How to prepare for Personal Interview

By Career Launcher

The Interview Process

Most of you would be thinking of the impending interviews with mixed feelings of
fear, trepidation, anxiety and plain nervousness. Nothing unusual, in fact, I would go
further to say it is perfectly natural and expected considering the simple fact that
the number of interviews you have already been through would be abysmally small
compared to the number of written tests. So all those butterflies in the stomach as
you think of facing the interview panel are absolutely justified as long as you
understand the root cause clearly: no, its not due to the interview being the
unpredictable and scary beast your mind often conjures it up to be. It is just a
matter of being used to the process, of being familiar and comfortable with it.

Essentially, an interview is all about meeting and understanding you as a person

and how well you fit into the role you have applied for. This role is not merely that
of a B-school student but of a future business leader. That is the product B-schools
are responsible for churning out. So what are the qualities that the panel would be
looking for? Let us look into them one by one.

Maturity, poise, balance

Any leader needs to have the balance of mind to achieve anything significant out of
man, material, machine or any other resources in today’s mad world. In fact, more
than IQ or talent, EQ, SQ and emotional stability are the buzzwords in today’s
corporate world. So what is critical in the interview is do you come across as a level-
headed, pleasant and mature person rather than the run-of-the-mill excitable and
smart know-all. At the end of the day, you need to leave the impression of a person
who takes his decisions in life after careful consideration of important factors rather
than flimsy ones. Someone whose motivation in life goes beyond securing a
financially secure future for himself and his family, someone who really has a dream
and the courage to pursue it.

Goal Clarity
And this is where a very important question comes up: “Why do you want to do an
MBA?” Most students I meet turn their heads upside down but still aren’t able to
come out with a convincing answer to the question. In fact most of the students ask
me for a “good answer”. Unfortunately, I can only give an answer which would
sound good from my mouth, not yours or anybody else’s because of a simple
reason: the heart behind the mouth is different. It needs to be the same heart that
nurtured the dream, the vision which it seeks to fulfill through an MBA. In other
words, you need to think deeply, introspect and find out what it is that really drives
you, that really sends a shiver of excitement down your spine when you think of
achieving it. It is only this excitement and this drive that can convince the interview
panel about your answer rather than any manufactured answer by any faculty.

You need to get in touch with your dreams, simply put all the thoughts about an
MBA or an interview out of your mind and think about what you would love to be in
life and pronto, you will have the answer. Now the good thing about an MBA is that
it can be the means to achieve any goal, I repeat, any goal. For e.g. even if you
want to be a social activist, by doing an MBA and working for a good NGO you can
contribute much more meaningfully. So once you have the goal clear in your mind,
you can suitably chart a path involving MBA of getting there. If that seems to be a
problem, for e.g., if you dream to be an army officer, think one layer deeper, why
you want to be an army officer? You’ll soon find thoughts like service to the nation,
a disciplined life etc. cropping up which you can easily seek to fulfill through a
career involving an MBA. In the end, it is only your conviction in your answer that is
going to withstand all the cross-questioning (which is bound to happen) and
convince the interview panel.

Communication skills

Obviously, in an interview, your speaking and listening skills come into play rather
than the oft tested reading and writing skills. Now communication, per se, goes
much beyond mere listening and speaking but let me delve into these to begin with.
While speaking, the biggest sin you can commit is beating around the bush and
being too verbose. Remember, the panel is hard pressed for time and can easily
interpret these “tactics” on your part to be lack of clarity or a deliberate attempt to
obfuscate your lack of knowledge. Furthermore, your comprehension of the
question asked comes under a cloud of doubt.
Also, while answering questions, please remember it is not a quiz and you can
actually pause and collect your thoughts before answering, if required. A frequent
mistake committed while answering questions is addressing only the interviewer
who asked the particular question and ignoring the other members of the interview
panel. Please remember to always maintain eye contact with all the panelists as any
interviewer asks questions only on behalf of the entire panel.

Overall, always try to make the interviewer’s job simpler by leading the interviewers
to specific areas of your strength because essentially the interview is an exercise in
understanding you as a person. For e.g. if the interviewer asks: “What is your
hobby?” don’t just say “Reading” and make him ask “So what all do you read?”
Rather it would make much more sense to say “I like reading mystery novels, and
Agatha Christie is my favourite author.” This way, you are also ensuring that the
next question lands into your zone of comfort.

Depth of knowledge

Anything you say opens the doors to new lines of questioning and discussion, so
make sure you know where you are leading the interview. Yes, it’s the truth; you
only largely determine which way the interview unfolds by the content and delivery
of your answers. So be careful about the gates you open, and be very sure you have
in-depth knowledge about whatever you mention. For e.g. if you say you have an
avid interest in Badminton, be ready for questions pertaining to Prakash Padukone,
Deepika Padukone, plastic shuttles v/s feather shuttles, Saina Nehwal etc. It is
advisable to brush up 2-3 subjects from your graduation thoroughly if you are a
student fresh out of college. Also, contextual knowledge of the environment around
you as well as “general knowledge” comes quite handy.

Spark-the i factor

Ultimately, all the panelists are looking for that “spark” in you, the “I” factor as I call
it, which sets you apart as an individual or which gives them an insight into the
reservoir of passion and talent inside you. For one of my former students it was his
avid interest in computer gaming: just get on the topic and he could go on for hours
at a stretch. For another student it was the President’s award he received for
helping the Tsunami victims in Andaman and Nicobar islands. For yet another it was
simply his knowledge of Indian and Nordic mythology. So what is it that sets your
juices flowing? Think it through and make sure the interview discussion hits this
jackpot: the rest, as they say, shall be history.

My Encounters – Interview Questions

Describe yourself.

Questions on social service, hobbies (cricket), commercialization of cricket were

asked.

The recent that you have read. (Biography of Indira Gandhi)

Mention three bold decision taken by Indira Gandhi in her political career.

Question on favourite subject accounts were asked .

What is the difference between an economist’s and a CA’s interpretation of Fixed

cost and Variable cost.

What are quick assets and liabilities?

Draw and explain break even point

What is the positive impact of corruption and need for privatization

Two most important things that will concern you if you were railway minister.

If Indian railway was suffering from 10000 crore deficit and you had to increase the
fare

Will you increase freight or passenger?

Who was the grandfather of Ashoka?

Mention 5 use of eraser.

Why did you leave your first job?

Are you satisfied with your career?

Do you want to ask anything from us?

What is distribution system?

What is the principle behind an Induction motor?

How will you differentiate between an AC and DC motor?

What is power factor?

What is the concept of Transformer?

Final year of project and many cross questions related to it, where asked.

How many functions have you organized during your engineering?

How will you organize Hasya Kavi Sammelan?

Differentiate between the style of Surendra Kumar and Shail Chaturvedi.

What is sampling principle?

How will you draw a distribution curve?

Questions on standard deviation.

How will you explain variance?

Do you really need to go for MBA as you have already graduated in Business?

Questions on work experience.

IIM MBA Personal Interview - Practice Questions

Prepare structured answers for the following potential questions.

Why should we admit you into our MBA program?

What are your strongest abilities?

What skills would you be bringing to the classroom?(relevant if you have job
experience)

What are you looking for in this program?

Tell me something about yourself?

What are your greatest strengths/weaknesses?

Where do you want to be in 5 years?

Why do you want to study in this institute?

What does "success" mean to you?

What does "failure" mean to you?

What are your three major accomplishments?

What have you disliked in your past jobs? (If you have worked in more than one
organization)

What kinds of people do you enjoy working with? (If you possess work experience)

What kinds of people frustrate you?

How long before you can make a contribution (Not monetary) to the institute?

In the past year, what have you been dissatisfied about in your performance?

What according to you is your ideal job and how will this program help you realise
the same?

What can you tell me about your past bosses? (If you have work experience)
Which is more important to you: money or the type of job?

What have you learned from your activities in college?

Were your extracurricular activities worth the time you put into them?

What have they taught you?

What qualities should a successful manager possess?

What two attributes are most important in your job?

What major problem have you encountered and how did you deal with it?

What have you done that you consider creative?

Who do you admire? Why?

What do you get passionate about?

What courses are you taking?