Viva: the art of selling yourself

BCS + IBA

• The truth is, there’s no real pattern to viva exams. Viva marks do matter, and I’ve given this kind of viva in two places so far: IBA viva and BCS viva. I was at the IBA viva board for 18-20 minutes, and 4-5 minutes for BCS. How long they kept you there, what they asked, what you could answer, what you couldn’t—these things aren’t as crucial as people think. All’s well that ends well.
• It seems to me that viva is far more subjective than it is objective. What does our experience tell us? Sometimes when you see certain people, you have to calculate every word before speaking. And sometimes when you see others, you feel like giving them a couple of good slaps. If you can’t, it feels somehow uncomfortable. When giving your viva, remember that no one is obligated to give you a job. You’re not indispensable either. For doing well in viva, preparedness matters more than preparation. Everyone practices, yet the century goes to Tendulkar’s account. Whether that day belongs to you or not—that’s largely determined by your luck.
• What you know is far less important than what impression I get about your knowledge. Generally, within the first 20 seconds of seeing a person, an impression forms about them—it can be positive or negative. Use this to your advantage. You will never get a second chance to make the first impression. You can’t tell everyone everything, nor do you feel like it. When you see some people, you want to ask them how the Taj Mahal continues to bear witness to love; when you see others, you want to ask about the number of bricks in the Taj Mahal. Some people’s appearance and attitude make you want to ask about the length of the Padma River, while from others you want to hear stories of floating in boats on the Padma’s breast, touching moonlight, or tales of walking hand-in-hand with a lover on the Padma’s banks. Or something else entirely—things that require no knowledge to tell, yet can convey everything very easily. Sell yourself. Convince them why it would be better to give you the job rather than someone else. Wipro’s example. Two examples from BCS Foreign Affairs viva.
• Those who sit on viva boards are truly much more experienced and expert. They understand very well what you’re saying and what you’re hiding. Cheating is an art. Catch me if you can! A clever man knows how to cheat, an intelligent man knows how to make others let him cheat. I was asked questions from literature! Why?
• Experience says there are at least a hundred techniques for doing well in viva, not one of which works. What you’ll accumulate will be less useful than what’s already in store. Present yourself as you are, but beautifully. Don’t listen to or do anything that breaks your confidence or prevents you from being yourself.
• There’s only one rule in civil service: Obey or Leave! In other jobs too, what is, is the rule; not what should be. You won’t be given a job to create revolution. Whatever your mindset, prove that you can adapt to the institution’s needs. Those who sit on the viva board are your bosses for that time. You are by no means smarter than your boss. You cannot have any ego clashes with your boss. Save all your ego battles for your beloved.
• The things I think are observed in viva boards—
• Positive Attitude
• Body Language
• Mental Maturity
• Ready Wit
• Thought Clarity
• Decent Appearance
• Etiquette
• Common sense
• Cool Temperament
• English Fluency
• Situation Handling Capability
• Analytical Skill
• You won’t be nervous—that’s impossible. You will be. Leave some responsibility for overcoming that to the situation. In my case, nervousness helped me get good marks. Let me tell the story. Another incident from BCS Police viva. A knife kills. Well, a knife saves too!
• If you’re mistreated in the viva board, don’t take it personally. Everything done here has a purpose behind it—to judge you. Incident from BCS Admin viva.
• Maintain eye contact during viva. Looking elsewhere while talking serves no purpose. Besides, this is necessary to gauge the examiners’ instant expressions.
• There’s no rule that if BCS Foreign Affairs is your first choice, the viva will be in English. Many from Foreign Affairs became cadres after giving more than 50% of their viva in Bengali. My first choice was Customs, yet 85% of my viva was in English.
• It’s better not to study for viva when going to give it or just before entering. It increases nervousness. The biggest difference between those who become cadres after giving viva and those who don’t is—luck!
• Talk to those who have given viva before, get a fair idea about what types of questions are asked. Instead of answering the way everyone does, arrange your answer a bit differently within yourself. Presentation matters! Try to read the mind of the interviewer. More important than what you want to say is whether you can say what they want to hear. It’s not what you said, but how you said it that matters. Hiding is an art. Learn euphemism. For instance, if you’re asked to mention a weakness of yours, answer in a way that doesn’t show anything too negative about you. (I was asked this at IBA) Or when asked about some problems in Bangladesh, try to mention things for which initiatives have already been taken.
• Try to speak positively about your family, previous job, career prospects, etc. If you suddenly feel lost, pause and think, then answer slowly. Don’t move your hands, neck, or eyes in a distracting manner while speaking.
• If someone else asks a question while you’re answering another, you must take permission from the first questioner before answering the subsequent question.
• You can listen to Ted Talks occasionally, job interviews available on YouTube and many sites. You can listen to BTV’s 10 PM English news. Listen to CNN, Al Jazeera. You can watch American accent movies with subtitles on. Practice English conversation with a friend occasionally. But never do this with a pedant who only points out mistakes.
• Keep an eye on newspapers for the week before your viva date. Have a good understanding of current affairs, liberation war, and yourself.
• Sometimes not showing smartness is smartness. The first impression created after seeing you largely determines your viva pattern. Present yourself as a gentleman/lady.
• Never argue about any topic in the viva board. Boss is always right!
• Any viva exam has two types of questions. One: Informative. Two: Non-informative… Usually, examiners emphasize more on the style of answering the second type. In viva, there’s nothing like getting so much right means getting so many marks—there’s no segmented marking in viva; rather, marks are given based on overall performance. Just because you can answer many questions doesn’t mean you’ll get many marks.
• When answering in English, if you notice any mistake in your words, don’t stop to correct it. Words are like arrows—once shot, trying to stop them will bloody your hands. Perhaps the examiners didn’t even notice your mistake. Why tell them yourself? People make more mistakes from the fear of not being able to speak English than from actually not knowing English. Avoid regionalism in speech as much as possible.
• Have a fair idea about civil service, your subject, first and second choice of cadre. Keep ready an answer for why you want the job. For IBA, keep ready an answer for why you want to do MBA. Giving the answer correctly is more important than giving the correct answer.
• Don’t worry too much about what you don’t know. Maybe you won’t even be asked about it. And if you are asked and can’t answer, so what? If viva had more marks allocated for answering questions, many parrot-types would get jobs.
• Show yourself as an enthusiastic listener. Maintain a gentle expression that would make it painful to scold you. This really works.
• Don’t forget to greet with a smile when entering and thank with a smile when leaving. Impressions about you form when meeting you and when you take leave. You can prepare for non-informative questions on the internet. Like: Imagine You… Inquiries About Your Personal Life… Sometimes you can try answering as someone else.

Let the discussion end with stories…

First Story:

A crow was sitting lazily on a high branch of a tree, doing nothing. Just then, a rabbit was passing by that way. The rabbit asked the crow, “Brother, can I also sit under this tree doing nothing like you?” The crow said, “Of course you can!” So the rabbit did just that.

A little while later, a fox was passing by that way. Seeing the rabbit sitting there, the fox quickly grabbed and ate it.

What’s the lesson of this story? The lesson is: when you’re sitting on such a high perch that no one can touch you, then you can sit with arms and legs folded. But before that, you must work hard to earn the qualification to sit on that perch. Think about which perch you’re sitting on now.

Second Story:

A small bird was fleeing Siberia to escape the harsh winter. Suddenly the bird froze solid and dropped to the ground like a chunk of ice. Some time later, a cow walking down that path defecated on the bird. After a while, the warmth of the dung melted all the ice from the bird’s body. The bird then began singing joyfully. A cat sitting nearby heard the song, pulled the bird out of the dung, and devoured it.

What are the lessons of this story?

# The first lesson is: Not everyone who drops shit on you is your enemy. This means that those who heap dirt upon us—who scold and criticize us—are not all our enemies; many of them genuinely wish us well. This group includes our parents, seniors, and teachers.

# The second lesson is: Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend. This means there are many who extend their hand claiming to rescue us from trouble, only to plunge us into even greater peril. This group includes those great pundits around us who say, “What’s the point of taking the BCS exam? Do something else instead,” or declare, “You’ll never pass the BCS.” I believe: If you cannot help a person to do something, you have no right to demoralize him/her saying that he/she cannot do it.

# I think the third lesson is the most important: When you are in the shit, always keep your mouth shut!! This means when you are in trouble, always keep your mouth closed. Success talks the loudest. Success can buy silence. Your success can silence everyone. Therefore, throw down the gauntlet to yourself—not to others.

No easy day, the only easy day was yesterday

 Good Luck!

Question and Answer Session

“The Story Of My Life-

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—. I took the one less traveled by,. And that has made all the difference.” ~ Robert Frost ‘The Road Not Taken’

“Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.”~ Forrest Gump

“Don’t ever let someone tell you, you can’t do something. Not even me. You got a dream, you got to protect it. People can’t do something themselves, they want to tell you you can’t do it. You want something, go get it. Period.”  Will Smith (The Pursuit of Happyness, Film)