For those of you out there, who are gearing up for your campus recruitment, looking for a job or waiting to obtain ‘that’ coveted MBA seat this article is sure to help you out. ‘GROUP DISCUSSIONS’ – A crucial step in sailing your way to success in interviews and selection processes. In the student community it is popularly called the “mass elimination” process after the first written round. But it is a false conceived notion that has to be rooted out from budding young minds. With the right approach and clarity in thought, clearing this round isn’t much of a bother.
To start off with a brief intro, a ‘Group Discussion’ is where the candidates are clubbed into teams and given a common topic per team to talk on. The motive behind this idea of selection is to evaluate the candidate’s fluency in English and ability to communicate which are the key skills essential in a corporate set-up. But in the background, the other values being noted are team-play, co-ordination, attitude and ability to comply with others opinions.
Also read “The Best Way To Answer Why Should I Hire You“.
Take a quick glance at these few tips to for giving a super-good performance and to score high in your GD:
- Be calm and composed. Do not expose strong emotions, be it approval or disagreement. The trick is in how well you put forth your views while also accepting others standpoints.
- Take up the chance to initiate. Evaluators give extra credits to those who start the talk as it requires courage and it gives a positive look of being motivated.
- Value others opinions. Be ready to agree to others views as it shows a clear sign of open-mindedness. Restricting yourself to your own ideas makes you appear aggressive.
- Streamline when others deviate. It is very common for a team of people to start at a point and go elsewhere in due course. So pick up the chance to realign the ideas in line to the topic.
- Be the one to conclude. Again like the initiator, the concluder becomes the star person as he gets a chance to make a lasting impression at the end. Effectively summarize all the points crisply.
- Talk to the point. Make sure you do not drag on a same point for long. Put in your best effort to include many points as crisply as possible to add various dimensions to the discussion.
- Never interfere. Do not cut in when someone else is talking in their turn. Wait for the person to complete and then start to tell what you have to say.
- Understand the topic. Once the discussion topic is announced, calmly ponder over the topic and analyse the context and meaning. If you are not familiar with the topic, then wait for your peers to talk, so you get an idea.
Cracking GD rounds isn’t a big ordeal if you are clear about the process and the role you are expected to play. I wish whomsoever reading this the best of luck!!!
Also read “How To Make People Listen When You Speak“.
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