MBA Interviews – Concepts, tips and tricks

Contents
Introduction to Interview.............................................................................................................................. 2
Interview Format .......................................................................................................................................... 3
Evaluation Parameters of an Interview ........................................................................................................ 4
Stages of an Interview................................................................................................................................... 5
Types of Interview Questions ....................................................................................................................... 6
Do’s and Don’t of an Interview ..................................................................................................................... 9
5 tips for Effective Body Language in Interviews .......................................................................................... 9
Behavioral Interview – How to tackle questions ........................................................................................ 10
Introduction to Interview
Interviews form an integral part of any selection process of an MBA college. It allows the panelists to
assess the candidate - ascertaining his/her job fitment - so that they find the right and apt bunch of
people in their batch. This article will introduce you to interviews of MBA college.

What is a "Business School Interview"? Why at all Interview is conducted?

Scoring well in the entrance test is only winning half the battle and you now need to shift your attention
to the face to face interactions with the selection panels. The next step is the MBA personal interview
which is conducted with the objective of assessing the interviewee's suitability for admissions. A
personal interview is the B-school’s attempt at knowing the candidate as a person and assessing the
various traits of his personality. Most of the management institutes conduct an interview prior to
accepting a candidate into the program.
Candidates are tested on parameters like initiative, team skills, task orientation, willingness to learn,
leadership capabilities, goal clarity and stress management. An interview, though nerve wracking for
many candidates, is also an opportunity for the candidate to express himself and prove that he is worthy
of admission into the program. It is essentially conducted to determine whether the candidate is the
right fit for the program.

What are the evaluators looking for in an MBA Interview?

• Attitude , Approach, Attention, Application of Theory to Practice

• Body language, Behaviour
• Confidence, Clarity of thoughts, Career plan, Curiosity, Consistency
• Determination, Discipline and Dedication
• Enthusiasm, Eagerness, Energy, Ethics
• Focus, Family background
• Goal orientation, General awareness
• Humor, Humility, Hard work
• Interaction, Initiative
• Judging skills
• Knowledge, Killer instincts
• Listening skills
• Motivation
• Neatness, News
• Openness to ideas, Opinions, Optimism
• Presence of mind, People skills, Planning and Preparation, Personality.
• Quantitative skills
• Reasoning Ability
• Seriousness, Skills -communication, listening, team, quantitative, people.
• Team skills, Time management
• Uniqueness
 • Versatility, Value for values.
• Weaknesses
• Excellence
• Yearn for achievement(s)
• Zest for excellence
.........Believe in yourself!

Interview Format
An interview can have almost any format. You can either have a single interviewer, a panel of
interviewers or have a candidate complete multiple interviews with different individuals. Each format
has its pros and cons.

Individual Interview

The individual interview comprises of a candidate with one single interviewer.

An individual interview allows a more in-depth conversation with the candidate, allowing the
interviewer to assess the candidate in a much better manner. The interviewer is able to have more
prolonged and deeper conversation – and thus gain more insights into the candidate's abilities and skills
– through this interview.

The negatives of an individual interview are that the person interviewing might not be the only person
that the candidate might have to work with, and other members might not be able to know much about
the candidate.

Group Interview

Group interviews consist of a panel of interviewers – more than one – interviewing the candidate.

Group interviews allow more than one interviewer to ask questions to the candidate. This allows
multiple people – who will eventually work with the candidate – to assess the candidate, and check
his/her job fitment.

The negative bits of a group interview is that it, at times, lacks an in-depth one-to-one conversation, that
is only possible if the interview happens with only a single panelist.

Multiple Round Interview

In this format, you can have multiple rounds of one-to-one interviews.

The advantage of this approach is that the you get to assess candidate through multiple one-to-one
rounds of interviews, with different panelists. This allows each panelist to thoroughly assess the
candidate with in-depth conversations.
However, the negative of this is that this slows down the interview process, since the candidate has to
go through multiple rounds of interviews with different sets of people.

Evaluation Parameters of an Interview

Interview is a crucial part of selection process in most of the B-schools. Generally, the interviews are
conducted to assess the suitability of candidates for the MBA program in B-schools. The interviewers
intend to evaluate the candidates on the basis of their personality traits, knowledge, skills and
experience. Candidates are asked variety of questions based on your career goals, education, personal
values, hobbies, etc. A candidate’s performance is generally evaluated on the basis of following
parameters:

Personality: Questions based on personality traits are commonly asked in interviews and hold a major
portion of questions in MBA interviews. The interview panel attempts to gauge your ability to answer in
a coherent manner. Your answers also reflect your clarity of mind, self-awareness, strong and weak
points of your personality. You need to answer these questions in an optimistic and confident tone to
make a good first impression on the panel.

Clarity of goals: The interview panel intends to probe you on your short-term and long-term career
goals. Questions based on your career objectives are frequently asked in MBA interviews. Your answers
are evaluated for your suitability to the institute. You need to answer these questions in a manner that
links your academic background and interests to your career goals.

General awareness: You are required to be aware of the current happenings, changing scenarios in
political and business world, society, etc. GK-based questions assess your ability to process current and
past information.

Subject Knowledge: This is another crucial area in which the candidate is assessed for his learned skills
and abilities. You should be prepared to answer the fundamental questions related to your academic
areas. The interview panel frequently poses questions from your favorite subjects in order to check your
honesty. Your answers are generally evaluated in terms of the following:

Conceptual Clarity

Ability to draw from examples

Communication skills: It is essential to use appropriate and effective language to ace your personal
interview. You need to be brief and precise while answering the questions. The way you answer is as
much important as what you answer. Also, you need to be a good and active listener to answer the
questions well. In case the panel contradicts your answers, you should be polite and confident while
stressing upon your viewpoint. Your communication skills are checked on the basis of following
parameters:

Ability to express your views and opinions

Command over language/wit & humour

Command over voice/voice modulation

Body Language: Non-verbal communication holds as much importance in an interview as verbal

communication. You are advised to maintain a positive body language, appropriate gestures, proper
etiquettes, pleasant disposition and enthusiasm throughout the interview. Your body language is
generally judged in the following aspects:

Style of sitting

Eye contact while speaking

Movement of hands

Listening style

Stages of an Interview
Interview is the last and most important part of the selection process. The purpose of a B-school
interview is to evaluate the personality traits, skills and experience of the candidates. The interviewer
intends to check the candidate’s suitability for the MBA program in their institution. Generally, any
interview involves three main stages:

• Pre-Interview preparation
• During the interview
• Post interview

Each stage of the interview process entails you to keep the following things in mind:

1. Pre-Interview preparation: This is an essential stage of the interview process. It demands you to
be well-equipped with all the required information before appearing for the actual interview.

Familiarise yourself with all the required information about the B-school.

Prepare your answers for the frequently asked personal as well as career-based questions.

Update your knowledge about current happenings and important national and international events.

Do a SWOT analysis of your personality traits.

Prepare a good CV and get your documents ready for the interview.

Choose an appropriate formal dress for the interview.

2. During the interview: Learn all the appropriate mannerisms and etiquettes to make a good
impression on the interview panel.
While outside the interview room, patiently wait for your turn without showing any signs of
nervousness.

Be friendly with other candidates.

Before entering the interview room, knock the door and seek permission. Then thank the panel and
close the door after entering.

Sit down when you are asked to and if not, seek permission and then thank the panel.

A good first impression is built with a cheerful and confident greeting, eye contact and a smiling face.

Maintain a positive and appropriate body language that exudes confidence.

Biggest opportunity is when you are asked to tell about yourself. Here, you can briefly outline your
strengths, abilities and experiences.

While answering the questions, focus on your skills that are relevant to the organization and give
examples for the same. Cite instances that reveal your strengths, skills and abilities.

Avoid bluffing if you do not know the answer to a question.

Try to answer every question with a positive attitude, even when asked about your weaknesses.

At the end of the interview, express your gratitude to the interview panel and recap the crucial points, if
asked to.

3. Post-Interview: At this stage, you need to review your interview and look for the areas of
improvements, if any.

Re-construct your interview and identify its positive and negative happenings.

Try to identify the causes of the negative parts and list out the improvement areas.

If required, seek help for corrections and practice for the same.

Types of Interview Questions

Given below is the list of questions that feature under the four important categories of interview
questions:

• Personal
• Personality
• Education
• Work Experience
 • Hobbies

1. Personal

Background:

• Tell me about yourself/What would you like us to know about you that is not mentioned in your
resume?
• What are the three most important events/incidents of your life?
• What are your three major accomplishments/achievements in life?
• Where did you grow up?
• What were you doing during this gap of time that is mentioned in your resume?
• What is that one experience in your life that you would want to go back and change?

Self Description:

• Describe yourself in three words.

• How would your friends describe you?

Goals:

• Have you set any new goals for yourself recently?

• What are your five to ten year career goals?
• What are your career and educational goals?
• How would you like your lasting impression to be?
• What are your career options right now?
• Do you have a final statement?
• What are your career options right now?
• How do you think you have improved your career path?

Values:

• What does ‘success’ mean to you?

• What does ‘failure’ mean to you?
• What is more important to you: money or the type of job?
• Who do you admire? Why?
• What are you passionate about?
• Who is your hero and why?
2. Personality

Strengths/weaknesses

• What are your strongest abilities?

• What is your biggest weakness?
• Give an example of something that you have done that shows initiative-taking ability?
• What have you disliked in your past jobs?
• What is that one quality that makes you stand out among your peers?
• What major problem have you encountered and how did you deal with it?
• Have you ever faced any failures? What did you learn from them?
• Can you work on several assignments simultaneously?
• What has been your greatest challenge?
• Are you creative? Give me an example. What have you done that you consider creative?

2. Management and Interpersonal skills based questions:

Management and leadership skills:

• Define leadership.
• Give me an example of a leadership role that you have played when not everything went as
planned.
• Why management? Why this institute? How do you know that management interests you?
• Can business and ethics go together?
• What qualities should a successful manager possess? Do you have these attributes?
• What is management?
• How do you think it will help you? What are your career goals?
• Tell me how it will help you in business decision process?
• Suppose you have an assured monthly salary because of which you don’t face any compulsion to
work, what would you do then?
• With management you are closing options and you will be serving only the corporate section?
• Would you still like to do an MBA?

Interpersonal Skills:

• Have you ever managed a conflict? How?

• What kinds of people do you like to work with?
• Define cooperation.
• What kinds of people you cannot work with?
• Have you ever spoken before a group of people? How large?
Do’s and Don’t of an Interview
Do’s

• Use a strong voice, clear diction and correct grammar.

• Make sure your personal appearance is prim and proper, and you dress appropriately.
• In case of a handshake with the panelists, make sure it is a firm one.
• Establish eye contact with the interviewer but do not stare at him.
• Do equip yourself with sufficient knowledge about the B-school you are seeking admission to.
• Do take criticism gracefully.
• Do equip yourself with a strong knowledge of the company (in case of prior work experience).
• Do display a sense of wit as and when possible.
• Do exhibit a mixture of self-confidence, grace and poise.
• Do take sufficient time to think before answering tricky questions.
• Do make concrete goals in planning for your career.
• Do demonstrate sufficient grasp of the key graduation concepts.
• Do have sufficient knowledge of your key projects & papers.
• Do support your answers with examples, wherever possible.
• Do present yourself as a well-rounded personality with ability to learn from both academic and
extracurricular activities.

Don’ts

• Don't be arrogant, overaggressive, or vain.

• Don't show a lack of attention or energy.
• Don't make excuses for adverse conditions in your record, such as below average marks.
• Don't condemn past institutions of education; Give positive comments on it.
• Don't display a noticeable aversion for schoolwork.
• Don't be uncertain and indecisive in your thoughts.

5 tips for Effective Body Language in Interviews

An effective body language conveys a positive message to your interviewer. The way you enter the
interview room and greet the panel, can make a great first impression. While 50% of the communication
is verbal, the rest 50% of the communication is non-verbal. This itself speaks for the significance of body
language in an interview. This article lists down some essential tips regarding the crucial parameters of
body language. Keeping these things in mind will help you send the right message with your body
language during your interview:

Walk in with dignity

 • Knock mildly at the door; some candidates over do the knocking bit which, in their case,
assumes the proportions of hammering the door!
• Walk with an upright posture and hold the file as an inclined plane with both the hands. A file
held horizontally to the plane of the body is indicative of vulnerability and one held parallel to
the plane of the body puts you across as insecure and redundantly defensive.
• Take graceful confident steps as you walk towards the panel. Steps with disproportionately
short measures are reflective of nervousness and the ones with over generous measures are
implicative of brazenness.
• Strike an eye contact with all the panellists, showcasing your comfort level in a one-many
situation.

Shake hands confidently

• Wait for the panel to initiate a hand shake, lest you come across as an impulsive and over-
reactive candidate.
• Extend your hand in the vertical plane to reciprocate smartly by producing a firm handshake.
This shows that you are confidently connecting with the panel.
• Make sure the hand is not moist; a moist hand is grossly irritating for the other person.
• Avoid a dead fish/bone crushing hand shake- the first one indicates lack of verve & enthusiasm
and the second one projects you as a person making a conscious effort to dominate.

Acknowledge all panellists

• While answering questions, hold an upright posture, look at the panellist who asks you that
particular question.
• Start answering by looking at the panellist who initiates, and gradually spread the eye contact to
other people in the panel.
• Conclude your answer by either looking at the same panellist who asked that question, or by
converging onto someone who shows apparently more interest by means of nodding or
sustaining a welcome smile.

Behavioral Interview – How to tackle questions

Behavioral interview is commonly employed in various selection and recruitment processes. The
purpose of this interview is to seek concrete examples of skills and experiences related to the required
post. You are required handle a situation, and respond with an explanation to justify your stance.
Behavioral interview questions intend to see how you have handled various situations in the past. Your
response reveals your skills, abilities, and personality.

You can respond to questions with specific examples of how you have previously handled the asked
situations. Your answers can also be in the form of a brief anecdote that illustrates your strengths. You
need to provide background on the situation, the specific actions you took, and the results.
How to answer behavioral interview questions:

Follow the STAR technique to respond to interview questions that require an anecdote. There are four
steps to answering using this technique:

(S) Situation: Describe the situation/background in which the event took place.

(T) Task: Tell about the task you were asked to complete. If there was a particular issue you were
required to resolve, describe that.

(A) Action: Explain what action you took to complete the task or resolve the issue.

(R) Results: Tell about the result of your actions. For example, if your actions resulted in completing a
task, resolving a conflict etc., explain this.

Review examples of the questions you may be asked during a behavioral interview and think about how
you would answer them. This way you'll be prepared ahead of time, rather than having to think of a
response on the spot during the interview.

Commonly asked Behavioral Interview Questions:

• Give an example of a goal you reached and tell me how you achieved it.
• Give an example of a goal you couldn't meet and how you handled it.
• Describe a stressful situation and how you handled it.
• Tell me about how can you work effectively under pressure.
• Have you been in a situation where you didn't have enough work to do?
• Have you ever made a mistake? How did you handle it?
• Describe a decision you made that was unpopular and how you implemented it.
• Did you ever make a risky decision? Why? How did you handle it?
• Did you ever postpone making a decision? Why?
• Have you gone above and beyond the call of duty? If so, how?
• Have you worked on multiple projects? How did you prioritize?
• How did you handle meeting a tight deadline?
• Give an example of how you set goals and achieve them.
• What would you do when your schedule is interrupted? Give an example of how you handle it.
• Have you had to convince a team to work on a project they weren't thrilled about? How did you
do it?