Personal Interview is a key factor that decides your recommendation in the SSB Interview, SSB Interview questions and answers play a vital role in the assessment of the candidate. How to face the IO[ Interviewing officer] in the SSB PI[ SSB Personal Interview] is a major concern here, one wrong move can tarnish your image and reduce your chances to get recommended.

One must not take the PI as a formality, SSB Interview questions and answers sound very informal when compare to any other interview but they are designed to assess your overall quality as a person and helps to judge your suitability to become an officer in Indian Defence Forces. We will discuss the points you should keep in your mind to get the best impression in SSB Interview.

First Impression is the last Impression :

Let’s follow this saying in SSB Interview also, yes the first impression plays a vital role in the personal interview, it may do good or bad for you. To get the first impression as a good impression try to follow below-mentioned points:

• Dress neatly, wear formals for Personal Interview, avoided wearing something which makes you uncomfortable, if you find yourself smart in front of the mirror other will also find the same so have a comfortable outfit.
• Look out for the best color combination, wear light color clothes, do not wear a tie if you are not habitual to it , wearing a tie won’t put any additional impression but if you love to wear it then you must have it.
• Enter into the room showing all teeth, I mean to say go with a decent smile and wish the Interviewing officer, do not ask for permission to go inside, already you have been called inside.
• IO will ask you to sit, if he won’t then after waiting for 5secs you can sit on your own, it will show your confidence to take the action and self-decisions.

Body Language:

Once again, a very important point to keep in mind is to have decent body language during the whole interviewing process. Most of us forget about our body movements and postures while talking with someone; especially here the IO will have a total look at your body because he will be sitting 3-4 meters away from you, so avoid doing unnecessary yoga postures during PI.

• Sit straight and lean backward, utilize the chair to relax not to become panic. Avoid leaning forward while answering to questions or putting some stress on a particular answer, it also shows you’re not confident but nervous. You might have seen during the PPDT most of the candidates start leaning forward and sits on the edge of the chair, it shows your confidence level is less.
• You can use your hand while answering but make sure that hands should not start flying here and there , use them gently like a gentleman.
• Look at the IO while answering , he was also a candidate like you , why to become nervous in front of him , think as if your are talking to a friend who is interested to know about you to make friendship . Please avoid watching here and there, talk to the person sitting in front of you, take it as a challenge  and say yes I am ready to face you.

Communication  :

We know the importance of communication skills, here communication means the way you pass your answers to the IO, if you are very good at speaking English but whatever you said goes above the head of the IO then it is of no use on the other hand if you are not so fluent but the way you speak is convincing and shows that you are confident while answering then you hit the target. Candidates from cities are supposed to speak well in English, candidates from rural areas are also supposed to speak in English but IO may overlook their mistakes.

• Listen to the question first, think the answer for 2-3 secs and then say it, yes you can wait for some time to think before answering, no one asked you to speak as soon as IO stops. Think for 2-3 secs how and what you are going to say, it will help you to deliver the answer in a proper way with fewer mistakes.
• Being a repeater, you must know the common questions which are asked by the IO every time, do prepare them well before the PI. You can check SSB Interview questions and answers here.
• Speak softly and calmly, keep your voice  audible to the IO, do not raise the voice suddenly, try to speak normally with expression. Have you seen how  officers use to talk, yes, you got it now, follow that.

Listen First:

Yes, dear aspirants, being young blood we have decided not to listen to anyone and do our own, NOT HERE, listen to the IO carefully, do not assume a question like the way you want it to be or faced earlier. You may be answering the East when asked for West, just think how bad it will create your impression in PI.

• Listen to the question properly, wait for the IO to stop and then think and speak.
• Do not start thinking about an answer when the IO is asking questions, it won’t let you listen to the question properly and you will end up with saying the different answer.  Let the IO complete his words so that you won’t interfere in between.
• Ask IO to repeat the question if you missed it, and then answer it properly.

Be Open; But in a Limit:

IO wants to know about your personality and your personal life (to some extent), for that you may come across few questions which you would like to hide just because you think that it will create a negative impact on your PI. This thing is correct up to some limit, but you should be careful in choosing what to hide or what not to hide. IO is a well-experienced person sitting over there so be careful while holding a mask or trying to hide, you must be a genius in this.

• Try to speak what is asked by IO, do not put additional information, be to the point or else the IO will sleep off.
• Again I say think before answering, it will help you to decide what to say or what not to say.

Take the opportunity to ask Him :

Many IO provides you an opportunity to ask something, it could be anything. Take the chance and ask him something but make sure that you should not ask something very personal or irrelevant to SBB or Defence. Keep in mind that whatever you ask him also shows your own character and quality, IO may pick something from that too, so be sensible while asking something.