While sitting on a chair in front of your interviewer, many thoughts might be running inside your head. 

“What is the interviewer writing in his diary?”

“Will he hire me or not?”

“Why is she not asking me any questions related to my work?”

“Is she impressed by me or not?”

“Will I even get the job?”

But, do you know that you are not the only one who might be thinking of thousands of things during the interview.

Even the interviewer might be thinking many things! 

1) Will you fit in the culture of the company? 

The first thing that the interviewer considers is whether you will fit well in the company or not. The interviewer will try to imagine you in the role, working with the prevailing team, and then try to understand how well you will fit in the company. 

The interviewer will try to understand whether you are a good match for the company or not. Because like other relationships in life, even a company has to have a healthy relationship with its employees! For instance, if you are applying for a start-up where most of the teammates are Millennials, then the culture and requirements of the company will be completely different from an MNC or a big four company.

2) Do you have the desired soft skills? 

While conducting the interview, the interviewer might be focusing on your tone, pitch, body language. Because along with your words, these factors also form an important part of effective communication. 

So, neither you should be over-enthusiastic during your interview like:

“Yes! I love working! I can’t wait to join your company! I am so happy to meet you all! I am such a workaholic! I can work 24X7. 

Nor should you appear to be cold and uninterested! 

So, make sure you strike the right balance and know that it is more than words that the interviewer is looking for.

3) Do you match your CV? 

Apart from your communication skills, the interviewer will also want to check whether you are what you have mentioned in your CV or resume. 

For instance, you have mentioned that you have 4 years of experience in the marketing field. 

The interviewer will ask you marketing-related questions, your work in the previous organisation, or any particular result that you produced for your clients. Or, if you have mentioned that your hobby is reading books, then the interviewer might ask you about any recent books that you have read. Remember that your interviewer has no direct way of knowing if your CV is true unless you have the evidence to back it up.

4) Do you have the relevant skills? 

Also, different rounds of the interview have different objectives which are why the mindset of the interviewer is also different! For instance, in the technical round, the objective is to know about your hard skills, the objective of the HR round is to know how good your soft skills and communication skills are. 

On the other hand, the interview with the manager or the managing director will have a completely different objective. Therefore, when you sit for an interview, you should keep in mind the objective of the interview. You will be able to better understand the kind of questions that might come up in the interviewer’s head.

5) Whether you fit in the role? 

Your interviewer will be looking to see how well you really understand the nature of the role and what you can expect to face.

Therefore, utilize the interview as an opportunity to show firsthand that you have the relevant skills. For example, if the job involves talking to senior customers, make sure you come across as confident, but agreeable. Or perhaps the role will require you to attend and help with customer inquiries. In which case, show the interviewer your attention to detail by referring back to the things they say during the interview.

To sum it up, you should understand that every interview is slightly different.

So, take the time to put yourself in the interviewer’s shoes and consider exactly what they’re looking for, which might be the key to your interview success.

Do share your questions in the comments section!

Till then,

Stay Awesome. Stay Productive.

– Divas Gupta

How to read an Interviewer’s Mind?