As a fresher or even as an experienced professional, we worry a lot about facing interviews. Even if it is not your first you get distressed at the thought of facing an interview. Mostly because you think it is going to be a test of your knowledge. To some extent it is, but here's something you need to remember:
A job interview is not a test of your knowledge but your ability to use it at the right time.
Interviews form an integral part of your professional career. It is a widely and popularly used selection and shortlisting technique.
Besides the size, nature, and type of industry, all industries prefer interviews as a tool to select the potential candidate from a number of applicants.
The interview is also used for placement, admitting the students to schools or for admission to higher education, disciplinary action, separation, counseling, promotion, and many more purposes.
Say an interview is designed for every section of your career. May it be finding a job, a promotion, a pay hike, an appraisal, or simply an interview to know about the work that you carried out over a period of time.
Unless you know which interview types stand for what purpose you will find it difficult to face them.
Here are different types of interviews that you will come across in your professional life.
Read further to know more about each of the types.
Following are some of the types of interviews and how to tackle them:
1. Telephonic Interview :
A telephonic interview is a short and quick selection process.
A telephonic interview is advantageous as the candidate has to speak over the telephone and answer the interviewer's questions.
You need not worry about other aspects such as body language, gestures, or dressing sense while appearing for this type of interview.
The telephonic interview barely continues for 20 to 30 minutes and involves formal greetings and conversations regarding the job profile.
It is good to get in tune with the interviewer to understand the way he or she speaks. It is important in this type of interview to correctly understand the intend behind a question and answer accordingly.
The interviewer is mostly interested to test your communication skills and your way of responding to the question. You need to make sure that you sound humble and genuine while responding to the interviewer's questions.
If you are well prepared you can easily get through this type of interview.
2.Video Interview :
Video interviews mostly take place on virtual meeting platforms such as Google meet, Skype, Zoom, etc. It is can either be an alternative for a telephonic interview or the next step.
Video interviews are 6 times faster than telephonic interviews.
Interview statistics in the U.S. showed that 60% of HR managers use or used video interviewing in the hiring process.
Through a video interview, the interviewer can see you so you need to take care of aspects such as body language, dress code, background, etc. Your appearance matters here.
Make sure you have a plain background while you sit for the interview. Choose a spot with enough natural lighting. Avoid any disturbances. Make sure you have a strong and stable internet connection. Be confident and look into the camera. Be attentive.
Again it is easier, more affordable, and time-saving for the interviewer as well as the candidate. But candidates need to ensure that they have all the technical arrangements done beforehand.
3. Panel Interview :
When a panel of interviewers interviews a candidate, it is called a panel interview. It seems a little scary but it has more advantages than face-to-face interviews.
In panel interviews, candidates get time to take down notes and get familiar with questions and the following procedure. They have a chance to meet many people of the same company with different views and judgments. The interviewers look at the candidate with different viewpoints and focus on different requirements for assessment.
One of the panel members concentrates on technical, job-relevant skills while others look for behavior, personality, and gestures.
This type of interview takes approximately 45 to 60 minutes depending upon the interviewers. It may be an alternative for group interviews or it can be the last interview round for final selection.
4.Group Interview :
Group interviews are where a number of candidates are interviewed together. For such an interview, you need to have a good presence of mind.
You might need to answer more questions as compared to other types of interviews here. You need to attract the attention of the interviewer to get noticed. On average Group Interviews take an hour or a minimum of 45 minutes.
It is easy to figure out team spirit and leadership qualities in a candidate through a group interview. You might feel less pressured in a group interview but you need to take more effort in order to grab the interviewer's attention.
In Group interviews some candidates don’t get a chance to speak while some perform well. It can be easy for interviewers to select the best among the number of candidates. But it can be time-consuming and more staff is required to arrange such type of interviews.
5. Face to Face Interviews:
The most commonly used and popular type of interview is a face-to-face interview.
This type of interview takes place between you and the recruiter.
Your body language, soft skills, technical knowledge, and confidence play a very important role during face-to-face interviews.
The employer will decide whether you are the right fit for the job. It also gives you a chance to decide whether you want to work for their company or not.
Face-to-face interviews can take place for 15 - 30 minutes, or even more than 45 minutes as per the interviewer. The result of these interviews is announced lately.
The interviewer assesses you thoroughly before deciding to hire you.
6. Exit interviews:
Generally, exit interviews are conducted when an employee's employment term is terminated or he/she decides to quit the job.
Exit interviews take may take place in-person, by phone call, or by using survey forms.
The information from these types of interviews provides insights into an individual's working experiences, the company’s work culture, and whether the work environment is conducive for the employees or not.
The response from the exit interviews is important to maintain a good relationship between the employee and the company and can be valuable for implementing certain changes in a workplace.
Be honest while giving your suggestions and views on how the company treats its employees and how its overall operation.
7. Promotional Interview:
For internal hiring, companies often open up senior positions that require job promotion interviews.
When an employee is being considered for a promotion within the company then a promotional interview is conducted.
During this type of interview, the employer tests your capabilities, work experience as required for the higher job position. If the employee has enough experience and expertise in a particular area, he/she is considered for the promotion.
Now you have a fair idea of what are the different types of interviews and what you need to do in order to ace them.
Various types of interviews are conducted by the employers for people leading different sections of their organization. One must understand the difference between these interviews. Understanding the intention of the employers behind conducting them can be a key factor influencing your preparation and selection. Every individual requires to go through various interviews throughout his/her career which is beneficial for both an individual as well as for the organization.
Carefully read and understand the types of interviews mentioned above and you can prepare well to crack them!
What type of interview did you face the last time? Did you find it on the list? Let us know in the comment.
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