Civils Marathon IX: Art of interview

UPSC has declared the results of selected candidates for the personality test on 17th March. The personality test starts from the 5th April and will go on for a month. The candidates might have filled their DAF2 forms before the stipulated time. Interview is an art by itself. It decides the candidates future and his career will depend upon this 30 to 40 minutes interview. The body language, the communication skills, the art of presentation, and convincing the board are essential in the interview.

Dress code

The formal dress for the interview suggested by experts. It is not compulsory to wear a tie and suit if you are not in the habit of wearing it occasionally. But, it will give you an additional weight age if you go in a formal dress with Suit and tie. Stand before a mirror and learn the way of presenting yourself. Ladies should wear traditional dress. The traditional Sanskrit Shloka says that one gets advantage with his dress and not the address - Vasthrena vacha vapusha

Mesmerise the interview board

Learn communication skills and earn your rank. Attend two or three mock interviews so that you will gain confidence in answering the questions. It is not only answering the questions but your mind and soul should be present at the time of answering. The board will never push you to a corner with an unexpected question. That doesn't mean that all the questions will be favourable to you.

Previous profession

In your resume, if you have mentioned that you have worked earlier for two or three years in a particular profession, definitely the questions will follow on your experience and the reasons to leave the job. Your administrative skills, your temperament and your behaviour with the previous organisation should reflect in your answers. If you are working in a software company and switching over to a profession which deals with the public then you should be able to convince the board that you have the ambition to serve the public.

Body language

Stand before a mirror and find out your weakness in facial expressions while answering the questions. The diction and clarity in expression are most important. While answering the questions you should look at all the members of the board and your answer should be pointed. The eye to eye contact between the board members and you should be in coordination. If you have any mannerisms in your Communication avoid it - for example, "yes sir yes sir or I do not know I do not know etc,."

Probable points

The following questions are expected during your conversation. If you belong to Andhra Pradesh you should be thorough with the literature and language for Telugu. Three eminent personalities have been awarded with the Janan Peeth awards so far. They're Viswanadha Satya Narayana for his Ramayana Kalpavriksham, Dr C Narayana Reddy for his Visvambhara Bharat and Dr Ravuri Bhardwaja for his novel Pakudu Rallu. Eminent personalities in literature both old and new are to be explained during the conversation. Telugu literature started with Nannayya and his translation of Mahabharata from Sanskrit is the first epic. Telugu language is described as "Italian of the East" and it has produced several eminent poets during the last millennium. Journalism also has created a new trend about contemporary issues. Andhra Patrika was the first daily newspaper started by Kasinathuni Nageswara Rao and it was prominent during the freedom movement.

Translator for the benefit of candidate

If the candidate is from the Telugu areas and he wishes to explain his answers in Telugu he should inform the commission beforehand and they will provide a Telugu translator to assist you. He will be translating the English question posed by the member of the interview board to the candidate in Telugu and the answer given by the candidate in Telugu will be translated into English for the benefit of the board members. At the time of awarding the marks the translator has no say and only the assessors and the chairman of the board will finalise the slab of marks to be given out of 275.

This advantage of providing the translator has been available for the last one decade. So one need not feel about his communication level in English. He can choose his own regional language and inform the commission at the time of DAF2.

Other points for elaboration

- Judicial activism and recent judgements delivered by the Supreme Court

- The selection of judges for Supreme Court and high courts by collegium

- The controversy over uniforms(Hijab) in educational institutions

- PPP model in contracts

- Sale of public sector undertakings like AIR INDIA

- Effects of Monthly Mann Ki Baat programme by Prime Minister over All India Radio

- Efforts made by central government towards the development of Northeast

- Lessons learnt from the pandemic

Prepare your own notes on the above subjects and be ready to answer them in a coherent manner. There may be supplementary questions on your answers if you are not able to explain properly.

Prepare well for the interview by assimilating information from various sources and be confident in answering the questions in the interview. All the best

(Author is retired Additional Director General Doordarshan,Delhi)