Seeking Advice: How Can I Better Judge People in Cold Calls and Improve Interview Skills?

Hi Seniors,

Please guide me on how to learn to judge people in cold calling and how to improve my interview-taking skills.

Hi, Experience makes men perfect. You can improve interviewing skills by virtue of experience. In general, while interviewing, observe/look for:

- Job knowledge
- Communication skills
- Self-confidence
- Positive attitude

Even the body language/posture of the candidate counts.

Before we provide any suggestions, please clarify why you need to do cold calling. What is the product you are selling, who is your target customer, and do you conduct cold calls via telephone, etc.?

Additionally, please confirm whose interviews you are conducting. Are these job interviews? What is the educational background of the candidates, and what positions are they applying for?

Without clear information, it is difficult for us to offer appropriate suggestions.

Experience and Perfection

For Mr. V.M. Lakshminarayanan: You mentioned that "experience make Men perfect." The correct adage is "practice makes a man perfect." However, even this adage has a flaw. Can wrong practice make someone perfect? Certainly not! Thus, having a guide or mentor who can provide corrections is essential.

The Myth of Experience

The concept of "experience" is often considered mythical, particularly in India. If the experience of interviewers were the sole criteria, many industries would not face high employee turnover rates. Employee retention is a significant challenge today, and one of the contributing factors is incorrect recruitment practices. Despite interviewers having extensive experience in hiring, they still make mistakes in selecting the right candidates.

Thank you,
Dinesh Divekar

Hello, Sir,

Thank you for your reply, Sir. As per your questions, I am working in a product and service-based IT organization. We mainly focus on software and web development. For these roles, I engage in cold calling over the telephone.

Secondly, all these are job interviews, and the required qualification is a BTech in IT or CSE for the Software Engineer position.

Dear Ankush, if you are doing cold calling for recruitment, then first you need to know if they are in need of the job. One needs to be selective while calling. "Knock the door till it opens" is a famous proverb, but our objective is not just knocking the door but opening it. Therefore, choosing the right door is quite important. Please ensure you are calling the right candidates.

Interview Handling Skills

Secondly, regarding interview handling skills, have you received training on this? For the designations you have mentioned, technical tests, both written and oral, are considered important. Have you designed the right tests? Following the tests, there is the behavioral interview. Without systematic training, improvement in competency for this skill is challenging.

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar