Wednesday, December 20, 2006

… and you thought ISB interview is a cakewalk…

We have been talking and listening to the prospective students in various forums. Most believe that the interviews at ISB were a cakewalk. Does it mean you can afford to take it easy? We spoke to a few people to find out where the candidates were found wanting.

The interviews are resume and essay based. They look easy. However, there are some pitfalls that you must watch out for.

Q. Why ISB and what after ISB?

This would have come in some form or the other. Be it a 26 year old IIT-IT professional or a 36 year old from the Armed forces, everyone of us has a story. Get that story out explicitly. Connect various data points in your life into one easily understandable seamless story. If you are from IT and want to make a career shift into Finance, the reasons should be compelling. There has to be a detailed plan as to how you are going to do it using ISB. If you are from Media and want to stick with Media, this is as tough as the earlier one. You should mention a concrete reason as to what you did and what you want to do.

Suggestion: Use the framework ‘What have you done? What are you going to do? Where do you plan to go?’

Q. How did you feel meeting Mr. Sunil Mittal (or reading H2G2)?

There are some questions which seem like passing ones but they are the ones that can create impact. An average answer to the above question is: ‘I felt great’ (or ‘It was interesting’). One should go beyond it. The very fact that this question is taking up valuable time in the interview deserves an insightful answer. The answer could be how you felt about this great man (book) after you have seen (read) and the kind of thoughts that came to you.

Suggestion: Use the framework ‘Description & Learning’

Q. Why did you change your job from HDFC to ICICI?

You have made an important decision to move on. The bulging of the wallet may not be the only reason. Do not leave a chance of showcasing what a thoughtful person you are. Every one knows that ICICI is growing faster than HDFC. Do not leave it at that. Talk about how the place smells, people feel, system works. Talk about people, culture, work ethics etc. These are things others do not know. You have the privilege of knowing and talking about it.

Suggestion: Say something that is more than obvious

Q. Asking a technical question.

Do not be surprised if someone on the panel asks the difference between a comp & comp-3. This might be because you have mentioned that you have strong analysis and that you have worked on mainframe technologies. Another illustration can be the difference between wi-fi and wimax. If you are from telecom background, you are expected to answer this. The panel usually gives multiple chances to show the depth of knowledge you posses. Do not merely pass them, crack them!

Suggestion: Flaunt the depth of your knowledge!

Q. Expect the unexpected.

There will be an instance in your interview where you get a question as a googly. Do not get bowled. If the question was ‘What does your wife/girlfriend think of you?’. This is a different version of ‘What are your strengths and weaknesses in personal setting?’. In such situations, it is good to have a pause, map the question to your pre-interview preparation, scope the answer and articulate it. Do not answer with out thinking. Understand the underlying theme of the question.

Suggestion: Take a pause before answering

Q. Wear a smile and wave your hands.

Use all the soft skills that you learnt in your academic and corporate life. Show the energy, wear the smile, maintain eye contact and wave your hands.

Suggestion: Show the positive energy

Though doing well may not get you an entry into the gate but doing badly will definitely get you rejected. Having said this, doing very well will improve your chances due to interview’s weightage in the overall selection process. This is the chance to make the adcom upgrade your application from mediocre to premium. If you want the admit hard enough, start preparing for the interviews very hard. Who said the ISB interview is a cakewalk?

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3 Comments:

At 4:43 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Great article and well thought off too.. Any piece of advice for telephonic interviews..

 
At 5:13 AM, Blogger Bschool Admit (www.bschool-admit.com) said...

hey, its already there. Look at our old posts

 
At 8:37 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

thats neat analysis

 

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