Ten Effective Tips to Clear Interviews

Testing soft skills or your personality is the main motive of interviews. After giving a go-ahead to your hard skills or academic background, the interviewers basically test how practical you are. Here are ten tips that would help you clear an interview:

1. Smile: Greet the interviewers warmly, with a pleasant smile. Your actions affect your mood, so even if you are nervous, a smile would remarkably ramp up your confidence. (A smile radiates positive energy...everyone likes a smiling face...and stuff like that you probably would have read.)
2. Back your claims: If you say you like travelling or reading, you would be asked about the places you have visited or the books you have read. If you say you possess good leadership qualities, supply some examples to back up your claim. For example, “I was a school prefect,” “I was the team leader in a college campaign carried out against global warming” etc.
3. Be honest: Know that people who probably have interviewed thousands of potential employees can read you like a book. Never even think of making up a story because it is a child’s play for the interviewers to catch you lying. Subtle, quick cross questioning is only one technique to have the truth blurted out from you. in obvious deceptions no one even takes the pain of doing this exercise. If you lag behind in a field, the employer can hire you because there is always a scope for improvement. But dishonesty is rejected outright. (I had a poor interview, yet I was offered the job because the interviewers found me honest. I was so nervous that I could not think of dishonesty!)
4. To the point: Know that your to-the-point answers manifest your focused approach. An imprecise answer gives a number of questions to the interviewers. Answering these needless questions could confuse you, deeply cutting your chances of getting the job. (Beware, interviewers sometimes take delight in boggling the minds of such interviewees.)
5. Never be overfriendly: An HR can talk with you as if you are his buddy. This can be to make you feel comfortable or to see your reaction. At such an instance, know that he is your employer, maintain decency and never become overfriendly – because generally ill-mannered people cross their limit.
6. Keep your cool: You can be asked one question repeatedly, smile and answer it as many times it is asked. It can be to see how cool and patient you are. The interview room is one of the worst places where you could brandish your irritation or anger. It isn’t the place where you gulp drinks with your girlfriend or hubby:P
7. Never lose hope: No matter how many times you fumble or could not answer, never think that you have spoilt the interview. If you are unable to answer the initial questions, forget it and give your best to answer the remaining ones. If you gracefully accept that you don’t know the answers, the HR can get impressed. Additionally, your calm expressions would talk expressively about how well you handle pressure.
8. Don’t backbite: Don’t backbite your teachers, former employers or anyone. By backbiting, a prospective employer, among other points, thinks A: You are not good at handling people, B: You are a job hopper or an unsteady employee, C: You will similarly backbite him as well. If discrimination has happened with you, and the situation really warrants you to speak about it (i.e. the interviewer inquires – “Why you quit your previous job?”), try to give an objective account of things and prompt the interviewer himself to conclude what you wish to say.
9. Information of the company: It is crucial that you have some information of the company you are seeking a job in. Log on to the website of the company and gather key facts about it – such as when it was founded, who is the CEO/president, its headquarters etc. Full forms of the companies famous by their acronyms like IBM (International Business Machine) should always be inquired. Small questions, if remain unanswered, can potentially make you embarrassed. Never overlook them.
10. Overcome your nervousness: Know a simple fact that it is not the only opportunity, the market is full of openings. The worst that could happen to you is that you won’t get that job. It is nothing. Try again. Fail again. Keep trying. You will surely be successful!

Refuse to give up

We are what we think.

All that we are arises

With our thoughts.

With our thoughts,

We make our world.

Lord Buddha

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A child was born in 1880, who, nineteen months later, lost her senses of hearing and sight. Think that can a deaf and blind child learn speaking or ever know the ways of the world? Yet this child grew to tell us: “Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it.” At 10 this deaf and blind child wished to speak, and she did it. This child thought in her heart – “Some day I shall enter college.” Years later she received her bachelors degree from the Radcliffe College. Universities of Harvard and Temple, U.S.; Glasgow, Scotland; Berlin, Germany; Delhi, India; and Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa offered her honorary doctoral degrees. Brazil’s Order of the Southern Cross, Japan’s Sacred Treasure, the Philippines’ Golden Heart, Lebanon’s Gold Medal of Merit, United States of America’s the Presidential Medal of Freedom were only few prestigious prizes bestowed upon her. A superb hurricane she was to send back the devastating waves that came to crush her; we know her by the name of Helen Keller!

When I read her autobiography – The Story of my Life– I was filled with shame, thankfulness and encouragement. I found it difficult to face myself; yet a drive to work and overcome my fears and weaknesses terrifically shook my soul and body.

Helen Keller brought light and enjoyment in her life and continues enlightening the lives of numerous others because she had made her world with her thoughts. Her positive thinking prompted her to find ways and take actions to realise her ambitions despite her so-called disabilities. As she thought that she will do it, she shook off the limitations her deafness and blindness had imposed upon her.

Lesson learnt:

Your circumstances won’t be able to prevent you from achieving success if you think you can do it! Lord Buddha: “We are what we think. / All that we are arises / With our thoughts. / With our thoughts, / We make our world.”

You will never hear a negative comment from successful people. True, at some points they might have uttered pessimism, but sometimes it is natural for humans to feel low.

Once a man became so hopeless and frustrated that he wished to die. But he refused to give up. He made a comeback and went on to write immortal books and earned so much success that his name H. G. Wellsis permanently engraved in the list of great people.

Who can prevent you from making a comeback like Wells did?

Think an answer before reading further...

Do not read, first think an answer.

No one – nothing has the power to stop you! Numerous powers are lying in disuse within yourself, use them. You are not using even a little part of your abilities. I am saying this because I have read what William James, who is referred as the founder of modern psychology, has said for you. Read the words of that great personality:

“Compared with what we ought to be, we are only half awake. We are making use of only a small part of our physical and mental resources. Stating the thing broadly, the human individual thus lives far within his limits. He possesses powers of various sorts which he habitually fails to use.”

Success is your right. Except your negative thoughts, no one, no circumstances can deprive you from claiming it. People who blame nonexistent things like luck or chance remain far from success. But the fact that you are reading this post till this point proves that you do not belong to that bunch. You may have become hopeless like Wells, but you can certainly become successful as him as well.

Do you have the courage to make a comeback?

Road to Success

“As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”

Holy Bible

“Some day I shall be the president.”

Abraham Lincoln

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As a first step to develop your personality, think what you think about yourself. Do you think you have the right kind of attitude and abilities that will enable you to be successful? Note that a “yes” from you would carry credibility only if you are putting forth a significant amount of efforts to move closer to your goal, because successful personalities prove beyond doubt that nothing is achieved without terrific efforts. If you are not executing efforts and answering “Yes,” then being polite I would like to tell you that you are dishonest with yourself.

Lincoln thought deep in his heart “Some day I shall be the president.” He proved that his thinking is honest because he worked diligently to achieve his aim. Bible: “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”

When will you start giving the required efforts from? From next month? From next week? From tomorrow?

No! From self experience I know that such resolutions are self-deceiving. The best time to employ yourself at a good work is the present moment. Feel shame for your inactivity, and if you are really apologetic, you must take the road to success at this very moment. Your movement ought to have such force that it also compensate for the time you have wasted.

You might frown at my unsympathetic words. True, I am not even a tiny drop of liquid in the vast ocean. But even if I had been like Lincoln, I would have not sympathised with you. You and I need motivation, much better if it is self motivation, not sympathy.

We have hidden powers like Lincoln or Newton had – they discovered and used those powers to improve their own, as well as the lives of numerous others. We are so big, motivated, powerful etc. that we don’t need sympathy. Sympathy of another human, let him be however elevated, makes a man dependent and resultantly he remains far from achieving the true success. Only God can sympathise with his creations. Dependence on God is the only dependence that makes us independent.

At this moment you don’t have a teacher or boss who could discipline yourself. In order to swing yourself into action, like successful personalities you need to exercise self-discipline, and self-discipline bears sweeter fruits than the discipline which is imposed upon you because it requires a greater effort of the will and significantly solidifies it. (The greater the plough, the better the yield.) This absence of a higher authority has provided you the opportunity to really test your will and sincerity. Will you be able to prove to yourself that you have the devotion and single-mindedness you need to succeed?

Then write out the answers to the following questions:

• What is my goal?
  
• How important it is for me to achieve it?
  
• What actions until now I have taken to get closer to it?
  
• Were there any faults or weaknesses in my approach?
  
• What I must do to eliminate them?
  
• What I need doing to accelerate my progress?
  

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Will be writing the next post for those who think themselves to be weak or untalented as many successful personalities did before achieving success. Till then, you must also answer the aforementioned questions, motivate and change your thinking on your own because you can certainly do it.

More common mistakes of English language

Mentioned here are some more common mistakes of English language. Please note that I will not go in detail because my aim in this post is to highlight the difference of the words that are similar and to furnish obvious errors so that readers can correct their mistakes. I request you to kindly let me know what you feel about these posts either by leaving your comments or by writing to me. Be brutally honest, your feedback will be of immense importance to me.

• “Seize” and “cease”. “S-e-i-z-e” is a verb and means to grab something: “I seized the opportunity of having coffee with him.” “My warden ma’am seized my phone.” “The police seized his property” “C-e-a-s-e” is also a verb and means to stop, end, desist etc. “We are ceasing to design websites.” “Our excellent services would never cease for our customers”
• “Except” and “accept”. “E-x-c-e-p-t” is a preposition and means apart from, excluding, but etc. “Except on Sundays, I don’t like wearing T-shirts.” “Except George, everyone passed” “A-c-c-e-p-t” is a verb and means to take, receive, agree, believe etc. “Please accept my offer.” “I accepted the letter.” “John accepted that I was right”
• “Effect” and “affect”. “E-f-f-e-c-t” is a noun and means result, consequence, outcome etc. “The effect of the revolution is that they gained independence.” “A-f-f-e-c-t” is a verb and means have an effect on, to pretend. “The bad weather affected my health.” “Ever since he has returned from America, he affects their accent.”
• “Site,” “sight” and “cite”. “S-i-t-e” is a noun and means a place, location, spot etc. “The construction site.” “S-i-g-h-t” is a noun and means view, spectacle, scene, the ability to see etc. “From this lobby the sea sight looks marvellous.” “Joe has some sight problem.” “C-i-t-e” is a verb and means to quote, name, mention, refer etc. “Citing the example of Gandhiji, Gita represented the theme of nonviolence.” “William cited several authentic books to prove his point.”
• “Practice” and “practise”. “P-r-a-c-t-i-c-e” is a noun and means rehearsal, preparation, training etc. “A week before the final presentation, it was the practice of students to give presentations among themselves.” “Peter made it a practice to run five kilometres every morning.” It is important to note that “practice” is also used as a verb in US English. “P-r-a-c-t-i-s-e” is a verb and means to repeatedly do something in order to gain mastery etc. “Everyday Sara practises on the typewriter.”
• The plural of “life” is “lives” not “lifes”. It should be “Our lives are good here” not “Our lifes are good here.”
• The plural of “wife” is “wives” not “wifes”. It should be “Tom’s wives are opposing his third marriage,” not “Tom’s wifes are opposing his third marriage.”
• Many people, writing the plural of “NGO,” put an apostrophe such as “NGO’s,” which is wrong. The correct word would simply be “NGOs”.
• The plural of “software” is never “softwares”. When I searched the plural form of “software,” I found out that it is a collective noun.
• “In fact” are two separate words, but many people join “in” with “fact” such as “Infact” which is wrong.

Common errors of English language

Common errors of English language

I am listing some common errors of English language.

• It is always “ma’am” but many people omit the apostrophe and write “mam” which is a blunder.
• In “up to,” there is always a space between “up” and “to”. It is never “upto”.
• In a sentence with “though,” “but” is not needed. You cannot say, “Though Tom is good, but his company is bad.” The correct sentence will read: “Though Tom is good, his company is bad.”
• “I will be more happier” is a blunder because double comparative is used. It should simply be “I will be happier.” This rule should be applied on all the similar sentences.
• People frequently err using “my” and “mine”. When “my” is used, the object has to be mentioned such as “My computer is not working.” “Where is my mobile?” “My shirt is loose” etc. But, when we use “mine,” the talked about object does not need to be mentioned. For example, if Tom talks further to “My computer is not working” – It should be “But mine is working well” – not “My is working well.” If he needs to answer the question “Where is my mobile?” it would be “It is with mine” – not “It is with my.” And talking about the shirt, he can say “Mine is fit” not “My is fit.”
• Difference between “Lose” and “Loose” is very obvious yet sometimes people get confused. “Lose” is a verb which means to be defeated – “Those who think they will win never lose,” to misplace or drop “I have lost my pen,” etc. “Loose,” on the other hand, is an adjective which means something not fit, tight etc. “My shirt is loose.” “Loose” can also be used as a verb. There are other meanings of these words but I merely highlighted the difference.
• “Does it works?” “What does he thinks?” are wrong sentences. The correct ones would read: “Does it work?” and “What does he think?”
• “Role” and “Roll” mustn’t be interchanged. “Role” is a noun and is used as “John has played a key role in the organization,” “The role of the comedian was crucial in the movie” etc. “Roll,” on the other hand, is a verb and is used as “He has rolled up the chart,” “The wheels of the vehicles were rolling” etc.
• “Past” and “Passed”. “Past” is an adjective which is referred when talking about a thing which has been over such as “past happiness,” “past president” etc. “Passed,” on the other hand, is the past tense of “pass”. “I have passed my graduation,” “Have you passed that information to everyone in the class?” etc.
• The pronunciation of “chore” (which is a noun and means a task or job) is as ch in child, and oor in door; but many people utter it from the K sound which is wrong. Cambridge dictionary website and howjsay.com are excellent sources to listen to the audio pronunciation.

Please click Avoid Common Errors and Errors to Avoid as I am sure that you all will find them very useful.

Separation

It is with a kind of an inexplicable joy that I am writing this post because I write very lightly yet you folks find it praiseworthy. (Inexplicable adjective: unable to be understood or explained.) I thank you all with my complete heart for appreciating my posts.

I am afraid I have not written here that I was in Delhi for a good period of time. I was pursuing diploma in computer applications and communications skills course from that big smoke. (Big smoke: big city.) I must timorously confess that I was never good at studies, and these courses were really beyond my abilities. (Timorously adverb fearfully or shyly.) But please don’t you presume that I failed in these courses for I did manage to get through them!

Somehow I also managed to get a job of website developer. It was like a lovely dream as this was the kind of job I was looking forward to! I was worried because my course was about to over and before that I had to get a suitable job.

My worry was intensified because employers all over India have preconceived notions against the blind, so for me, the chances of getting a suitable job were slim. Needless to tell, preconceived notions are wrong, and if they turn out to be right, it is due to sheer chance.

Whether these dim- witted (dim-witted: stupid or silly) employers understand this or not...I must tell that it is always ‘blind’ and not ‘blinds’; in plural we use it as ‘the blind’.

Anyway, as I was joyfully returning from the interview, it struck me that I will be separated from my friends. The grief of leaving them was so intense that it pretty overwhelmed me even in my joy. (Grief noun deep sorrow or suffering.) You rarely feel happy and sad at the same time, and when you do get in such a curious condition, a perplexed flood of excitement thrills your heart. Lost in excitement, I ran into the back of a parked truck and got an injury on my forehead from the protruding rods. (Protruding: sticking out.) Coincidently, as I write this post, a fresh injury at the same place on my forehead has been ripped open by a trolley which was hooked up to a tractor.

Those two days I was happy because the studies I had done were bearing fruits; sad because I was leaving my beloved friends; hopeful and nervous because I was entering the professional life; energetic because I had been appreciated; tired because of packing and finding a new place. It was an inexplicable storm of mixed emotions that I had never thought about.

We had planned that on getting jobs we will rent a flat and live together, but it was childish and impractical. Now we all are living in different cities: separation is all part of life’s rich tapestry. (Be all part of life’s rich pageant/tapestry [literary]: a sad and difficult but an unavoidable part of life.)

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Some useful phrases used above:
• Inexplicable joy
• Preconceived notions
• A perplexed flood of excitement
• An inexplicable storm of mixed emotions
• Childish and impractical