Personal Interview in SSB has got the most weightage in the selection procedure. The Interviewing Officer who takes this interview is generally a high-rank officer (most of the time board president). There are different norms in different boards as to who takes the interview of whom. While in some boards president takes the interview of only fresher, yet in other he takes the interview of only repeaters, while in yet other boards there is no such obligation. Personal Interview is the shortest duration test that happens in SSB. While Psychological test lasts for two-two and a half hours, Group Testing may last for eight to ten hours. The Personal Interview lasts somewhere between 20 minutes to 90 minutes, for the maximum. So it is like you can ensure your chances in this short duration and get through the SSB Interview. Let us see what all is expected in a personal interview in SSB:
- Reasonable Confidence: You are there to get into the forces, where the people are full of beaming confidence. If you are not confident enough you can never be good leader. You must portray confidence from the way you talk, the way you sit and the way you walk. You should talk without hesitating while answering something, walk smartly and sit upright. If you are slouchy in your appearance then you look like an under confident chap. There is a thin line between confidence and over confidence, while the former is necessary, the latter may screw up all your chances of success.
- Basic Awareness: You are expected to be a candidate who has knowledge about their surroundings. You must be aware in general about what all is happening around you, in current affairs. You should know in depth about the people whom you are close to in life. Having a basic awareness shows that you are somebody who keeps his/her eyes and ear open.
- Self Awareness: Nobody can be truly intelligent until they have knowledge about themselves. It is very difficult to introspect your own personality and find out what all areas you are good in and in what all areas you lack. You can never become a complete person until you know yourself. So take time to determine your qualities. It is easy to criticize and correct somebody else, but takes courage to criticize and correct oneself.
- Honesty: This is the most important thing which is expected from a candidate, not only in Personal Interview, but in all tasks. You must be the same person as you portray in the PIQ. If you have not done something or you fill in wrong information in the PIQ, there are huge chances of you getting caught! So beware, if you lose this quality once, you can never regain it back.
- PIQ: You should fill the PIQ genuinely; never brag about anything in it. Write only the correct information as most likely your interview will be based largely on PIQ.
- Subject Knowledge: If you are applying for technical entry then it is a must to know the basic principles. Otherwise also, you should be able to answer simple question asked, based on the qualifying exam through which you are getting into the forces.
