Career Launcher on How to prepare for Personal Interview

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 todays mad world. In fact, more than IQ or talent, EQ, SQ and emotional stability are the buzzwords in todays 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 arent 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 elses 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? Youll 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 interviewers 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? dont 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, its 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 Presidents 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 economists and a CAs 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.