Top Tips on How to Prepare for a Job Interview

A good resume can only get you a foot in the door of an organization. Your next step is to showcase why you are suited for the BPO job at the interview. This is where you effectively upsell yourself and outshine other candidates to grab the lucrative job opportunity.

Sounds daunting? Not necessarily if you do your homework before appearing before the panel. Proper preparation is crucial in leaving a lasting impression and increasing your chances of receiving a job offer from HGS. Here is a comprehensive guide of job interview tips that can give you additional leverage when preparing for a BPO job interview.

Do a Pre-Interview Preparation

One of the best interview advice is to do meticulous preparation even before you give an interview. The process begins with assessing yourself and your potential.

You can only convince your interviewer about your strengths when you are sure about them. Review your resume thoroughly and prepare concise yet impactful anecdotes demonstrating your skills and accomplishments. Overcome your pre-interview jitters and refine your responses through mock interviews, preferably with your mentors.

Master Your Non-Verbal Communication

Actions speak louder than words. The saying is relevant in a face-to-face interview where your gestures and appearance will be judged more than the high-flying keywords on your resume.

Our personal interview tips for you are to maintain a cordial tone while interacting with the receptionists, fellow candidates, the doorman and, of course, your recruiter. It is a high-value virtue for IT service management companies like HGS which provides frontend customer experience.

Maintain eye contact with the interviewer, avoid slouching while being assessed and give a cordial smile whenever applicable to diffuse the generic tense atmosphere during an interview.

Craft the Right Elevator Speech

You will need to master the art of pitching yourself concisely and compellingly to convince recruiters about your feasibility as an employee, and that is an elevator pitch in all its essence.

Reflect on your strengths, achievements, and the value you can bring to the company. This forms the core of your elevator speech. Structure your words and fit those within a timeframe of not more than one minute — that is all it will take to impress the interviewer with the right pitch.

Answer Behavioral Questions

Industry-level skills and a glorious alma mater do not necessarily vouch for a person's ability to withstand stressful situations at work. These skills do not guarantee a professional's problem-solving abilities during pressured deadlines. An interviewer will adjudge your quality through a series of behavioural questions on which hinges on your candidature.

• Situation: Highlight a situation relevant to the question you have addressed with your previous employer.

• Task: Detail your responsibilities during that situation.

• Action: Elaborate on the action roadmap you took to diffuse the situation.

• Result: Summarise the result of your action.

Showcase Your Adaptability and Problem-Solving Skills

A solution or a product that works for a customer today may not work tomorrow. To keep up with such dynamic operational requirements in India, recruiters look for individuals who can quickly adapt to such pressing work conditions. They will field questions to test your adaptability and problem-solving skills.

Relate stories highlighting your ability to navigate uncertain situations, make pressure-based decisions, and create positive outcomes. Describe conditions where you willingly embraced change, adjusted to unexpected circumstances or took on roles outside your comfort zone. Share stories that showcase your analytical thinking, creativity and logical decision-making process.

Handling Challenging Situations

The answer to the question- how should I prepare for an interview? is incomplete without stressing the importance of showcasing a candidate's ability to handle difficult situations at the workplace. Employers seek individuals who can thrive in favourable conditions and remain composed and effective when faced with difficulties.

The best way to demonstrate your ability is through real-life anecdotes. Before the interview, reflect on your professional journey and identify instances where you successfully navigated complex or high-pressure scenarios. Be prepared to discuss the challenge, your role, your actions, and the positive outcome. By sharing these stories, you provide tangible evidence of your capability to tackle adversity head-on.

Ask Thoughtful and the Right Questions

When you are preparing for a job interview, you should also consider the questions you would ask the interviewer. Interviews are a two-way street in which employers evaluate potential candidates and the interviewees get to assess the company and role they are considering.

Asking thoughtful questions during an interview demonstrates your genuine interest in the position and helps you gather crucial information to make an informed decision. Enquire about how you will be supported for your role, how large your team is, what happens next and about the organisational culture.

Understand Your Reasons for Wanting the Job

Even before you ask yourself, “How should I prepare for an interview”, you should be well aware of the reasons for wanting the job. You can only convince your interviewer of your good intentions and sincerity if you understand why you want the job, first. Today, most employers want to know why you choose them over others and your answer would give them insight into the kind of employee you will be if hired. So, this is a great way to leave them with a good impression.

Do Your Research on the Organisation

One of the critical aspects of how to prepare for an interview involves researching the company you are interviewing with. Research on how a company works will tell you plenty about its culture, the way it treats its employees and how enabling the environment is, for career growth. This will also make it easy for you to understand how you can grow in the role of your interest. You can also read up on what their employees are saying about working there, so you will be able to relate to their experience. You can research the HGS website to explore what we do, our employee friendly practices, our CSR activity to know how the organisation is conducive to your career aspects and your personal aspirations.

Clean Up Your Digital Presence

Check your online presence to rid yourself of all negative mentions when you're applying for a job. In this digital age, all social media platforms and not just LinkedIn serve as an excellent way to analyse candidates. Companies do their research on you, the same way you research them.

Convey Your Good Points Factually

Make them realise why they need you in their organisation. Interviewers typically meet several candidates with similar profiles. The only way they can tell you apart is how you present yourself. Being crisp and concise with your answers would then help your interviewer remember your strengths better.

Put in All the Marketing Efforts in Your Resume

Check the content, design & delivery method on your resume. Be concise about your experience that is relevant to the role. Segregate information chronologically. You can add additional achievements and skills that are relevant towards the end of the document. In essence, the focus of your resume should be on your strengths that can add value to the organisation and the role.

Customise Your Resume for the Role and Industry

Your resume should be adapted for the position you’re applying for. Interviewers do a lot of skim-reading, so the right words in your CV can get you a foot in the door. For instance, to bring your CV under the radar of digital customer experience organisations like HGS, you may want to lay emphasis on skills like multichannel communication skills, aptitude for data, technical acumen and problem solving skills among others.

You can also add keywords in your resume that best match the role because companies use a digital database to search for candidates. That will be your first filter if you have the right resume.

Make Sure You Get to Your Interview with a 15-minute Window

Timely presence is one of the primordial aspects to consider when you are thinking about how to give an interview for a job. Showing up late to your interview is the first thing you would want to avoid. Reach out and confirm the exact location of your interview a couple of days prior, in case of doubts. This way, you will not have to deal with last-minute hassles right before your interview.

Follow-Up and Thank You Notes

After concluding the interview, you have the opportunity to enhance your prospects of securing the job by taking specific steps.

Sending a thank-you email to the hiring manager within 24 hours of the interview can be valuable. In your email, reaffirm your interest in the role and express your appreciation for the interview opportunity.

Conclusion

Your skills and experience have brought you closer to your dream job. Don’t let the opportunity go because of pre-assessment jitters. This comprehensive guide gives you a masterclass on how to give a good interview.

Researching the company, working on your non-verbal skills, understanding the job description, showcasing yourself as a problem-solver and mastering the STAR technique are all integral parts of your preparation. With proper planning, you can confidently walk into the interview room, make a lasting impression and increase your chances of landing the job you have been working toward.