Before the results are out...CSE Interviews – Part I

After silencing his critics with his bat in the final matches of the recent one-day series in Australia, Tendulkar had the following to say on his hectic season, “….These are the demands cricketers have to prepare for. Its tough when one plays a day/night match, gets back to the room, packs the bags and takes the morning flight, settles down again and be mentally prepared for the next match”. You have toiled your way through the tricky prelims and gruelling mains spanning over a year or many – Congrats! But the war is far from being over. Just get your body and mind ready for the last lap of the CSE. This is the shortest, yet the most crucial lap. Shortest, because in a matter of another 60 days one gets to know what had happened over the last many months of preparation. Most crucial, because there is a huge chunk of marks waiting to be scored. It might be needless at this point to remind that every single mark matters.

In this Part we would see what one needs to do / have done even before the mains results are out. The next Part would cover the high intensity period – from the time of the mains results to the Interview day. Part III would speak about things to be done on the D-day.

Firstly get the purpose of the interview very clearly. (By the way it is officially called the Personality Test) These are some of the pointers taken from the UPSC site about the interview “….natural, directed and purposive conversation”, “…to reveal the mental qualities”. This means that it is not going to be merely a question-answer type interview or something like the viva voce one gives in college. Interview is not a test of one’s knowledge – that has been tested thoroughly over the year – it is a test of one’s personality and suitability for the career.

Questions like What are your views on the Rs.60,000 crore farm loan waiver?, What do you think is the lasting solution to the Tibet problem?, Tell us something about the recent developments in genetics etc are not intended to check whether one is a walking wikipedia or not. They are intended to unfold one’s personality whether one is –
• having the capacity to provide social leadership
• showing interest in the world affairs across a variety of areas
• open to learning new things
• honest and value-bound
• able to make logical explanations/judgements
• able to communicate confidently

(Don’t waste your time wondering whether all the civil servants who have scored well in the interview possess these qualities or not. Though it is quite an interesting time-pass it erodes your belief in the system. And that’s not the best thing to do now)

Having got the purpose of the interview, it time to move on to the actual preparation stage. We can broadly classify the interview questions like this:
• Mains form
• National/World events
• Situational/Personal

Your Mains form is the primary tool of the panel to unfold your personality. Handle it well and more than half the battle is won. The most important thing is to be thorough with every single item in the Mains application form. Thorough means knowing at least two levels in that area. Every single item means, well, every single item. For example, if you have filled the mail address as abc@gmail.com, Expect questions like Why did you choose your mail address with google?, Do you think google earth is a threat to our security?, What are your views on MS-Yahoo takeover battles?. I hope “Thorough” and “Every single item” are clear now.

In your register allot a page for every item in your Mains form; brainstorm and jot down the most relevant questions under the item. At this stage your aim is not to look up for answers but just to think of possible questions. You may team up with 2-3 others to generate such questions. For broad areas like home state and district you classify the questions under categories like Historical/ Geographical/ Political/ Economic/ Social. This structured approach will help you in generating varied questions as well managing information.

Start looking for the answers from reliable sources like Government documents, authentic websites, college brochures etc. If possible just write down some pointers near the questions or just give reference to the answer source. Keep the sources ready in the form of printouts/paper clippings/softcopy etc. Be systematic; else be ready for nightmares towards the fag end when one finds it almost impossible to manage information. Prepare on your academic areas as well optional papers on similar lines. Get the basics right.

Once you are ready with your Mains form its time to move towards the second category – national/world happenings including science and technology, art, sports etc. Identifying the key areas for this section is also quite easy. For example – China Olympics/ Sub prime crisis/ Chandraayan/ Coral reefs/ Rural developmenmt/ Hybrid cars/ Judicial activism/ Kosovo/ AIDS/ Pakistan politics etc need to be prepared well. Sit as a group and generate such topics under some broad headings. Develop questions under each topic and be strong with the basics. Here again rely on authentic sources for information.

Don’t you think you are wasting your MBBS degree by opting for civil service?, As the PM's Special Economic Adviser what would be your take on balancing growth-inflation?, Whom would you prefer – an honest but inefficient officer or a corrupt but smart officer?, Why do you prefer IAS, is it because of the power and dowry it fetches you?, As a DM what would be your immediate and long term steps to curb naxalism in your district? Such questions fall under the third category. Generate many such questions, sitting with your group of friends. The answers do not need any help from external sources like the net, all answers are inside you. Probably you may speak with some seniors to get the process going. Just take time out, spend hours on such questions and develop a very clear thought process on issues like integrity/career preference etc. Unless one is ultra confident on such issues, it will not be very difficult for the panel to spot your weakness. Be careful!

While the third category can be prepared in the days after the results, the first two areas need more time and form the foundation. So get going….!

There is an interesting, very useful book “Interviews Redefined” by Sh.M.K.S.Sundaram. This book is a compilation of interviews of many civil servants. It can give you a very clear perspective about the nature of questions to be expected and more. My interview preparation started with this book; though I do not claim to have made some exceptional marks am kind of happy with my 195. Also go through "India after Indepedence" by Bipin Chandra, and "Development and Participation" by Amartya Sen/Jean Dreze. Need not memorise these books, but be selective and get your fundamentals clear.You may also check out Guhan, Anurag, Vivek.