SSB - Personal Interview (PI)

Personal Interview (PI)

What is an Interview?

It is the process of selling of the candidate to the particular organization or company.  The organization may be any corporate companies or Defense System. The Personal interview (PI) may also be taken as a purposeful conversation between a candidate and the interviewing officer (IO) to check out the particular pre-determined qualities (OLQ).

Personal Interview:-

The PI is the psychological assessment of the candidate by the IO usually in the rank of colonel i.e. who is the president or deputy president of the board.  The IO reads well the PIQ filled by the candidate on the first day and also have the psychological answer paper i.e. self description and comments of the psychologist over the candidate, in his hand before the candidate is called inside the room. Thus the IO  just cross check the candidate by triggering some basic questions, and also triggering the series of questions at a stretch that is called as Rapid Fire Questions(RPF). With these replies he note down the response and check the candidate whether he is truth ful with his answers and also he note down the OLQ of the candidate. So nothing to worry about the PI friends, just be calm and march with good preparation, then it will be easy to crack the process.


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How to be cool in the whole process:-

To make the whole process as a cake walk, the only way is to be honest and truthful. Since it is not easy an easy task to tell a lie or bluff to the IO. As he is very much trained to catch the liers and everyday he is facing numerous persons telling lies. The simple quote about selection process is "BE YOURSELF" since if we are truthful to the IO, then we will tell our answer boldly and confidently. The IO also expects the same from the candidates. So we won’t bluff and never stammer in our answer. So better improve the qualities and social adaptability of the self to be a better citizen and good officer.  If we improve and train our self for the development of the officer like qualities, the PI will be cool. Also, what the interviewing officer expect from the candidate is not be an all rounder or a well knowledge person, but a person who adapts to all situations can handle and work under pressure, can able to move with a group of people, have an eye over the world and national issues, can be able to give solution to the national issues etc. So put yourself to these points and assess yourself friends.

Personal Interview Preparation:-

First Impression and Dress Code. Behavior during the process Crystal clear thought and explanations Truthful to the IO (Not beating around the bush) keep smiling don’t lose your ground even in tough questions Analysing capability.

First Impression and Dress Code:-

Enter the hall with smile and calm face, as this shows that you are cool. Also have a proper dress code. Walk with head held high, with upraised shoulder and chest.  This gives a positive, confident look.  Also before entering into the hall ask for permission and wait for the response, if you got the response from IO open the door with smiling face (the smile should be true) and march ahead into the room with confidence, and wish the officer as per the time. (Good morning, evening etc) Also stand behind the chair of the candidate and don’t stand in front of the chair, as it shows that you have a thought by your mind that you will granted to have a seat. It’s wrong; the candidate should stand behind or by the side of the chair and seeks permission from the officer to sit. If the permission is granted he should thank the officer and sit comfortably without shaking or changing the position of the chair.

Dress Code:

It is better to wear a light color shirt and dark color pant, if you have stripes in the shirt means have checked design in the pant or if you have checked design in shirt means wear pant with striped designs, as this gives a decent professional look also wear a tie which matches to the shirt and pant color.

Behavior during the process:-

Body language plays a vital role in the process.  Experts say that above 93% of nonverbal communications plays a main role in process. Sit in proper manner; also don’t shake your hands, fingers, or legs during the process.  The officer matches the response from your mouth to the body language what you are showing at that time. Also try to have a proper eye contact. Keep your breath normal. For these things to be normal, the one and only way is to be truthful to yourself and to the IO. Since if you are honest, then your reply will be bold. 

To know more about Crystal clear thought and explanations:-

The thought and answers coming from the candidate should be crystal clear. If the IO asks a question means, the candidate has to think about that clearly and make a clear answer with explanations. Never say yes/No type. replies in the answers.  As this shows your confidence level is low.  If you explain your answer with positive points, it gains you more mark in the process. So please avoid the yes/no type responses. Also if you know only little knowledge about that topic means, tell to the IO that sir I know these things about this question sorry sir I am not getting more points about this topic at this moment. This shows your honesty and the IO likes this only. He doesn't expect the candidate to be library. Be polite and confident in your answer friends

Truthful to the IO (Not beating around the bush):-

 As I told in the above Para, be truthful to the IO. If you don’t know, tell openly sorry sir I don’t know.  It’s better to say like this than beating around the bush.  Also the important point is don’t say suddenly after the questions is ended by the IO, that sorry sir i don’t know. Just try to give at least a single point of answer for the question i.e. Think for a while and if you really don’t get the answer, say them politely sorry sir I don’t know.

Keep smiling:-

It is the key of success. Try to keep smiling all over the process from entering the room and till the end of the process.  To keep smiling, you should be free by mind, to be free be honest to the IO. Else your artificial smile will be recognized as the fake smile. So you may lose your chance of getting selected. Please be calm and truthful in your replies by enjoying the process.

Don’t lose your ground even in tough questions:-

Losing the ground with the IO is common for all candidates. Since this is a oral war between the IO and the candidate.  It’s not an easy thing to win over the oral war with the IO, as they have real war experience. lolz. :). To avoid this situation, don’t argue with the IO. The IO expects that the candidate should not lose his ground, and face all the situations tactfully. If you have sound knowledge in subjects and positive replies you never lose your grounds. Tackle the questions with presence of sense and show your knowledge and positive approach with the replies.

Analysing capability:-

The analysing capability is one of the important qualities of an officer.  Most of the candidate have the analyzing capability,  But what they expect is the whether we are using our analyzing capability even under pressure situations or tough situations. So the IO cross checks this quality with the candidate throughout the process by triggering various questions at different situations.

Interview Pattern:-

The pattern is a four step process usually followed at all boards.  The candidates are put into these type of questions usually and their qualities are assessed based on their responses. Types of questions asked are:-

1.   Introduction questions or Feel Free Questions or Calm Down Questions.

2.   Usual Questions.

3.   Social problem or Candidate Solution type questions.

4.   Technical questions or Practical Knowledge questions.

Ok, Let we see in detail about these type of questions and way of approach to these questions:

1.   Introduction questions or Feel Free Questions or Calm down questions:-

Usually these types of questions are put to the candidates after their entry into the panel.  The IO asks some basic questions which can be easily answered by the candidate so that the candidate feel ease with the IO.

The questions may be of:

a) Which place you are coming from and tell something about that place?

b) Tell something about your name and why named so?

c) Tell five things about your native and which you like most?

How to answer?

For the first question, answer should not be like this, Sir I am from Chennai. But the answer is sir I am from Chennai, a northern district and coastal city of Tamilnadu which is also the state capital of Tamilnadu. The population is about ............ and the main occupations of people are......... The specialty is ........... and tourism is.......... and the special things are OTA etc. Like this the answer should cover over all parts of the Chennai. This gives a broad approach of your answer and it shows your knowledge. The answer given to the IO should be crystal clear and optimistic (positive) and truthful. These are about the Introduction questions.  It is easy to answer the introduction questions and answer in an optimistic view and it plays a vital role.

2. Usual Questions:-

The Usual questions part carry two types of questions Rapid Fire Questions Stress Questions The Usual questions part consists of these two types of pattern are followed. This part plays a major role in the process and occupies most of the time of the interview i.e. Why you want to join the Army/Navy/Air Force etc.

First Let me explain about the Stress Questions Stress Interview (SI):-

The SI gives the original personality of the candidate.  Since normally it is easy to answer all the questions without losing temper if we have good communication skills. But answering at the time of SI is the real success and the candidate with all OLQ will cross this hurdle easily. The IO cross check the candidate that whether under stressful and hard situations the candidate doesn’t loses his originality and keeps his position with good decision making and solution finding abilities.

Let we see how the IO leads us to the SI:-

After finishing the introduction questions, he tests the candidate for SI. i.e. By asking more questions on the same area until we lose our temper or we expose till all our knowledge on that. Eg. What is the difference in brake system of train and bus. If we explain about hyralic brake and normal show brake system. He starts to grill in hydralic system such as what type of liquid is used and all. If we answer it correctly, he triggers as why such liquid is used instead of this liquid. He continues and tries to break the ground of the candidate.  In these type of situations the candidate has to be keep smiling and to answer the questions by showing his knowledge without bluffing. If he doesn’t know the answer, better tell the IO, sorry sir i don’t know. Asking other branch or unrelated questions.  i.e. If a candidate is from computer science and engineering back ground, he may be asked questions from mechanical stream. Asking questions in hard or harsh manner like threatening. Like this the IO checks the pulse of the candidate.

The important hurdle of the PI is RAPID FIRE QUESTONS (RPF):-

These Rapid Fire Questions are a set of questions which are asked at a stretch. That nearly ten to fifteen number of questions will be triggered out by the IO. So that he checks how much questions is observed by the candidate and answered well and how truthful with his replies and all. The RPF questions may be starts from educational background, views about parents, teachers, friends view about you and your view over them. Hobbies and interests at free time, Checking leadership qualities by asking your extracurricular and how the candidate will organize a task or situation, Games and Sports etc. To be crispy about Rapid Fire Questions every questions will be from the PIQ only. So just prepare a PIQ of the own and frame the set of questions of your own and form the answers. Then check for your own answers and find the OLQ qualities which you find in your own replies.

Set of questions may be raised from the PIQ for the Rapid Fire Questions from Educational Background:-

How much you scored in your tenth, twelfth and graduation. Why there is decrease in the mark level and what you did to overcome those difficulty. Which subject you like more and why Which subject you don’t like and why Achievements in the study Tel specialty about your school and college Which teacher you like most why Which teacher you don’t like and why you have chosen to study this branch Whether you chosen the particular branch of study by self or by others compulsion (Parents) Why there is some gap in studies between inter college and graduation. How you improved the percentage from tenth to twelfth and what are steps you taken to achieve this. If you scored less marks in twelfth than in tenth, the question is what are the steps you have taken to overcome this decrease in percentage not to continue in graduation.

What your friends and teachers think about you How you think about your friends and teachers Cross checking with Self Description:-

As we wrote in our self description about what our teachers and friends think about us, we should be truthful with our replies same in the PI also, the IO cross checks the replies of the candidate with the self description paper.

From Family Background:-

How much pocket money you got in your college days and how much you utilized. How you help your mother in your holidays How you help your father You are close to father or
mother and why How much you like your father and mother How  you are responsible person to your family Say about your sister and brother Whom you like most and why With whom you play more Which person other than in your family and friends you like more and why What’s your father/mother rank in the working place and income they are getting How they are utilizing their income and are you satisfied with that If your family is totally dependent on you tomorrow, how you will help or run the family.

From Friends:-

How will you get new friends Which type of friends you like How many friends you have Out of friends how many are close to you In your friends to whom you share the personal things What you like in your best friend and What he likes in you
What your friend or friends say about you What you say about you and your friends. Which thing you like in your close friend and why. How you will help your friend or helped your
friend any good moments. How you and your friends/ friend do in your free times or in holidays.

For Working Professionals:-

What your co workers will say about you What you say about your boss What your boss say about you Tell about your company or organization Why you are leaving your previous job What you like most in your job What you don’t like in your job What difficulty you faced in your job and what are the steps you taken to overcome those difficulty. Why are you leaving the present job?

From Hobbies and Interests:-

What is your hobby Why you have chosen this hobby From when you are doing this hobby What are the things you have learn from your hobby What are the new things you implemented in your hobby What’s your childhood hobby and what are you doing now
Why you change the childhood hobby to this (recent one) They require vast knowledge in the hobby since everyone will have a hobby, but a candidate with good attitude will get information about their hobbies.  The different types of hobbies are music, singing, blogging, reading, philately, photography, trekking etc.  Create questions based on your hobby and make responses for that to get thorough knowledge over that.

Interests:-
What type of news channel, Tv shows you see and which periodical you used to read and why?

From Games and Sports:-

Which game you like and why you have chosen an indoor game rather than an outdoor game Why you have chosen an outdoor game rather than an indoor game Whom you like more in your team if we say cricket or foot ball etc What is your position in the team i.e. as a team member or captain. Depth of knowledge in the Games or sports. i.e. Questions from size of the play ground/court size and rules of the game and recent world records in the game etc Which player you like most and why What you want to improve or you suggestion for our team in the game/sports you play A good young youth with good physique should play a game in his spare time. So everyone will have a game/sports to play. If you don’t have a game to play just join any club of your interests and start to play.  As it helps you to get more OLQ's. Also get a thorough knowledge in the game which you used to play.

Checking the Leadership and Organizing ability:-.

Leadership and organizing ability is the important quality of every officer. So these part of the process seems to be important.  The officer may give a situation to check our organizing ability also he asked questions from the PIQ in the fields of extracurricular and co curricular activities such as N.S.S and N.C.C. etc. E.g. if you going to Industrial Visit tour to the nearby Industry. suddenly you coordinator got accident, how you will arrange the tour and make it successful one.  Like this he gives different situations and asks questions over that. If you play a game or sports, how you will organize that game like that.

Co-Curricular and Extra-curricular activities:-

The Co-Curricular and Extra-curricular activity includes such as N.S.S, N.C.C, Volunteer of blood donation association, Friends of Police etc. When you joined in N.C.C. /N.S.S. and why What you achieved in that Positions held in that Grade of certificates got such as A,B,C etc Who motivated to join in N.C.C

3. Social problem or Candidate Solution type questions:-

In this part the IO may ask questions such as world issues, national issues and solution for those issues. Also he checks the depth of knowledge and our approach to the issues. He asks our views to the issues and solution for the issue. E.g. He asks the candidate that the views of nation on terrorism is good or bad, if good why it is good and if bad why  it is bad, then tell you solution like this.

Current Affairs and General Knowledge and issues:-

He also asks some history and current affairs of the nation and world. E.g. tell five things you recently read in newspaper. Tell deeply about particular news.

4. Technical questions or Practical Knowledge questions:

If we go to the TGC entry i.e Technical Graduation Course and TES entry i.e. Technical Entry Scheme they may put forward some basic technical questions relating to our daily day to day life. E.g. If we say that we play cricket, he may ask how you will apply physics law to the swing bowling etc. Also you will apply the phythogores theorem to the table tennis service etc. If you are from engineering back ground the questions also from, Basic Network questions Basic physics laws All Engineering fundamental questions. In these set of questions he find out our practical knowledge.  i.e. application of our theoretical knowledge in the physical day to day tasks which is essential for the army men.

How to approach the PI DO's and DONT's:-

The approach of the PI is an art, the one with good attitude and truthful with the information provided and self will surely get success in the PI.

DO's and DONT's:-

Enter the room with head held high and up righted chest as this gives you a confident approach. Never insert your hands into your pocket, leave it casually. Since the very first impression gives you a positive result. Prefer dress with good quality and properly
ironed. Don’t wear new dress or old own; wear dress which is properly stitched and good fitting. Avoid boot cuts and all.  Wear proper formal pant. Don’t wear watch, or have something in the pocket. Have proper hair cut before the interview and comb the hair well. Wish the IO while entering the room with proper sense such as check whether is morning, or evening or noon. Have a proper and constant voice tone, never raise your voice tone while telling about your achievements or reduce your voice tone while telling about your negative points. Have proper answer for your positive and negative points Have a proper body language don't argue with the IO. But tell your point with some positive points on that. Understand the questions clearly and start to answer to that question slowly and confidently. In case, if you felt that you don’t know the answer, just say after thinking a while, sorry sir I don’t know the answer. In case, if you didn’t get the question from the IO means, ask him as sorry sir, I beg your pardon, please repeat the question. Never blame anyone for your shortcomings such as low marks due to teacher etc. since they don’t want people who blame for shortcomings. They want people only who take every situation positive and overcome the shortcomings with hard work.

Piece of Advice:-

As I told earlier, form the basic questions about family, friends, teachers, environment i.e. native, sports, hobbies, girl friends etc and answer yourself with proper voice tone.  Don’t bluff to the IO and be honest to yourself and the IO. If you have those OLQ's surely the IO will take you in.

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Good Luck Gentlemen.