UPSC looks for a few qualities in the potential Civil Servants. And the last stage i.e., the Interview aims at almost scrutinizing the candidate’s complete personality to find if he would be suitable to discharge all the duties of a Civil Servant in a manner justifiable to all or not.
What Does UPSC Interview Actually Make An Assessment Of?
The Union Public Service Commission conducts the Interview in a manner so that the complete personality of the candidate is assessed fairly. Thus, it is not an evaluation of your knowledge, but the assessment of your personality that counts more for the Interview. Besides, your knowledge has already been evaluated at the first two stages viz., the Prelims and the Mains for the Civil Services Exam.
What Does The UPSC Interview Actually Require In A Candidate’s Personality?
It is not for no reason that the Civil Services Exam Interview is known as the Personality Test. A Civil Servant is expected to have the kind of a personality that facilitates his use of knowledge and the entire information concerning a public issue in a manner so that he can be of use to alleviate the problems faced by the society at large.
Thus it’s evident that it is not the knowledge, but the manner in which the knowledge is used that is of paramount importance. And needless to say, the IAS Interview questions aims at assessing if your entire personality is suitable for the same or not.
Various Qualities That Enable You To Clear The Interview
The UPSC Interview usually comprises 5 members and lasts for almost half an hour, though the duration is not fixed. The Chairman of the board is always from the Union Public Service Commission. The point to be noted is that as already stated earlier, it is not what you know, but how you make use of your knowledge that actually counts.
So, needless to say, most of the questions are, what many of the candidates would term to be of general nature. However, the truth is that it is far from being an easy exercise to clear the Civil Services Exam Interview. There are many candidates who clear the Preliminaries and the Mains, but fail on the last stage.
And not being able to qualify the Interview would obviously render the entire effort you have made to clear the Prelims and the Mains simply futile. Thus, it is advisable to understand the UPSC Interview requirements and cultivate the very same qualities in your personality for the Interview is rightly called the Personality Test.
Here Are Some Of The Major Qualities That UPSC Would Look For In Your Personality When You Face The Interview:
1. How aware and alert you are? Well, when we say that UPSC has already made an assessment of your personality, kindly keep in mind that you can never do away with the Current Affairs till you have cleared all the three stages of the Civil Services Exam.
However, it is the manner that you opt for to make use of your knowledge of Current Affairs that will gain an upper hand in the Interview rather than the facts and the details. And apart from your approach to the Current Affairs, there is a lot that counts. For example, you might be asked about the number of the steps you had to climb while coming to the Interview room.
2. How would you approach a specific situation if taken unawares? Many of the candidates, even the most intellectual ones get unnerved and even panic if they are to face something all of a sudden. That is to say, if something unexpected presents itself. And of course, UPSC Interview would be asking questions to make sure whether you do opt for the right approach or not.
For example, you might be asked a loaded question. A loaded question might leave you with little opportunity to escape. What if you are asked if you have stopped cheating in the examinations? If you yes, that obviously implies that at some point of time, you might have been cheating. And if you say no, again, that also conveys that you have been making use of unfair means to clear the Exams.
And you have to opt for the right approach. It is how you respond that is of paramount importance for you might not have been expecting such a question(s).
3. Your ability to be confident without being arrogant: The moment you begin to lose confidence, you would not be able to answer in a logically convincing manner. Thus, you must retain your confidence, but without any kind of arrogance. Even if you are asked the type of questions that you feel are far from being usually asked in the Interviews, keep your cool, and retain your confidence while replying in a convincing manner. And it is this very trait of your personality that UPSC looks for in a candidate in the Interview.
4. Are you really unprejudiced? Moreover, apart from making the required use of your knowledge, rather than the knowledge itself (for UPSC is not looking for scholarly book writers, but efficient Civil Servants), you should take care not to turn personal at any point during the Interview. Whatever the question asked, it is always good to remember that a prejudiced mind can never take a decision in a manner that can be justifiable to the entire society.
Thus, opt for an approach that is free of any kind of prejudice. A prejudiced mind never makes an efficient Civil Servant. And to top it all, if you are ambitious enough to think of joining none other, but IAS, stay unprejudiced. With a biased mind, you would not be able to answer in a manner as a future IAS officer.
Conclusion
Thus, if you want to clear the Interview successfully, it’s best to keep in mind that there is no alternative to a positive approach to the critical and even surprisingly unexpected situations in life. And it is this very same aspect of your personality that UPSC Interview looks for in the candidates.
And last, but not the least, it is best not to allow any previous failure(s) (that is to say, if you have not been able to clear the Interview during the earlier attempts) lower your confidence. It always boosts your morale when you believe in yourself!
