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- Commission is not looking for entrepreneurs, businessmen, traders, social activist, stock market traders for joining service, not is it looking for people who have worked across / touched diverse sectors without depth. World is full of such people who have done half of this and half of that, but nothing fully and with dedication so as to have tangible outcome.
- Candidates who are / or who show they are trainable, malleable, not frozen in mentality, and can adapt as per the job requirement, do well in the personality Test. Sometimes when commission can not find trainable people among older candidates , it is only incidental that younger get candidates get awarded better marks – not because of their age – but because they are simple in their approach, do not have too many feminist / ant-feminist / religious / patriarchal ideas. There is no problem having such ideas. There is a problem if you consider the Personality Test as a platform for dumping these ideas.
- Candidates who are able to apply common sense and basic logic to simple questions are awarded better marks than candidates who are high on CV, but low on common sense. However, Common sense, as the joke goes, is not so common.
- Candidates who keep it simple, do not overthink, and are straightforward , honest etc, can expect better marks compared to candidates who overthink, have convoluted thinking, give complex answers to simple questions.
- If you have ever appeared for the Interview before and have scored less marks, this is for you. The commission does not have express list of your past interview performance. If you have scored less marks in previous attempts, do not carry your marksheet in your mind to the personality test. The board will not. And not should you.
- Do not go to the interview with prejudices about what they may think of you based on your education, background, community or caste. Avoid “purvagrah”. Focus on things that are changeable. The board members are not judging you from your DAF, or where you are coming from. They will, however judge you from what you say and what you say.
- Candidates who give to-the-point answers score better than candidates who beat around the bush or dump a whole story when asked a simple question. What is the population of your home state or how many districts are there in Rajasthan is a number, and an opinion.
- While the interview is a personality test , unpreparedness or under-preparedness is a put off. You preparedness is not tested against the absolute knowledge of the board , but against your peers who may be more or less prepared than you.
- If we are unable to convince the board with few lines, by speaking more, we will not be able to further convince the board. We have to broadly state our position when asked, and not explain our position through an ocean of words. Remember, if you cannot satisfy the board with your answer in limited words, you will not be able to do so with an incessant speech.
- When we have answered a question to our satisfaction, we may keep quiet. Sometimes the board may keep quiet after our answer. We should not blabber just to fill that awkward silence of the room with our voice.
- It is often observed that people who know an answer speak just the answer, in short crisp words. When we don’t know an answer, we speak more and more just to conceal / camouflage lack of knowledge . Such unleashing / doing violence with words on someone’s ears is not rewarded.
- While filling your DAF, it is alright, if you do not have a couple of gold medals, have not played many sports or do not have hobbies. What is not alright, is having a hobby, and not answering questions on them, having worked in an NGO and having no idea about how NGOs work, having deep interest in Cricket, but not having a favourite /memorable cricketing moment.
- The Board does not judge you on how many achievements you have in the DAF. But you will be judged on how you well you handle the questions were the board to pose a question on it.
- Half the game in the personality test is in listening to the question properly. The other half is in answering or not answering it in a calm composed manner.
- Being under-confident is as bad as being over confident. The board is there to listen to your views. Speak what you must, and speak what you know. Do not speak what is not asked. I once asked a girl, who got 206 marks in her Personality Test, what worked for her. She said something, that is worth sharing – Jitna Puchha jaye utna hi bolo.
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