Interviews: How to Ace Them in Style!

Team ixamBee

2 years ago

Read here how to ANY interview in style by learning about the types of questions asked in an interview, what to say, how to conduct yourself in an interview and other related themes.

So, you have cleared your written exam and the dream of becoming a government officer is now within reach. Isn’t it? ixamBee helped you in your journey to clear the written exams but our association doesn’t end with just the exam part. The next stage is the Interview and we will help you to pass it with flying colours!

Getting jittery about the INTERVIEW? It’s quite obvious to feel so, but in reality, there is no need to feel so. What matters the most is your confidence. Apart from that, if you know what type of questions will be asked in an interview then you are all set to ace it in style!

How to Ace an Interview?

In General, interview questions can be divided into three parts. Let us go over each of them one by one.

Personal

First would be the Personal Questions: This is the most important part of the interview. In every interview, there will be questions like:

Introduce yourself.
Tell me about your educational qualification and work experience.
Why are you interested in a banking job?
What makes you the most suitable candidate for this job?
How your previous work experience will help you in this job?
Achievements and failures, you have faced, lessons learned.
Questions on hobbies, strengths, weaknesses, books you have read, etc
Your favourite subject, book, author, politician, actor, song, etc.

Many students don’t prepare for this part expecting this to be easy. But this part is where you can prepare definite and convincing replies. You need to be ready with the counter questions, thus preparing your answers with supporting reasons. Also, remember that each answer you say will lead to another question, so you can plan for these answers well and actually try and mold your interview in your own way to some extent.

A personal interview has maximum weight in the interview, you need to have clear objective replies and you need to demonstrate conviction and confident articulation.

There are no right or wrong answers to these questions but what you say and how you say matters a lot. What is being looked at is your Confidence level, your attitude and your ability to communicate well.

Technical/Job-Oriented

The second would be Technical Questions:

You are going for a bank job; thus, you need to know about the job and the industry. Please understand that interviewers are seasoned bankers and they appreciate you more if you talk in their language/ terminology. This section can have endless questions, varying in difficulty level. Some examples could be:

What are retail banking, MSME, and corporate banking?
Why banking is important?
What do you know about XYZ Bank, for which you are being interviewed?
What do you know about the functions of a bank?
How do banks help in social and economic development?
What is NPA (Non-Performing Asset) in banking? How NPAs are generated and how banks can address these?
What is the existing problem of increasing NPAs in banks?
What is Financial Inclusion?
What is KYC (Know Your Customer) and why it is important?
What is risk management in banks?
What is SWOT analysis?

Moreover, there can be technical questions related to your education and work experience or on something you have mentioned in your bio-data. Unlike in the case of personal questions, here questions have a definite answer. If you do not know the answer, please say “sorry, I don’t know”, if you bluff you will be in trouble.

Not knowing the answer to technical questions is perfectly fine but if your reply is something absurd it will definitely put a wrong impression.

General Discussion/General Awareness

Third would be General Discussion and Current Affairs – These questions will be mostly based on the major events in the current political and economic environment.

What are the 3 major political events of recent times?
What is G20?
What are India and China standoff at Doklam?
Why Kashmir issue has not been solved after 70 years of independence?
How will the policy of Mr. Joe Biden affect the Indian economy?
Is growth equitably distributed in the Indian economy?

This list can be huge. For the preparation for these, you need to regularly read newspapers and some current affairs magazines. You should not express strong political opinions (even if you have), because if someone in the interview panel has a strong opposite opinion you are finished. Otherwise, also strong political opinions are not recommended in any formal discussion. Remember Diplomacy is the Best Policy!!

As Always, Don’t Stress, Do Your Best and Forget the Rest!

All the Best!

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