Interview Part-4 and Group Discussion: From Birbal

Everybody was in the prayer room doing ‘namaz’. After the ‘namaz’, there was going to be a meeting. The Emperor called for thisone to set a system for selection of junior ministers. So, he was expected at any time. Birbal, Raja Thodarmal and Raja Mansingh were there a few minutes before the prayer. One by one, other ministers: Rahim Khan, Fakir Aziao, and Mulla-do-piazo entered the room from the prayer room. Meanwhile the guard announced Akbar’s entry into the hall.

Everybody stood up in reverence and shared their ‘salaams’ with the Emperor. Akbar politely returned them and requested all of them to be seated.

He started “My dear ministers, we are here to devise a method to select junior ministers; may be we need 4 to 8 people. But we have received forty recommendations from our courtiers. Filtering them and selecting the best eight are the problems in front of us. I invite your ideas.” He looked at Khan who was his defense adviser.

Khan told “I feel that all ministers  should know all the arts of fight and have knowledge of commanding the army. So I recommend a field test.”

Akbar nodded “That is a good suggestion from you, Khan.”

Raja Thodarmal appreciated the idea “It is definitely necessary. If we find out otherwise suitable young men of enthusiasm and wisdom, we can train them even without this test.”

“Do you think we need not test them in warfare?” Akbar questioned.

“That is why I told the words ‘otherwise suitable’…Maharaj.” Thodarmal respectfully replied.

“We can conduct interviews for all of them.” This was Raja Mansingh.

Birbal interfered “Interview is not enough.”

“Then what is enough? Come out. However I tell you that Mansing’s idea is perfect. Though our questions may not be sufficient to understand the complete personality of the person, sure it will throw at least some light on who is he and whether he will be contributing his might to our beloved kingdom.” Rahim Khan opined.

“I think I am misunderstood. I am not against interview. I too, like you, feel that interview should be complimented with discussion among candidates. We will give a problem. Let them discuss, argue, analyze and decide. We will observe them and select the best ones” Birbal insisted.

Fakir questioned immediately “This is really a crazy idea. Youngsters do not have the patience to discuss but they have a tendency to convert the discussion in to a quarrel and wordy duel. It may end up in pandemonium.”

 Mulla Piyaza supported it with a big nod and told” Maharaj, we will have interview and nothing more.”

Akbar observed everything with a smile “Ha! Stop here! Though I am for usual interview, I would like to hear more about group discussion. Really a funny idea! Birbal, why should not you explain further?”

Birbal began “Yes! Thank you Sha-in-Sha let me tell about interview. In interviews we can surely get a glimpse of his personality: his education, character, hobbies. But if one presents that he has organizing skills and colorfully builds a story about how he conducted a festival in his town, we do not know whether it is true. Then  we have two choices. One, believe him and select or do not believe him and reject. Our decision is completely subjective.”

“Okay! Okay! We know all these things. What we want to understand is how GD is different from Interview?” Akbar pushed Birbal for a quick reply.

 “Yes, Maharaj let me talk about group discussion. Here our presence is silent, discreet and indirect. Candidates are encouraged to discuss and come out with solutions. Because of our absence, they openly try to compete with each other which is really wrong. We will select the one who gives arguments reasonably substantiated by evidences and explanations; who appreciates others’right arguments; who accepts and corrects himself when he is shown he is wrong; who accommodates and encourages others to talk; actually it is a group exercise.There can be different opinions. But all should be discussed and presented well. It brings out the leadership qualities, team work and, communication skills. We can decline the people who are aggressive, egoistic; who don’t have patience to be part of team.”

“Well done, Birbal, I accept your suggestion. This is a very new approach. Any objection?” Raja Mansingh declared.

Akbar “Really I enjoyed our discussion. Here you all gave your suggestions; opposed each other; substantiated your points; some of you see the right things and accepted opponents' views. Above all a patience and tolerance to others opinions are accepted qualities of our group. I am very happy, my respected ministers. Now, Listen to my decision: we will have a practical test, interview which is followed by group discussion. Further if anybody fails in practical warfare test he can be selected and trained. We part here, Bye.”

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Let us compare the meeting in previous post.

Akbar’s meeting:   Punctual

                              Leadership accommodating

                              Appreciative

                              Encourages discussion

                              Guides when needed

                              Decision making almost collective.

Interview   is about our aptitude (skills, education, hobbies, extracurricular activities etc)                   attitude (character, behavior etc.)

GD:

       Here they look for team behavior, leadership skills and communication skills.

       Don’ts:   No quarrel; No aggression; need not be louder and Egoistic.

       Dos:       Be understanding; appreciative; be accommodating; Strong arguments   

                     properly supported by evidence, explanation etc

                           

.

    

INTERVIEW part-3: Boss is always right: Leadership and Group discussion

Kishore looked at the message. It was from the M.D. An urgent meeting was convened to discuss selection of right candidates. The firm has just started its recruiting process through Campus hiring. and he was the H.R in-charge.

It was a small company with a work force of forty members. Another forty is to be added very soon.  Kishore had short listed 800 candidates on the basis of aptitude test from two colleges.

Kishore looked at his watch. He noted with relief that ten more minutes were there for the meeting to start. When Kishore reached the conference room, there was nobody. He waited pondering over some of his innovative ideas which he would be presenting in the meeting. He felt very uneasy because he had to impress the members. 

He expected that the meeting would discuss every aspect of his plan thoroughly. One by one people entered the room. Higher the designation , more the delay -which typically Indian! The project director came in. Then the CFO, who entered a minute after, announced (though nobody wanted to listen to  it) “Sorry for the delay, guys, engrossed in an investment note.” Everybody knew that it was an indirect boast, a show off and perhaps a lie too. Thirty minutes later the M.D of the company, an old man with silvery hair, showed up.

M.D abruptly started “All of you, there! OK. I finalized the recruitment of the forty new people with our H.R Kishore. I gave him some advice.” (Mark! No greetings or salutations! No good morning to you all)

Kishore was a bit shocked. Actually it was Kishore who came with those suggestions. Now it was MD’s advice to Kishore.

CFO felt that he should not miss the chance for creasing the ego of the chief (he never misses!) and just told “Yes sir, you are right!” To him boss is always right. Even he did not ask what the ideas were.

“Yes, my dear friend, the problem is that we have 800 boys. How to filter them? I think that we can have ‘one page essay test’ on coming Sunday. Select only 200 candidates from this test. Then… Kishore, Will you continue with what we discussed?” forgetfully MD passed on the responsibility to Kishore.
He blinked.“Next it is a group discussion, Sir.” Kishore went on “We will have 20 groups of ten candidates. From each group we will select 4 for interview. From this eighty we will have our forty.”

GM (technical) started to contribute something; but he was hushed by CFO.

“Why so many tests? Why not avoid group discussion?” asked the Information Director. A scornful look from MD silenced him.

“The meeting is over. Have a writing test, then group discussion and final interview. That is all. The whole process must be done within a day. There should be no more extensions and expenses. Let us go. Report me after everything is over.” Then MD left the place.

To his great disappointment, Kishore the young and enthusiastic man could not share his brilliant new idea. Kishore had a feeling that there was a knowing as well as understanding smile in CIO’s eyes when he left the place.

Now ,shall we have an analysis  of the situation that kishore went through?

 Do you think this is leadership? No.

 Isn’t this completely autocratic? Yes! Is there any time management? No.

Nobody was given a chance to speak out. Above all Kishore was completely ignored.No discussions.No appreciations.

Then let us see how Emperor Akbar handled such situations and what is a group discussion in the next post.

Why do we need group discussion while interview is an easier way out?

Let our Birbal explain it to us. Will you wait?

SMALL boy OR LITTLE boy? WHICH IS CORRECT?

Let me tell you a small story about the word ‘little’. I will be happier if it enriches your English at least a bit more at the end of  reading this page.

Once, Birbal took his lovely daughter to the palace. “How small and strikingly beautiful she looks!” one of Akbar’s friends commented.

The other courtier loudly told the first one so that the emperor could also hear what he said “But what I feel is, it should not be the beauty that counts but it is something else. Being the daughter of Birbal, I naturally expect her to have been gifted with a part of intelligence of her father”

Akbar noticed this and as usual decided to test her. Then he asked a question (In those days kings never care about answering questions! Nowadays at least we have got RTI) “Birbal, is this your daughter? Shall I ask her a question?”

“Yes, Maharaj” Birbal beamed with delight and confidence.

“Baby, do you know Persian language?” The query definitely satisfied the courtiers who were jealous of Birbal. ‘How a small girl can know Persian? First time Birbal was going to receive flak in the court.’ But to their shock came the reply “Yes sir. I know a little more but a little less”

Everybody got baffled. The Emperor knowingly smiled “I could not understand, my child. Your reply confuses us a lot. Would you explain further?”

Birbal attempted to interfere. But the girl responded saying “ Maharaj, I know more Persian than a person who does not know the language. I know less than a person whose mother tongue is Persian.” Nobody could refute the reply.

Birbal was visually happy “Oh…Great…My dear little darling!”

Note on:

Little and small:    Little boy-incorrect;

                               Small boy-correct. Why? Small is associated with size

                                                                  So use ‘small’ when you talk or write about size.

Little can be used when we express our emotions.

E.g.: Birbal was happy at the answer of his small child. So he called her “my little darling”.

        “Gurgaon was a small village twenty years ago”. It is about size here.

        “My little Gurgaon is a city of knowledge now.” Here it is a feeling pride and a      sense of belonging.

Interview part-2: Tell me about you

Let us have a recap of ‘Interview-part1: Apples, oranges and interviews’. It is a discussion on how to sell your skills in an interview. It is a personality test to understand your attitude, aptitude and experience in your field. Let me share my own experience.

An interview call came to me. I attended the interview. It was a complete fiasco. Are you interested in knowing about it? (Why not? There was a hidden pleasure in listening to others’ failures like these. Isn’t it?)   

To my dismay there was only one person present there to interview me. He was also busy in his phone instructing his wife to do this and that and getting instructed. Sometimes he kept his voice very low. I was growing nervous and impatient. I rested my weakening forearms on his table and watched him irritating his wife as well as getting irritated in the process. I could figure out that he failed in his discussion with his wife.

He suddenly boomed “Tell me about you.” It was a very unfriendly tone .Before starting my reply, he continued “Do you have manners? Get off your hands from my table.” Can we call it ‘wife effect’ or ‘phone effect’?

My hands were trembling (Trust me! it was because of anger rather than fear) I blabbered something fast about my name, town, my father, mother and brother.

He shouted again “I asked only about you.”

I believed that I was telling about me. I felt quite confused. Then again I made an attempt to restart.This time also my 'login' attempt failed.  Consequently he pressed the bell on his table. I also kept my mouth shut, because my mind had already gone blank. A woman with a smile entered the room filling the whole place with a smell of lavender. The smile and the fragrance seemed to calm us down a little. Even so he looked at me and barked.

“…You go. Please send the next one, Mary.” The next man was lucky.

 This next lucky man is a friend of mine. We usually have a hearty laugh over this incident till now. He has become the General Manager of the same company.

But...let us go back to the interview. Let’s see how my friend handled the interview.

He was also asked the same question and here is how he handled it.

“Sir, I’m Mukesh from Chennai. I‘ve completed M.A in First class. I was school-first in my 10^th and 11^th    and then completed Pre-university and B.A in First class with distinction. Further I have type-writing higher and short hand-lower certifications. I received first prize in All India Radio’s quiz competition. I…erhm…”

“Ok. What are your hobbies?” the interviewer asked.

My friend, very politely, replied “...Sir it is Cricket. I was the captain of our college team.”

“Who is the captain of Indian team?”    “… Pataudi, sir”

“What qualities do you think he possesses to be the captain of our team?”

And so the game continued with the swift balls and sixes on the right pitch. No doubt. He came out ‘not-out’. He captured the attention of the interviewer in the first answer itself. He did not tell anything which was not relevant to the employer’s interest. Remember! Employers are always looking for people who would earn profits for the company

He told about his education and achievements and nothing else. Look at the answers. Analyze. Apply when it is necessary. So here are the golden rules: “Do not tell anything which is not useful to interviewer. Try to be different from others.”