General tips to overcome an interview

General Tips To Overcome An Interview
Exclusively for Campus/Off-campus

So what if you are not a mountaineer. Or a keen hiker. You still cannot treat your interview like
a careless morning trot along a jogger's path. Your jaw-jaw at the interview table is nothing less
than a cautious climb up a mountain trail--which begins around your early childhood and
meanders through the years at the academia before reaching a new summit in your career. And
as you retrace your steps down memory lane make sure that you post flags at important
landmarks of your life and career, so that you can pop them before the interview panel scoops
them out of you. You don't want to be at the receiving end, do you?

Face the panel, but don't fall of the chair in a headlong rush-and-skid attempt to tell your story.
Take one step at a time.Don't go into unnecessary detail about how you aced your business math
midterm in your sophomore year at accounting school. Here are a few preparation tips from the
Team of Freshersworld.com that books on interviews sometimes overlook. Remember, as a
fresher you do not have anything to loose but to gain.

TYPICAL QUESTIONS THAT AN INTERVIEWER WOULD ASK

1.Tell me about yourself
The most often asked question in interviews. You need to have a short statement prepared in
your mind. Be careful that it does not sound rehearsed. Limit it to work/Study-related items
unless instructed otherwise. Talk about things you have done well at your college and how you
wanted to perform in the first job.

2. Why Should We Employ You?
For this question, your answer should list out strengths that you feel are relevant to the job.
Given below are some answers which could help you with your answers. However, structure
them to suit your requirements.

I have good co-ordination skills
Good analytical skills
I can persuade people to see my point of view, and get the work done
My greatest asset is my ability to motivate people
Even during emergencies, I do not loose my cool
I have good entrepreneurial skills
I have consistently met my deadlines and targets
Can say “no” to people when required to do so!
I am very co-operative with my sub-ordinates, and would like to see them grow
I am a good team player
I am very flexible, and have the ability to work hard under difficult work conditions
I have the experience and knowledge relevant to this job (Here, give appropriate details and
examples)

3. Do You Have Offers From Other Companies ?
This is of course a difficult question to answer. Obviously, you must have applied to other
companies if you are looking for a job or would have some offers from other companies already.

Therefore, do not lie that you have not. However, you are on thin ice here! The interviewer could
be checking your honesty. On the other hand, he/she may also be trying to find out how focused
you are - are you applying randomly, or is there a well-planned strategy?
Whatever your answer, it should match your career goals.

4. What Salary Are You Expecting?
Try not to get into salary details early in the interview. If pressed, you could say that it all
depends on the job, and would like to talk about it after a job offer. Say this in a convincing tone.
In case you are asked this question in your latter interviews, give a direct answer. Do not sound
apologetic while quoting the figure you have in mind.

SALARY EXPECTATIONS :

1. How much do you expect?
If you have done your homework, you would know how much other people in similar jobs are
paid. Quote the range upfront.

2. How much do you think you are worth?
Work out how much you should be paid, given the market value of the job and your skills. If you
can bring some extra skills to the table, do not hesitate to ask for more than the market value.

3. What kind of a culture are you comfortable with?
It is better to be frank about your preferences. Your interviewer will get a clear idea about your
expectations.

4. Which is more important to you-salary, perks or growth opportunities?
This one will reveal the real you. So be sure what you are going to say. Above all, be true to
yourself. If you think this is a negotiation move, then say clearly that you will never sell yourself
short.

5. What do you know about our company?
Do not give your opinions about the company. Stick to reported facts that you have gathered
from newspapers and so on. Talk about the product portfolio, size, income, and market
perceptions of the company. Also it is better to refer details about each company before going for
the interview from Freshersworld.com or PlacementWeek.com

6. Why should we choose you over someone else?
Talk clearly about problems that you have solved in your College/Project Team and highlight the
quality required.

6. Your qualifications are excellent, but you may be overqualified for the position we have to
offer?
Point out that more experience can never be a drawback. If you are multi-skilled, then highlight
the fact that a company on the fast-track needs multi-skilled people. It needs people within
different departments to work together. Also emphasise that the company's future growth will be
an exponential function of your experience.

QUESTIONS YOU SHOULD ASK :

Interviewers usually round off by giving you an opportunity to ask questions. Treat it like a
welcome opportunity.
You could ask questions like.
a) Tell me about your company.
b) Now that I have outlined my career goals, do you think you can offer me the opportunities I
need?
c) What kind of training and learning can I expect in your company?
d) Describe the work culture and the management style of your company?
e) What is the long-term vision of your company?

As a fresher, current position and status can impact the way you are interviewed. Fresh Out of
College

The basis on which you will be judged is your academic background, family background, and
interests.
If looking for your first job, ensure that your previous experience, even if it is part-time, is
noticed.
Mention projects or responsibilities you may have undertaken. This will indicate your area of
aptitude.
You should be willing to put in regular hours, in line with the company's policies. The
interviewer needs to know whether you can be punctual and put in full-time work.
In case you have applied for the post of management trainee, you should display an ability to
adapt, and indicate all-round interests. Moreover, you should have good interpersonal skills.
You should be enthusiastic to learn, and show commitment towards the organization, as the
company will be spending a lot on your training.

Bring with you :
a) Copies of your resumes
b) References and letters of recommendations.

First Impressions :
There is a common saying that minds are made up within the first 5 minutes of an interview. So
keep in mind these important first impression indicators. Walk in the door as if you already work
there, carry yourself as though you feel perfectly comfortable with the situation. Arrive on time
or a little early. In the waiting area, politely tell the receptionist who you are meeting and in a
friendly way, ask where you should sit. Take slow, deep breaths to help you remain calm and
focused. When introduced to the interviewer, have a firm, but not painful, handshake. Smile.
Have good posture when sitting or standing. Introduce yourself in a relaxed, confident manner.
Have a well-groomed, professional appearance. Project a feeling of confidence. Bring extra
copies of your resume, some thing to write on and something to write with.

Self Development

Set Your Goal

Many people bring great unhappiness to themselves because they
refuse to accept themselves. Someone else's job, somebody else's
personality always seems so much desirable than one's own. The
essence of life is that every one in the whole world is unique.
Success, therefore, lies in a single-minded development of one's
own abilities and personality traits. Never try to copy or model
other people whose potentials and qualities may be quite different
than yours. Groom your own garden.

While setting your goals, you must accept your own potentials and
drawbacks. Have a proper critical introspection about your own
self and only thereafter you should decide the goals that are in
accordance with your personal and environmental needs, apart
from the resources available to you. Impulsive decision making in
this regard would be damaging to your career planning/setting of
the goals. You ought to carefully observe inside and look outside
for tapping the suitable and achievable goals of your life.

Personality
In fiction and journalism people use the terms "charming personality",
"charismatic personality", "electrifying personality" …… "a milk-
toast personality"……, and so on. These phrases/terms, however, do
not use the scientific principles of vocabulary.

The term personality has been derived from Latin persona, a mask
worn by actors in classical dramas. Behaviorist psychologists feel that
if a person has some kind of impact, makes a certain impression on
others, it must be because of his actions. The simplest possible way to
explain the meaning of personality, therefore, is "the pattern of
responses" which characterizes the individual. Contrary to the general
idea that good personality refers to good physical features or trendy
looking individual, the fact is the personality includes many other
more important behavioral and mental features.

Think of a boy who is not handsome and attractive apparently, not
even tall or robust, yet he has a commanding verbal influence which
makes him a successful army officer. Think of Mahatma Gandhi for
example. Most people did not find him to be attractive or impressive
as far as his physical make - up was concerned. Short, meek looking,
bard, dhoti - clad old looking man moved the whole India behind him.
Even today he is known his 'Personality' which had its impact, and
force with an everlasting impression on the people around him that

made him the man of world - fame. Personality is the sum total of all
physical, mental and emotional attitudes, values, interests and
motivational factors. Personality is the core potential that determines
one's success in life and career.

If you feel depressed or disheartened because you think that you are
born with weak personality - stop thinking negatively. Personality
make - up of yours is not only (totally) determined by heredity. There
is another important factor that determines (influences) your
personality - environment. It is the environment that can be
manipulated to get the desirable positive effects in shaping the
personality. Well known psychologist Watson (a behaviorist)
emphasized the importance of environment in shaping personality of
the child so much that he declared, "… give me a dozen mentally
healthy infects, well formed, and my own specified world to bring
them up in …… and I will guarantee to make any one at random
and train him to be any type of specialist I desire - doctor, lawyer,
artist, merchant …..., even beggar man or thief!" This is obviously
an extreme view that some behaviorists have taken to focus on the
role of environment in personality development. The fact remains that
enriching the environment of the individual does show significant
improvement in developing your personality. At the same time,
however, do not get blindly influenced by some non-standard, cheap
publicity stunts of some people who sell their "personality-
development" courses just to make quick money. You must use your
brain and understanding before you join such courses.

Improving your personality requires a strong will and determination
to achieve healthy growth. Any one of you who aspires for self-
improvement should make an objective evaluation about himself.
Then he must look into his positive potentials and also (confess)
weaknesses. On this basis of this information, an objective self-
evaluation may be carried.

At the same time it is also essential to counteract all negative and
pessimistic thoughts. These negative thoughts/forces destroy many
potential abilities of human beings. Brooding, self-debasement,
feeling of inferiority, hate and jealousy are all negative and damaging
emotions. One must face and tactfully weaken these negative forces to
emerge as successful. You should not be fatalistic in your approach
to life. Never feel you are at mercy of others.

So what if you have failed repeatedly? With all your intelligence,
wisdom, and vigor make your positive potentials to grow. Reveal
yourself with truth and you will find that there is a storehouse of
virtues within you. You don't have to expect chances of miracles, just

decide to move in a determined and positive direction, and move.

Social Development is an important aspect of ideal personality
development. Closed room with open books, may help you to fetch
higher marks in certain exam, however, for a full and complete
growth of personality, one must be able to expose himself to the
social realities of life. Interaction with people around you may give
you pain or pleasure but it certainly adds to your personality growth if
taken from healthy frame of mind.

A school or university is just not a cramming machine. You may
study at home too. The value of lectures over reading is that you get a
sense of participation with other like you. Such a situation is also
suitable for development of the personality. The class - room situation
encourages debags and discussions and thus broaden the horizons of
mind. There is always a need to socialize - mix with fellow colleagues
to know them, feel them and understand them to grow socially
(socially educated). There is a natural (social) need to know if other
are like you or different. Some people are more social than others.
Sociability is an art which should be cultivated to grow into effective
personality.

Extrovert is a person whose basic orientation is towards external
world. Such persons are outgoing (going out and socially mixing with
others), sociable, rather impulsive and require constant stimulations
from the environment. The psychological research shows that their
(extreme extraverts) academic performance tends to be lower than
that of introverts, because (mostly) concentration is not one of their
strong points.

Introvert is a person who may be described at the other continuum of
the bipolar scale, as hesitant, reflective, withdrawn ….., reserved etc.
None of you fall on the extreme of the bipolar scale. Infact, most of
the people have various degrees of the two types combined. At times
you feel you are introvert and sometimes you feel you are extrovert.
In reality most of us are ambivert - the mixture of two. The degree of
the two sets of characteristics varies from person to person and that is
what makes you different from others.

In case you find that you are basically an introvert but in peace and
comfortable with yourself, fine! Don't push yourself out and out to be
like extreme extroverts. You will have your own merits of
uniqueness. Making fun, giggling, over-laughing or teasing, talking
more are not the goals to be achieved by modeling others or practice.
By asking you to socialize with people I don't mean to suggest that

you become a joker or chirping bird.

The whole essence of social development as a part of personality
improvement reminds us of the fact that we are social by nature. Total
isolation from others is against the basic principles of social living -
of which you and me are the part. Emotions, empathy, co-operation,
competition, group working, group cohesiveness, …… being one like
the others and yet unique in the whole world should be the outcome
of healthy personality development. Have positive attitude towards
people in general. It is wrong to think of people as always striving to
side on one another's back. The natural urge is towards co-operation.
Such attitudes always help you to cultivate stronger and healthy
personality. Another interesting area of personality research has
highlighted two types of personality - Type A and type B
personalities. The individuals who are like Type A personality, are
action - emotion oriented that can be observed in any person who is
aggressively involved in a chronic, incessant struggle to achieve more
and more in less and less time, and if required to do so, against the
opposing efforts of other things or other persons. It may also be seen
as a temperament characterized by excessive drive and
competitiveness, unrealistic sense of time urgency, inappropriate
ambition, reluctance to provide self - evaluation and a tendency to
emphasize quantity of output over quality. Such people are believed
to have greater chances of coronary disease. In contrast, Type B
persons are characterized by a relaxed, easygoing approach to life.
They focus on quality over quantity have low competitiveness and a
tendency for self - reflection. A word of caution into a 'type' - don't
fall into type fallacy. None of the above types are mutually exclusive
or bipolar, in the sense that you need not label yourself at one or the
other extreme. You may have the characteristics of both the types i.e.,
Introversion - Extraversion; type A - type B, and all the qualities have
their virtues if used in a balanced and mature way at appropriate
place.

Effective Learning

You may like it or not, the fact is that in order to be successful, one
have to study – at least up to some level. Even if you ultimately
decide to avoid studies by joining some vocational/professional
course, you are required to study at least some minimum. And yes (if
your objective is to become a doctor, an engineer, professor, scientist
or administrative officer or a manager, you have to study and study
very hard.

It is easy to sit down and look at the book. Real study, however, is a
concentrated attack on the book or other resources of information

until (a) you understand it (b) you have learned as much the
information as you wish to learn. Many students despite being
intelligent, may find that the hardest part of the study is settling down
to it - - i.e. the beginning. Very often a student decides to become
serious about his studies from the next morning. And when the alarm
rings he gently presses the button (of the alarm) and honestly re-
decides to work in the evening and so on. And the process continues.
If you happen to be one of such students – Don't worry. Follow some
tips to start studying and learning the subjects efficiently.

Work out a schedule for yourself. It acts as a challenge and as a guide.
It is better to begin with a general schedule which is flexible. After
following it for a few days, you will know which subjects require the
greatest allotment of time and then you adjust your schedule
accordingly. Try to spread out your time allocation in a rational way.
With more and more experience you will be your best judge: you may
then re-schedule your timing, depending on your weakness or strength
in various subjects.

If your study is interrupted every ten minutes to attend to something
for your comfort, you will loose concentration, break the threads of
argument and waste a great deal of energy. Therefore before settling
to the spell of hard study, adjust the window to you liking, get a drink
if you are thirsty, keep a bottle of water with you, and attend to any
other small physical matter that may otherwise distract you later. At
the same time never try to be over comfortable: don't study on the
beds using pillows, always use a table and chair and keep your back
upright. Try to use natural day light rather than artificial.

Learning is an active effortful process. Just to read the words
passively is ineffective. You must have interest in the matter and
should get involved in the task actively. Retention of the subject
matter will be better if reading is supplemented by self-recitation. If a
psychological research it was found that when the students devoted all
their time to reading, recall (memory) of the five biographies
averaged 16% after four hours. However, when 3/5th to 4/5th of the
learning time was devoted to self-recitation, recall after four hours
was nearly twice as great. The advantage of recitation over passive
reading is that the student is forced to react to the subject matter rather
than merely trying to absorb it.

Improving The Will

To begin with do something that you do not want to do, at least once
every day. It could be writing a letter, getting up early from bed,
taking the dog for a walk …….. Let it be something that normally you

would avoid. Increasing its frequency gradually and tell yourself, "If I
want I can do it." Visualize yourself as being a person of strong will.
Tell yourself proudly: hour-by-hour, day-by-day "my will power is
getting stronger and stronger. Thus by your strong will power the
concentration will increase. If you are lazy by nature, don't feel bad
about it. We all try to avoid physical and mental effort if at all
possible. When confronted with something that is a little difficult, all
thoughts tend to shoot off to what is easy and pleasant. Will power
and interest again come to focus. What is helpful in such a situation is
to develop the attitude, which regards difficulties as a challenge and
an opportunity. Instead of running away from them, your combative
instinct will release fresh energies. Laziness feeds on discouragement,
and this often arises from dwelling too much on the enormity of the
task you have set for yourself. The solution is to breakdown the task
into manageable parts. Cross your bridges one at a time. Do not be
discouraged by looking at the final examinations while you have not
yet passed the preliminaries.

To live a full and varied existence is an admirable thing but when you
have an objective in view, then concentration is the order of the day,
and you must restrict your activities. If you participate in number of
activities (like football, debating, acting, tuition taking etc.) better
restrict the field of your activities in priority order. It is always safe
and secure way to win one front than loose on a dozen.

What differentiates the other animal kingdom from human species is
perhaps for more superior 'intelligence' that we posses. You must
have gone through many articles or write-ups about intelligence.
Some titles like 'test your intelligence' and improve your
intelligence are quite popular and common for general masses. At
times, you may wonder whether intelligence can be measured by
something like weighing machine or what kind of vitamins and tonics
can improve it?

You may be one of unlucky persons to feel sorry for thinking that you
are less intelligent than some others. Worst of all you may develop an
inferiority complex after going through some questions given by the
author (to test IQ) because you are unable to answer many of them
correctly. Let me make it clear to you that intelligence is not IQ.
Intelligence quotient (IQ) is an index of intelligence. It is the unit of
measuring intelligence. And most of the tests (claiming to be
intelligence/aptitude tests) published in common magazines or books
are not reliable and valid for measuring what they loudly claim. Your
ability in answering or in not answering a few questions does not
measure your intelligence. There is no need for despondency or
feeling sad if you were unable to score high on such non-serious tests,

jut made for publicity. The myths about intelligence usually misguide
the students and in many cases create psychological fallouts.

Time Management

Once you have set your goals and targets to be achieved and drawn a
schedule to follow, learn to manage the time at your disposal
effectively. You must seek some satisfaction in doing whatever task
you undertake. You should see the days work in some perspective. To
achieve these purposes, you can make a list of the things you wish to
do during the day, and take a good look at it. One effect of such an
exercise would be that a 'mental scheme' of the work to be done is
achieved. You will become clear about the number of activities and
their kinds which will help you in scheduling and executing the chain
of linked activities.

Then as each task is competed, you can cross it off the list. The act of
crossing it off will give you just the small satisfaction and a feeling of
achievement. Finally, when you look at the list, you can modify or
alter your plans according to the need of the hour. Such an exercise
may be done at a piece of paper or a diary. Later this may become just
a part of your mental habit.

Honestly speaking, most of the students sabotage their working day
by too long pottering in the bedroom, or breakfast, or over newspaper.
Get up early, dress up briskly, finish breakfast without lingering and
then attack the day's work. There are some very obvious priorities.
You should tackle first those tasks that can least afford to wait. Being
a student competing with lakhs of others, you have to decide and plan
the schedule of the day on priority basis. Should you do mathematics
or English; or should you go for chemistry or G.K. book ……… or
should you finish with exercise that your teacher gave …… choice is
yours. But do not quickly change your mind impulsively or because
you like X subject better than Y - after all you have to score well in
all the subjects.

Tackle one job at a time. There is so much to be done that one is
likely to get confused as to what to do first and from where to begin
it. Consequently on any of the tasks for fear of not finishing the other
in time, and finally do nothing. These are times when you have to do
many things at a time. Decision ought to be yours. It is your life. It is
your day. And it will be your achievement. Think with a cool mind
and take up the job of top priority first. Most things require attention
- and you are capable of attending one thing at a time. So, don't let
your attention be split or diverted, come what may. If you tackle most
obviously urgent task first, and let others wait, then tackle the other in

whatever order (you think is appropriate), you will be surprised at the
amount of work you can do. Remember, "panic paralyses and calm
can strengthen us."

It is equally important that you do not overwork yourself and
become fatigued - mentally or physically. As some jobs are finished
and provide satisfaction to you, take rest period also - not to forget the
next job but to be better prepared for it. A few minutes to splash an
aching brow with cold water or work in fresh air will be helpful. To
avoid/reduce fatigue you may also alternate sedentary jobs and
active jobs, because a change is as good as rest. If you have been
doing mathematics for hours, better do some gardening for some time
and shift back to your studies later. This will give you a fresh frame of
mind and strength. Comparative freshness of new occupation helps us
to concentrate and makes work more interesting.

The Expanding And Spiritual Quotient (SQ)

To begin with let me confess that the terms Spirit and Spiritual
Quotient are not the part of scientific vocabulary yet. And still you
hear more and more about the terms like: Spiritual intelligence,
Spiritual quotient, Spiritual relation quotient, Soul's intelligence,
Cosmic intelligence, Self-actualization and so on. Man's interest in
extra sensory process has always been multiplying despite his
scientific bent of mind coupled with well-focused empirical zeal.
Religion and Spiritualism have always involved greater number of
believers and followers than non-believers: it is to say that the number
of believers has always been higher than others, throughout the world.

Greatest scientists and scholars at some stage of their life have
recognized the existence of „some kind of intelligence', which cannot
be measured or touched, perhaps referring to Spiritual Intelligence.
We may talk and reason all our lives, but cannot understand a word of
Truth unless we Experience it ourselves.

The neurologists and other scientists know that the greatest power is
lodged in fine, not in the coarse. In his words Swami Vivekananda
said, "we see a man taking up a huge weight, we see his muscles
swell, and all over his body we see signs of exertion, and we think
muscles are more powerful things. But it is thin thread-like
structures, the neurons that bring power to the muscles. The
moment one of these tiny looking neurons is cut off from reaching
the muscles from brain, the muscles will not be able to move.
These neurons actually bring the power from something finer
still-- thought, and so on". Thus, it is the finer that is really the seat
of power.

We can see the movements in gross but cannot see the movements in
finer, as too subtle these are in order to be perceived. Perhaps our
senses are not that sharp or keen to be able to notice the
subtle world. Neurologists, psychologists and other scientists are
working in such directions, with the hope that one-day humans (at
least some of them), may be trained to work at very subtle level of the
existence. Some familiar terms in this context are Extra Sensory
Perception (ESP), Distance seeing or Remote viewing etc. After all
we talk so much about mind but who has seen it? Who has touched or
tasted it?

SQ-- The Spiritual Quotient - IQ and EQ are the integral part of
Spiritual Quotient (SQ). Spiritual intelligence is not necessarily
related to religion. According to Zohar, Spiritual intelligence is about
the human need and talent for finding meaning in experience. She
says" it is our access to and use of meaning, vision, and value in the
way that we think and the decision that we make" SQ can not be
quantified or measured, whereas IQ and EQ may be assessed. The
reason being that the very essence of spiritual intelligence lies in its
seeking a bigger and broader, ever growing perspective. SQ may
also be seen as the highest and ever growing need in the mankind.

Basically all the human beings are spiritual in their nature. They may
differ in their evolution of such a need and hence work at different
levels of "need satisfaction". Abraham Maslow, a great psychologist
and existentialist, classified such needs of the man in five categories
in a hierarchical order:

The lowest needs in such hierarchy are Biological, such as hunger,
thirst and sex. Next are the Safety needs that include security, stability

and order. Then come belongingness such as affiliation, affection, and
identification. Thereafter Self-esteem needs follows that include
prestige, success, and self respect. Finally at the top in hierarchy
comes the need for Self-actualization that refers to person's need to
develop his full potentialities in whatever field he works.

The beauty and essence of Self-actualization is that it is spirally cyclic
in nature: more and more a person gets satisfied, more and more he
seeks such satisfaction. It's parallel is seen in Indian concept of Self-
realization and Atma darashana. Vedanta refers to "Ananda", that
keeps on multiplying and ever evolving that finally merges into
Parmananda the Universal Self.

In today's materialistic and highly competitive world man seem to be
loosing his identity and direction both. Fast growing technological
changes have put a lot of pressure on him that blinds his vision for
other alternatives of growth and survival.

Man seems to have become machine forgetting his true essence and
original needs with which he comes to earth. Career, Competition,
jobs, more money, higher status, etc. are the slogans of the day.
Breath a moment, give a chance to your self for self-reflection. You
may find some relevance of spiritualism not only with your
career and career planning, but also with your life and success.

It gives you an opportunity to uncondition your mind and look for a
different, unstressed and relaxed way of life even in career planning.
It also provides you careers-- don't forget people do teach yoga,
astrology, ayurveda, and other healing techniques throughout the
world. As a matter of fact even though I personally don't like calling it
Industry, billions of dollars flow in market that gives some kind of
relief to the people from the stress and agony being produced by the
present style of living. Acupuncture is so widely being used in
western and south Asian countries that people do make their career in
this line too.

Why struggle only for English style of medicine and surgery only.
Remember, you need to be creative in order to find new solutions of
the chronic problems-- be it anything.

Creativity

You may be aware of the words 'Eureka ……. Eureka ……', and yet
unaware about its relation with creativity.

King Hiero decided to place a golden crown in the temple as a gesture

of thanks - offering to Gods after he won the throne of Syracuse. He
made a contact at a fixed price and weighed out the gold for the
contractor at the royal scale. The contractor worked on the given gold
and delivered a beautiful crown equal to the weight of the gold given
to him. Later, a charge was made that the contractor had removed the
gold and added silver instead, to keep the weight equal. The king
became furious and asked Archimedes to find out the facts.

It was a big problem for Archimedes as he knew little about the ways
to answer this problem of the king. Yet he kept on thinking about
some kind of solution to establish if the contractor had stolen the
gold. While he was working on the problem in his mind he happened
to go into a bath and noticed that when he got into the bath-tub,
exactly the same amount of water flowed over the side as the volume
of his body that was under water. This (accidental) observation gave
him a clue to the solution. He jumped out of tub and in a rush of joy,
he ran naked, shouting loudly 'Eureka … Eureka …' (i.e., I have
found it ……, I have found it …….).

Archimedes could scientifically prove that the contractor had cheated
the king. The silver in the crown, having a larger volume than an
equal weight of gold, made the crown displaced more water than it
would have, had it been made of pure gold.

Archimedes seemed to have found the novel and unique solution
magically (all of sudden), but the truth is that even in bath tub, he was
working on the problem (unconsciously) without being aware of it. In
this example the process of Creativity (Creative thinking) is clearly
seen. It refers to mental process that leads to solutions, ideas, artistic
forms, theories or products that are novel and unique. Creative
thinking involves the manipulation of images and other symbolic
elements; the elements are rearranged (bypass) to achieve some goal
in such a way that the pattern of symbols is totally new. It may be
surprising how many great principles and ideas were achieved in
buses, bathrooms, and bedrooms. Obviously, these are the places
where the individual is relaxed and under little pressure.

Usually, even though it seems that creative solution to a problem has
emerged all of a sudden, it is not so. Creative process takes (quite
often) certain sequential step: (i) problem recognition (ii) preparation
(iii) inculcation (iv) illumination (v) verification and evaluation. If for
instance the solution to the problem does not stand verification, one
goes back (unconsciously) to the beginning (step I) and repeats the
process or else the final solution is accepted.

One may improve creativity by:

Providing specific instruction in creative thinking as divergent
thinking is in focus of such a process.
Fostering openness to new experiences.
Providing consigned and favorable social environment.

You may also improve your creativity by putting your thoughts and
mind to proper use. For such achievement, you apply wings to your
thoughts but not to wonder around and day-dream. Practice to think
in divergent manners and unique ways to solve your problems.
Diversion does not necessarily imply perversion or revolt. It only
provides bigger challenge and more stimulation to your brain to work
more independently. Remember, everyone has this potential. What
you have to do is to put yourself in the situations where you have no
common solution to the problem. Give your mind some exercise - the
only way to be Creative is to think Creatively.

Power of Concentration

No matter how long you sit with open eyes looking at the open book,
hardly anything is registered in your brain unless you make meaning
out of the text.

Concentration is the process of selecting certain inputs for inclusion
in the focus of experience. Whenever an individual tries to focus his
concentration on an object, idea or text the process of attention
divides the field of his experience into a focus and a margin. While
trying to concentrate, one ties to bring the information (e.g., a text)
under focus of attention. While trying to focus your attention on
relevant (text) material, you are filtering all other irrelevant, marginal
and unwanted information to the margin. If you succeed in doing so
you will definitely understand the (text or spoken) material and not
complain about lack of concentration.

Many great persons are known for their power of concentration.
While it is common for many students not to be able to concentrate, it
is in their interest to develop their power of concentration.

When we read a thrilling novel or magazine of our interest, we are
usually not troubled with the problem of concentration. At times, you
don't even notice a person entering the room. What is important to
you is to arouse and maintain interest in various subjects of your
studies. Some subject/s would definitely not interest you but you have
to remember and remind yourself about the goals you want to
achieve.

Mudit, a student at undergraduate level wanted to be fully qualified

and successful in his perspective career. He wanted the prestige, the
security, and the satisfaction that his career would bring to him. This
was his ambition, his supreme desire. Mudit resolved to begin
studying for the series of examinations which would give him his
heart's desire. During his intensive studies, there were times when he
faltered a little in his resolve, and frequently there were evenings
when his mind would wander from some of the textbooks. After
consulting me about his problems, Mudit discovered that the secret of
concentration lay in quickening his original desire, in re-kindling his
interest. When he found his attention to be wandering seriously, he
would visualize himself as having gained his much desired
qualifications. He would remind himself of the increased income it
would bring and many exciting and worthwhile things he could do
with that bigger salary and higher status. After this little excursion
into a very possible future, Mudit found that he returned to his studies
with great zeal and enthusiasm. This resolve to succeed thus
strengthened and improved his concentration. You may find your own
ways and techniques to improve the concentration. Nothing else could
interest you so much as negotiating your present difficulty, and
irrelevant thoughts will cease to obtrude.

Strong Will-power is a necessary condition, especially for
academically oriented subjects. The person of weak will would have
spent all the evening in day dreaming, without doing anything to
make his dreams come true. How about you? You might say "that's
what I lack-will-power ……. I just can't bring myself to act ……"

Power of Mind

Everything speaks of expansion in the contemporary world. Through
the expansion of knowledge in psychology, a new era of mental
power is emerging. There are many discoveries in the field of
psychology that can help us to realize our mental potentials – the
mental powers.

The medical science acknowledges that in case of many functional
diseases, the troubles are caused, not so much by physical factors, but
primarily by emotional factors in the mind of the sufferer. A rash for
instance, might be caused by a guilty conscience, a headache might
appear as a consequence of the emergence of an intolerable memory.

Mind – The Master: - Just imagine you may cure asthma, peptic
ulcer, high blood pressure, allergic troubles and many such ordered by
a part of the mind you are not conscious of. This (unconscious) part of
the mind is at work, both while you are awake and when you are

sleeping. And it never tires.

You ought to realize that there are much healthier ways of dealing
with day to day problems, worries and anxieties. You may do so by
training your mind consciously. Tell yourself that you are going to
keep well. Every time the temptation comes to suggest to yourself that
you are not so well, counter it with the suggestions of health, success
and well being. An hour before you go to bed, get a pencil and a
paper, write down your problem and possible answers to it. Quietly
feed your mind with the problem asking your unconscious mind to
deal with it during the quiet hours of the night. Give assurance to
yourself that the right answer will be delivered to you when you get
up the next morning

In the morning, give a few minutes to yourself – mediating before the
day's work. Come back to your problem and you may realize that
everyone has sufficient mental power but a few use it to the maximum
possible extent. Be one of the latter.

The mind waits to serve you and has the capacity much greater than
what you realize. There are no limits to the mental power. You must
stop putting limits to yourself. Stop allowing self-pity to rule your
mind. Stop believing the arguments like, “ I never had a chance”, …..
“ It is all the fault of my parents”…..” if only the things had been
different” Remove such phrases and notions from your vocabulary for
all practical purposes. Know that you have your chance by work and
study. You have the power to settle your destiny. And if you really
wish it, with diligence and good heart, you can climb to the top of the
ladder.

Improving The IQ

Those of you know that intelligence is not one ability but aggregate of
many abilities have a reason to be optimistic. There is always a hope
that one can improve some of his abilities and thereby can achieve
better IQ grades. Intelligence is something with which we have been
programmed at the time of birth. Intelligence is like a seed. The seed
will determine the quality of the plant, its height, strength, flowers
and fruits. However, the seed can become that plant (or a tree) only if
it is nurtured by its environment. No matter how fine (quality) a seed
you have, unless it gets good soil, good sun, minerals, water etc. it
will not result in the best of its quality in terms of size and amount of
flower or fruits. On the other hand, even if the quality of the seed is
just average and it gets optimal environmental support, the resultant
plant may be better at least comparable to the better quality seed not
nurtured properly. This precisely is the case with intelligence.

Your friend may be more intelligent than you. But you have no
reason to feel depressed about your own self. A little insight in the
whole process and some efforts on your part can easily bring you at
par with him. Obviously you will ask, how? "How do I improve my
results or outcome and make it at par with those who have inherited
better capacity than me?" the answer is simple: enrich your
environment.

The character of enriched environment is that it gives more than usual
opportunities for learning through experience. Recent psychological
research shows that one can improve his IQ by enriching his
environment. It does not mean that those who are economically rich
are having enriched environment naturally, and those who are poor
lack it.

Any one who wants to improve his measured intelligence or IQ can
do it without spending a single penny. He can do it without spending
geniuses come from environments rich in interaction between the
developing persons and older (experienced) people. Talk to people
who interest you, listen to them, try to analyze and understand them;
see their positive aspects and try to gain from them. Surprisingly, you
learn a great deal, lot more with such interactions than from reading
volumes of books for months.

If you feel your earlier achievements have not been satisfactory due to
some reasons other than your potentials you ought to recognize your
environment. Your friends, books, TV programs that you see, and the
kind of people you interact with constitute your environment. It also
includes kind of magazines you read, the articles and the radio
programs you listen to. Reading more books and articles are good but
not sufficient for growth. One must expose one self to various kind of
people and situations. You have to be very careful as to what kind of
discussions you do and its content. Then analyze them and give
feedback to yourself to improve further. Real friendship or good
company is not just to spend time; rather it should add to your
intellectual growth. Thus, one always grows with continuous
interaction with his environment. That is why your environment
should be carefully organized in tune with your goal.

If you are poor in particular language, expose yourself more to people
who speak that language. If you are not able to solve arithmetic
problems with ease and accurately, do more practice with such
problems. Remember failure is the first step towards success. Practice
makes a man perfect. Those who become IAS or engineers or even
doctors are mostly of the same intelligence as you have - it is just that

they practice more and work harder for their goals. There is no
substitute to work. Everyday of living brings you opportunity of self -
improvement - just use them and by doing so you can improve your
IQ (measured intelligence).

Initiative

The emperor-philosopher Marcus Aurelius anticipated the findings of
modern psychology that the general tenor of our thoughts determines
the kind of our thoughts, which determines the kind of person we
actually become. This is true not only in the realms of social
accomplishment, moral development, and material success, but also in
that of health. If your health has been poor, don't accept that condition
as a life sentence. So is true if you failed in making your career in the
desired field. Take initiative in various possible fields.

In the field of education, ordinary people tend to rest content with
what was handed out to them in school or college. But ambitious
people are increasingly taking the initiative and doing something to
remedy the gaps in their education. They join coaching classes, read
educative magazines, participate in academic activities, and try to
reach the latest and most informative ways to gain knowledge. They
use such knowledge to improve the abilities and personality. They
plan their career and work for it with an all out effort.

You should not expect the career of your dreams to be handed to you
on a plate. Make up your mind exactly what you want to do and then
go after it like a „hound after a hare'. Achievement involves much
patience and hard work, and the effort will be amply rewarded.
Within reasonable limits, hardly anything is impossible to the man
who really makes up his mind. Determination and enthusiasm can
overcome the most formidable obstacles. The chemist of May and
Baker produced the drug for pneumonia – it was called “M and B
693” because it was produced only after six hundred ninety three
experiments. Thomas Edison, who invented electric bulb after more
than fifteen hundred experiments, said “I never allow myself to be
discouraged under any circumstances”.

Once you begin showing initiative, even the most terrifying
circumstances will shrivel and slink away, acknowledging your
supremacy. With courage and initiative, you can start changing your
circumstances in the desired direction.

Improving Memory

Memory is a fundamental power without which there could be no

other intellectual operation. The present examination and education
system in India gives much weightage to memory. Thus it becomes
all the more important to those who aspire to score higher ranks in
examinations. It does not, however, mean that memory is the sole
factor in determining the examination performance. Nevertheless, it
remains the focus of primary importance for nothing can be expressed
if one does not remember, no matter how well one has learned the
material without memory there can be no learning, and without
learning each of us would remain as helpless as in the hour of birth.

Many students forget quite a bit of their learned material in the
examination hall. And a soon as the examination is over, one says,
"Oh I forgot it in the examination, but now I remember it very well
……". Perhaps, it was due to some kind of stress that inhibited with
your recall during examination, and when the situation of stress
(duration of examination) was over, the memory came to your
conscious stream of mind. Good memory results from deeper, more
elaborate processing (understanding) of the material. It is, however,
not always important for a person to process information deeply. For
example while going to school it is not important for you to process
much information while driving your vehicle or sitting in a bus. But if
you want to achieve good grade in examination, you must go into
depth of the lessons and other relevant contents for otherwise your
memory may fade.

No matter how confident you are about your understanding of the
material, unless at times you repeat (rehearse) the material it is likely
to deceive you. Rehearsal is not a parrot. If involves 'Keeping
information' at the center of attention. Most effective way of rehearsal
is elaboration. It means degree to which incoming information (e.g.,
text) is processed so that it can be tied or linked with the existing
memories in the form of images or figures.

You may also use Mnemonics to improve your memory. Most of
these techniques are based on the linking or association of the
material to be remembered, with systematic and organized set of
images or words that are already firmly established in long-term-
memory and therefore can serve as reminder cues. Thus, the fact can
be woven into a jingle which makes them easy to memorize. For
example, many of you remember the order of colors in the spectrum
of visible light - VIBGYOR - violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow,
orange, red. Friends, you will be surprised to know that people can
remember unbelievably well the things you don't even make attempts
for. Very often, their secret lies in memories. You may just make little
fun by remembering the poem here and in a matter of few minutes,
you may realize that you have remembered forty-two names of the

presidents of United States.

Intelligence

Though there is no perfect way in which intelligence can be defined,
psychologists have given emphasis on different aspects of
intelligence. For example some place emphasis on ability to learn,
others define intelligence as the ability to carry on logical thinking.
And yet some other psychologists focus on ability to adjust or
adaptation of individual to his total environment. Thus it is logical to
assume that a person who can recognize and apply what he has
acquired for the purpose of dealing with varied and novel situation is
more intelligent than a person who is capable of little beyond
repeating what he had previously acquired. So friends! if someone has
memorized a standard answer to the question asked and got more
marks than you, it does not show that he is more intelligent than you.
But yes, he has put efforts in memorizing for which he has been
rewarded. Memory is definitely an asset and it also adds to
intelligence. However, it cannot be solely equated with intelligence.
As a matter of fact intelligence is just not one ability. Intelligence is a
global capacity of the individual to act purposefully, to think
rationally, and to deal effectively with environment. Therefore we
observe that intelligence consists of number of abilities of an
individual. Then, how can your inability to answer some questions on
mathematics or general knowledge make you less intelligent? The
problem with most available cheap literature in the market is that in
zeal of selling psychology quickly, they give wrong prescriptions to
increase your intelligence quickly. Alas! This is not possible.
Intelligence is not something like weight that can be altered easily.
But yes, by exposing yourself to 'enriched environment you can
certainly improve your IQ by a few points. But certainly not by
merely reading a book.

Psychologists have also distinguished several kids of intelligence.
There are three kind of intelligence: social intelligence, concrete
intelligence and abstract intelligence. Social intelligence involves the
abilities to understand to deal with persons; concrete intelligence
involves the abilities to understand and deal with the things (e.g.,
scientific appliances); abstract intelligence involves the abilities to
understand and deal with verbal and mathematical symbols. If you
happen to be poor in one kind of intelligence, it does not mean that
you are low in overall intelligence. Take the example of a boy who is
not good at talking to people or even understanding the verbal and
mathematical symbols; he, however, may be very good in dealing
with machines and thus can be an excellent mechanic for cars, scooter
or even aeroplanes. Similarly you do not have to worry if you find

yourself to be poor in understanding the scientific appliances etc., as
you may be good in some other kind of intelligence e.g., in social or
abstract.

Coming back to the meaning of intelligence, remember, "intelligence
is not one ability, it consists of many abilities put together." So if you
happen to score low on dimension of intelligence you are likely to
compensate it by scoring high on some other dimension. Then why
you should be told that you have lower intelligence? In fact you are
not below average by failing on some best items. You rather ask
yourself as to what there items are measuring? Most of the tests that
you see in various magazines/newspapers and books are the tests of
reasoning or mathematics which is just a part of intelligence.
Moreover, such tests are usually not standardized tests - they may
lack the required validity and reliability. It does not mean that you
don't practice with these tests or throw them away. Just remember that
these items are tapping 'some' kind of ability of your and not what is
technically called intelligence.

What if you repeatedly cannot score high on such tests in order to be
successful in some exam? Don't worry. It takes some time for you to
understand the basics behind such items are practice; even when you
fail again. It will take time - less for some and more for others. But
you will grasp the things ultimately and within few months you will
be surprised by your own progress. It does not mean, however, that
your intelligence has improved.

Can we improve intelligence - Now many of you may ask: Can we
improve our intelligence? 'Yes' and 'No'. For answering these
questions we should pose another question: Is intelligence inherited or
derived from environment? Why people differ in their intelligence?
Most psychologists and other experts agree that at least some aspects
of intelligence are inherited, but opinions differ to the relative
contribution of heredity and environment. The idea is that if
intelligence is inherited absolutely then it is rather difficult to improve
it.However, if it happens to be on environment, then one could
perhaps improve his intelligence by bringing certain changes in the
environment. The evidence bearing on the inheritance of intelligence
comes from the studies correlating IQs between persons of various
degrees of genetic relationships. In a survey of more than 100 such
studies, it was found that the average correlation between IQs of
parents and their children in +0.40. It means that intelligent parents
are likely to have intelligent children. The correlation between the IQs
of identical twins is very high i.e., +0.86. it is because the identical
twins develop from single egg and share precisely the same heredity.
In contrast of this, correlation between the IQs of foster parents and

their children is very low i.e., +0.31. all these findings seem to
suggest that heredity plays a very important role in determining the
intelligence. Although genetic determinants of intelligence are strong,
there studies also indicate that environment is also important. For
example, when siblings are reared together - in the same home
environment - their IQ similarity (correlations) increases. There
stands always a good chance of improving intelligence, as the kind of
environmental influence, we live in, usually inhibit the full - capacity
- use of intelligence. And if we can organize the environment in such
a way so that it facilitates the abilities associated with intelligence, it
will result in apparently enhanced intelligence. Practically such
exposure to environment results in increased IQ on a test. So you can
definitely improve your ID even through in reality the intelligence can
only be improved up to what you have come with i.e., true
intelligence. How could we enrich our environment to improve the
IQ?

General tips to overcome an interview

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