SSB Interview II Importance of Board Conference

Board Conference.   In SSB Board, three independent assessors, namely GTO, Psychologist and Interviewing Officer carry out the independent assessment of demonstrated OLQs by a candidate through Tasks, Tests and your Personal Interview. Board conference is the first time, where they meet to discuss the overall performance of an candidate in terms of demonstrated OLQs during the SSB Interview.

 Importance of Board Conference.    Each assessor, namely GTO, Psychologist and Interviewing Officer make an earnest endeavour to examine and arrive at the true personality of candidate by means of various techniques, however there are certain blind spots and therefore, the board conference becomes very important to reassess the candidates which are the borderline cases, where there is no unanimous decision by the board, whether to recommend the candidate or not.

Assessor’s Perspective.      Techniques employed by three assessors has certain strengths & weaknesses. To elaborate further, few examples in general:-

OLQ’s – Courage & Physical Stamina, ability to influence the group, Speed of Decision etc can be more comprehended by the GTO.

OLQ – Intelligence and Reasoning Ability, Social Factor and Initiative, can be more comprehended by the Psychologist. 

OLQ - Sense of Responsibility, Social Adaptability, Motivation and Insight can be more comprehended by the Interviewing Officer as has access to the complete background of a candidate since childhood through your PIQ.

Reassessment by the Board.   Before the assessors come for the conference they have no knowledge of the assessment by the others. Experienced assessors have total faith in the other assessment techniques and benefit from the inputs of the other assessors to assess a candidate more comprehensively.

In case there are divergent views wrt to demonstrated OLQ’s of a candidate, the board members discuss amongst themselves to arrive at conclusion. In case of borderline cases and where an individual assessor has divergent views to candidate personality, he asks certain questions to candidate to make quick reassessment.

Questions Asked - Perspective of Candidates.  From the candidate perspective, the following aspects are crucial and relevant.

General Questions.    Where your final assessment has already been made and all assessors are in consensus. The board in such scenarios exchange the pleasantries with candidate and the Presiding Officer of the Board ask general and courtesy questions and these have no relationship with your reassessment by the board.

·          How was your stay?

·          How do you rate your performance? Or how have you performed?

·          How many friends you made?

·          Which all places did you visit?

·          Any suggestions for improvement?

·          Which Test or Task you like the most?” are just courtesy questions and have no relationship with assessment.

Particular Pinpointed Questions.    In case you are asked a particular and pinpointed question either by any of the assessors in terms of response to some situation, it means that either a particular assessor wants to highlight one or many of your OLQ to others assessors or making reassessment of his judgement. In such scenarios, your response to this situation gains significance.

Candidate’s Approach of Board Conference.    In general, and most of the time, conference is of little consequence for a candidate because the assessment stage is already over. However, candidate should approach the conference with grace and attempt to answer the questions asked with right demeanor and emerge as pleasing and positive personality.

Wishing You Success

Jai Hind