Communication skills

Interviews

Picture
This is one part of a professional's life that is never ending. Whether he is a 'hopper' or changes jobs every 2 or 3 years. Interview is a process in which a company' management decides whether you are the ideal candidate that they have an opening for. This is your first impression on your prospective future bosses. This is your chance to impress them (First impression is usually the last impression). This process has a proper structure in a BPO call center industry. The structure is mostly common in most companies and may slightly vary depending on the company's policies and procedures.

Pre - Interview

Usually any interview consists of a set of rounds which every candidate has to pass in order to secure a job at the company. There are basically four rounds for a call center interview. These will be discussed in detail. But before we get into the actual rounds, we need to understand that when we prepare for an interview we need to be in the correct mindset. In my personal experience i have donw more than 15 interviews and i think i failed just one. The main thing you need to concentrate on is your mindset before you leave for the interview, that is you have to tell yourself that this job was meant for you, to supplement this statement you can always tell your brain that if you were not fit for it you would not be considered for it either. Have an attitude that potrays confidence but not over confidence. Over confidence is disliked by most interviewers and also company's managements. So, in order to look professional for an interview you would have to wear a formal dress. Now this can be a plain shirt, which is not a party shirt and a formal pair of pants(preferably Black).

Round 1

This usually is an introduction round, or a jam session as some companies would refer to it. In this round a candidate is seated with other candidates and asked to give their personal introduction. This is done to see if the candidate is nervous when speaking in public. The parameters that HR's usually look for in this round is your grammatical skills and also your fluency. Also they check if the candidate stutters (gets stuck) while speaking because he is speaking in front of a room full of people. Another way this round can be conducted is to give a topic for discussion in which the room is divided into two parts one part of the group is to speak for the topic in question and the other part of the room is to speak against it. This way an HR assesses all of the above listed qualities as well as convincing power of the candidates. This is an elimination round, so to get to your job you have to get past this phase without fail.

Round 2

This is a voice and accent round. This is the most important round and decides whether the candidate is worthy of the job. If a candidate passes this round he's virtually assured of the job. In this round a specialized voice and accent trainer assesses a candidates voice, as to what pitch he has ( High pitch or Low Pitch ) also he judges candidates based on their accent(The way they pronounce certain words of the language) and their fluency is also tested. At times their listening skills are tested via a video test, wherein the candidate is made to watch a video clip ( a 5 minute video ) and then he is asked 3 to 5 questions. In order to pass this round he has to correctly answer atleast 4 of them. This round decides whether the candidate has adequate communication skills required for the job. So, don't forget your communication skills at home before the interview.

Round 3

This is the final round of the interview. It's usually called Ops round. In this round the candidate is made to talk face to face with an operations manager. This round is usually tough for people who have experience in the same industry, because they have to answer the ultimate difficult questions like why did u quit the last job? if the candidate has more than 2 companies in the past three years then he is in for a ride. This is a final go from the management in the interview. Freshers will be more comfortable in this round coz they will be asked normal questions like anything to do with their hobbies, or any hot topic that is in buzz. If you clear this round you can think you've got the job.

Round 4

This is just a formality round and so is a no elimination round. In this round all that happens is that the HR (remember that face who took your first round?) discusses the salary packages of the candidates depending on their experience and expertice in the areas the management is looking at. The offer made to the candidate is sometimes up for negotiation, sometimes its not. So, you have to be the judge and think before starting to negotiate with them. and finally a CONGRATULATIONS!! from the HR welcomes you onboard. You are given a list of certificates of which copies have to be submitted before the joining dat

The Extras

Sometimes companies tend to make life difficult for candidates, so they take some extra rounds like a typing test. This is self explanatory and can be sometimes elimination round.