Tips to prepare an effective personal profile for Civil Services Interview

Tips to prepare your personal profile for Civil Services Interview

Personal profile is your key to civil services interview preparations. Your personal profile is reflected from the examination form that you fill before the main examination. Questions related to your personal profile will be derived from the facts you have filled in the form including your state of domicile, subjects/education field chosen by you, your hobbies, family background, etc. The questions asked to aspirants in the civil services interview are not a set of pre-designed questions. Minutes before the candidate is called inside the interview room, each member of the board is given a copy of the main examination form that he/she had filled in. Spontaneous questions are asked relating to the answers that you have filled in. Mostly, the interview board begins the questioning with simple and direct questions to make you feel at ease and then begins with questions that are tricky or sometimes designed in a tricky way to test your personality. Here are some tips to prepare for your personal profile related questions:

Name

The interviewer might simply begin by asking your name or the meaning of your name and other questions like how much of the meaning relates to you as a person. This is usually done to relax the candidate and help him get rid of the usual nervousness but it is better not to take this section lightly. If your name is uncommon or your title is unusual, you are most likely to face a question asking to explain it. Be prepared with these answers and also research if your name is that of a historical person or a famous person. You are most likely to face a question if you share your name with a person who has been in news lately.

Education

While candidates might believe that the education section needs hardly any preparations, you might be badly wrong if your educational institute has been in headlines in the past or recently for a popular activity. You are most likely to be asked a question related to the institute/school where you have spent more years like for your graduation instead of the college where you went for a certification course or vocational degree. Prioritize your education centers accordingly and prepare for each of them; more about the ones where you have spent more years of curriculum. If a change in educational pattern has been introduced in your college or a change that has been in highlights lately, prepare well about them.

Choice of subjects

You might have to face questions asking the reason why you took a subject as major or minor. The answer to these questions should not be made up and diplomatic; simply ask yourself the real reason why you opted for the particular subject and frame the answer with due honesty. The subjects that you have mentioned in your examination form are likely to bring up a question or two related to them. Prepare with the basics that you might have forgotten if you have passed the examinations on those subject years ago and research on the current changes or developmental progresses that the subject has witnessed in recent times. Remember that you cannot know everything on any subject. The best way is to learn the basics and the important parts along with the recent trends that might have been in news. The interviewer doesn’t intend to check how much you know your subjects, but how well you know them and understand them con conceptually.

States

You might be asked questions relating to the states that had found a way in your examination form including home state where you originally belong, states where you have stayed during study period, states where you have stayed for your job and the current state where you are residing. You can expect questions most probably about the state where you have stayed most of the years of your life like the state where you have been brought up and went schooling. You are expected to know everything about the state where you have spent greater part of your life. The interviewer seeks to know your awareness of our surrounding. Prepare with the areas that make your state popular, the developmental changes that have happened in recent years and the current affairs of your state like an election that might have happened recently or a natural disaster that might have taken place. You might be asked your views and opinion on developmental changes that could be introduced in your state and how that can bring about improvements.

Work experience

Your work experience will be reflected in the form and you can expect questions relating to your previous or current job. You might be asked the reason why you left your previous job and the reason why you think that IAS/IFS are a better option for you as compared to your previous job. You might be asked to list the pros and cons of the companies that you are worked in and your personal experience with the same. If you do not possess any work experience despite having skipped a couple of years for the civil services examination or for any other reason, simply tell them the reason why your chose not to work during the preparation period.

Hobby and games

Prepare well about the hobbies that you have listed in your examination form. Find out if you could meet experts in those fields and take knowledge from them asking about the current trends that might be happening in that field and prepare well about them. If you have been sporty and that particular sport has found a place in your examination form, they are most likely to draw a question or two in the interview as well. Find out about the latest happenings in these fields and prepare well with them.