How to clear Psychological Interviews at ISSB
The most important and confusing stage for a candidate is to clear the ISSB Psychologist Interview during his stay at ISSB. This is considered tough for many candidates because they have never been to an official interview before. In this article you will get information about what is a psychological test, who will conduct it, how it will be conducted, things asked in the interview, how to answer the questions and other useful tips and tricks.
What is an interview of psychologist in ISSB?
We have told you about the day of psychological tests earlier in our article How to Clear ISSB Psychological Test where different sorts of tests are performed and the true nature of a candidate is sorted out. These series of tests are then followed by a ISSB Psychologist Interview at the end of the day.
Who conducts the interview?
ISSB Psychologist Interview is conducted by a very expert psychologist. Sometimes there is another person in the room along with the interviewer who is basically the ‘observer’. His main role is just to observe you and the interview is conducted by the psychologist himself. All your facial expressions and gestures at the time of interview are observed by this observer. If there is just the psychologist in the room even then he will be observing you keenly.
The interviewer may be a male or a female but this is not revealed until you enter the room. It can happen that you are expecting a male psychologist but end up with a female one. In such cases, don’t just panic or give weird facial expressions to the interviewer.
The environment of interview taken by Psych :
Remember that this is not a job interview and you are not in a company’s waiting room. The environment in which you will be sitting will be different one. In a lounge there will be some seats for the candidates to wait for their turn. Set of 4-5 candidates will be asked to go in the lounge and they will be informed that in which interview room they have to go; this means that at the same day many psychologist are there to take interview as different candidates will enter different rooms to give the interview.
Once, you will be informed about the room you have to go, you will wait and look at the light/bulb placed higher at the door. If the light will blink (its light will be turned on for few seconds) this means that it is your turn to go and you will immediately go for your turn.
The important thing is to stay focused towards the light. It always blinks for 1 or 2 seconds. If you will miss your call to come, it will give a bad impression of you.
The main purpose of this light thing is to make candidate’s mind blank. Usually what we do before an interview is we make fake and unrealistic answers in our mind so that we can cram them in front of the interviewer. But this is ISSB and these people are far smarter than us. They don’t want any answers which are not real. They want the candidate to be fully focused somewhere else so that once you enter the room you are the real you without fake statements.
Time and Duration For the Interview:
The duration of ISSB Psychologist Interview is usually 5-10 minutes but this duration can be extended or limited (depends on the situation). There are many candidates whose interview was extended up to 20 minutes and there are also those who got free in just 5-6 minutes. This depends on the sort of your nature and the way psychologist is interested to probe the real you.
Also Read About: ISSB Interview Questions
Questions asked in ISSB Psychological Interview:
There is a list of main things which are asked by the psychologist in the psychological interview. These questions will be related to:
1. Expression
2. Daily activities
3. Friends
4. About sentences
5. Ideal personality
6. Logical questions
7. Good and bad things/Merits or Demerits
8. Events of life
9. Sex related questions
10. Emotional questions
Detailed explanation of things asked in the Psychologist interview:
The list mentioned above is the frequently used sequence of questions asked by a psychologist in ISSB Psychologist Interview. The tips to tackle these questions are given below with detailed explanation and examples.
1. Expression
The first thing which is quickly observed by the psychologist is your expression. It is obvious and totally normal to be nervous but this nervousness should not take over you. While waiting for your turn and watching the light to blink your heart may pound fiercely and you may think not to miss this light otherwise it will give a false impression. No matter whatever thought consumes you, believe in yourself and be confident. This interview is not going to decide whether you will live or die and thousands of candidates have gone through the same situation before.
As soon as you enter the room, give the real confident face of yours with a mild smile on your face. Do not panic by seeing the interviewer. If he forwards his hand for a hand shake do it, otherwise do not try to be over smart by doing this on your own.
Never sit on your own on the seat. Instead, wait for the interviewer to allow you to sit down. Apart from this, do not try to look at the room environment or the pictures hanging on the walls or things placed on the table. This will give a bad impression. You must seem focused towards the psychologist with a good expression.
2. Daily activities:
The next thing asked will be a general question about your daily activities. Most of the time the interviewer asks about the days spent at the ISSB Center. Tell them what they want to know. If you have any complain living at ISSB do not tell them because it is not good to start complaining by living for a short period of time.
If your normal routine is asked do tell them about it but avoid habits which can lead to your rejection like too much hangouts, no good habits, etc. they may ask about simple things from you like what do you do? What are you studying? What do you like the most? What are your favorite places? And so on.
3. About Your Friends:
The next thing usually asked in the ISSB Psychologist Interview is about your friends. The simple question is how many friends do you have? Do not tell them that you have 1000 friends on face book and 2000 followers on twitter. They are not asking about your social media friends. Do not even tell that you don’t have friends or have just 1 friend.
In both of the cases the impression will be wrong. They don’t need neither a person who is too much socialized nor a person who is anti-social or introvert. Normally people have 10-12 very good friends out of which 1 are the close one. This is the normal behavioral pattern. Do tell this instead of your face book friends.
Sometimes, they ask about your best friend and the good or bad thing about your best friend. Basically your best friend is a person whose nature and mentality matches your own that is why you are close to that person. If such a thing is asked from you this means that basically they are probing the good or bad thing in you. Any bad habit of your friend may also be your bad habit same is the case with the good one.
Do not try to manipulate the question by saying your friend don’t have any bad habit or bad thing because this is against human nature. Every person has a good or bad side and the person in front of you is an expert.
4. About sentences:
Before giving a psychological interview you will have to pass certain tests like word formation, sentence completion test etc. whatever you will write in these tests will be asked by the psychologist. Each written test will be in front of the interviewer and he knows the answer you have given in those tests, he will ask the same question to see what you answer.
For example in the ISSB Word Association Test you have written “the girl is beautiful” for the word “girl” or “the girl is talkative”. In the interview the same thing will be asked from you in a different way like h can say “What are your views about a girl?” so here you have to stick what you have written in the test. More questions may also arise by the answer you give to probe you more.
5. Ideal Personality:
The next thing asked by the psychologist will be about your favorite personality. This question is tricky in a way that they want to see what kind of personality you adore and gets inspiration from. If you will say that your ideal personality is Aliya Bhatt or Fawad Khan you will not have a good impression.
Actually an ideal personality is one who has touched your heart from his deeds and who is the source of inspiration for you. They are not asking about the celebrities but the one whom rules and guidelines you follow and want to be like him.
For example, one can say that my ideal personality is General Raheel Shareef. The immediate question asked by the psychologist will be why he is your favorite? Different people have different reasons to like him. Like mine is he is leading the army in a very different and effective way and has better strategies in the battle field than any other General.
Similarly, in ISSB different candidates have given different personalities name like:
• Raheel Sharif
• Abdul Qadeer Khan
• Muhammad Ali
6. Logical Questions:
Other than probing your true nature, your intelligence will also be tested. The psychologist will ask simple logical questions like any mathematical question to solve; he may ask how long is the wall beside you, or the length of the table in front of you.
If you know the exact answer of the question asked do not answer rapidly instead answer after a pause of 3, 4 seconds. For example, if it is asked that what is 24*8=? Then don’t answer 192 abruptly, besides take a pause and then answer. As I have mentioned earlier that they don’t need extra ordinary or just below average person, the one which is going to select will be simple ordinary person.
7. Good and Bad Thing (Merits or Demerits):
This is a must thing asked in an ISSB Psychologist Interview. They will say to tell about any good or bad thing in you. Of course you can’t say that I don’t have a bad habit in me because it is against human nature. Nobody is perfect in this world and is born with some flaws. You have to be honest with them if a bad thing about you is asked.
Sometimes they ask the good and bad thing of your best friend but actually they are probing the factors in you. If you will cram these answers you will be caught immediately because the interviewer is expert.
8. Events of life:
Remember we have told you in our previous articles that when you will enter the ISSB centre you will have to fill out a bio data form. In that bio data form there will be portion about incident of life. This incident of life may be good one or bad one. In the interview, you will be asked the same question but the process will be verbal now. The interviewer may ask the best moment of your life, worst moment, shocking incident, unforgettable moment, etc. for deep and detailed explanation of “events/incident of life” check out How to fill ISSB Bio data form.
9. Sex related Questions at ISSB:
The part where majority of the candidates are reluctant to answer is the sex related questions. In this section the psychologist ask blunt questions from you to check your mentality and patience level. The deep details about sex related questions can be get from our article Sex Related Questions at ISSB Interviews.
10. Emotional questions:
Emotional questions are asked to know the emotional stability of the candidate. This is necessary because they are in search of emotionally stable officers rather than disturbed and mentally ill ones. He may ask you different questions like what if someone slaps you on your face. If you will answer that I will calm down and first ask him why did you slap me then believe me you are doing the wrong thing. It is not in human nature that if somebody slaps you, you will be calm or behave well with that person, you will panic and get hyper at him immediately. So don’t try to fool the psychologist he will know y our fake or made up answer. Just be the real you instead of faking the answers.
Tips and Tricks to Pass ISSB Psychologist Interview:
• Follow the formal dress code.
• Use good cologne.
• Be presentable.
• Have a good facial expression.
• Do not miss the blinking light.
• Do not sit without the interviewer permission.
• Shake hands if the interviewer seems to do so.
• Do not see the pictures on the walls or observe the items on the table.
• Speak the language in which you are comfortable like English or Urdu.
• Speak clearly and be audible to the interviewer.
• Do not cram your answers.
• Do not give fake or unrealistic answers.
• Be the real you and be confident.
• Think a little before answering. Don’t give abrupt answers.
• If you are unable to give answer say NO/YES instead of extra words for example sorry sir, can you repeat the question.
• If you are unable to give answer of question do not panic just say sorry and stop giving them exaggerated answers.
• During the interview first understand the question the give the answer.
• During the interview do not blame government and official of government.
• Do not be shy on adult questions.
• Last but not least, trust Allah Almighty. He knows what is best for you.
We hope this article is useful for you and will be helpful in getting through ISSB Psychologist Interview easily. Comment or contact us for any query and let us know how you like this piece of information.
