• Interviewing skill is not a rocket science but it is of course, an art: of effective oral communication to enable you to handle an interviewing panel.
• Remember: We always consider interviewers on a strong wicket and ourselves as the interviewee on a weak wicket which is NOT a correct notion.
• Be confident and no accident.

You should have:

• Belief in your self
• Belief in your knowledge
• Belief in your skills
• Belief in your personality
• Belief in your learning
• Belief does miracles

The great boxer Mohammad Ali was asked, how do you win the great fights, whilst other boxers are stronger, faster, heavier and mightier than you?

The great boxer Mohammad Ali simply answered:     My unshakable will

• Pre interview preparations:
• Interviews involve verbal communication and the need to be thoroughly prepared.
• Interviews require practice, practice and more practice.
• Look at the job advertisement and submission of application for the position, if possible, fulfill the eligibility criteria.
• Information about the organization or company from their website or from an employee of the company.
• Expected questions:
• How do you think you are relevant for this job?
• Why do you want this job?
• Why do you want to join our organization?

Keeping the questions in view, you need to match your knowledge, skills and relevancy.

• Knowing yourself
• One big question is generally asked
• What are your strengths and what are your weaknesses?

Well, human kind is in fact a composition of strengths and weaknesses and perfection is nowhere except in the divine.

However my strengths and weaknesses are as follows.

• Strengths: example
• Commitment with my profession
• Good writing skills
• Ten publications in the Daily Dawn
• Good communication skills
• Understanding organizational behavior
• Love of sports for a healthy life
• ………………………………………………….
• Weaknesses: example
• Procrastinating approach
• Lack of exposure
• Sometimes egocentric approach
• ……………………………………………….

Strive to overpower your weaknesses and build on your strengths.

• Interview types:
• Panel interview
• One on one interview
• Video conference interview
• Presentation demo interview
• Telephonic or audio interview
• First impression depends on:
• Dress code
• Don’t appear desperate
• Be in your senses
• Don’t talk too much
• Be confident
• Good eye contact
• Don’t be overconfident
• Use appropriate language
• Don’t be too familiar
• Interview process:
• Research shows that the candidates can be evaluated in the very first 5 minutes whether to be selected or not.
• Be careful while explaining your aims, objectives and goals because employees evaluate your potential skills, knowledge and attitude.
• Panel chairman (any question)
• Once again this provides you an opportunity to prove your skills and wisdom.
• No question but a comment, for example you could say it was a big learning experience, I enjoyed talking to such enlightened professionals and indeed it was a great learning for me. Thank you.

Amjad Ali
DIRECTOR
Students Development and External Linkages
Karakoram International University
Gilgit Baltistan

How to develop communication skills?

• Effective communication is an art, and the ability to speak well is one of the most valuable asset that one can possess.
• We should not compromise to be inefficient in communication because if we are, we spoil our self and lack of that ability is severe personal handicap.
• Verbal communication is the most effective and parliamentary way of giving and receiving intended message.
• Human kind is epitome of creation for linguistic competence and amongst the four communication skills the most important and sublime skill is the quality of speaking.
• It has been seriously noticed that many degree holders and professionals have acute shortcomings in effective communication due to number of reasons.

The following identified areas are potential communication barriers;

• Shyness: A state of mind or a psychological barrier which sometimes higher than a mountain.
• Hesitation: Uncertainty and lack of ability to initiate.
• Lack of confidence: fear to take initiative,
• Egocentric: inferior or superior complexity.
• Absence of appropriate forum: Don’t wait for someone to do for you.
• Absence of speaking culture: Parents and mentors should focus.
• Lack of burning desire: It reflects the students’ despondent attitude.
• Procrastinating approach: Nonseriousness and putting things for tomorrow.
• Unfavorable attitude and aptitude: Beating the bushes (self-deception)
• Lack of exposure and orientation. Needed to expose oneself to the outer world, i.e. Shark can grow 8 inches in fish pound and 8 feet or more in open ocean. As you expose yourself to a more challenging environment the more powerful and skillful you will be.
• Gloss phobia. Speaking the most common fear of people hampers in personal and professional growth.

The aforementioned communication barriers may develop some interlinked professional limitations that affect work efficiency, personal grooming and so forth. Hence these hinders need to be over powered through remedial measures.

The fundamental reason behind these serious deficiencies is basic education system and role of parents in upbringing of their kids at grass root level. We all know 80% teacher and parents do not play their due role as the kids are highly active recipients to learn maximal.

Tips to develop communication skills

• The first and foremost important thing is make it sure that English is not our mother tongue but being official language we have to learn.
• There is no secret behind speaking just speak and constant practice plays key role and soon you will find dramatic changes in your speaking.
• Inspiration does miracles, imitate their style and your artificial way of communication will become very natural.
• Consecutive conversation process on variety of topics create amazing fluency in speaking
• Use of proverbs and quotations relevant to the occasion will strengthen and beautify the language.
• Need to establish forum for professional sessions and informal discussions.
• Institutionalization: (taming the untamed).
• Encouragement: A young girl, who lost her leg beneath the knee in road accident and upon the treatment and encouragement of the doctor she literally surmounted Mount Everest.
• The concept of Glossophilia: Need for paradigm shift from gloss phobia to Glossophilia.
• Language is the dress of thoughts therefore this unique quality should be polished.

These important steps and tips would make a great breakthrough to communication deadlocks.

Amjad Ali
DIRECTOR
Students Development and External Linkages
Karakoram International University
Gilgit Baltistan

Preparing an Effective Presentation

A presenter must consider how best to communicate the information to the audience. Use these tips to create a presentation that is both informative and interesting:

• Have a strong opening. Why should the audience listen to you?
• Define terms clearly.
• Design PowerPoint slides to introduce important information.
• Time yourself. You only have 15 minutes to speak.
• Create effective notes in bullets for yourself.Have notes that you can read. Do not write out your entire talk.
• Practice, practice, practice.

• Presenting Effectively
  When you start your presentation, the audience will be interested in what you say. Use these tips to help keep them interested throughout your presentation.

• Be excited.You are talking about something exciting.
• Speak with confidence. When you are speaking, you are the authority on your topic, but do not pretend that you know everything. If you do not know the answer to a question, admit it.
• Make eye contact with the audience.
• Avoid reading from the screen. it is because you wanted them to read it, not you.
• Use a pointer only when necessary. If you are using a laser pointer, remember to keep it off unless you need to highlight something on the screen.
• Speak transparently and in clear voice.
• Breathe and relax. It is fine to be nervous.Remember to breathe deeply throughout your presentation.
• Preparation is everything and almost everyone needs to practice.
• Ideas should be connected in sequential order.
• Prepare slides in bullet points but explain extemporaneously.
• The real power comes from participation. Make it interactive.
• Finish with a bang.Find one or two sentences that sum up the importance of your findings.

Amjad Ali
DIRECTOR
Students Development and External Linkages
Karakoram International University
Gilgit Baltistan

How to Develop Writing Skills?

• The art of deciphering ideas, concepts and thoughts from the human mind to paper or monitor is called writing skills.
• Writing is one of the most important ways of correspondence.
• The question arises that why, despite constant practice over a considerable period, can’t students develop quality writing.
• The basic reason is that in our system of education teaching and learning is based on rote memorization, which means a complete BAN on creative thinking and this keeps the students from developing inquiring minds. This myopic learning approach does not widen the breadth of student’s wisdom. For creative writing a student must be exposed to conceptual learning and continuous process of investigations.
• Henceforth due to these shortcomings the student even at the university level, still has acute deficiencies in writing.
• In order to develop this very important skill, university students may adopt the following tips and steps.

1. Need for serious attitude.

It has been observed and seriously noticed that even the students of college and universities are remained oblivious towards improving their academic writings. This attitude of non-seriousness ultimately requires to be changed into a seriousness, so the tangible improvements can be achieved.

2. Stop worrying and start writing

Mostly students have a fear of writing; even professionals are scared to write. And this notion of fear at most of the occasion falters them to express their thoughts into writing. It is a natural law; when we start writing our thoughts and ideas are channelized and rationalized. Countless writers have written magnum opus books and the only secret to do so depends on the continuous writing. As the great British historian Arnold Toynbee says, since my childhood I have been writing something new every day.

Generally, our own piece of writing seems perfectly correct at the very first instant, but this turned to be a misperception at many occasions. The improvement and perfection may become vivid once we continuously work on writing think pieces. This further includes and advised to consult a mentor for the refinement of your writing.

3. Vocabulary enrichment

Powerful vocabulary is the weapon of a writer. In writing, enriched vocabulary plays the role of equipment and instrument, and you need to fit the word like a jigsaw puzzle to make the sentence meaningful.

Avoid the use of a meaningless jumble of jargon, which leads a reader to clueless and frustration.

4. Don’t expect perfection in the first draft.

Sometimes writing runs into disaster and the writer suffers from disappointments. In such scenarios, don’t stop writing because, you have just started this journey of writing and putting pen to paper, ideas will be revealing and manifesting as this practice continued. Good writing is linked with your deep down study, mental maturity, conceptual clarity and persistence in ones’ positive attitude.

5. Need to develop a strong grammar.

Weak grammar will damage your image.

6. Deep study

The study of powerful books and magazines will give you multi-dimensional benefits.

• You will learn quality writing patterns.
• It will widen the horizons of your knowledge
• It will dramatically increase your confidence to write

7. Plan your outline

Without conceptual clarity and determination of direction, you won’t be able to articulate your paper.

8. Start writing right now with the end in mind. Practice, practice, and practice lead to perfection.
9. Consult electronic dictionaries regularly because consulting a dictionary in writing is as important as fist and glove.

Amjad Ali
DIRECTOR
Students Development and External Linkages
Karakoram International University
Gilgit Baltistan

How to write a Personal statement?

• Personal statement is a summarized narration prepared for the employer’s requirement.
• Distinguishes a candidate’s personality from the rest.
• A personal statement is also needed for a university scholarship/ studies, which a candidate has to justify by his/her scholarly writings.

Why do I need a personal statement?

Your personal statement reflects your strengths, skills and conceptual clarity.

It provides an opportunity to prove yourself to the employer or organization.

How lengthy should a personal statement be?

Ideally, your personal statement should be in the ambit of 150 to 175 words.

What do you write in your personal statement?

Strong personal statements focus the following questions:

• Who are you?
• What are your skills and potential?
• What are your career goals?

What You Should Include

In your personal statement you have to justify your candidature for the position.

• Share some details about yourself
• Highlight your most relevant experience
• Provide information about your career goals

Be careful to articulate a Personal Statement

• Take time to write your personal statement because it encompasses your life.
• Perfect words and expressions: use appropriate words and fit them as a jigsaw puzzle.
• Concentrate on your strengths. Writing is a literary way to pack the universe in a nutshell.
• Be realistic and don’t exaggerate.
• Get the draft checked by a mentor.

Amjad Ali
DIRECTOR
Students Development and External Linkages
Karakoram International University
Gilgit Baltistan

How to Develop a Professional CV, RESUME or BIO-DATA

          RESUME: French word meaning, summary

·         A resume is ideally a summary of one’s education, skills and employment when applying for a new job.

·         A resume does not list out all details of a profile, but only some specific skills customized to the target job profile. It is thus, usually 1 or at the max 2 pages long.

·         A resume is usually written in the third person to give it an objective and formal tone.

·          A good resume would start with a Brief Profile of the candidate, Summary of Qualifications and then Professional Experience in reverse chronological order to ensure that your skills are relevant to the position.

·          Focus is on the most recent experiences (with responsibilities and accomplishments), and previous experiences should only be presented as a summary. This would be followed by Education details, Professional Affiliations and Voluntary Initiatives.

·         Resume is used for a new job where the skill set matters more than your academic achievements.

             RESUME FORMAT

Ø  1 or 2 pages’ max

Ø  Lists only relevant and active certifications

Ø  Customized to a target job description

Ø  Written in a neutral or third person tone

Ø  Most Important Information: Full Name, Contact Details, Experience in reverse-chronological order, Education details, Professional Trainings, Skills & Certifications.

              CURRICULUM VITAE (CV)   Latin word meaning course of life

·         CV is more detailed than a resume, generally 2 to 3 pages, or even longer as per the requirement.

·         C.V. lists out every skill, all the jobs and positions held, degrees, professional affiliations the applicant has acquired, and in chronological order.

·         CV is used to highlight the general talent of the candidate rather than specific skills for a specific position.

·         CVs talk about your entire career ever since you graduated. So if you have 20 years of experience, your CV will have details of the entire 20 years even if it means a 10-page document.

             CV FORMAT.

Ø  No limit on the pages

Ø  Lists all skills and certifications

Ø  Customized for a larger audience and not for a specific job description

Ø  Written in a first, neutral or third person tone

Ø  Most Important Information: Full Name, Contact Details, Short Bio, Education details, Experience in chronological order, Professional Skills & Certifications, Interests, Courses, Publications, References

             BIO-DATA means Biographical data

·         Bio data is nothing but an old fashioned terminology for a Resume or CV. Bio Data is the short form for Biographical Data and is an archaic terminology for Resume or C.V.

·         In a bio data, the focus is on personal particulars like date of birth, gender, religion, race, nationality, residence, marital status etc. other than education and experience. At times Bio-data also includes applications made in specified formats as required by the company.

·         The term bio-data is mostly used in India and are usually used while applying for government jobs

·         A chronological listing of education and experience comes after that but only to show what a person has done; it is not for the purpose of a job.

·         In some South Asian countries (Bangladesh) it may be used in the place of a resume. A biodata form is also required when applying for government, or defense positions.

             BIO DATA FORMAT

Ø  No limit on the pages

Ø  Focus on Date and Time of Birth, gender, religion, race, nationality, residence, marital status

Ø  Customized for the purpose of marriages

Ø  Written in a first or third person tone

Ø  Education and experience: not mandatory

Ø  Salary details: mandatory if using for matrimonial purposes

CV, Resume, Biodata (difference)

1. CV: is the longest of all formats. It is used to write in detail about life events. It is generally used by fresh graduates, or someone who is changing their line of career or for academic requirements. And it documents everything within 3 to 6 pages. It is accompanied by a cover letter which covers the gist of the CV. The content generalizes and is not tailor-made for different companies. It serves to give an overall picture of the person rather than identifying a certain set skill required for the job.

2. Resume: means summary and it is the shortest of all the formats. It hardly extends beyond 1 page. It is generally used in the industry due to the convenience of skimming through details and identifying the right candidate for further stages of qualification in the shortest period. Unlike a CV, it has lots to format, and it customizes according to the requirement of the job position. It is used by those persons who already have job experiences and are currently hunting for another job.

3. Bio data: stands for biographical data. It consists of personal information like name, age, sex, date of birth and other sensitive information. Its usage is nowadays limited to government institutes where one expects to submit such information. Biodata makes it easy to collect such data as they are simple in format and can be easily checked either manually or with the help of a computer

Amjad Ali
DIRECTOR
Students Development and External Linkages
Karakoram International University
Gilgit Baltistan