Logic Vs Emotion: What would you use in an interview? Logic continues to surpass academic merit tweaking interview situation.

By Akash Shukla

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Procrastination is not the cusp of perfection. The former may lead to indolence in interviewee and perplexity in the interviewer. Market is vast and its needs are diverse. People with different buying needs exhibit variation in purchase behavior. It's not about right or wrong. Actually, it never was. Since time immemorial, it has always been about the ability to implement and execute; market the product to get the traction until someone sweats you out with a new maxim. Logic is the only available answer to dilemma in the entrepreneurial world!

A good set of degrees may get you to the interviewer's threshold but the final nail in the coffin is "present wit' as it will help you sail through your interview dilemma. Sample this…

(Ram, an IT professional who has just cleared his final qualifications with flying colors, goes for an interview in a software company and meets his prospective employer Shiv, a grubby old man)

Shiv: Are you good at logic?

Ram: Of course, I am.

Shiv: Fine! Then, let me test you! Two men come down a chimney; one comes out with a clean face and the other turns up with a dirty face. Who will wash his face?

Ram stares at Shiv: Is this a test in logic? Shiv nods in agreement.

Ram: Obviously, the one with the dirty-looking face washes first.

Shiv: Apparently not. The one with the clean face washes first. Behold the simple logic. The one with the dirty face stares at the one with the clean face and thinks his face is clean. The person with clean face looks at the person with the dirty face and thinks his face is dirty. So, the one with the clean face washes his face.

Ram: Perhaps. I never thought of that. Give me another test, will you?

Shiv raises both hands and says: Two men come down a chimney; first person comes out with a clean face and the second person comes out with a dirty face. Who will wash his face?

Ram: We have already solved this conundrum! The one with the clean face washes his face.

Shiv: Wrong. Each one washes one's face. Understand the plain logic! The one with the dirty face looks at the one with the clean face and thinks his face is clean. The person with the clean face looks at the person with the dirty face and thinks his face is tacky. So, the one with the clean face washes his face. When the one with the dirty face sees the one with the clean face washing his face, he also washes his face. So each one washes one's face!

Ram: I didn't think of it like that! It's shocking to me that I could make an error in logic. Test me again!

Shiv holds up two fingers this time and says: Two men come out of a chimney. One comes out with a clean face and the other comes out with a dirty face. Who will wash his face?

Akash Shukla

Former Sr. Features Writer, Entrepreneur India

With four years of journalistic and editorial experience from two leading English dailies, namely, The Pioneer and Hindustan Times, Akash dabbles in Applied Linguistics and mainstream journalism. His interests include book writing, travelogues, Gender Studies and Shaivism. The author is a senior features writer cum sub editor at 'Entrepreneur Online' and has a dual masters in journalism and English Language Teaching (ELT).

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