A candidate's most crucial step is to clear the ISSB Psychologist Interview during his stay at ISSB. This is a challenge to many candidates because they have never been to an official interview before. You will learn what a psychological test is, who conducts it, how it is conducted, things they ask during the interview, how to answer the questions, and other helpful tips and tricks.
In our article How to clear ISSB Psychological test, we have told you about the day of psychological tests in which a series of tests are conducted to determine one's true nature. These tests are then followed by an interview with a psychologist at the end of the day.A psychologist conducts the ISSB psychologist interview. Sometimes there is another person in the room with the interviewer who basically acts as an observer. His main role is just to observe you and the interview is conducted by the psychologist himself.
All your facial expressions and gestures during the interview are monitored by this observer. Even if the psychologist is in the room, he will be watching you intently.📷Typically, the gender of the interviewer is not revealed until you enter the room. Thus, you may be expecting a male psychologist and end up with a female one. In such cases, don't panic or give weird facial expressions.Remember that this is not a job interview and you are not sitting in company's waiting room. The environment in which you will sit is completely different. In a lounge there will be some seats for candidates to wait for their turn.
There will be 4-5 candidates scheduled to go in the lounge, and they will be told which interview room they need to go; this means that on the same day many psychologists will be taking interviews as different candidates will enter different rooms for the interview.If a light blinks (its light will be turned on for a few seconds) at the door, it means that it's your turn to go, and you will go there immediately.It is important to stay focused towards the light, as it always blinks for a few seconds. If you will miss your call to come, it will give a negative impression of you.
Questions Asked in ISSB Psychological Interview
A list of questions are asked during the psychological interview by the psychologist. These questions include:
- Expression
- Daily activities
- Friends
- About sentences
- Ideal personality
- Logical questions
- Good and bad things/Merits or Demerits
- Events of life
- Sex related questions
- Emotional questions
Above is the list of questions frequently asked by psychologists in ISSB Psychologist Interviews.
1. Expression
Observation by the psychologist usually involves your expression. It is natural and normal to be nervous, but this nervousness should not take control of you. Your heart may pound fiercely while waiting for your turn, and you may consider not to miss the light for fear of giving a wrong impression. Don't let your thoughts consume you. Believe in yourself and be confident.
The interview is not going to determine whether you live or die, and thousands of candidates have been through a similar situation before.The moment you enter the interview room, present a confident face with a slight smile on your face. Don't panic once you see the interviewer. Shake his hand if he offers it, otherwise don't overdo it.Do not sit alone on the seat. Allow the interviewer to sit down for you. Do not try to look at the room or the pictures on the walls or things on the table. This will give a bad impression. You must remain focused towards the psychologist with a happy expression.
2. Daily Activities
The next question is a general one about your daily activities. Usually, the interviewer will ask about your days at ISSB.Do be honest about your daily routine, but avoid habits that are detrimental like too many hangouts, no good habits, etc. They may ask about simple things like what do you do? What are you studying? What are your favorite places? And so on.
3. Friends
The next question usually asked will be about your friends. You do not need to tell them you have 1000 friends on Facebook and 2000 followers on Twitter. They are not asking about social media friends. Do not even share that you have no friends or only have one friend.They don’t need neither an introvert nor an introvert. Normally people have 10-12 very good friends out of which one is close to them. This is a normal behavioral pattern.
Tell this instead of your face book friends.Usually, they'll ask about your best friend and the good or bad thing about your best friend. Basically, your best friend is someone whose mentality and nature matches your own, so you are close to them. In asking you this, the person is probing for your good or bad habit. Anything your friend does that is bad for you may also be your bad habit, and vice versa.Try not to manipulate the question by saying your friend has no bad habits or bad things because this is against human nature. Every person has a good side as well as bad side and the person in front of you is an expert.
4. About Sentences
A psychological interview begins when you are required to pass some tests, like word formation, sentence completion tests etc. What you write in these tests will be examined by the psychologist. Each test will be administered face to face in front of the interviewer and he knows what you have answered.For example, in the ISSB Word Association Test, you wrote “the girl is beautiful” for the word “girl” or “the girl is talkative”. The same question would be asked of you at the interview differently, so here you must stick to what you wrote in the test. More questions may arise based on your answer in order to probe you further.
5. Ideal Personality
Next, the psychologist will ask you about your favorite personality. This question is kind of tricky since they intend to see what kind of personality you appreciate and find inspiring. If you said that your ideal personality is Aliya Bhatt or Fawad Khan, you would not make a good impression.Ideal personalities, as they are known, are those who have touched your heart with their good deeds and are a source of inspiration for you.
They are not asking about celebrities but rather a person whose rules and guidelines you follow and want to be just like him.Is General Raheel Shareef my ideal personality? The psychologist might ask you this question - "Why?" Individuals have different reasons for being fond of him - like the fact that he led the army in a quite effective way and has better strategies than any other general.Similarly, different candidates have given different personalities names like:
- Raheel Sharif
- Abdul Qadeer Khan
- Muhammad Ali
6. Logical Questions
A psychologist will also test your intelligence. He may ask simple logical questions, such as how long is the wall beside you, or how long is the table in front of you.For example, if it is asked what is 24*8=? Then don’t answer 192 immediately. Instead, take a few seconds to pause and then answer. We have mentioned earlier that they do not need extraordinary or just under average person, the one they will select will be a simple ordinary person.
7. Good and Bad Thing (Merits or Demerits)
You need to answer honestly if they ask you about your bad habit, because that is against human nature. Nobody is perfect in this world and is born with some flaws. You must be honest with them if you are asked about a bad habit.They often ask about the good and bad things about your best friend, but in reality, they are probing you as the candidate. If you cram those answers in your mind, you will be caught right away because the interviewer is an expert.
8. Events of life
In our previous articles, we have told you that when you will enter the ISSB centre, you will fill out a bio-data form. On that bio-data form, you will fill in a question about an incident of your life. This incident may be good or bad. Interviewer may ask you the best moment in your life, worst moment, shocking incident, unforgettable moment, etc. for detailed explanation of “incident of life” check out How to fill ISSB Biodata form.
9. Sex related Questions at ISSB
Most candidates tend to be reluctant to answer sex related questions, in which the psychologist asks blunt questions to check your mentality and patience. More details about sex related questions can be found in our Sex Related Questions at ISSB Interviews article.
10. Emotional questions
Emotional questions are asked to know the emotional stability of the candidate. This is important because they wish to hire emotionally stable officers rather than disturbed and mentally ill ones. He may ask you questions like what if someone slaps you on the face.You are doing the wrong thing if you answer that I will calm down and ask why did you slap me? It is not in human nature to be calm or behave well with someone if they slap you, you will immediately panic and get angry. Therefore, do not try to fool the psychologist - he will know your made-up answers. Just be the real you instead of faking the answers.
