Fwd: GP Speaks: 5 Mantras to master the Interview

[Praween]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Career Launcher <webm...@careerlauncher.com>
Date: Wed, Dec 5, 2012 at 8:50 PM
Subject: GP Speaks: 5 Mantras to master the Interview
To: "prawee...@gmail.com" <prawee...@gmail.com>

Having trouble viewing this email? click here
You are receiving this email because of your relationship with CL Educate Ltd.. Please reconfirm your interest in receiving email from us. If you do not wish to receive any more emails, you can unsubscribe here

5 Mantras to Master the Interview:

I have good news and bad news for those of you who are confident of scoring at least 85 marks (raw score) in CAT or 40 in IIFT and have scored at least 200 marks in NMAT.

Good News: You will most probably get interview calls from a few of the top 20 MBA institutes.

Bad News: The personality assessment stage is more difficult of the two stages of selection process.

The reality is that the Personality Assessment stage is the most difficult part of the selection process. While the number of students you will be competing against is fewer, the quality of competition is higher. Each student who is short listed by the institute deserves to be in the final list, but only those who are well prepared will finally make it. This stage is difficult because its focus is on those aspects that have been ignored by most of us as they were never part of our school and college exams.

The questions asked in the interview are very simple but the answer requires deeper introspection. Also, unfortunately, there is no specific way of answering these questions and worse each one of us will have a different answer. Some of the commonly asked questions in the interview are:

1. Tell me  something about yourself
2. What are your strengths and weakness?
3. Which is your biggest achievement in life so far?
4. Why do you want to do an MBA?
5. Which is your favourite subject?
6. Are you satisfied with your academic performance?

The answer to each of the above question will come only after deep introspection of self which unfortunately requires time and cannot be left for the 2-4 weeks between the call letter and the actual interview.

In addition to the interview many institutes have other evaluation tools or activities like group discussion, case study, group task, extempore, etc. which many of you have never been a part of. Hence, you need time to understand these tools and practice them. This is where MBA aspirants with work experience have an advantage over college students. Those of you with work experience would have been exposed to some of these evaluation tools during your recruitment process but may still need to understand its intricacies and will most probably need practice.

If you think that this stage is all about personal attributes and ability to speak and you can afford to ignore your academics/job, you are mistaken. This stage also evaluates you on what you gained in college, your job and your knowledge of the environment (general awareness).

So along with your SNAP and XAT preparation, you should start preparing for personality assessment as well.

How to prepare?

While many of you would already be enrolled in a program that will prepare you for this stage, unfortunately for many of you the preparatory classes for personality assessment will start only after 10th Jan 2013.  The onus of utilizing the next 40 days productively is entirely upon you. So let us see what all you need to do in these 40 days to ensure that you are not caught unaware when you receive your interview call letter. You need to work on the following three broad areas:

1. Academics and/or Work
2. General Awareness
3. Self-awareness

Academics / Work:

This is the area from which questions are invariably asked to all students. In terms of preparation this is the easiest – all you need to do is study. Prepare a couple of subjects from your final year and brush up the fundamentals of the key subjects. You should also revise your summer internship report, term papers or any project that you may have done as part of your academic program.

In case you are working, you need to have not only complete understanding of your work but also knowledge of your company and the environment (market and the industry) in which you operate. Key assignments or projects undertaken by you are also important because they can help prove your understanding of work.

General Awareness:

I know that most of you are not very fond of reading newspapers but for the next 3 months it is essential that you read it daily. While I prefer Indian Express, you can start with whichever newspaper you are comfortable with. In addition to the front page that most of you glance through, you should read the editorial and the business pages also. The Sunday newspaper has articles from diverse areas written by people holding different points of view on an issue. Read all of them and you will not suffer from lack of knowledge during an interview or group discussion. Additionally read a current affairs weekly to ensure that what you read in the newspaper during the week gets reinforced. Those of you who have a background in business studies, commerce or economics should read a business newspaper also.

Self-Awareness

This is the most difficult area in terms of preparation and will need introspection. Many interview questions are asked to understand you as an individual – your motivations or reasons for your actions in the past, your strengths and weakness, your likes and dislikes, etc. To be able to answer these questions convincingly you need to first understand yourself. The answers to many of these questions may require a discussion with your parents or siblings or with someone who knows you well. A good starting point is to write down an essay on yourself.

Finally

Working on the above areas while clears self-doubts and prepares you in terms of knowledge, you will still need to do mock group discussions, interviews, etc. You cannot learn swimming by reading a book, you need to jump in the pool. So, form a group that meets regularly for group discussions and case studies; dig deep into your past to identify possible questions and create answers for them; pair up with a friend to discuss and refine your answers; The more you practice the better off you will be.

To summarize, mastering the following 5 Mantras should get you battle ready:

1. Academics
   1. Study at least two subjects of final year.
   2. Brush up fundamentals of key subjects.
   3. Brush up your summer internship, projects and term papers.
2. Work
   1. Good knowledge of your work
   2. Knowledge of your company, competitors and industry
3. General Awareness
   1. Read newspaper daily – focus on front page, editorial page and business page.
   2. Read a weekly current affairs magazine.
4. Self-awareness
   1. A 500 word essay on self
   2. Identify and answer possible interview questions based on you background
5. Practice
   1. Form a group for mock group discussions
   2. Pair up with a friend to discuss possible interview questions
   3. Mock GDs with potential call getters
   4. Mock interviews with experts.

All the best
GP

This message was sent to prawee...@gmail.com by webm...@careerlauncher.com Unsubscribe | Manage Subscription | Forward Email | Report Abuse

15 A, Knowledge Park II, Greater Noida, U.P 201310, India

--
PRAWEEN PRAKASH
5th year UG student 
Electrical Engineering department
IIT KGP

8653416210

[sruthi chekuri]

Masstt article hain bey. 

--
 
 

--
Sruthi Chekuri
5th year Dual Degree Student
Department of Electrical Engineering
IIT Kharagpur