly enjoy doing?
Remember this question is a trap. No one likes a complainer. Choose something which will not
affect a company and temper your language so that you appear professional.

20. What are two or three examples of tasks that you particularly enjoy doing?
Choose things that reflect a positive personality and can be recognised as assets by a company.

21. What motivates you?

You can talk about a type of behaviour or job or some kind of personality trait.

22. What are your greatest weaknesses?

There can be 3 possibilities.
One, you can disguise a strength as a weakness. However, this is used too often.
Second, you can assure the interviewer that you can think of nothing that would stand in the
way of your performing in this position with excellence.
Or (and this may be the best alternative), you can confess a past weakness and describe how
you have been working to overcome it and also to what extent you have succeeded.
 ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY
6
MATERIALS FOR ENRICH ENGLISH PROGRAMME

23. Do you prefer to work independently or on a team and why?

Handle the question with wit, because here you are being checked to see whether you can work
both independently and in a team. For instance you can tell them that “I love to work in a team
with significant individual contribution” and give a proper example of what kind of
contribution you mean.

24. Have you ever lead a team? How did you correlate your team’s efforts? Do you consider
yourself a leader?

25. Do you handle conflict well? Give example.

Do not give example of personal conflicts. Try to cite examples of conflicts are decisions in lab
projects or similar areas.

26. What type of approach to solving problems seems to work best for you? Give me an
example of when you solved a tough problem

27. What do you find are the most difficult decisions to make?

28. Give a specific example of something you have done at college that you consider
innovative.

29. Tell me about the most boring task you’ve ever done.
Be very careful about words like “boring”. They are testing your attitude and any negativity can
cause problems.

30. Who has inspired you in your life and how?

You may choose some industry leader/ great scientist/ inspiring relative or you can mention a
quality that (if present in any person) inspires you. You can also describe a situation in which a
particular person inspired you.

31. What are your short-term or long-term career goals? How do you plan to achieve these
goals?
Do not say something impossible, like ‘CEO of Microsoft’. Talk about your plans in the next 2, 5,
and 10 years. Talk about plans for self-improvement, professional goals, etc.

32. How do you measure your own success?

Give a definition of success that will allow you to say that you are successful in some respects,
that you have achieved some worthwhile things, and that you are on your way to greater
success. Never say that you will be successful only when/ if you get the job.
 ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY
7
MATERIALS FOR ENRICH ENGLISH PROGRAMME

33. Do you consider yourself successful?

34. What are your greatest strengths?

Have a well-prepared list in your mind. Add examples chosen from your most recent and most
impressive achievements.
10 most desirable traits: a proven track record as an achiever, intelligence, honesty/ integrity/
decency, good fit with corporate culture/ team player, likeability/ positive attitude/ sense of
humor, good communication skills, dedication, definiteness of purpose/ clear goals,
enthusiasm/ high level of motivation, confident/ leader.

35. Describe some situations in which you worked under pressure or met deadlines

36. If you won $10 million lottery, would you still work?
Work in itself should be important to you, not for the sake of money alone. You should project
yourself as industrious and creative, and such a person would never be idle. Besides, do you
actually rely on lotteries to give yourself financial success?

37. If you become PM/CM, what will you do?

Give constructive plans for improvement. Choose one area that needs most attention and then
give a suggestion about what can be done. Make sure you are not attacking someone
personally. Do not be biased or prejudiced.

38. Sell me this stapler (this pencil…this clock…or some other object on interviewer’s desk).

39. What your hobbies?

40. What kind of salary are you looking for?

Never bring up salary. Let the interviewer do it. To know what’s reasonable, research the job
market and this position for any relevant salary information.

41. What interests you about this job?

You are expected to do research on the job position that you are applying for. You can always
draw the interviewer’s attention to the perfect match between your personality and attitude and
the demand of the job position. It is advisable that you do not bring the salary talk here.

42. What’s the most difficult part of being an engineer?

First, redefine “difficult” to be “challenging” which is more positive. Then, identify an area
everyone in your profession considers challenging and in which you excel. Describe the process
you follow that enables you to get splendid results and be specific about those results.
 ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY
8
MATERIALS FOR ENRICH ENGLISH PROGRAMME

43. What do you think it takes to be successful in this career?

Identify your strong points that match with job position. For instance, if you know that you will
be working in a team, you need to cite some qualities which are required to work in a team. Do
not forget to tell them about your technical/ soft skills and point out how they are relevant to
success in that job.

44. Why did you choose to attend your college?

Refer to the facilities available in the college and map them to requirements you had for a
successful career. Do not hint that it was the only choice available to you.

45. Why do you want to work for this organization?

You need thorough knowledge about the organization for this. Pick up some qualities that you
value and talk about how you would be a match.

46. What do you know about this organization?

47. What contributions/ changes would you make if you came on board?
You must first find out something about the organisation. Unless you do that you cannot make
changes. You can refer to your skills. Talk about how, as a fresher, you would bring a fresh
mind and eagerness to learn. Demonstrate a positive attitude.

48. What challenges are you looking for in this position?

49. What experience do you have in this field?

Refer to your project and internship if they are relevant to the job. You could also talk about any
specialised software or technology you know if the job you are interviewing for requires it.

50. What applicable attributes or experience do you have that you can bring to this job?
Talk about both technical and soft skills. Give specific examples. For instance, if you say that
‘presence of mind’ is an attribute that you will bring to the job, you must add an example of
when you demonstrated it. Do not tell a long story. Be to the point.

51. Where could you use some improvement?

Choose an area you are already working on.

52. How do you propose to compensate for your lack of experience?

Before going to any interview, try to identify the weakest aspects of your candidacy from the
company’s point of view. Rely on your master strategy of uncovering the employer’s greatest
wants and needs and then matching them with your strengths. You could begin by agreeing on
 ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY
9
MATERIALS FOR ENRICH ENGLISH PROGRAMME

the importance of experience, explain that your strength may be greater than your resume
indicates because…, review your greatest strengths, focusing on how you meet the company’s
requirements with your unique combination of strengths.

53. Aren’t you overqualified for this position?

54. How much training do you think you will need to become a productive employee?
Before answering this question you must have a clear idea about the kind of training the
company provides. Stress the fact that you have the correct attitude and will attend the training
proactively, rather than passively.

55. Suppose you were in my chair and you had two candidates in front of you. One is
technically very sound, the other one has potential like you, but technically weak. Whom
would you select and why?
Mention that the candidate with potential is better because while technical skills can be taught,
skills that you possess like creativity, positive attitude, ... cannot. Make sure you list skills that
you can prove with examples.

56. Do your skills match this job or another job more closely?

57. Why are you the best person for this job?
List your skills and match it to the requirements of the company. For instance, if you are fluent
in English and good at making new contacts, and the company is an IT services provider, it is
always good to stress that quality. Also refer to relevant project exposure, knowledge of new
software, etc.

58. Why should we hire you?

Refer to strengths and skills. Match them to company requirements.

59. What major challenges and problems have you faced? How did you handle them?
Have a recent example ready that demonstrates either a quality most important to the job at
hand; or a quality that is always in demand, such as leadership, initiative, managerial skill,
persuasiveness, courage, persistence, intelligence, etc. Describe the rational, methodical process
you would follow in analyzing any problem, who you would consult with, generating possible
solutions, choosing the best course of action, and monitoring the results.

60. Have you done any project? What problems did you face in completing it?
Talk about the live project that you have completed or working on. You must tell them about
your contribution if it is a team project.
 ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY
10
MATERIALS FOR ENRICH ENGLISH PROGRAMME

Do not start listing our your problems, rather disguise it as a challenge and show them your
active and positive participation in overcoming the challenge.

61. What have you done to improve your knowledge in the last year?
Be honest while answering this question. Refer to books that you have read, completed any
relevant course, attended any seminar, workshop, conferences etc

62. If the people who know you were asked why you should be hired, what would they say?

63. What do you worry about?

64. When I call your references, what will they say is your greatest strength and your greatest
weakness?

65. Do you have any fatal flaws?

66. If you had to describe yourself in only three words, what would those words be?
Try to avoid over-used adjectives and do not be flippant about your answer.

67. Are you a self-starter? Support your response with suitable examples.

68. Do you enjoy doing independent research?

69. Would you rather work with information or with people?

70. Describe a difficult work situation/project and how you overcame it.

71. Tell me about a problem you had with a team leader/ project guide/ professor.

72. How do you react to criticism from supervisors that you consider to be unjust? Did you
ever encounter any such situations?
Present yourself as a person who can handle criticism without becoming angry, defensive,
vengeful or arrogant. However, emphasize that you do not let others intimidate or blame you
when you don't deserve it.

73. What would you say to your boss if he’s crazy about an idea, but you think it is terrible?

74. Describe a situation in which you had to work with a difficult person. How did you
handle the situation? Is there anything you would have done differently in hindsight?
 ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY
11
MATERIALS FOR ENRICH ENGLISH PROGRAMME

75. Tell me about something you did – or failed to do – that you now feel a little ashamed of.

76. What good books have you read lately? [Mention why they are good]

77. Are you net savvy? Do you feel it is important and why?

78. What is more important to you, the money or the work?

79. How much money do you need to be happy?

80. Have you considered starting your own business?

81. How do you feel about reporting to a younger person (minority, woman, etc)?

82. Are you willing to work overtime? Nights? Weekends?

You have to be willing to put in extra hours. Make sure your tone and facial expression is
positive.
Be balanced with your answer. Do not go overboard in your attempt to say yes to everything
asked.

83. How familiar are you with the community that we are located in?

84. Do you have any location preferences?

85. Would you be willing to relocate if required?

86. Are you willing to travel and how much?

87. Are you willing to put the interests of the organization ahead of your own?

88. What do you think about …Maoists …The Death Penalty…Mercy Killing (or any other
controversial subject)?

89. On a scale of one to ten, rate me as an interviewer.

Never be negative. Don’t give a numerical rating. Pay the interviewer a sincere compliment that
he/she can believe. Anchor it in the behavior you’ve just seen. Praise whatever interview style
he/she has been using. Some qualities you can praise: thoroughness, methodical and analytical
approach.

90. On a scale of one to ten, rate yourself as an interviewee.

 ACADEMY OF TECHNOLOGY
12
MATERIALS FOR ENRICH ENGLISH PROGRAMME

Try to break up your qualities and rate them separately.

91. What if I don’t select you for this job?

Be positive and confident. Refer to your unique qualities and the (good) interview, and then say
that you would ask what the interviewer found lacking.

92. Is there anything you wanted me to know about you that we haven’t discussed?

93. Do you have any questions for me?

The interviewer wants to know whether you were engaged in the interview. Ask about
initiatives, new projects or if you have nothing else, any philanthropic work in which the
company participates. Do not say something like ‘What do you do?’

Remember
Your aim is to get an above average or higher score. Be careful not to talk too much but give
complete answers rather than a simple yes or no.
For instance, if you are asked: “Do you read?”
A bad answer is, “Yes.”
A good answer is, “Yes, besides my textbooks I have the habit of consulting reference books on
important topics. For example, I have read ………… on ………… Not just reading for my course I also
enjoy reading for pleasure. I just finished ……………. by ………..”
They are testing your attitude. Monosyllabic answers make you appear uninterested or stressed.