The best interview

Having attended a lot of interviews in person and via phone and skype, the whole interview thing has started becoming some kind of a boring conversation where I just have to give some pre prepared answers to the most typical interview questions. But lately I attended an interview by an e-commerce enabling company whose name I would better give when I get selected and this was a totally different interview experience for me. May be if I reach a position where I would have to interview people for job, I would certainly re use the questions that I answered. The one very distinct feature of this interview was that it made me to mine the best and positive part from within.

The HR on the other side was Nisha and she opened the interview with an introduction of herself. So sweet of her that she made a very long introduction that I became tensed may be she would expect the same kind of an impressive intro from me too. I gave an account my marine studies and then switching to engineering including some details about my competitive spirit and challenging nature. May be my introduction didn’t match her flawless delivery but still I felt better of having said the things that I have planned.

Then she asked me what I thought about the company and some usual stuffs. Only after that came the bigger guns. The first question of this manner was “what is the most depressing moment in your life and what did you learn from it?”. My answer was about the critical switch I made from my marine course to engineering (See the posts on why engineering?) and the life experiences I had from that incident.
The next question was, “Narrate a moment in your life when you wanted to give yourself a pat on your back?”. God! What a question? This question really made me realize one serious flaw in my retrospection so far. Just take a look at all the posts in my blog and you’ll find that most of them are tough situations that I faced or some preaching stuffs. I have never really written something about an incident that made me happy or a mind blowing person that I met or blissful occasion or any such thing. All that I have been thinking and writing about are gloomy stuffs!

I couldn’t come up with an incident that I felt so proud of immediately. I took a moment and then remembered giving a speech before an audience of over 2500 students. (Coming soon a complete post on that speech alone). That was truly a defining moment for me because that was by far the biggest audience I have ever faced and even that was the best speech I have delivered so far.

After that, she asked about my interests and she was excited when I told her that I have a passion for digital film-making. (She even asked me to send her the links of my films). The more and more she probed me she was also giving information about her. It was like two people knowing each other and not like the traditional kind of interview where the HR would be the only getting answers from us.

Finally, she asked if I had any questions. I clarified my doubt about pronouncing the name of the company and also about the whole selection process. At the end of the interview, it really felt like I should work for this company. The one lesson I have learnt from this interview is that the image the company portrays to its prospective employees is only through the HR and their selection procedures. When a company has a good HR, good people are sure to join the company and when good people join the company it is sure to flourish!

From this point onwards, my posts will be more positive, optimistic, lighter and less complaining. I hope my Mumbai dreams would come alive soon!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

I just can't wait to Shine!

In search of an addictive narrative

Journey of RED