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Job Interviews

In one of my WhatsApp groups, quite a spicy discussion about performances in interviews for selection as a medical representative appeared a few days ago. Someone from Alembic said that the outcome of the interview depended on talent in group discussion, a talent with high weightage in that company.  Another from Glaxo said the most important factor was truthfulness. One more stated that excellence in communication determined final selection. Others listed good grasp of subjects studied in college, ability to accept challenges etc as factors with high weightage. One even said 'అంతా భగవత్ నిర్ణయం' (God ordains) 


As I wrote in my earlier article titled "Job Unknown" I attended many interviews in different Organisations, not just the one conducted by my eventual employer, CIBA. Alembic, Dey's were two other Pharma companies where I attended selection interviews. Discussion on interview result  is like a married couple discussing premarital spouse selection interviews (పెళ్ళి చూపులు, वधू वर चुनाव मुलाकात ) they had attended. If you were rejected in such an event, your current spouse is left with a feeling that a rejected person has entered his/her life now. On the other hand if your current spouse had chosen someone else earlier, your partner will be ending up realising that he/she is your second choice. Either way, it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth a spouse.


If I say that I was not selected in those companies, it annoys my colleagues in CIBA with a feeling that a rejected one in another company interview got a job in CIBA ...... Also, if I rejected the job in those companies, it would disappoint our friends who worked in them. Hence I don't wish to discuss it.


We have innumerable examples where highly talented candidates do not succeed in interviews. I remember an instance where my field colleague (R.V.Rao) recommended another medical representative from a Pharma company called Organon (Raghupati) for selection in our company (as our company was of the opinion that such recommendation will help in easier selection process) Unfortunately, Raghupati failed to get selected in CIBA. The matter didn't end there. In our next sales meeting, RV Rao was pulled up by a HO executive who had conducted the interview as to how he recommended 'such a bad candidate'. He even doubted competence of RVRao to be in Ciba. It so happened that immediately after his interview in Ciba, Raghupati had attended another interview (just within a week) in Roche, a Swiss multinational Pharma company of repute where he was selected. Now, isn't it possible to assume that our interviewer was incompetent to recognise Raghupati's talent while the interviewer in Roche spotted the merit in Raghupati? So it is safe to assume that result of an interview depended on the competence of the iterviewee as much as on the competence of the interviewer.

In one of my WhatsApp groups, quite a spicy discussion about performances in interviews for selection as a medical representative appeared a few days ago. Someone from Alembic said that the outcome of the interview depended on talent in group discussion, a talent with high weightage in that company.  Another from Glaxo said the most important factor was truthfulness. One more stated that excellence in communication determined final selection. Others listed good grasp of subjects studied in college, ability to accept challenges etc as factors with high weightage. One even said 'అంతా భగవత్ నిర్ణయం' (God ordains) 


As I wrote in my earlier article titled "Job Unknown" I attended many interviews in different Organisations, not just the one conducted by my eventual employer, CIBA. Alembic, Dey's were two other Pharma companies where I attended selection interviews. Discussion on interview result  is like a married couple discussing premarital spouse selection interviews (పెళ్ళి చూపులు, वधू वर चुनाव मुलाकात ) they had attended. If you were rejected in such an event, your current spouse is left with a feeling that a rejected person has entered his/her life now. On the other hand if your current spouse had chosen someone else earlier, your partner will be ending up realising that he/she is your second choice. Either way, it leaves a bitter taste in the mouth a spouse.


If I say that I was not selected in those companies, it annoys my colleagues in CIBA with a feeling that a rejected one in another company interview got a job in CIBA ...... Also, if I rejected the job in those companies, it would disappoint our friends who worked in them. Hence I don't wish to discuss it.


We have innumerable examples where highly talented candidates do not succeed in interviews. I remember an instance where my field colleague (R.V.Rao) recommended another medical representative from a Pharma company called Organon (Raghupati) for selection in our company (as our company was of the opinion that such recommendation will help in easier selection process) Unfortunately, Raghupati failed to get selected in CIBA. The matter didn't end there. In our next sales meeting, RV Rao was pulled up by a HO executive who had conducted the interview as to how he recommended 'such a bad candidate'. He even doubted competence of RVRao to be in Ciba. It so happened that immediately after his interview in Ciba, Raghupati had attended another interview (just within a week) in Roche, a Swiss multinational Pharma company of repute where he was selected. Now, isn't it possible to assume that our interviewer was incompetent to recognise Raghupati's talent while the interviewer in Roche spotted the merit in Raghupati? So it is safe to assume that result of an interview depended on the competence of the iterviewee as much as on the competence of the interviewer.

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