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How I Learned That Interviews Are More Than Just Smart Answers


I always had the impression that interviews were scary - well, that's what my grandma made me think of them. She used to tell me how important it was for me to learn how to come up with sharp answers on the spot, how interviews would literally make or break my career. Little old me thought that would be something only older Dhiya would have to go through, but little did I know that I'd be attending my first ever "official" interview at 16 years old AND ace BOTH of them.

Okay, let me rewind a little: I was applying for internships, and two of them caught my eye, so I decided to apply for them. I thought that they would have a normal application process - you know, the usual: send in a Google form with all your information and get an email back in response that revealed whether you got the position or not - so I filled in the form thinking nothing of it. The next day, an email in my inbox welcomed me with the information that I had been selected for an interview. Hold up, what?

Fortunately, for some reason, I was never nervous the day of because I truly believed I had no chance. The only thing that I had indeed prepared for was a generic intro, the mission of the company, why I wanted the position, etc. I joined the meeting and was met with questions that I never really thought could be asked, but I was able to answer them - barely, or well, that's what I thought.

Guess what? At the end of the interview, the founder of the company revealed I was hired on the spot because they liked my answers and loved my attitude. WHAT?

I was on cloud 9 the rest of the day - super proud of myself, obviously.

But at the end of the day, I was thinking about the experience, and something hit me. Interviews aren't about “how smart” your answers are to the questions they ask. It's not humanly possible to come up with a book answer on the spot, especially under pressure, and interviewers know that. Then what are interviews about? According to me, you know how when someone asks you the solution to a problem, you automatically start thinking about different ways to approach the problem and how to arrive at the appropriate answer? That thinking, that thought process - that's what they want to hear.

Because smart answers won't tell the company what type of person you are; anyone can fake an answer that they don't personally adhere to. Your thought process, especially when you speak out your thoughts coherently when asked, that's what sets you apart from everyone in the world.

Companies have many other means of assessing your smartness on paper, and I think that itself should serve as enough evidence of what interviews are actually about. There's a reason why it's held under specific conditions, with the interviewer one-on-one with the interviewee - it's a place where you get to be your true self.

And listen - if you don't get selected, it's probably for the best, and rejection is always redirection.

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