Project 1: Reach out to HR Professionals to practice Equip and Real

What questions did you ask the professional?
We have visited First National Bank Modaraba where we asked some questions from Chief Financial Officer/Company Secretary ABBAS AZAM.

He is on one of the best scale at NBP and he is also a Vice President of NBP. The questions that our group asked from him and the answers he gave to us are as:
- If interviewer ask about our strengths then how many strengths we should tell him and which type of strengths?
Ans: It depends on organization to organization. It should be specific, prefferrably one and relevant to the job. It should be according to the position for which we are applying. For Example: If we are applying for a low level seat then you can tell them that you are creative and up to date.
- If the interviewer ask about our biggest weakness and we are afraid that if we tell him honestly then may be he will not hire us. So in this situation what should we do? What are your suggestions regarding this whether we should tell him that weakness or not?
Ans: If you are telling them your weakness honestly, then most chances are there that they will consider your this honesty as your strength too. They will consider it in a way that this candidate knows about his/her weakness too and honestly confessing and telling that too so interviewer will take interviewees this effort as strength too.Always try to tell that weakness which you can overcome too or had been over came.
- Do the CGPA and reputable institution really matters for getting a job?
Ans: Yes, according to me, CGPA and reputable institution matters. If I quantify it then it matters 70% to 80%. CGPA gives your first impression as its mentioned in your resume as well.
- If we go for the interview, is it reasonable to ask about salary?
Ans: It is not a bad question as well as it is not a good question too. Sometimes interviewers expects from us to ask that what interviewees are expecting form them. But it is better that the interviewee should wait for the recruiter to tell him his salary.
- What are your opinions about the dressing code?
Ans: Dressing should be formal but it should not be over. Through your dressing, it should not be feel to the interviewer that you are specially ready for the interview so that become over formal. For Example: Do not wear 3 piece suit, avoid cuff links and studs.

- If the interviewer ask this question, have you ever been fired? Then what we will do for this? Whether we should answer honestly by keeping the concept of being real in mid or not?
Ans: It depends on the nature of the job in which you are applying. For Example: If you are applying in financial institution and you do not tell them honestly that you have been fired, they themselves investigate it through your record from your previous firm. If you are applying in marketing sector firm then sometimes this bluff can be made that you have not been fired before.
- How an interviewer judge whether the candidate is telling a lie about his experience or not?
Ans: Through body language, facial expressions and record keeping and specially through your CV, For Example: If an interviewee has written that he had an experience of internship in Finance sector but in reality he had actually marketing sector experience so interviewer can judge that by asking questions related to Finance sector.
- What are your suggessions about how to be fully prepared for the interview?
Ans: Do research about the company in advance and you can do that through visiting company’s website, by contacting previous employees of that company so that you came to know about that company more and more. You can also give any past example of that company through researching about that company and it definately leaves a good impression.

- What you’ve learned from this experience?
Ans: The project was to interact with any HR professional/interviewer of a company. In this activity our group of six members has to ask the HR person/recruiter some questions related to the terms like “Equip” and “Real”. “Equipped” term relates to the fact that how much the interviewer wants the interviewee to be equipped for an interview.Whereas, “Real” relates to the concept that how much the interviewer wants the interviewee to be honest with him? Also, that being real really matters for the interviewer or not? and how the interviewer can judge the honesty of a candidate in an interview?
Experience
Our experience as a group in doing this activity was very challenging and overwhelming at the same time. Challenging in a way that we as a group had to arrange an appointment with the HR professional/recruiter of a company. And that meeting should not only be in accordance with the HR professional schedule but should also be in accordance with our team’s timetable because this activity was a weekly project and our team had only seven days to arrange this meeting. Therefore, in order to handle this challenging part our group made a strategy to consult those companies where we had find some kind of reference.And then we contacted one of our fellow for this purpose because he is a jobholder and talked to him regarding this. He took an appointment of HR professional/recruiter of NBP. And at last,by building up a strategy for having an appointment through some kind of reference helped us to overcome the challenging part of this activity.
Furthermore, It was Overwhelming too. Because we were given a chance to have a conversation and discussion closely with the recruiter. Also, the excitement aroused when we were able to arrange a meeting with HR professional of a well reputed financial institution which was National Bank of Pakistan. This made the activity more experimenting as we got a chance to directly ask the company’s professional that what they actually demand from a candidate in an interview? And how he/she should be well equipped and be real if that candidate wants to be a part of your company? Learning through these questions widen our concepts and cleared our mind on many points that were vague before this activity.

What are 3 main takeaways (learning) from the interview?
This activity itself was very experimenting and at the same time a good learning experience. Also, the 3 main takeaways from the interview which our group consider very important were:
Learning
1- To be Equip for interview:
This is very important takeaway because we have directly asked the HR professional that how you want your candidate to be well equipped? And they said that they want the candidate should do researching and be well informed of company’s background. history, products, directors, financial performance and also know name of HR person in order to show that the candidate is well equipped for the interview.
Also, the candidate should know what dressing attire a he/she should follow. As this shows the real being of your self and shows professionalism through dressing which can be one of interviewee’s equipment in order to have a good impression on the interviewer.
2- Confidence:
The honesty of a candidate can be judged through his/her confidence and body language, this was the stance the HR professional made when we asked him that how you can judge that the candidate is giving an honest answer. Even if the candidate is giving an honest answer but he/she is not confident and voice is shaking and he/she is nervous, this will give an impact that the candidate is lying and is not true even to himself.
3- Strength and weakness and its authenticity:
According to the sir Abbas, the authenticity in one’s strength can be shown by explaining it with accordance to the level of the job and by giving past examples. By saying that he/she is creative and not giving an example of any past experience will show that the strength is not authentic and is just a word with no implementation.
Same goes with the weakness, if the interviewer ask about weakness than the interviewee should also explain the steps he/she is taking in overcoming that weakness. Thus, this will lead to the fact that the weakness mentioned by the candidate is authentic.

How will you apply the 3 main takeaways (learning)?
Firstly, in order to be well equipped for an interview we are planning that we will must do research related to the company before going to the interview. This will show that we are well prepared for the interview.
Secondly, we should always show the real side of ourself to the interviewer. This can only be done by being honest, confident and by taking the stance of positive body language.
Thirdly, in order to be authentic or real in explaining our strengths we will also give past example of our lives that how we used that strength. And, in case of explaining our weakness we will elaborate some steps that we have taken in order to overcome that weakness. As this will show that we as an interviewee are being authentic in the interview and it will surely give a good impression on the interviewer.
THANK YOU
GROUP 1
- Mahnoor Amir
- Nihal Ahmad
- Aliza Asif
- Awais Mubbashir
- Umar Sharif
- SafiUllah
