Do’s of Personal Interview

• Dress appropriately for the occasion. The personal grooming and cleanliness should be impeccable
• All preparations should be complete at least one night before. Pre-planning is a must to eliminate last moment hassles.
• Know the exact time and location of your interview so that the time it would take to reach there could be known beforehand
• Arrive at least 10 minutes prior to the scheduled interview start time.
• Be humble and show respect to the other people whether they are the staff members or not.
• Offer a firm handshake, make eye contact, and have a friendly expression when greeted by the interviewer.
• Maintain eye contact during the interview.
• Be confident and wear a positive smile on your face
• Sit still in your seat; avoid fidgeting and slouching.
• Be thorough in the responses, while being concise in the wording with adequate back up with specific examples whenever possible.
• Take responsibility for all the decisions and actions.
• Ask for clarification if any question asked by the interviewer is not understood properly.

Don’ts of Personal Interview

• Don’t make excuses
• Don’t make negative comments about previous educational institute or company or job
• Don’t treat the interview casually
• Don’t start with ‘Myself’
• Don’t be late even for a single minute.
• Don’t be unprepared for typical interview questions.
• Don’t show the eagerness and desperation to get the job
• Don’t go to extremes with the posture; don’t slouch, and don’t sit rigidly on the edge of the chair.
• Don’t chew gum or smell like smoke.
• Don’t assume that a female interviewer is “Mrs.” or “Miss.” Address her as “Madam” unless told otherwise.
• Don’t be unprepared for typical interview questions. You may not be asked all of them in every interview, but being unprepared looks foolish.
• Don’t be rigid with your posture; don’t slouch, and don’t sit on the edge of your chair.
• Don’t show negativity in your thoughts.
• Don’t allow your cell phone to sound during the interview or take a cell phone call. Or even look at text message.

The primary purpose of an interview is to transfer information from interviewee to interviewer. Interviews can be formal or informal, structured or unstructured. Interviews can be carried out one-to-one or in groups; they can be conducted over telephone or via video conferencing.