2.2 Interviews

What is an Interview?

An interview is a formal face-to-face (or video / phone) conversation between two or more people with a specific purpose — usually to evaluate one party (the interviewee) against criteria the other party (the interviewer) is interested in.

The word comes from French entrevoir — "to see between" — implying mutual seeing, not just one-way evaluation.

Purpose of interviews

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Types of Interviews

There are several recognised types, each with its own dynamic:

Common exam question: "Discuss types of interviews." — Pick 7-8 types most relevant; one-line description each.

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Interview Styles

Interviewers also adopt different styles depending on the role and the candidate:

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The Art of Interviewing

The interviewer's skill matters as much as the interviewee's. A good interviewer:

Before the interview

• Reads the candidate's resume thoroughly
• Prepares 8-10 specific questions linked to the role
• Allocates time for both Q&A and candidate questions
• Sets up the environment — quiet room, water, on-time start
• Knows the role — JD, salary band, growth path

During the interview

• Puts the candidate at ease — light opening, warm greeting
• Listens 70%, speaks 30% — the candidate should do most of the talking
• Asks open-ended questions — not yes/no
• Probes — "Tell me more about that," "What was the outcome?"
• Maintains eye contact and takes selective notes
• Stays neutral — avoids showing bias
• Manages time — covers all critical areas

After the interview

• Writes notes immediately while memory is fresh
• Scores against pre-set criteria to reduce subjectivity
• Compares with co-interviewers before deciding
• Provides feedback to the candidate (where culture permits)

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Techniques of Interviewing

The STAR Method (the most-asked behavioural framework)

Situation → Task → Action → Result.

When an interviewer asks "Tell me about a time when you handled a difficult team member", structure your answer:

Always close with the Result — and quantify it where possible.

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Guidelines for the Interviewer

1. Prepare specific, job-relevant questions — avoid clichés
2. Treat the interview as a two-way conversation — candidates are evaluating you too
3. Be punctual — disrespect with time signals worse to come
4. Welcome the candidate warmly — first 30 seconds matters
5. Start with easy questions to settle nerves
6. Avoid discriminatory questions — marriage plans, family, religion, caste
7. Take notes selectively — don't bury your head in paper
8. Probe depth, not breadth — better to deeply understand 3 things than skim 10
9. Avoid leading questions — "You agree, right?" is biased
10. Close gracefully — explain next steps and timeline

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Guidelines for the Interviewee

Before the interview

• Research the company — website, recent news, products, founders
• Re-read your own resume — be ready to explain every line
• Prepare answers to standard questions ("Tell me about yourself", "Why us?", "Your weakness?")
• Prepare questions to ask — at least 2-3 thoughtful ones
• Plan your outfit — formal unless the company explicitly says casual
• Carry copies of resume, portfolio, certificates
• Plan your route — reach 15 minutes early
• Sleep well the night before
• Mock interview with a friend or mentor

During the interview

• Greet warmly — eye contact, firm handshake, smile
• Wait to sit until invited — small but signals manners
• Sit upright — don't slouch or over-relax
• Listen to the full question before answering
• Take a breath before answering tough questions — pause is fine
• Speak clearly and at moderate pace
• Be honest — "I don't know but I'd find out" beats faking
• Quantify achievements — "increased X by 30%" beats "improved X"
• Stay calm under stress questions — they're testing composure
• End every answer cleanly — don't trail off

Common questions to prepare for

Questions you should ask

• "What does success look like in this role in 6 months?"
• "What are the biggest challenges this team is facing?"
• "Can you describe the team culture?"
• "How do you measure performance?"
• "What is the growth path from this role?"

Avoid asking about salary, leave, perks in the first round (unless invited to).

After the interview

• Thank-you email within 24 hours — re-state your interest, mention something specific from the conversation
• Self-reflection — what went well, what could be improved
• Follow up if you don't hear back in the promised timeframe

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Modern Variations

Video interview tips

• Camera at eye-level (raise laptop on books if needed)
• Good lighting on your face — natural light from in front is best
• Plain background (or a tidy real background)
• Test internet, mic, camera 15 minutes before
• Wear formal top (and ideally bottoms — in case you have to stand)
• Look at the camera when answering — not at your own image
• Have a glass of water nearby
• Turn off notifications and other apps

AI / automated interviews (HackerRank, HireVue)

• One-way recordings; you speak; AI evaluates
• No human to read your cues — speak more energetically than feels natural
• Practice with the platform's demo first
• Same fundamentals apply: clarity, confidence, structure

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Sample Interview Q&A — Quick Examples

Q: Tell me about yourself. A: "I am Rohit Jangra, a final-year computer-applications student from Delhi. I am someone who picks up technologies quickly — over the last two years, I've learnt React, Node, and built a free education platform that has 50,000 monthly users today. My major project was a college-admission portal, where I led a team of three. My core strength is full-stack web development with a focus on clean, maintainable code. I am applying because your team's work on payment systems is exactly the kind of problem I want to solve."

Q: What is your biggest weakness? A: "I tend to over-engineer initial solutions — I add features the user didn't ask for. I caught this during my second project when my code review showed I'd written 200 lines I didn't need. Now I follow a "minimum viable" approach and ship lean, then iterate. It's a real improvement but I still catch myself sometimes."

Q: Why do you want to work here? A: "Two reasons. First, I read your engineering blog last month — the article on how your team handles UPI peak-day load was genuinely impressive. Solving problems at that scale is what I want to learn. Second, your culture of internal teaching — the way senior engineers run weekly tech talks — matches how I learn best."

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Study deep

1. Interviews evaluate more than knowledge. Body language, calmness under stress, clarity of thinking, ability to listen — all are signalled within the first 10 minutes. Most decisions are made early and confirmed later, not the other way round.

1. The STAR framework is industry-standard for behavioural interviews. Knowing it means you can answer almost any "tell me about a time when..." question. Most candidates ramble; STAR gives structure.

1. The "tell me about yourself" answer is the most under-prepared. Yet it's the most-asked question. Don't wing it — script it, practise it, time it.

1. Questions you ask matter as much as answers you give. They show you understand the role, the company, the industry. "I have no questions" signals disinterest.

1. Rejections are not personal evaluations of you as a person. Roles need specific fits. A rejection is data — what to improve next time. Top performers get rejected often before they're hired well.

Key Terms — Lesson 2.2

The terms below cover interview types, techniques, and the working vocabulary every interviewer/interviewee uses.

Interview — A structured conversation between two or more parties with a specific purpose — typically assessing a candidate for a role, but also for promotion, exit, research, journalism, or counselling. The purpose drives the format.

Selection Interview — The most common type — a candidate is evaluated for a specific job opening. The structure has three rounds in most modern hiring: screening (HR phone call), technical round (skills test), and final / cultural round (with hiring manager and senior leaders).

Promotion Interview — An internal interview for an employee being considered for a higher role. Different dynamics: less about basic skills (already known), more about leadership readiness, peer perception, and broader judgement.

Exit Interview — A departing employee's final structured conversation with HR or a manager. Purpose: collect honest feedback about why they're leaving, what could be better, and to leave the relationship on good terms.

Stress Interview — An interview deliberately designed to put pressure on the candidate — hostile questions, deliberate interruptions, awkward silence. Purpose: see how the candidate handles pressure. Less common today (perceived as unprofessional); occasional in trading, consulting, and military selection.

Panel Interview — An interview conducted by multiple interviewers simultaneously — common in academia, public sector, senior corporate roles. The candidate must engage each panellist; remembering who asked what becomes important.

Behavioural Interview — An interview style based on the premise that past behaviour predicts future behaviour. Questions begin "Tell me about a time when..." and probe specific past situations. The candidate is expected to answer with STAR-structured stories.

Technical Interview — An interview focused on specific technical skills — coding, debugging, system design, domain knowledge. Common in software (whiteboard problems, take-home tasks), engineering, finance (modelling questions), and academia.

HR Interview — A round (typically last) where HR explores cultural fit, motivation, salary expectations, notice period, and logistics rather than skills. Decides offer details rather than yes/no on the candidate.

STAR Technique — A framework for answering behavioural-interview questions: Situation (set the context), Task (describe your responsibility), Action (explain what you did), Result (state the outcome, ideally with numbers). The most-recommended interview structure globally.

BEI (Behavioural Event Interview) — A more rigorous variant of behavioural interviewing developed by McClelland and McBer. Probes specific past events in depth — typically 4–6 events explored at length. Used in competency-based hiring at scale.

Funnel Questioning — A questioning technique that starts broad and narrows progressively — open question, then more specific, then asking for an example, then probing the example. Used by interviewers to draw out depth.

Case Interview — An interview style in management consulting where the candidate solves a business case in real time — market sizing, profitability analysis, strategy. Tests structured thinking and quantitative reasoning under pressure.

Take-Home Assignment — An interview component that gives the candidate a task to complete on their own time — coding project, business analysis, design exercise. Replaces or supplements live coding/whiteboard; shows realistic working style.

Open-Ended Question — A question that cannot be answered with yes/no — "Tell me about your most challenging project." Invites a fuller response and reveals more about the candidate. Most behavioural questions are open-ended.

Closed-Ended Question — A question with a brief, definitive answer — "Have you used React?" Useful for fact-checking but not for assessing depth.

Leading Question — A question that suggests its preferred answer — "You like working in teams, don't you?" Considered poor interview practice; biases the response and produces low-quality data.

Probing Question / Follow-Up — A question that digs deeper into a previous answer — "What specifically did you do?" "Why that approach?" "What would you do differently now?" The best interviewers spend more time probing than asking fresh questions.

Hypothetical Question — A "what would you do if..." question. Useful for assessing judgement and approach, but weaker than behavioural questions because hypotheticals invite idealised answers, while behavioural questions force specific ones.

"Tell Me About Yourself" — The most-asked interview opener. Should be rehearsed: a 90-second structured pitch — current role/year, relevant background, key project, transition statement. The number-one under-prepared answer.

"What is Your Weakness?" — A classic question whose answer must be honest but professional — a real weakness you're working on, with evidence of self-awareness and improvement. Avoid the cliché "I work too hard" answer.

"Why Should We Hire You?" — A closing-stretch question. Best answer pattern: (1) specific skill match, (2) specific motivation for this company, (3) what you'd contribute. Concise and confident.

Thank-You Email (Post-Interview) — A short follow-up note sent within 24 hours of an interview, reiterating interest and mentioning something specific from the conversation. Differentiates serious candidates; surprisingly few send one.

Video Interview Setup — The technical baseline for any remote interview: camera at eye level, good front lighting, plain background, wired internet if possible, mic test 15 minutes before, formal top, water nearby, notifications off.

One-Way Video Interview (HireVue / HackerRank Async) — A modern variant where the candidate records answers to preset questions with no live interviewer. AI / hiring team review later. Tips: speak with more energy than feels natural; treat the camera as a person; do not read from notes.

Interviewer Guidelines — Best practices on the interviewer side: prepare specific questions aligned to the role, treat the interview as two-way (the candidate is also evaluating you), avoid discriminatory questions (age, marital status, religion, caste), document evidence rather than impressions, calibrate with co-interviewers.

Interviewee Guidelines — Best practices on the candidate side: research the company and role, prepare STAR stories for common questions, plan outfit and route in advance, arrive 10 minutes early, listen fully before answering, quantify achievements, prepare 3–5 questions to ask, follow up with a thank-you email.

Calibration Meeting — A post-interview meeting where multiple interviewers compare assessments and align on a hire/no-hire decision. Reduces individual bias. Used by Google, Amazon, McKinsey, and most structured-hiring organisations.

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Common exam question (very high frequency): "Discuss types of interviews and interview styles." — 7-8 types (selection, promotion, exit, stress, panel, behavioural, technical, HR) + 4-5 styles (formal, informal, stress, behavioural, case).

Common exam question: "What are the techniques of interviewing?" — STAR, BEI, funnel, hypothetical, case-based, pair-programming, take-home; explain STAR in detail.

Common exam question: "What guidelines should an interviewer / interviewee follow?" — Two columns of 6-8 points each (interviewer: prepare specific questions, treat as 2-way, avoid discrimination, etc.; interviewee: research, prepare answers, plan outfit, listen fully, quantify, follow up).

Model Answer — A STAR Response

Question asked: "Tell me about a time you faced a conflict in a team."

Weak answer: "We had some disagreements but we sorted them out and the project was fine." — vague, no evidence, unscored.

STAR answer (Situation → Task → Action → Result):

Situation — "In our final-year project two of us wanted React for the front end and two wanted plain JavaScript, and we were losing days arguing. Task — As scrum lead I had to settle it without anyone disengaging. Action — I asked each side to list three concrete pros against our actual deadline, then we time-boxed a one-day spike to test both. I kept the discussion on the criteria, not the people. Result — The spike showed React saved roughly two weeks of UI work, so the JavaScript pair agreed. We shipped on time and they later thanked me for keeping it objective."

Why it scores: it is specific, structured, shows ownership ("I asked...", "I kept..."), and ends with a quantified, positive result — the four things every behavioural-interview rubric rewards. Memorise two or three STAR stories before any interview.

Self-check

Recall the interview vocabulary and the candidate's playbook — answer, then check.

1. From which French word does "interview" derive, and what does it mean? (entrevoir — "to see between")
2. Expand the STAR method. (Situation, Task, Action, Result)
3. In the art of interviewing, what listen-to-speak ratio should a good interviewer keep? (listen 70%, speak 30%)
4. Name two discriminatory topics an interviewer must avoid. (marriage/family plans, religion, caste — any two)
5. Within how long should a candidate send a post-interview thank-you email? (within 24 hours)
6. What does BEI stand for, and who is it associated with? (Behavioural Event Interview; McClelland / McClelland and McBer)