What Do You Mean By Group Discussion?
A group discussion is a communicative situation that revolves around the objective of learning, sharing, and understanding individual perspective.
Group discussion is an interactive form, which avails oral communication to attain diverse opinion from various people at the same time. Moreover, group discussion enables a group to achieve a diverse picture, which helps in understanding the reality in a better way.
Group discussions have generally opted in the recruiting program conducted by the organization. It helps in selecting more candidates in a relatively less time.
What is a Personal Interview?
A personal interview is another oral communicative event. However, unlike group discussion, personal interviews are a platform to form an individual impression on the interviewer. Personal interview is a purposeful one-on-one interview that has no competition within the room. Here, the recruiter solely needs your attention and vice versa.
There is no scope for interruption from any one except the recruiter and the interviewer. This is usually the last stage of the recruiting process. This stage along with the impression of the previous stages will decide the job offer. Thus, it is essential for the interviewees to create a good impression in all the stages to acquire the position.
However, to make an impression the first basic rule is preparation. Without a proper preparation, it is impossible to relax during the interview due to the anxiety and nervousness. Thus, let us have a look at some good tips to ace the two phases of interviews i.e. group discussion and personal interview.
Group Discussion:
A group discussion is a platform, where the interviewees get an opportunity to get familiar with the firm as well its atmosphere. However, group discussion preparation is the key to make the required impression.
How will you prepare for a group discussion interview?
First, you need to understand the nature of the interview i.e. the nature of group discussion.
Excellent group discussion tips and tricks are given below.
Nature of Group Discussion:
1. Platform for opinions and ideas:
The name itself suggests the nature of group discussion. In this form of recruiting, the firm invites various applicants for a discussion related to a topic. Here, individual applicants form a group and discuss a common issue. It allows the individual applicant to share and exchange the ideas.
2. Time savior:
Being a time savior is one of the reasons because of which organizations implement group discussion in the recruiting process. In a GD, it becomes easier to evaluate more than one person at a time. As a result, GD plays an important role in the selection process. Here, the recruiter gets an opportunity to compare and choose from all the other candidates.
3. Confidence and communication:
Better communication requires good confidence in oneself. In a GD, unlike the personal interview, there are several applicants at the same time. To communicate with various people in a group requires self-esteem. Thus, GD helps in analyzing the confidence level as well as the communication skills of the applicants. It definitely benefits the recruiting process as well as the firm.
4. Leadership judgment:
Confidence does play an essential role in job offer selection. In personal interview, the interviewee is in more comfort and faces no problem in expressing. However, leadership skills are of utmost importance in today’s time. Firms and organizations look out for a packaged employee who can successfully contribute to the overall development of the firm.
How to Prepare for Group Discussion (GD):
In a GD, the things that the recruiter look forward to is the communication, team work, personality, and the ability to divert the decision in their favor. Thus, while preparing for group discussion, one should keep in mind these aspects and make an attempt. Here personal interview preparation tips on how to prepare for a group discussion.
1. Personality:
Now imagine yourself at your friend’s party. Everyone is wearing beautiful party wear dresses. However, you are wearing your formal office wear. Who do you think is more comfortable? Of course, everyone apart from you is comfortable. Why do you think so? Well, it is very simple. You felt out of place because you are dressed inappropriately. Similarly, for any interview the most common advice is to be presentable in the perfect dress code. Following an appropriate dress code will definitely give you some extra points.
2. Non-verbal aptness:
Non-verbal aptness is very important in the group as well as face-to-face interview. It includes your facial features, your expressions, the way you sit, your body language, the way you respond, etc. Now imagine that you are a part of the group discussion panel (recruiter). You are observing the discussion and you notice that one of the candidates seems lost in thoughts and has a passive involvement into the discussion. You would add negative mark for the candidate right away. Similarly, one should prepare well for the nonverbal section before going for a group discussion. This will definitely make a greater impression on the recruiter.
3. Less complexity:
‘If one company owner goes to another company owner plans against another company that is related to one more company’. Was that sentence confusing? Of course, it is confusing. Not everyone can record and re-hear your argument. Moreover, there is no scope for a complex speaker in a group discussion. For successfully placing an opinion in front of the entire group, it is very important to be clear at what you speak. Thus, train yourself to be a clear speaker.
4. Read and develop current affair knowledge:
Group discussion has a lot of competition, which cannot be denied. People with similar qualifications and abilities compete for a single position. Thus, a recruiter has more options to choose. Therefore, he or she will ask various group discussion questions regarding the topics of firm related niches. It is ideal to prepare on all the current affair topics. For example, the group might be asked about their opinion on an ongoing business related issue. Thus, it is important to read as much as possible.
5. Listening skills:
‘Wfgakrygfyurtcuyttyoyfuiwnc’? What is that?
Well, that is how a fish market sounds. However, do you find it similar to the group discussion you had last participated? If yes, then that is the reason why you lost the position.
Giving an input holds importance of group discussion however, listening is equally important in the process. Listening skills have a direct connection with the leadership quality of the person.
Train yourself to hear, as this will not only give you an opportunity to listen and gain new ideas but also helps you in giving a good direction to the group discussion skills.
Leadership quality is directly connected to listening skills. A Group Discussion is not merely about placing your dominating opinion in front of the group. It is undeniable that everyone might have the same opinion as you. Here, listening to their points and then very politely placing your idea matters a lot.
Being a leader does not mean that you can dominate everyone. Instead, as a leader you need to make sure that everyone in the group gets the chance to speak. Moreover, if you get a chance you might want to initiate or start first. This will also be helpful in acing the group discussion.
Thus, you are confused how to face group discussion in interview, make sure to prepare well. The most important thing is to have knowledge of your major topic as well as the current affairs. Further, your body language and confidence will do the remaining work.
Personal Interviews:
Personal interviews are the most commonly used method of recruiting. The objective of this interview is to know the applicant on a personal level. These interviews test the capability of the person.
Most large-scale industries use this method at the last stage. Applying various methods helps in selecting the perfect candidate. However, small-scale industries prefer personal interviews as the sole form of recruiting.
How To Prepare For Personal Interviews (PI):
The objective of prepare for the Personal Interviews is to understand the analytical skills, communication skills, and knowledge of the applicant.
1. Predictability of the questions:
Personal interviews come with a boon for the interviewees. In personal interviews, many questions are commonly asked in most interviews. For answering effectively, questions for personal interview like those should be prepared beforehand.
For example, if you are asked that why did you choose to work here? As an answer, you should not say something like ‘I chose it randomly’ or ‘I applied at various place…’ Nothing can be a more turn off than that sentence in itself. Thus, prepare yourself well with relevant and impressive answers to the common questions.
Few common questions are:
1. Would you tell me something about yourself?
2. What are your strengths?
3. What are your weaknesses and how would you use them for company’s profit?
For answer 3rd, do not say that you have no weaknesses at all. As that will make you seem arrogant and overconfident.
2. Be specific:
‘Hi, my name is ABC. I am the daughter of XYZ. My parents have achieved ABC.’ These types of introduction are highly unacceptable. You have appeared for an interview for yourself. You have applied for the job and you are competing against several other candidates. It is not your parents, whose achievements matter to the recruiter.
Recruiter wants to know about you and thus, your introduction should strictly revolve around yourself. Try adding your achievements, your vision and ambition, and your possible contribution to the company.
If you can impress your interviewer with your self-introduction then you did a great work. After all, it is truly said that first impression is the last impression.
3. Do not let your imagination answer:
What do you mean by no imagination rule? Imagination is a good asset, right. Well unfortunately, imagination does not always work. Instead, it sometimes may ruin the entire thing.
Let me clarify with an example. Your interviewer asks you that ‘which figure of speech would you use to involve two opposite words in the same sentence?’ To which you randomly give an incorrect answer. If you do not know an answer, simply say so instead of random guesses. Random guesses will give you negative markings.
Secondly, do not blame it on the fact that you have learnt it back in the high school because you might be a recent pass out, the interviewer is not (and they still remember it). So, just prepare yourself to be the best.
4. Confidence is the key:
Most of the people get nervous a lot. It is a miracle that they made their way to the last stage of recruiting process. The introvert nature of some applicants directly triggers the nervous factor in them.
As a result, they fumble a lot while the interview is going on. Thus, try to be relaxed before as well as during the interview. When you are calmed and relaxed you are able to think logically.
When you are calm, automatically your posture becomes relaxed and your body language improves. Thus, at home or with friends try to play mock interviews to improve and adjust to the interview setting.
5. Sell yourself:
Personal interviews are the perfect platform to sell you. Here, you have no ‘fish market’ competition to compete with in the room. You and your interviewer are at peace. The ball is in your court therefore it the perfect time to make a move.
Make sure to underline all your strengths, capabilities, and achievements. Thus, to sell yourself effectively you need to have an in-depth knowledge of everything that you have mentioned in your CV.
For example, if you have mentioned your hobby as music, then you should be able to talk about everything related to music. Its variations, types, forms and the great personalities related to it. Your interest defines you, your nature and your attitude.
Conclusion:
Therefore, no matter what form of an interview you shall attend, the sole focus should be on creating a remarkable impression on your interviewer. Moreover, regardless of the nature or type of the interview, there is no definite guideline for preparation on how to face gd in interview and personal interview preparation. At the end of the day, listening attentively and understanding each question properly before answering is an essential key factor. Answer to the point in a structured way and grab your desired job.
