Munira.Lokhandwala
This is that time of the year when CAT aspirants become IIM aspirants i.e. the focus shifts from entrance exams to group discussion and personal interview. Between the two, the personal interview carries more weightage and requires more preparation. Here we will focus on how to prepare for your personal interview.
Interview discussions generally involve questions on personal goals, work experience, academics, hobbies and current affairs. During the interview, having clarity of thoughts is far more important than answering these questions. So striking a good balance among the various areas should be the objective of your interview preparation.
Personal
Knowing yourself is the most important part of your interview preparation. It is not acceptable if a candidate cannot answer questions based on his/her own personality. It would give an impression of an immature or “self – unaware” person. A candidate hence needs to do a lot of soul searching on questions like: “Why MBA?”, Strengths and Weaknesses, Examples of Leadership abilities, long term/ short term goals.
Projecting a consistent personality demands clarity of thoughts. So the best and easiest way to manage this is to be honest with you.
Avoid saying something like “I do not have any weakness” as it is obviously an overstatement; such an answer implies either an arrogant person or a misinformed person and the panel would not want either.
Sometimes, introspection becomes quite tricky as various qualities may coexist in bits. One should always consider the dominant quality. In such cases, feedbacks from friends and colleagues can be quite effective. Try to supplement your answers with at least two relevant examples while preparing; so that during an interview you are not unnerved if the interviewer asks you for another example. It brings additional coherency in your thoughts.
Quite a few interviews start with “Tell us something about yourself.” please refrain from giving a summary of what is already written in your form / resume. Try to use this question to lead the interview into your comfort zones. For example, if you are an avid reader then you could speak about the influence of your favorite books on your character.
Work Experience
If you have been working for more than six months then questions on your work experience will play a role during your interview. The obvious areas of questioning are work profile, your projects, organization chart of your company and where you fit in. You should be able to give some examples of team work and leadership from your employment.
You must also focus on the macro picture of your experience in the corporate life. What it has taught you? What kind of mistakes have you made? How it has influenced to make choices in specialization for your MBA? How you have influenced the goals of your department / company? Along with this, you should also do some home work on the industry in which your company operates the history of your company, the culture of your company / industry, etc.
Academics
If you have been working for less than 2 years then you are still supposed to remember some aspects of your education. Sounds pretty scary, considering that a lot of us do not know what we are studying even when we are studying it. Do not worry; you do not need to study everything, ensure that you know the basics of all the subjects that you have studied. A good barometer would be curriculum till higher secondary. You should also have one or two favorite subjects (If you do not have one, pick one); for these subjects you should know your curriculum and maybe a little bit more in-depth.
Hobbies
Ideally, hobbies should be the area of your comfort and can really make interviews quite interesting as they can clearly make a distinction between you and the rest. Most IIM graduates possess influential hobbies like reading, playing some sports, (watching sports does not count unless you are a walking sports encyclopedia), dramatics, photography, trekking etc. Watching movies and listening to music do not count as hobbies unless you can discourse on topics like directorial styles or history of various genres of music. Not having a hobby is certainly negative; but worse is getting grilled for a cited hobby when you do not have one.
General Knowledge / Current Affairs
General Knowledge can be a really vast topic. However, this should not stop you from having opinions on current affairs. Familiarize yourself with the issue by reading magazines, blogs, and newspapers. Back your opinions with facts and justifications. Common knowledge like the capital of some countries should be known. Prepare for GK only if you have the time and have finished preparing for all the other areas.
Be systematic regarding your preparation, make a check list of what you do not know and work with it. If you are organized, you will definitely do well in your interview. Best of Luck!
Commonly asked questions
Personal
Background
Tell me about yourself.
What would you like me to know about you that is not on your resume?
What are the three most important events of your life?
What was an experience in your life that you would want to go back and change?
Self Description
How would your friends describe you?
Give me three words to describe yourself.
Goals
What new goals have you established for yourself recently?
What are your five to ten year career goals?
What are the attributes of an ideal job for you? If you could do “it” all over again, what would you do differently?
Values
What does “success” mean to you?
What does “failure” mean to you?
Which is more important to you: money or the type of job?
Who do you admire? Why?
Management / Leadership Style
Define leadership.
Tell me about a time when you successfully resolved a conflict.
Give me an example of a leadership role you have held when not everything went as planned.
What two attributes are most important in your job?
How do you feel about working overtime?
Strengths / Weaknesses and Skills
What are your strengths/ weakness?
Give me an example of something that you have done that shows initiative.
What makes you stand out among your fellow students?
Have you ever had any failures? What did you learn from them?
How do you feel about working in a structured environment?
In what kind of work environment do you do your best work?
What kinds of tasks and responsibilities motivate you the most?
Education
Why did you decide to get an MBA?
Why IIMA? (Or whichever institute you are being interviewed in.)
What made you decide to major in ____?
What electives have you taken? Which did you enjoy the most?
What college classes did you like the least? Why?
Extra Curriculars
What extra-curricular school activities are you involved in?
What have you learned from your activities?
What is your favorite book/movie/song/painting or author/actor/singer/artist?
Which magazines/newspapers do you read regularly? Which books have you read recently?
Job / Company / Industry
What do you know about your company?
What do you predict is going to happen in this industry in the next 5 years?
Do you know who your competitors are?
What interests you most about this position? What parts of the job do you think you would find the least satisfying?
What concerns you about your company?
This is that time of the year when CAT aspirants become IIM aspirants i.e. the focus shifts from entrance exams to group discussion and personal interview. Between the two, the personal interview carries more weightage and requires more preparation. Here we will focus on how to prepare for your personal interview.
Interview discussions generally involve questions on personal goals, work experience, academics, hobbies and current affairs. During the interview, having clarity of thoughts is far more important than answering these questions. So striking a good balance among the various areas should be the objective of your interview preparation.
Personal
Knowing yourself is the most important part of your interview preparation. It is not acceptable if a candidate cannot answer questions based on his/her own personality. It would give an impression of an immature or “self – unaware” person. A candidate hence needs to do a lot of soul searching on questions like: “Why MBA?”, Strengths and Weaknesses, Examples of Leadership abilities, long term/ short term goals.
Projecting a consistent personality demands clarity of thoughts. So the best and easiest way to manage this is to be honest with you.
Avoid saying something like “I do not have any weakness” as it is obviously an overstatement; such an answer implies either an arrogant person or a misinformed person and the panel would not want either.
Sometimes, introspection becomes quite tricky as various qualities may coexist in bits. One should always consider the dominant quality. In such cases, feedbacks from friends and colleagues can be quite effective. Try to supplement your answers with at least two relevant examples while preparing; so that during an interview you are not unnerved if the interviewer asks you for another example. It brings additional coherency in your thoughts.
Quite a few interviews start with “Tell us something about yourself.” please refrain from giving a summary of what is already written in your form / resume. Try to use this question to lead the interview into your comfort zones. For example, if you are an avid reader then you could speak about the influence of your favorite books on your character.
Work Experience
If you have been working for more than six months then questions on your work experience will play a role during your interview. The obvious areas of questioning are work profile, your projects, organization chart of your company and where you fit in. You should be able to give some examples of team work and leadership from your employment.
You must also focus on the macro picture of your experience in the corporate life. What it has taught you? What kind of mistakes have you made? How it has influenced to make choices in specialization for your MBA? How you have influenced the goals of your department / company? Along with this, you should also do some home work on the industry in which your company operates the history of your company, the culture of your company / industry, etc.
Academics
If you have been working for less than 2 years then you are still supposed to remember some aspects of your education. Sounds pretty scary, considering that a lot of us do not know what we are studying even when we are studying it. Do not worry; you do not need to study everything, ensure that you know the basics of all the subjects that you have studied. A good barometer would be curriculum till higher secondary. You should also have one or two favorite subjects (If you do not have one, pick one); for these subjects you should know your curriculum and maybe a little bit more in-depth.
Hobbies
Ideally, hobbies should be the area of your comfort and can really make interviews quite interesting as they can clearly make a distinction between you and the rest. Most IIM graduates possess influential hobbies like reading, playing some sports, (watching sports does not count unless you are a walking sports encyclopedia), dramatics, photography, trekking etc. Watching movies and listening to music do not count as hobbies unless you can discourse on topics like directorial styles or history of various genres of music. Not having a hobby is certainly negative; but worse is getting grilled for a cited hobby when you do not have one.
General Knowledge / Current Affairs
General Knowledge can be a really vast topic. However, this should not stop you from having opinions on current affairs. Familiarize yourself with the issue by reading magazines, blogs, and newspapers. Back your opinions with facts and justifications. Common knowledge like the capital of some countries should be known. Prepare for GK only if you have the time and have finished preparing for all the other areas.
Be systematic regarding your preparation, make a check list of what you do not know and work with it. If you are organized, you will definitely do well in your interview. Best of Luck!
Commonly asked questions
Personal
Background
Tell me about yourself.
What would you like me to know about you that is not on your resume?
What are the three most important events of your life?
What was an experience in your life that you would want to go back and change?
Self Description
How would your friends describe you?
Give me three words to describe yourself.
Goals
What new goals have you established for yourself recently?
What are your five to ten year career goals?
What are the attributes of an ideal job for you? If you could do “it” all over again, what would you do differently?
Values
What does “success” mean to you?
What does “failure” mean to you?
Which is more important to you: money or the type of job?
Who do you admire? Why?
Management / Leadership Style
Define leadership.
Tell me about a time when you successfully resolved a conflict.
Give me an example of a leadership role you have held when not everything went as planned.
What two attributes are most important in your job?
How do you feel about working overtime?
Strengths / Weaknesses and Skills
What are your strengths/ weakness?
Give me an example of something that you have done that shows initiative.
What makes you stand out among your fellow students?
Have you ever had any failures? What did you learn from them?
How do you feel about working in a structured environment?
In what kind of work environment do you do your best work?
What kinds of tasks and responsibilities motivate you the most?
Education
Why did you decide to get an MBA?
Why IIMA? (Or whichever institute you are being interviewed in.)
What made you decide to major in ____?
What electives have you taken? Which did you enjoy the most?
What college classes did you like the least? Why?
Extra Curriculars
What extra-curricular school activities are you involved in?
What have you learned from your activities?
What is your favorite book/movie/song/painting or author/actor/singer/artist?
Which magazines/newspapers do you read regularly? Which books have you read recently?
Job / Company / Industry
What do you know about your company?
What do you predict is going to happen in this industry in the next 5 years?
Do you know who your competitors are?
What interests you most about this position? What parts of the job do you think you would find the least satisfying?
What concerns you about your company?
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