How to prepare for a GD

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GD or group discussion is a methodology followed by many corporate and Institution to find out how a person is. Even if you are bright in the topic and presents a lot of points than others  for the discussion, you won’t be selected always. Because for a GD, it’s not just the points what the panel sees but also lot of other factors like interpersonal skills, tolerance, body language, different way of thinking, listening skills, your creativity/ out of the box thinking, presentation and attitude

For jobs, GD’s are considered as an elimination round because of the crowd.  For a GD, A group consists of 10 to 15 people, A topic or a situation will be given , Candidates are given some time to think about it and then discuss the topic among themselves for some time. Topics can be anything like current affairs, politics, social issues or anything general or sometimes they can give dumb topics like RED or BLUE(this is one of the topic where you can make use of your creativity).

Here are some tips (DO’s and DONT’s) for a GD for effective participation, based on my experience.

• Speaking first won’t be good always, It’s a high risk high return method. If you know the topic properly you can speak first and give a good point that will add points for taking initiative to start. But be careful, if you are not sure about the point or if you are just bluffing. Panel considers that as negative
• Understand the topic clearly and then speak, One of the greatest advantages of GD is that even if you don’t have any knowledge on the topic you can gain some knowledge listening to what others say.
• Always keep a pen and paper with you and jot down the points
• When you speak keep an eye contact with other candidates don’t look at the panel or just one candidate
• Speak slowly and clearly using simple language and don’t speed up
• Panel doesn’t check your vocabulary so don’t use technical terms or jargon’s
• Listen to others when they speak
• Don’t speak always, give chance to others who has not yet spoke, that adds credit
• One of the most common mistake which I have seen is that some candidates thinks GD is a debate and they talk either for or against the topic, please keep in mind it’s not a debate and you should include both for and against points
• Don’t be rude to other candidates, panel will give you negative points if you do that
• Some candidates will go out of the topic when they speak so if we have to bring them back to the topic
• When a candidate tells a good point and you get a chance to speak after him/her. Don’t say you agree to the last point, that gives credit to the first candidate, You should appreciate his point and should use “I would like to add to that …..”
• Time is very important and there is some credit for the person who checks time and conclude the GD, summarizing the GD.
• Be cool always, If you are tensed then you can’t speak properly and panel can easily understand that you are tensed.
• If it’s possible before the GD, talk to other candidates and be friends with them, If you do that, it can have a positive effect while in discussion
• Quality matters and not Quantity. If you speak just two sentence and if it’s good, then that’s more than enough

Sometimes you may be disqualified for a GD, Don’t lose hope and always learn from your mistakes

Please feel to comment your ideas