INTERVIEW TIPS GD - WHAT AND WHY

INTERVIEW TIPS 

GD - WHAT AND WHY

I.            What & why

A GD is a methodology used by an organization to gauge whether the candidate has certain personality traits and/or skills that it desires in its members. In this methodology, the group of candidates is given a topic or a situation, given a few minutes to think about the same, and then asked to discuss the it among themselves for 15-20 minutes.

The reason why institutes put you through a Group discussion and an interview, after testing your technical and conceptual skills in an exam, is to get to know you as a person and gauge how well you will fit in their institute. The Group discussion tests how you function as a part of a team. As a manager, you will always be working in teams, as a member or as a leader. Therefore how you interact in a team becomes an important criterion for your selection. Managers have to work in a team and get best results out of teamwork. That is the reason why management institutes include GD as a component of the selection procedure.

Personality traits the GD is trying to gauge may include :-

      Ability to work in a team

      Communication skills

      Reasoning ability

      Leadership skills

      Initiative

      Assertiveness

      Flexibility

      Creativity

      Ability to think on ones feet

      Clarity of thought

      Group working skills (especially during a group task of case study discussion)

      Conflict handling

      Listening and probing skills

      Knowledge about the subject and individual point of view

      Ability to create a consensus

      Openess and flexibility towards new ideas

      Data based approach to decision making

Company's Perspective:-

Companies conduct group discussion after the written test so as to check on your interactive skills and how good you are at communicating with other people. The GD is to check how you behave, participate and contribute in a group, how much importance do you give to the group objective as well as your own, how well do you listen to viewpoints of others and how open-minded are you in accepting views contrary to your own. The aspects which make up a GD are verbal communication, non-verbal behavior, conformation to norms, decision-making ability and cooperation. You should try to be as true as possible to these aspects.

The Purpose of GD

While the written exam tests the quantitative, reasoning and verbal skills of an applicant, that is not all that a future manager is expected to excel in. In fact, that is just the start! A successful manager should not just be good with his quota of work, but he/ she is expected to contribute as part of a team. Ability to work, and contribute in teams is an absolute must to succeed in corporate sector. And that’s what Group Discussions aim to test.

Why do we have GD ?

Reasons for having a GD

      It helps you to understand a subject more deeply.

      It improves your ability to think critically.

      It helps in solving a particular problem.

      It helps the group to make a particular decision.

      It gives you the chance to hear other students' ideas.

      It improves your listening skills.

      It increases your confidence in speaking.

      It can change your attitudes.