Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Win That Interview-BodhiSutra EDGE
Win That Interview-BodhiSutra EDGE
Objective:
a) To present a coherent, consistent narrative of your past and present and arrive at a
forward-looking vision for your future that matches your past academic and extra-
academic performance, strengths and ambitions.
b) To present a powerful my-story to interviewers to differentiate you from other
students and create the best chance for superlative placement performance.
Best Practices:
For this exercise to be effective, it is important to remember the following:
a) No good story gets built in its first draft. So, do at least three (3) rewrites of this
worksheet. Recommended five (5).
b) Your first few answers to a particular question will always be the worst answers you
can give for that question. So, weed them out. You start saying something good from
fourth/fifth attempt at the same question. If you reach tenth, you’ve struck gold.
c) Don’t rush it. Don’t treat it as college homework. Spend time. Amount of time spent
thinking of an answer is the sole source of strength of that answer, no matter how
good you are.
d) Take a close look at your life. Only you have lived it. And only you have seen and felt
it. Now is the time to reflect on it, connect pieces together and see patterns emerge.
That would give you a huge source of unique data to build a story nobody else can.
That’s the objective.
e) Use examples liberally. Use concrete data. Your history is your big data. Cite data to
prove you have done similar things before.
f) Weed out inconsistencies. For example, you can’t justify bad academic performance
saying, “I played sports,” if you weren’t even a part of a school team. Say only what
you can defend against at least two levels of questioning.
g) Treat your past and present as the runway and build a direction for your future career
flight. You can change your field, just present it in such a way that there is a straight
line from your past to present to future.
Personal
Background
1. Tell me about yourself. (3-4 sentences. Childhood/school, college, something
outstanding about acads/extra-acads, tie it up to IIMU stint and future)
2. What would you like me to know about you that is not on your resume? (An incident
from childhood or previous job/college that brings out initiative, leadership, courage,
team work, smart thinking).
3. What are the three most important events of your life? (Best answer is what you
deeply feel are most important events. Something that changed the course of your life,
or changed you or impacted you. Sad events are okay, just make sure you end it on a
4. What were you doing during this gap of time I see here on your resume? (Be honest.
Failures are okay too if you can show that you took that time to reflect and gain
perspective instead of just wallowing in misery.)
5. Where did you grow up? (Talk about home town. Sum up the experience. Show how it
makes you different from people who didn’t grow up in that/similar town. 3-5
sentences ideally).
6. What are your three major accomplishments? (Can be academic, extra-academic. Pick
the biggest 3. Names-dropping is good here. Find the best answer from your life-data.)
Self Description
1. How would your friends describe you? (Time for polite brag. Friends are the ones
who know you best, (still!) choose to spend time with you, so they would have the
best things to say about you. One way is to think about your unique place in your
friends’ group – I am Mr Reliable/Advisor/Protector/Trouble-shooter of the group.
Or, you can talk about generic qualities that people interacting with you would know
in medium/long term more than short term)
2. Give me three words to describe yourself. (Me summary. Who are you? What’s your
story? What do you stand for? What can I expect from you? He is asking you to brag
Goals
1. What new goals have you established for yourself recently? (It’s ok if you don’t have
a clear view of the next five steps. No one does. Having a clear idea of the next goal,
and a broad idea of the direction you want to take for the next few steps is enough.
Again, formulate your own answer. Refine it. Do multiple iterations.)
2. What are your five to ten year career goals? (Generic direction of what you want to be
doing, how you want to be living, what important things you’d want to achieve and a
strategic level vision of it. Authenticity, again. They have to be your goals, things that
excite you. Must come from deep within. Doesn’t have to be very specific – ‘Associate
in 2 years, VP in 3.5 years, Partner in 7.65 years’ would be an overkill.)
3. What are the attributes of an ideal job for you? (Talk about what excites you at work.
What kind of skills you want to use and build, what kind of teams you love working
4. If you could do “it” all over again, what would you do differently? (What all do you
wish you could have reacted differently to? What were the impacts of your original
reaction and how would the ‘different’ reaction have panned out? Essentially, asking
about your regrets. Fine to have one, max two. Don’t give a shopping list. If deep down,
you really are a no-regrets person, feel free to say: “Nothing. I would do everything
exactly the same way as before.” But, it’s a high-impact, high risk answer. They will dig
deeper and if you are not really a no-regrets person, they will know you lied.)
7. What kind of boss would you prefer? (Talk about how you want to be given a task,
how you want to be helped, how you want to be held accountable, and how you want
to deliver.)
8. Why are you pursuing this field? (What excites you about it? How much does it excite
you? What makes you think you can do well here? Does your past corroborate this?
Have you displayed such skills in your history?)
9. What would you like your lasting impression to be? (Again, a self-brag question. No
one will paint a prettier picture of you than you yourself. A 3-line self-pitch, the
prettiest it can be. Throw in a harmless-flaw for humility. And don’t come across as a
pain-in-the-backside braggart.)
11. What are your career options right now? (Don’t give a shopping-list of all career
options available for an MBA grad. He can get it from Google. He wants those options
that you think are compatible with you. Alternatives that you can see yourself spending
the next 10-20 years on, going deep and rising up. Match it up with your skills,
ambitions, temperament.)
12. How could you have improved your career path? (Again, a regrets question. For
someone in early twenties, studying in IIMU, the career path is pretty close to as good
as it could be. In exceptional cases, like something stopped you from going to Stanford
or acting as a lead in a Karan Johar movie or starring as an MVP for an IPL franchise,
mentioning that would be fair.)
2. What does “failure” mean to you? (Can make a powerful impact if answered well.
Show you understand failures, understand they are an integral part of any creation
process, show you can reflect, take lessons and then shake them off. Do you fear failure
or are you willing to use them as stepping stones?)
3. Which is more important to you: money or the type of job? (Kinda trick question.
Money is important, at least for a fresh MBA grad. But you can’t project yourself as a
money-chaser-at-any-cost. Balanced answers are the best. Again, find your answer.
Authenticity is the key.)
4. Who do you admire? Why? (Choose your heroes wisely. It is fair to point out a specific
trait you admire in someone. It is also fair to say you don’t know much about their lives
apart from what you’ve read documented but you love a specific trait or how he/she
acted in a particular situation.)
6. Who is your hero, and why? (Role model question. You can use a family member or
friend, mention the trait you like about them, how they responded to a situation etc.)
Previous Bosses
1. Did you get an offer from the firm you worked for this summer? (Not relevant for
summers)
2. Do you have other offers? Why would/wouldn’t you take our offer over one of the
others? (Fact based question. Be honest. Talk about money, brand name, job profile –
any relevant factor.)
4. How do you think a former supervisor would describe your work? (Think of what you
did, how you did it. Were you a quick learner? Were you dependable? What
outstanding results did you achieve? What made you unique? Relevant only if you have
previous work-ex)
5. What did you enjoy most about your last employment? Least? (Talk about what you
loved – maybe, the people, the culture, the problems they worked on, the environment,
learning opportunities. Have some specific incident ready where you felt proud/happy
to be working with them. You may skip the “like the least” part but if he presses, say
something that doesn’t blame an individual. It could be slow career growth or that you
couldn’t see yourself enjoying that work after a few years or something that holds for
you.)
7. Describe the job or the activity which has had the greatest impact on your career
goals. (Reflection question. Think deeply about this. How has your career-ambition
been shaped by something you saw or did in a previous job? Why do you find what you
find exciting?)
3. Tell me about a time when you successfully resolved a conflict. (Think of an example
from your past. Think of what you did? Why were you able to resolve the conflict when
others could not? What fresh thinking did you bring to the table?)
4. Give me an example of a leadership role you have held when not everything went as
planned. (Talk about when you faced a crisis as a leader. What happened? Why? What
was at stake? How did you resolve it? How much were you responsible – for the
problem, and solution? How did your team respond? Your seniors? Now, tie this into a
sharp 3-4 line story.)
6. What two attributes are most important in your job? (Straightforward. Spend time
thinking about it. The first answers you come up with won’t be the best answers. So,
iterate. Find better answers.)
9. Name a point in your life where you turned a negative into a positive. (Example
question, again. Dig deep. Find the biggest negative-to-positive in terms of the stakes.
Build the story: Situation. Problem. Stakes. Your solution. Idea. Action. Outcome. Why
you could solve it? What fresh ideas? What did you learn? Now, tie it all together.)
10. Tell me about a decision you have made that you later regretted. (Find a past regret.
What was the situation? What did you decide? Why? Why did you then regret it? What
would you have done differently? Why? In what ways did your thinking change that
you now think you would have decided it differently? Tie it all together.)
12. Give me an example of how you manage multiple projects. (If you have done it in the
past, cite the example. Say what you did. Also mention how, now that your thinking
has further improved, you would make some changes in your approach and will do it
even better this time. More relevant for people with work-ex but freshers can do the
exercise too – project in future how would you handle several projects. Fire up your
imagination, keep it grounded, build a story.)
2. What are your strongest abilities? (Think deep. Find your real strengths. Things that
you can do better than most others. Be ready with an example for each. Build each
story. You know the format by now.)
4. Why should we hire you? (Standard question. Why you? What special do you bring to
the table that others don’t? Polite brag. Be ready to back it up with data from your life,
i.e. build an example story. The same steps.)
6. What makes you stand out among your fellow students? (Unique you, revisited. What
makes you distinct? What differentiates you from others? What special do you bring
to the table? Think deep. Have examples ready for each unique strength you mention.
Have examples as sharp stories of 3-4 lines. Use the format described above.)
8. What can you do for us that someone else cannot do? (Unique you, but with a twist.
Build a different flavor of the above answer, this time, tailoring it to this particular
company and job. Focus on your unique skills that make you a differentiated candidate
for this particular set of interviewers.)
9. What was the most important thing you learned from your previous
experience/internship? (Dig deep. Find something that you can really trace back to
10. How do your skills relate to our needs? What can you offer us? (Connect your strengths
to the stuff they do. For this, you need to do solid company research too. Talk to seniors
who have worked here in the past. Gather info. Listen carefully. You have done a
version of this answer before. Rewrite this with a new flavor. What makes you
indispensable for them? Build a story. Use the format above.)
11. What have you disliked in your past jobs? (Think deep. Cite something that is not
connected to an individual, preferably. Take it more on your own preferences and
ambitions rather than the company. More like not a long-term fit with your strengths
and goals rather than some negative. Again, have a story, a complete argument.)
13. What major problem have you encountered and how did you deal with it? (Example
question. Think deep. Find a tough situation from your history that you handled like a
hero. Give the story complete with the problem, stakes, options, your solution, ideas
and actions, impact, what changed. Tie it all together.)
15. How do you feel about working in a structured environment? (Asking: Can you follow
rules? Say yes. Tell them things in IIMU too are pretty structured. Anywhere else you
have worked in a structured environment – school, college, hobby club, sports team –
mention that. Give a story.)
17. In what kind of work environment do you do your best work? (Dig deep. Find what
doesn’t work for you. One approach could be, you talk about a couple things that
hinder your ability to work well. All else, you can adapt to. He is asking if you have a
strong streak that makes you unsuitable for certain work environments. Plus, you
wouldn’t know much yet about specific work environment at their company. So, going
too specific into what you want may not be the best strategy. Alternative could be to
tell what you don’t want and all else is fine. This, of course, isn’t the only way to answer
this. Find your sweet spot.)
19. What has been your greatest challenge? (History question. Find the biggest challenge
you faced. Preferably, the one that made you push your boundaries, learn new stuff,
move outside your comfort zone and accomplish something. Build the complete story.)
Interpersonal Skills
1. How competitive are you? (Me question. Dig deep. Find what motivates you. Do you
want to stand first or do you want to improve upon your past performance? Any
answer is good, different jobs require different types of competitiveness. They are
trying to determine how well you fit with what they want.)
3. Give me an example of a time when you successfully worked within a team. (Example
question, again. And, an important one at that. Your chance to show you are a team
player. Find an incident. Tell them the different personalities you worked with. Tell
them how you coordinated. Tell them how the team went about using its collective
strengths, in cohesion to achieve the team goal. Build a full story.)
5. Define cooperation. (Find your definition. Show that you can work with people keeping
the team goals at the top, find win-win situations and tide over minor irritants).
6. What kinds of people do you enjoy working with? (Dig deep. Find what kind of a team
would be your ideal team – what skills, what attitudes. Alternatively, you can go the
via-negativa route: define the kind of people you don’t want to work with, and all else,
you can adapt. Build a full argument.)
8. Have you ever managed a conflict? How? (A great, juicy question – an opportunity to
showcase your leadership, people skills, and conflict resolution. Find an example. Build
a story. What was the situation? Problem? Stakes? Why weren’t the parties involved
able to solve it? How could you solve it – ideas, actions? What was the outcome?
Change? Tie it all up.)
9. Have you ever spoken before a group of people? How large? (Find an example of public
speaking from your life data. Build a complete story, the above format. How was the
experience? What did you learn? Did you enjoy it?)
Education
1. Why did you decide to get an MBA? (History question. Go honest. Joining MBA because
after first degree, it was the best option to expand career opportunities is a fair answer
too. So also, is the answer that everyone in your family is an investment banker and
you too wanted to be one. Any answer works, as long as it is your answer. So, find your
answer instead of an ideal one. Iterate. Do several versions of it. See how you can
articulate it best.)
2. Why IIMU? (Me question. Go honest. Dig deep to find your reasons for joining IIMU.
This was the best I got – is a fair answer too. As would be any other answer. Has to
come from deep within. Conviction. Remember, you are the one thing you are
supposed to know best. So, you can’t be tentative and inconsistent here.)
4. What have you learned at IIMU that will help you on this job? (Great opportunity to
show you are aware, and a keen learner. What all skills, knowledge, attitude, mindsets
did you gain here? What did you learn from books, profs, system, peers? How does
that make you better now than what you were before this? How well have been these
months/years spent? Again, find an answer and iterate.)
5. Do you hold any leadership positions? (Fact based question. If you don’t say so. You
can talk about different priorities. Or, that you have held such positions in the past and
6. What electives have you taken? Which did you enjoy the most? (Fact based. Need to
come from deep inside. Conviction. Also, be sure to brush the fundamentals of what
you cite as your favorite. Would be odd to be caught on the wrong foot in an elective
you yourself claim as a favorite.)
7. What college classes did you like the least? Why? (Fact based. Find your answer. Just
make sure you don’t cite Finance subjects as least favorite in a Fin interview. Iterate
your answer. Find the best articulation.)
8. Why didn’t you attend (another school)? (Why IIMU – different version. Kinda simple.
Authenticity and conviction are the key.)
10. Did your grades accurately reflect your ability? Why/Why not? (Find your answer.
Articulate it well. A chance to show how great you are despite your bad grades, if they
are bad, that is. You can talk about how academic testing evaluates a limited number
of parameters while a person’s abilities could have several other dimensions. Or any
other lines. Just make sure you are not making excuses for your bad grades – system
is bad, exams don’t mean anything etc, and are also not bogged down by it. Best
answer would always follow the line: I didn’t perform well in the exams but there is a
lot more to me than exams can capture. Find a variant that holds for you.)
Extra Curriculars
(All these are fact-based questions from your life. Find those facts and then, interpret them.
See what those facts mean to your life and you. Put them in perspective. See what picture
emerges. As always, it is important to build a complete argument/story and also, iterate it
multiple times to find the best articulation.)
1. What extra-curricular school activities are you involved in? (While it is a good idea to
show that you are well rounded, it is a good idea to stress those activities which show
team involvement and leadership. Find the data, and do the first level interpretation.
Build a picture.)
3. Were your extracurricular activities worth the time you put into them? (The last
question, a different flavor. They were worth the time if you can find a meaning behind
those activities/facts – things you learnt, things you saw, skills you build, what
problems can you now solve better due to your exposure to those activities?)
4. How did you become involved in your extracurricular activities? (Story time. Tell me a
nice story about how you got started with the fun activities. Tell me what made you
continue doing them? What did you like about them? Yes, I want to know what kind of
a person you are.)
7. Which magazines/newspapers do you read regularly? Which books have you read
recently? (Whatever you say, make sure you can talk about it. Worst answer to this
8. Have you ever done volunteer activities? (Again, same rule. Honesty and authenticity.
Be ready to talk about it. Know more about it than the interviewer. If not, say so. One
doesn’t need to be a social worker at twenty-two, or for that matter, at any age. If you
haven’t, its fine too. I am sure you have found other interesting things to do in your
free time. Netflix, or its cousins don’t count.)
3. What makes you think you would be successful in _____? (Again, an interest question.
How strong is your interest in this role/career we offer? Have you made the effort to
think about it – about how it fits with your strengths and temperaments? Are you sure
you want to do this? How do I find out, you ask? Simply, by asking you a plain looking
question, then probing you and looking for inconsistencies. If you tie yourself in knots
or contradict something you said before, you’re toast.)
5. Given that you have no background in this field why are you interested in it?
(Interesting question. If answered smartly, it can be the clincher for you. Dig deep. Find
your skills, and temperament elements. Find a match with what the job needs. And
then add a dash of passion – with electric energy, twinkling eyes and the conviction of
V Kohli talking about cricket, tell them what makes you so excited about it.
Fundamental skill/temperament match plus unmatched passion for it – any knowledge
gap would be easy to fill, as it is you are a fast learner. But, before all that, build an
answer. Create a complete argument. Iterate. Uncover the best articulation you can.)
7. How would you go about evaluating a business? (More of a Fin question. Knowledge
based and hence with enough effort, a great answer to this is highly possible. Find it,
then iterate it to arrive at the best articulation of it.)
9. Do you know who are competitors are? (Part of company/industry research. Find the
main players. How are they stacked against each other? What are the market shares?
The more coveted the recruiter, the more your research in them becomes important.
Do your searches. Formulate your hypothesis. Back it with data. Iterate. Find the best
articulation.)
10. What interests you most about this position? What parts of the job do you think you
would find the least satisfying? (Again, have you done enough searches and asking
around question. Combined with a do you know yourself bit. Spend time. Do the
searches. Ask around. Be resourceful. Formulate a good answer.)
12. What would you add to our firm? (Similar question, with a dash of ‘why you?’.
Formulate your answer. Build a complete argument. Iterate. Research into the
company, job role and reflection into yourself are pre-requisites. Spend time.)
14. Demonstrate/illustrate skills that you can transfer from past experience. (Example
question. But focus on relevant skills. Research beforehand into what they want and
then match it up with what you offer. Find examples in your past when you displayed
that skill to good effect. Build a complete story. Iterate.)
15. What concerns you about our company? (You in any case, know too little about the
company to be really concerned about it, unless there has been a very public, visible
recent issue, which is a rarity. Show you have done the research, you have the info that
an outsider can get, and then, you may stop short of naming a specific concern. Of
course, there are other ways to approach it as well – feel free to choose others if you
think you can pull them off. The idea is to come across knowledgeable about the
company and the industry but also to realise the limitations of your current
understanding. Find your own answer. Iterate.)
Location
(More of a flexibility question. Having too strong a preference for a location could be
counterproductive. Decide based on the context. Even if you want to convey a location
preference, don’t bring it up as a constraint. And don’t forget to underscore that you are
flexible.)
1. Why do you want to relocate to______? (Tell them what excites you about the place.
Family ties, earlier experience, long held desire, love for nature, city. Whatever. Make
sure you don’t come across as too rigid and hung up on a particular location.)
3. How do you feel about travel? (Isn’t that what youth is for? Kidding. But, generally the
best answer is that you are excited about travel. Shows you are flexible – this is the
only time when you can be – as you grow old, flexibility will reduce. Find your own
answer. And then, find its best articulation.)
Functions
General
1. Tell me a joke. (Icebreaker. Polite small talk. Show them you are a fun guy. The stuck-
at-the-airport-for-three-hours test. Needless to say, don’t go raunchy, sexist, racist. A
joke you can tell in a family outing and expect people to laugh. Or any other. But, know
what you are going to say. Find your own answer.)
2. What if I told you that you’d work very hard, but recognition of your contributions
would be nil? (Of course, that won’t happen. They know a smart person won’t be okay
with that, not for long in any case. They want to see how recognition-hungry you are
because if you are, that’s a red flag. They realise this is an interview so you are at your
3. What stocks do you recommend? Why? Should I buy stock in _______? (Relevant for
Fin jobs. Maybe even Consulting. Give an opinion only if you have done research, know
what you are talking about and can give arguments in favor. Also, if you are looking
for a hardcore finance job, especially trading or equity research, this is what you must
do – have some opinions on stock market. And it’s a time taking process, so start early.
Yes, a good way to stand a good chance at fin jobs is to start building an understanding
as early as possible, maybe months even years in advance. Formulate your answer.
Build a complete argument.)
4. Where are interest rates going in the next 3 months? (Corporate finance question.
Exposes how interested you really are or have you just heard about the glamorous
5. How many new highs did the Dow reach last year? (Another corp-fin question. Your
study of stock market would cover that. If you don’t know Dow but know Sensex, you
can talk about that. Again, formulate your answer. Don’t leave it to be thought of at
the interview chair.)
6. If you could make a major policy change IIMU, what would it be? (A chance to show
you can think strategically, identify problems or reasons restricting potential and find
ways to unlock what is already available or can be easily had. Formulate a good
answer. Define the problem. Find what’s currently causing it. Find how your ideas can
resolve it. And also check if there would be any unintended consequences. Build a
complete argument. Iterate.)
8. If you could invite anyone you would like to a dinner party (famous or historical
figures, dead or alive), which ten people would you invite? (People you admire. People
you think can teach you a thing or two. People you look up to. Find a good answer.
Time to show your spark and creativity. Give them something interesting. Refine.)
9. If you could trade places with someone for a week, who would it be? (Another way of
asking what would you like to become if you didn’t have the constraints of location,
10. Sell me the desk. (A sales skill question. Find creative ways. Think of a good answer.
Reiterate because your first few thoughts would be everyone’s first few thoughts. Dig
deeper. Find answers that nobody else would give.)
11. Rate me as an interviewer. (Look for specifics. Find positives. Again, specific holds more
weight than generic, vague positive strokes. Tell him something he would like to hear
but make it meaningful by going specific. Like: I liked how you grilled me on the
strengths question. It just showed you weren’t just okay with what I said but wanted
to dig deep and explore.)
2. What does a consultant do? What are the three most important qualities of a
successful consultant? How is our practice different from other consulting firms?
(Company and job research. A huge part of preparation for consulting jobs. You need
to talk to someone working in the company, seniors are a best bet. It is a must for
consulting jobs. Read the material available online about work culture and experience
at those firms. Find out how is the work environment and culture different from other
companies. Find what qualities are needed to succeed there. Then, formulate your
answer over multiple iterations. Build a full argument.)
4. Imagine we are reviewing your performance at our firm after working with us for six
months. What do you think our evaluation would be? (Asking you the question they
themselves are seeking an answer to in the interview. They want to see how you
analyze and how you see yourself. And, in any case, your own assessment would be
the best-case scenario. Build a good answer. Don’t be unnecessary humble and don’t
be vacuously bragging. Formulate the complete argument. Explain what skills you see
seeing you through. Explain how you much effort you want to put in and show them
you have the drive to succeed in the hyper-competitive consulting world. Iterate.)
6. What has been your biggest setback? (Again, me-question. Dig deep. What was it?
Why do you call it the biggest setback? What did you lose, or failed to gain? What were
the reasons? What went wrong? How did the experience change you? How did it help
you grow?)
7. With whom are you interviewing? How have you fared? (Fact based question. Be
honest. Give a good, positive reply. Don’t predict results. Something like: The
interviews were good. Let’s see. Or something like that. Or, some other approach. As
always, you and your context determine the best approach. Just make a complete
argument.)
9. Give me an example of a situation in which you had a problem, how you identified the
problem, the methods you used to solve the problem and discuss the resolution.
(Great opportunity to show the future consultant in you. And the best part, you can
prepare the answer months before the actual interview. So, build the complete story.
Problem. Separating symptoms from the disease. The solution. Implementation. Other
consequences. Build a complete case. Again, iterate.)
Marketing
1. What is marketing? Define the difference between marketing and advertising.
(Knowledge based question. Make sure you don’t mess this up. Write it down. And
iterate it too.)
3. What are the attributes of a successful marketing campaign? How do you motivate
others, particularly those over whom you have no direct authority? (Good answer.
And be ready to explain it. Give examples. Cite data. Prepare in advance. Iterate.)
4. How have you developed your interpersonal skills? (Trace back to when you flipped
from being an awkward teenager to a confident youth able to talk and connect to
people. Or your journey of building interpersonal skills. What prompted you? What did
you do? How do you rate your interpersonal skills today? Full argument, and iterate.)
6. What is the most important thing that you’ve learned about managing people from
your previous work experience? (Talk about work experience, or if you have none, say
so and then talk about something you learnt while managing some task in
college/school. Give some insight. Build a complete story. Make sure you do enough
prior research on your learning – read up on it. Refine and iterate.)
8. Scenario: Create a plan to market Brand X in Bangalore. (Can you apply what you’ve
learnt in class? Or at least give a viable plan that can stand first level scrutiny? So, build
an answer. And then, do a second and third and fourth version of it, because the first
few answers will always be your worst.)
9. What did you dislike about your former employer? (Avoid individual criticism. Avoid
negativity. Best answers usually revolve around career aspiration mismatch, or
disinterest in doing that work for long. Find your own answer. Don’t come across as a
complaining, whining little baby.)
11. Pick a good and bad ad campaign and discuss them. (The more visible the campaign,
the better. Have a solid case for both good and bad examples. Prepare reasons and full
arguments on why you think the way you do. Iterate.)
12. Give an example of a well/managed product. (Showcase your industry awareness and
ability to apply what you learnt in class. Find good reasons, build a complete
argument.)
14. Give me an example of a leadership role you have had. Give me another one, give me
another one, give me another one............
2. Why corporate finance as opposed to sales and trading? What are your outside
activities? Why would you be willing to give them up for such a demanding job? (Corp-
fin needs a strong fit. So, explore deep within. Is your interest in corp-fin strong enough
3. What role do you play in group situations? (Are you the leader? Are you reliable? Ideas
man? Heavy lifter? Find your own answer. Conviction with which you express it and
how well can you defend it against first level questioning is what’s critical.)
4. What would you do if offered drugs as part of the deal? (Or other ethically focused
questions. Never take an ethically compromising position. And some of these questions
could be tricky. Like: Tell me an incident where you bent the rules. Talk about breaking
school rules, college rules etc. if you must but never ever about breaking a law. Such
questions are common so do your homework. Know what to say. Articulate it well so
that you don’t tie yourself up in knots. Iterate.)
6. Sell us on your quantitative skills. (Dig deep question. Why do you think you are good
in quants? What data from your life proves that to you? Use that to build a case. Don’t
just say: I see numbers in my sleep.)
8. What did the Dow, S&P or NASDAQ close at yesterday? (Or Nifty, Sensex. Must know.
Would be pretty bad if a corp-fin job seeker doesn’t know indices.)
9. What stocks do you follow and why? (Again, a great way to show interest and focus
in corp-fin. And should ideally be started at least months before the placement. It
would take time for you to gain enough understanding to say something meaningful.)
3. Would you like to do sales or trading? Why? (Dig deep question. Find the difference
between sales and trading, talk to a couple seniors in those jobs and discover what
would excite you more. Iterate.)
4. Tell me what you think a trader (or salesperson) does. (Knowledge based. If you have
done enough asking around and searches, you’d have the raw material. Make sure you
have a good articulation too. Iterate on your answer.)
6. Why not corporate finance? (‘You’ question. Dig deep. Find why you like one over the
other. For that, do the searches and asking around. Get an idea of what it is like. The
reasons will come from your understanding of yourself as well as your research into
what is needed. But have a good reason. Iterate for best articulation.)
7. What do you think having an MBA does for you in this field? (How has MBA helped
you? What new skills and mindsets have you acquired here, apart from the knowledge
you gained? How has your perspective grown? Build a complete story. Iterate.)
10. What about your personality will make you a good trader? (Are you a risk taker? A
hustler? Do you like intense action? Can you think on your feet? Do you have that
combativeness? What other qualities you think a trader should have? Do you have
them? Build a complete story. Iterate.)
3. How do you see your career progressing in our firm? (Do you expect yourself to do
well? Why? Can you give reasons? Are you able to show that you have done enough
work to understand what it takes to thrive in this company, as well as yourself and do
you really believe there is a match?)
4. What do you know about our industry? (Research question. Have a well-formed
hypothesis. Something that you can back up with data and defend against first level
questioning. Build a complete argument. Iterate.)
6. How does M&A activity in banking affect our industry? (Research question. Have a
defensible hypothesis. Well-articulated. Don’t go by your first answer.)
7. We are having trouble managing our (division.) What do you think the key
performance metrics might be and how might you go about improving them? (Again,
in the interview, the question might throw a surprise element. But have a framework
ready for answering such questions. Know what questions to ask. What to focus on?
How to build an argument? How do you figure that all out – by solving such questions
beforehand, by building a framework.)
Questions to Ask
(Typically, the last part of the interview. Have a few questions ready from each head. Shows
you are aware and thoughtful, curious and proactive.)
Company
1. What are your company’s strengths and how do you capitalize on them?
2. What are your company’s weaknesses and how are you dealing with them?
3. How have you strategically responded to the competition?
4. Where will the major sources of your business be in the next 5 years?
5. What challenges are facing this company? Do you think your company is reacting to
them?
6. Do you have plans for expansion?
7. What are your growth projections for the next year?
8. Have you cut your staff in the last three years?
9. What is the largest single problem facing your staff/department right now?
Culture
1. What is your company’s management style?
2. How do you feel about creativity and individuality?
3. What do you like best about your job/company?