Do you also wish to see yourself in the top B-schools of the world? With the ever rising competition and the number of applicants increasing rapidly, the process of getting into a business school of your choice is a long and tiring one, involving a number of steps. And one such step of the complete process is the interview round that is meant to test the presence of mind of an individual, along with their level of knowledge, intellect, and confidence. The part of an MBA interview is an important one in the complete process and it requires the candidate to be aware of not only what is happening around, but also have knowledge of the common mistakes that he or she should avoid and the questions that are likely to be asked to them in the interview.
This article will discuss the questions that are likely to be asked to a candidate during their interview and the errors that they should avoid making.
MBA Interview Questions
The step of appearing for a personal interview during the process of MBA admissions is an essential one and can also be nail-biting and an anxious one. The pressure of performance and the thought of proving one’s ability is a very grueling process that requires the person to be well prepared and have a lot of experience. The questions that are in the MBA interview are not just one directional but are spread around a wide range that covers personal questions to questions that are specifically meant to test the abilities of the candidate. It is necessary and can also be beneficial for the candidate to be aware of the kind of questions that can be asked in the interview so that they can prepare well for it from beforehand.
Given below are some of the important questions that can be asked in the MBA interview round, along with the answers that can create a good impact and impression on the interviewer of the candidate:
What would you like to tell us about yourself?
This is usually the icebreaker question of the interview because it also helps in getting a general idea of who the candidate is and what are his plans. Basic key answering this question is to not sugarcoat things and be original without beating around the bush. One should only talk about the essential parts and experiences of his life and focus his answer on those aspects, keeping it short, to the point, crisp and engaging so that it also keeps the attention of the interviewer intact. General generosity of greeting the interviewer first also helps in leaving a mark. Candidates should then move to things like explaining about his hobbies, aspirantions, his personality traits and the reasons for choosing this field.
Why do you wish to pursue an MBA
This is the most asked question in an MBA interview round. there is no specific answer to this question because the reasons for the candidates might differ but to know a general outline of the structure to the answer the candidate can give can be beneficial to them. While answering this question, the candidate can talk about the skills developed in this course, the responsibilities that they have handled, and the guidance that has been provided to them the program and how it has impacted the candidate can be a possible way of answering this question.
Why should we admit to you to our school?
This is is a tricky question and to answer this question by focusing on the candidate’s degree and qualification is not enough. The answer that the candidate gives for this question should make the interviewer understand if the candidate is capable enough to undertake the rigorous course that MBA is or not and therefore while answering this question, the candidate should emphasize on the skills that he or she possesses, the experience that they have in the relevant field and how does it help them gain a better perspective of the business world.
Why did you choose our business school?
The best way to answer this question is to do your research about business school and gain some knowledge about the same. While answering the questions, the candidate can include the points like talking about their aspirations and how they align with the vision of the school and how their involvement can benefit the school, and how their skills can be enhanced by becoming a part of it. Candidates can also bolo talk about how their goals can be promoted by being a part of this school.
Talk about your accomplishments as a leader.
All business school interviewers are interested in identifying strong future leaders. Prepare several examples of times you demonstrated leadership in professional settings as well as volunteer and community roles. Talk about the initiatives you led and the results you achieved. How did your skills influence the situations? Did you learn any lessons along the way that improved your quality as a leader?
What are your strengths and weaknesses?
This question needs to be answered in a way that impresses the interviewer. You need to be honest while answering this question, but a little diplomacy is required too. The best strengths that the interviewers look for are strong communication skills, creativity, punctuality, determination, discipline etc. The weaknesses that can be mentioned are self-criticism, perfectionism, giving in too easily, an over-sensitive nature etc.
List of Important Questions
Just like we said, that the MBA interview is a very wide-ranged one and involves numerous topics. Therefore, apart from the questions mentioned above, there are a lot of other questions that can be asked in the interview and the candidates can prepare for them from before so that common mistakes can be avoided.
Given below are questions that can be asked in an MBA interview:
- Do you see yourself as a good worker, a leader, or a manager?
- What do you think are the important qualities that a leader should possess?
- Tell the panel about a challenging instance that you’ve faced in your life and what did you do to overcome it?
- How do you think is a leader different from a manager?
- If you were given an opportunity to change certain factors in and about your workspace, what would be the changes you will make and why?
- Tell us about your long-term goals and your aspirations for your life?
- Since there are a number of other applications, how do you think you stand out from the rest of them and why should you be selected?
- Tell us about what do you expect to learn from this course?
Common Mistakes in an MBA Interview
An MBA Interview can be a long one and involves a lot of little nuances. Being well prepared for an MBA personal interview is imperative but another essentially helpful thing can be learning from the past experience of others. While appearing for your interview, there are a large number of common mistakes that a candidate can make and the only trick is to take an example from them and avoid it. Having technological knowledge is not enough for appearing in an MBA interview since it covers a lot of perspectives. Therefore, it is also necessary to have good communication skills and perfect body language with the presence of mind.
Listed below are common mistakes that a candidate should avoid making:
- Being expressive through your interview can really be beneficial for the candidate and lack of the same can make your interview dull and boring. A composed body language along with diverse expressions adds to your confidence and adds to your evaluation. Answering the questions with a blank face can be impressive and despite having knowledge in the asked areas, the impact of the candidate can be undermined
- While answering the questions, the candidate should not give monotonous or unidimensional answers without much diversity because it will restrict your answers. Diverse answers will impress the panel and create a better impression.
- Answering the questions under pressure is also one of the common mistakes that candidates make. The candidates should introspect, retrospect, and contemplate the answers so that they do not sound dull and show them to be underprepared. Think before you speak and do not answer in hurry or under pressure.
- Verbosity is another common mistake in MBA interviews. The candidates should not beat around the bush with long elaborate answers, instead, they should keep it concise, crisp and to the point because it gives a strong impact of the answer and portrays the knowledge of the person empathetically.
- Another common mistake that the candidates make is going unprepared for the interview and not having enough knowledge of the subjects and not researching enough about the business school. The candidate should have enough knowledge of the school, its vision and how it adds to your skills and abilities. This creates a powerful impact on the interviewer.
