You Are Your Favourite Search Result

Jaya Drona studied at IIMC, New Delhi in 2005-06. She was given The Hindu award for scoring the highest marks in English Journalism that term. Jaya personally doesn't attach a lot of importance to marks though, not anymore. She believes one lives only once and one should focus on having a good time and not on giving oneself a hard time. Since the day she started thinking this way, disappointment never got in her way. She started as a contributor for TOI, Kanpur, interned at Business Standard, New Delhi and went on to write for Delhi Times, TOI till the end of 2009 after which she moved to England where she currently lives. She works as a legal writer and dabbles in radio and looks forward to doing more of both in the future.

Picture this – do you remember this oft-enacted scene from our films? When an actor is shown to be writing something and he just can’t get it right. He ends up writing and rewriting, tearing sheet after sheet from a letter pad and then crumpling the same into a paper ball before tossing it around him and eventually we see him sitting in a pile of paper balls. But he does get it right after repeated attempts. This is the kind of picture you can paint of me, for today at least. I am sitting, not amidst paper balls, but amidst numerous word documents open on my computer while I am trying to figure out which is the best way to say what I want to say without it sounding boring, repetitive and useless. Such is the pressure of modern times. Everything that anybody needs is being dispensed everywhere, mostly free of charge and the target audience is spoilt for choice. If you need tips on how to crack an interview, all you need to do is type the same into Google and wait for less than a few seconds for your options to be served.

And what happens when you do see your search results on Google? You see that something that appeared amongst the first few search results was completely irrelevant, right next to it was something you didn’t need to know in the first place and on the following pages you find people repeating themselves and you don’t know what will you do if another search result tells you that the first question at any interview is ‘Tell me about yourself’.

However, when you keep browsing (because you are looking for something worth your while), you come across something that makes really good sense and you feel that this is it. After searching for so long, you have finally found something that you can put to good use.

If you have successfully imagined yourself searching for interview tips on Google, you can now replace yourself with an interviewer and the search results as the prospective candidates. Don’t get me wrong, I am not calling any prospective candidates out of tune, but this is only an example to demonstrate how one gets all kinds of search results and then the work of filtering out the best begins. You did it when you were searching and now the interviewers will do it too and you have to be the search result that they feel they need to hold on to. Simple.

So what should you do? Be the search result that was useful to you. What did you like about it? Was it straightforward, honest, clear, brief, said a lot in too few words? And also think of the search results you did not like – were they just too full of themselves, saying the same things over and over again, came across as braggarts, looked dicey, and were unhelpful?

And once you have mastered this, you will be prepared for your interview.

Also, turn the tables. In your head, become the interviewer and look at your search results one more time. Which is the one you will select? Will you look for a result that comes very close to how you are or are you eyeing another result? In this self-analysis, you will be able to rid your personality of some obvious flaws and a better you will shine through.

I know what some of you may be thinking right now – it is easier said than done. Well, in my case, it isn’t. Something I learnt at a lesson in school always holds me in good stead. The lesson said that it is easy to preach to twenty people but it is difficult to be one of those twenty. Since that day, I say things only to nineteen people because I am invariably the twentieth in all things I say.

So, let me do a self-analysis for you. If I had an interview in the next few days, this is going to be my checklist.
A. Am I prepared? Do I know the ABC of the organisation I am applying to?
B. Have I done a mock interview with myself, which includes questions like why I want to work/study here and have I said the answers out aloud because that way I know how everything sounds and more importantly how I sound and what my expressions are when I am saying them?
C. Do I know the answers to the questions I did not attempt in my written test or answered incorrectly?
D. Is my paperwork ready? Have I carefully documented all my previous work experience or internships and have I selected samples of my previous work?
E. Do I know why I want to pursue/study journalism?
F. Do I know why the organisation I am applying to tops my list and not other similar ones?
G. And lastly, do I know what I am wearing because it is important to look presentable. Not that your looking shabby makes any difference to your journalistic skills but we are never given a second chance with first impressions so play safe.

Suggestion: Talk to people around you, your parents, and friends about recent news developments and allow yourself to be a listener. When you listen, sometimes that is when you learn the most.

From my interview experiences, I can safely say that it is important to enjoy the conversation you are having with your interviewers. If you keep your apprehensions and inhibitions at bay, you may actually be able to achieve this. I remember I enjoyed my IIMC interview. When I say enjoy, I do not mean share a joke or narrate anecdotes to the panel. I mean enjoy the experience. If you are calm, you will bring out the best in you. One of my friends always said that one should go into an interview room thinking that the worst that could happen is that one may not be selected. If you make peace with the fact that you may either be selected or may not be, you will go into the interview room thinking there is nothing to lose and will give your best. Try it, it works.

Do well.