How to Prepare for the MBA Interview

An interview is considered the most important and requisite round for shortlisting applicants for admission to MBA courses in reputed Business Schools. The applicant selected for admission must go through and clear the group discussion round and the interview round. After these two rounds, the admission committee members finally decide who is willing to be admitted to the school. After the interview round is over, the admission committee members start inspecting everything about the student, whether it is about the body language of the student or the communication skills, which makes them understand what kind of personality the student has. A student learns about new traits and things while facing an interview, which is equally important to excel in this world of competition. This is so as communicating in an interview is based on a two-way approach. The interviewers or the members of the panellists first make sure that the student or the applicant feels comfortable while interviewing so that they can answer well and maintain and manage many things at a time. Primarily, the interview is viewed as a research round where the panellists research the student by asking them to reflect upon their skills, abilities, knowledge and experiences as well as their strengths and weaknesses to assure the committee members that the particular student can be valuable to the institution or Business School.

The other two things considered important during an interview’s preparation time are mainly the visibility and the reputation of the institution where the student will be interviewed. For example, if a student has received a call for an interview round from a reputed Business School, they do not have to start enjoying the moment as they have yet to crack the interview. They have to think and start preparing for the interview as the interview will be very hard and intense concerning competitiveness. To clear the interview round, the student must be careful and attentive while preparing. The other candidates preparing for the same would also be knowledgeable and talented, which will ultimately bring high competition. One of the most important things to remember is the originality of the speech and the personality. The student must be confident while speaking and believes in speaking in their normal tone and not using the traditional style of speaking as this loses confidence during the interview.

Every institution or Business School has a different way of conducting interviews. It takes around 25 to 30 minutes to interview an applicant, which is the final round of the selection process, after which the final result is out. The interview round has a weightage of around 40-50% in the overall selection process, so the applicant must do better in their interviews. Before reaching the interview round, the student has to clear the written test and the group discussion round. After clearing these two rounds, only the applicant can be called for an interview, having 3-5 panellists in the admission committee who are mainly called for interview applicants depending on the ability, knowledge and expertise of the student. The panellists do not have any intention to scare or intimidate any candidate. The interview round is of much importance as it aids the members of the admission committee to recognise what exactly is the candidate`s intellect made of.

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Several points to keep in mind while preparing for an interview are discussed below.

• To understand the landscape of the MBA interview – A student has to face different types of interviews when they are applying for different courses. This is so as the institutions and other Business Schools always keep on improving and modifying their way of interviewing students opting for different courses. So, it is equally important for the students to get familiar with the interview format of each type, and they should prepare according to the format.
• Practice and prepare – The student needs to be energetic and bold and must practice, as this is the only way to make the student feel confident. They can give natural, confident and informative answers to the questions asked. Also, the students have to speak without hesitating and discuss their career objectives, why they want to opt for an MBA degree and the reason behind choosing the particular institution. Moreover, they have to explain further by making the committee members understand the contribution of the student towards the community by providing evidence of some of their leadership and teamwork qualities. After answering the basic questions, the student has to be poised and calm when the panellists ask unexpected or tricky questions to them. As it is said that practice makes a man perfect, the students need to practise well to score well in the interview round.
• Recognising the supporting stories and the main points – The student has to prepare at least five main points to explain at the time of the interview. Every point has to be explained with a real and short story of the student’s personal experience to demonstrate the point. The point to be discussed relates to the strength, soft skills and personality traits of the student and their contribution to their institution and their career objectives. The student also has to remember the core value of the course that he is pursuing and must talk about stories that involve behavioural examples supporting the students` points specifically. Also, the student has to focus while explaining and not rehearse the same thing again and directly jump to the agenda or wander or need clarification while speaking.
• Understand how to approach difficult questions – Despite doing a lot of preparation, the student still has to face several questions that he did not anticipate. For example, if a student is asked about their weaknesses or why they faced failure regarding a particular position, then the student has to answer the question with humility and honesty as well, which makes the panellists understand your positive attitude towards the failure by concentrating on the personal and professional growth, introspective ability and learned lessons. This shows that the applicant has made himself stretched in his past and thus can do something better in the future. And, if the student has given a bad answer to the question, then they should keep hope and take deep breaths and keep answering the other questions and, in the end, ask the panellists to clarify the answer given by you. This shows the panellists that the candidate has confidence and self-reflection in them.
• Preparing questions for interviews – Students have to prepare themselves with relevant and meaningful questions to ask the committee members at the end of the interview. Students must prepare questions which cannot be found on the website of the institution or the Business School. Preparing thoughtfully shows the genuine interest of the student in front of the interviewer. Moreover, if the student knows the names of the panellists, then they can try finding them on LinkedIn and connect with them. By checking the profile of the interviewer, the student can easily tailor their questions.
• Stay down to earth – The student should keep trying to make the interview round as a conversation with the interviewer. The panellists of the admission committee mainly want to focus on the things that make the student an exception from other candidates, what the student mainly pays attention to, and what his career aspirations are. This means that the student has to be grounded and share his part of the story with personality and enthusiasm while speaking with a calm and general tone. While speaking, the student has to make the interviewers feel like their institution or Business School is the first choice of the student.

Conclusion

In conclusion, an interview is considered a crucial time to assess if the particular applicant is a perfect fit for the course or not. Once the student decides to appear for the interview, they should also allow themselves to be amused by the chances that bring his candidature to life. The student should capture the interest of the interviewer and make them believe in you, and the most enthralling way to get the attention of the interviewers is to let oneself shine authentically.

Author Bio: Mark Edmonds has over 10 years of experience in academia and management consulting. He currently works for Academic Assignments, assisting students by providing quality MBA assignment help and assignment writing services. His research interests include leadership, organizational behavior, and preparing students for careers in business. Mark holds an MBA from INSEAD and a PhD in Management from Imperial College London. In his free time, he enjoys mentoring MBA applicants and conducting interview preparation workshops. Helping students succeed and realize their potential motivates Mark in his work and research.