• This is the time of instant messaging, where everyone use acronym like TC, LOL, ROFL etc. Please avoid this while writing a professional e-mail. Always use complete sentences and words using proper grammar. Be professional in writing sentences because hiring manager is not your relative or friend.
• Completely Avoid using emoticons as they are a sign of unprofessional and informal way of communication.
•  Always have a Crispy / Appropriate subject line of your e-mail which briefs the context of your communication. Make sure the Subject Line is in Sync with the details of your e-mail. Without any subject line, employer will not look at your job application and may assume it as a spam.
• Your e-mail account name must look like professional and sounds good. If your e-mail address is not business appropriate (example something like coolfunkydude99@gmail.com etc.) apply for a new, free e-mail account, preferably with your name as the account name.
• Always start the e-mail with proper salutation like Dear sir/ Dear Ma’am. If you don’t know the person, simple write Dear Manager.
• Add your signature at the bottom of the e-mail. All signatures should include your full name, e-mail, cell phone number or the number you answer most.
• Always attach your resume or CV to the e-mail as a PDF. Don’t use Word or other word processing formats. This prevents any edits or alterations to your documents; also, visually PDF has a more pleasant appearance.

Do a thorough proofreading several times before pressing the send button; if needed ask your friend/colleague to have a glance at it for a quick review. Always a fresh pair of eyes review may catch a few things.

Follow all the above simple tips and strategies while communicating through e-mails. These professional inputs shall certainly help inincreasing your professional appeal and make a great first impression. Always remember First Impression is the Best Impression.

A mentor plays various roles in the life of a student:

• Bring the best out from you: Every person knows his/ her strengths but there are few who know their weakness. Mentor is the person who can bring your weakness as strength. He will prepare you for the worst and toughest condition.

• Guides you to the goal: Mentor is not less than a guiding tool or a career guider who will guide you to your goal and suggest various paths that can direct you.

• Uplift your career: The role of a mentor in your career program is that he can guide you on the skills necessary for professionalism. He can help you in finding opportunities and make you more confident in harnessing your potential.

• Reduces stress level: A mentor role is very crucial in a student’s life. He has to play different roles at different point. Mentee can feel stressed due to over burden of work, study and life issues. It’s a mentor role to boost, motivate and encourage the mentee during harsh conditions.

Thus, mentor is such a person who will give you an opportunity to make your best image.

Verbal and Non verbal skills: Non verbal skills and verbal are also known as hard skills and soft skills respectively. Hard skills are those skills which a person acquires during his training and education and are industry specific like technical skills. Whereas soft skills are the major requirement of all the organizations as it includes interpersonal and communication skills. Every leader has to be a good communicator because he has to express himself to a team. Apart from being a orator, he must be listener too. He should have patience, empathy and power to resolute conflict in an effective way.

Quick Decision taker: A leader has to face positive and negative situations at any point of time. So he has to be a quick decision maker. Decision making skills comes with time and experience.

Building Relations: Relationship building is an important task for a leader. His way of communication can make or break the relationships. Relationships can be built on the basis of collecting personal information, enquiring about the followers.

Motivator: Effective leader should have motivational capabilities. Followers can feel depressed or emotional at any point of time but an effective leader can handle the situation very well. He will encourage the team and can direct the team towards the goal.

Honesty and Integrity: To maintain a healthy image among team mates or followers, the leader should have ethical and moral values on which he sticks to in any condition. He must be honest towards his work as he will be an inspiration for others.

One can practice or learn leadership skills at any level of employment. Every organization demand best leaders with leadership traits making the organization worth a while.

It will leave a strong impression on the interviewer and make you best from the rest.

1)            What are the daily tasks for this job?

 Although you are familiarized with the job description, but asking about day-to-day expectations for the job can give you a better idea of job profile.

• What can you tell me about the company culture?

To work happily, knowing company culture is extremely important. If the culture of the company doesn’t fit your needs, or you don’t feel comfortable in the environment, you aren’t going to be happy with the job. This includes how co—workers interact, dress code, behavioural conduct, timings etc.  

• What qualities does someone need to have to be successful in this role?

Asking this question allows you to see if you meet the expectations for the position. It also gives you an idea of what qualities and characteristics the company values in their team members. This will give you an idea about which traits to focus on.

• What career path does someone in this role typically follow?

When you will accept the job, you will look for long term goals with short term goals. If you know where you’d like to be in a few years, you want to be sure the decisions you’re making now will bring you closer to getting there.

• What are the next steps for the interview process?

Each organization have their own process of following up with candidates after the interview process. While someone will let you know through contact, some by emails. Thus, asking this question will help you to clear your mind and less stress on further communication mechanism.

Thus, these can be some of the questions that you can ask to an interviewer but there are some questions too that you shouldn’t ask like about salary and other perks. Don’t ask a question that makes you look unprepared.

It is highly recommended to treat the ‘Phone Interview’ as a normal ‘Regular Interview’like a face-to-face interviewwith the same seriousness & be well prepared. Below are some of our top telephone interview tips:

• Do Proper Research: Visit the company website understand their entire history, background and leadership team to get a good perspective of the company along with their products & services. Also try to understand the role for which you are getting interviewed. Before the interview try to get the information of interviewer to visualize and be mentally well prepared.
• Put down all your Ideas & Questions on Paper: A phone interview is a really good opportunity to find out more about the role you’ve applied for, the company culture and opportunities for growth and also all the steps on the interview process.
• Hard Copy of your CV in hand: Most likely the recruiter will have your resume in their handsduring the call and may ask you specific questions from that. Soto ease the situation for both of you it is good to have it handy to effectively communicate.

• Be Calm, Positive&Smile: This shall help you ensure you are sound, positive, upbeat and generate that positive vibration through your voice to the recruiter. It energizes the mood. Take the phone interview in a good location like a conference room, study room with good cell phone signal, hotel lobby or a good coffee shop. Avoid outdoor & noisy places that could give you distracted noises.
• Listen More & Talk Less: Take on board all elements of their questionsand make note of anything that you feel is important; that makes communication clear and effective. You will not miss any of the questions being asked. Be honest in your answers and it is perfectly fine to say NO & I do not know the answer in case you are not sure about the answer. No need to fumble or panic in such situations. Always remember honesty is appreciated. Show your energy with your enthusiasm

• Preparing a CV
• Sharing your CV to the Right People
• Gentle Follow-up
• Phone Interviews
• Follow-up
• Personal One-On-One Interviews
• Thank You communication
• Follow-up
• Etc.

Each and every step in the process in very important and you always need to give your best in every step. Also, during Personal or One-On-One Interviews your professional behavior (etiquette) is extremely critical which leaves a strong positive impression in the minds of the interviewer. Personal behavior (professional etiquette) consists of

• Perfect Dressing Sense
• Smiling Face
• Neatly Groomed
• Wishing all people very politely and being gentle
• Confident, Calm & Composed Attitude
• Speaking Slowly, Clearly and Articulating your ideas well
• Making sure your Phones are on Silent or Switch-off Mode
• Etc.

Following are some of the critical interview manners that need to be followed before, during and after interview to help you in performing better.

• Punctuality: Reaching to an interview site few minutes early than the given time is very helpful as it will give you an extra advantage by making you get adjusted to the interview environment. Relax, get your breadth, have some water, fresh-up if needed, sit calm and organize all your ideas/thoughts, Review your Resume all over again, Review of notes on company etc.

• Body Language: The non-verbal communication through body language is an integral part of an interview. The hand, body gestures and face expressions should show that you are interested, confident, honest and very enthusiastic of the job. It shouldn’t feel like that you are submissive, shy, introvert or defensive in nature. Greet the interviewer and all with abroad smile & a firm handshake.

• Dress Sense: An interviewee must know the corporate/business attire before going to an interview. As well-dressed person will get an extra edge over the untidy person. This is not only for the interview panel also for you as a good neat business attire help you with a feel good factor & enhance your confidence levels. Wear pleasant colours with fits well with you & your personality. Avoid heavy jewellery and shining clothes.
• Home on Company Background: It will be very embarrassing and foolish on your part of you are not aware of the company history, background, leadership team, culture etc. Form an opinion about it so that you have a talking point which will be really appreciated. Also, if you can appreciate something about the company based on some factor that will have a very good positive impact.

• Closing an Interview: As starting an interview is important as closing it also. Close the interview with a firm smile that shows you are interested in job and would like to work for it. That leaves a good impression on them. Always thank them for their time at the end and followed by a Thank You e-mail after an interview. Be sure to ask some questions related to your position, company long term goal, benefits, or next steps in the interview process etc. It will send a positive impression on the interviewer.

Thus, by following these simple and basic manners during an interview, one can Excel and leave an everlasting impression on the interview team which can certainly help you to succeed in the process.

Most of the young students and working professionals have the above 2 questions while they get started. It has been observed that student’s take-up the CV’s of their friends and copy paste which is a big blunder where it does not reflect his personality.

From a recent survey from a leading HR Firm from recruiters and students on the issue of CV/Resume are:

• 80% of the CV get rejected within 2 minutes
• 85% of the CV lack originality
• Many of them copy pasted from others sources & does not reflect the individual’s capability
• 70% of the Students are not sure how to get started (Starting Trouble)
• Poor Formatting & Presentation
• What things should & should not be present in the CV

Most of the issues that students are facing is there is no one who can guide them on the basic requirements that they must have before even thinking to attempt any interview or job application.

The following elements need to be very clear in your Resume / CV:

• Contact Information:The most consistent element in the CV & your contact details must be outlined near the top very clearly (Phone, E-mail & Physical address)
• Career Objective:Resume introduction can be used by anyone to give an illustration on your objective in 3-4 Lines; it is strongly advisable to make it relevant to the company/sector & position. (I mean you cannot have a strong technical ambition for a managerial or sales position)
• Relevant to Position & Sector: Make the resume and tailor it to meet the needs and requirements of the employer. Absolutely NO – One size fits all!
• Work Experience:Illustrate all your Work (also Internship) Experiences, Accomplishments, Tenure, Duration, Location etc. along with lessons learnt and how you contributed to that particular role.(It is highly recommended to make this highlighted a lot; be consistent and chronological)
• Additional Skills: Your skills section must be used to highlight personal attributes that you are proud&add a WOW Factor, be it leadership, Software, Team Building, or anything that reflects yourself.
• Education: Your degrees (any) and certifications (if relevant) should be highlighted
• Notable Coursework: It is always good to have a few notable Coursework that you have taken as a part of your Education and the projects that you have taken-up as a part of it. MAP these to the skills you have developed & to the position that you are applying to.
• Awards & Honors: Be sure to mention your most impressive example/s that could tell more about you and add a WOW Factor.

Thus, these are some of the many things that are required for sure in your CV. Candidate can take the help of academies that Guides, Mentors, Inspires, Motivates Students on various factors and give a 360 Degree perspective on how to write a CV and be presentable at an interview.

This is the most common question that occurs in the minds of almost all students before appearing for any campus placement interviews. In this era of cut-throat competition, everyone wants to be DIFFERENT & UNIQUE so that companies hire them.

But there is none who can guide them on the basic requirements that they must have before even thinking to attempt any interview or job application. They should be guided on how to:

• Approach Interviews
• Prepare a Fantastic CV thatillustrates all your accomplishments & make it Presentable
• Handle Phone Interviews
• Ace General HR & Technical Interviews
• Excel in One-on-One & Group Interviews with outstanding Body Language, Eye Contact, Confidence etc.

And ultimately help you in getting placed comfortably into your Dream Organizations.

Some of the essential components a student must have before applying or appearing for campus placements interviews are:

• Good Impressive CV/ Resume: It is not only your attire that can attract the recruiter, your CV is like a profile pic of you which is the most important aspect at the screening stage. Unimpressive CVs are rejected mercilessly first glance that too within 30 seconds. As per many HR Surveys 80% of the CV’s received are rejected within 2 minutes.

• Communication/ Interpersonal Skill: The first thing any recruiter wants is that their potential employee must have good and effective interpersonal skills; so that in future they can influence others effectively. Having command over English Language is always an added advantage.

• Proper Attire:  The clothes that a person wear during an interview speaks a lot about the Personality and Attitude which is very important from the interviewee perspective.A student should choose right comfortable clothes which are neat, comfortable and has develops into a feel-good element during the interview.

Thus, don’t give a chance to them to send you out without any further discussion& you need to ensure that your CV is among the 20% and not the rejected 80%.So, make your CV Professional, Crispy, Effective and Well-Articulated with your thoughts, ideas and accomplishments.

• Ability to Learn New Things & have Energy / Enthusiasm: in the modern world of changing technologies; companies would love to have people join them who are willing to learn new things, get inspired with surroundings, have the Energy / Enthusiasm and Drive to take-up challenging assignments. This needs to get reflected in your discussions during interview processes.

Thus, these are some of the traits and things that are required before attending an interview, but these are not the only requirements. Different jobs require different skills and traits but we should be flexible and mould ourselves to meet the company requirements. One should be well aware of his Strengths and Weaknesses before interviews. Need to organize all your thoughts clearly before appearing & work on converting weakness into strengths in a smart way with the help of mentors.