Now that I've some experience to talk from, and a little credential to show let me use this post to welcome those of you who are aspiring for the forthcoming season of MBA Entrance exams.
A year back, at almost the same time, I had some opinions about MBA, various MBA entrance exams and various MBA colleges; and now, with some experience (of my own and of some friends) I think I've gained some more insights into it. With time and experience I realize that not all I knew and thought was true(though a big chunk was).
Some of the things worth mentioning here (particularly for the first timers) will be :
1.) When you prepare for one exam (say CAT) you are infact preparing for all of them, but then to do your best in them, a little specific prep can help you big time. (More on exam specific prep in subsequent posts)
2.) Mock-Cats are a good place to check where you stand, to check new strategies, to check how you cope under pressure and to check how you take the results; but do realize that in the real exams there are a lot of factors at play including the all so famous luck (or as they say Muprhy's factor) so keep your fingers crossed untill the results are out.
3.) Don't believe too much on the various key's in the market, they do give you and idea but that's it about them; the actual key may have significant variations particularly in VA and RC.
4.) Have fun with your preps, and don't take too much stress on you....
and example in case being my friend shashank prabhu (doc mod at PG) who scored a never-before-seen score in MHCET, an exam for which he was little bothered and didn't really prepare and though he scored good in all the exams he appeared in MHCET stands tall.
5.) Play on your strengths, don't run too much after what other's are saying or doing. If you can mug-up the word-lists and formulas pretty good, but even if you can't all is not lost; you can cover it up being strong in say reading speed and/or LR -it doesn't mean that you shouldn't try to work on your weaknesses, but just that don't do it on the cost of loosing out on your strengths.
6.) Believe in yourself. One / a few bad scores in some section or some mocks (or some actual exams) don't define how good / bad you are in that particular field; try to analyze your strengths and weaknesses and work according to them; have faith on yourself and your capabilities.
7.) Last -and a cliche- but not the least ask yourself the all so important question "why MBA". Is it worth to invest 2 years and some 10-18 Lacks of money (except for some colleges like FMS / IIT D / TISS).
*************** XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX *************
Let the season begin.....
best of luck to you all ......
Ranjeet Pratap Singh
(FMS 2012 batch)
Friday, April 16, 2010
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Journey of a boy !!!
Once upon a time, there was a young boy, who like most other boys in their early teens thought that there is nothing in this world that he can’t do; he tried his hands at playing cricket, cricket commentary, poetry, debate and he wanted to be an engineer, a cricketer, a writer, a farmer, a politician and god knows what not.
Then the boy learned about a certain thing called NDA, he being a son of an army-man, always knew the pride that only an Indian army-man can afford; as all his friend were appearing for the written exam he did the same, when the results came the boy was one of the very few who got calls for the Interview or as they say SSB Interview, the boy was glittering with confidence, flying high on the clouds of hope but then some-how he couldn’t clear the interview; the dreams shattered, the hopes devastated, this was the first taste of real life for the young boy.
The journey continued for 4 more times, and every-time the results were the same, SSB not cleared; somehow the boy never thought that may be he is not made for this job, or that may be lacks something needed for the job, he just went back more determined to come back harder and failed again, while among these failures the boy managed to get between 80-85 percentage in 10’th and 12’th which were supposedly good enough for his parents et al, and though he couldn’t clear IIT JEE, he did get an okeyish rank in AIEEE and a decent rank in UPTU. To have some time for living alone, and to run from the constant expectations of doing good, the boy decided to chuck UPTU colleges and join an almost unknown engineering college in Bhubaneswar.
This boy was never really very talented, nor very hard-working; rather he was, one of the laziest and careless person you will ever come across. But he had a few good qualities, the ability to think smart and the ability to back himself no matter what.
Based on these qualities, the boy managed to clear his semesters with okeyish grades, somehow in the mind the boy realized that somehow he actually enjoyed that burden of expectations and hence he started searching for avenues where he can show his mettle, and as luck would have it, it was just around the corner; in the form of CAT and other management entrance exams, when he came to know that there is some place where in even the so-called-talented IITians strive to enter, he only became more determined to do it, or as they say make it to one of those coveted colleges.
He appeared in the mock-Cat cum scholarship tests of various institutes and with-out exception secured a city rank 1 in all, decided to join the class-room coaching of TIME - because it gave maximum discount and because he didn’t like the attitude of another coaching’s director. Somewhere in the mean-time he heard about a few forums for CAT aspirants with crazy but captivating names forums like Totalgadha, pagalguy, crazyustad, testfunda and a lot more he joined all of them, stayed there for some time and finally decided to settle on the most active of them all (yes this is PG – a no brainer -).
The mocks (aimcats) started, the boy started doing fair enough, scoring mostly in 99.xx percentile range with all cut-offs cleared, the not so talented, lazy and dreamy eyed the boy was, he always thought this “ I am doing good as of now, so no need to think about strategy or time allocation, with time I will read everything I need - as I’ve enough time for that – and then I will score better than what I am scoring now without preparation; that the mentioned preparation thing never came is a different story.
In the mean-while there came an e-book called “ ALL I wanted to say about CAT” by PG, the guy read it and thought that may be even my story will be published like this (you see, I’ve told you the boy dreamed a lot :P). Among all the all-so-tough AIMCATs, there came an AIMCAT which was very simple and high-scoring, so confident and arrogant this boy was that he decided to give the paper a ditch 27 mintues before the finish time and went ahead to criticize the paper on PG; a newbie that he was, quite expectedly he was thrashed by people – this boy always tried to help people, just because he loved doing so, as long as they recognized and appreciated his efforts – and the boy, unable to take all this thrashing decided to call “I quit” to the forum.
Then as the boy thought more on it, and as his friends told him (special mention to Abhishek Sharma) he came to realize that he was at some fault in the whole and that quitting is not the solution, meanwhile in came a call from estranged_gnrs, out went the ego and there was a return of the boy, this time more active, more cautious and more mature.
Meanwhile the boy was nominated for the dream team of PG by many people, and the boy felt he finally achieved the thing he loved to have, the burden of expectations but then this perhaps was just one sweet part of an otherwise bitter and testing year including a long, bad and hurting cold-war with the roomies and best friends(at one time, the boy actually considered either committing a murder or a suicide), demise of first his bhabhi(she was very young with just a girl of 2 years) and then his father followed by a sine die in the college and subsequent college suspension for 1 month and many more incidents which would have broken his young heart had it not been strengthened by the earlier blows.
Then came the news which gave a ray of hope in the dark night, the selection into PGDT and into KDT. The zeal had returned and it showed in various forms, with more aimcats and a few other mocks following that boy heard a lot about why and how he was wrong, he heard a lot of advice on emphasizing more on accuracy than on speed, mug up the vocab lists and formulae and the tables and what not.
The boy did give them a serious thought –though he never showed so –but he somehow realized that they were all complicating the things too much, the boy read the books on vedic maths and the likes but never applied them in exam as he found that he could do well without them and hence thought the best way to do things is “to keep things simple and have fun”. The idea basically never changed, except for a short time when he decided to do like others, thinking and implementing various time allocation strategies etc and attained the new lows in his percentiles ranging from lower 99s to 96.xx; soon he realized that this isn’t what he loves doing and came back to his philosophy -“to keep things simple and have fun”.- and started getting the same upper 99 percentiles.
The dreams once again started growing, so much so that the boy started hoping to join only one of the two institutes WIMWI (IIM A) or FMS (DU, New Delhi) –for reasons PM me –the boy first decided to appear only for two exams CAT and FMS (with no affiliate colleges) –what arrogance, eh –but then filled XAT(for XLRI, Jamshedpur).
Soon the mock phase ended, and the second phase “the real game” started, as the all so famous Mr. Murphy would have it, the XAT paper started 15 mintues late at the poor boy’s center, the boy was still hope-full for a good enough overall percentile and was only worried a little for his sectional in LR –rest two he was sure to clear – in FMS exam the boy decided to go all out and attempt all the 200 questions –this ended up with the boy being known for his 200 attempts in his college and on PG for some days to come –the papers ended and the wait for results started. Every-one told the boy, he is gonna rock but then the fate had slightly different plans, he scored a 99.7x in XAT but missed out on VA cut-off (at 83.xx). When the phase of written results ended the boy had two calls in his hand, both from his second favorite institute –FMS.
The end of the story –for now –is the boy is joining FMS, New Delhi.
Some more Gyan :
1.) For people like me(neither very talented, nor hard-working still aspiring to make it big) the key is to keep things simple and have fun.
2.) Try to learn; whatever people suggest you, think about them –if possible try them –but accept them only when you are convinced with them.
3.) Life is long –one college, one exam, one degree, one accident or one misfortune can’t define it –one always gets a chance to prove his worth, provided he carries on.
4.) Fate may delay one’s success but it can’t deter it.
Hope it helps to some ....
Then the boy learned about a certain thing called NDA, he being a son of an army-man, always knew the pride that only an Indian army-man can afford; as all his friend were appearing for the written exam he did the same, when the results came the boy was one of the very few who got calls for the Interview or as they say SSB Interview, the boy was glittering with confidence, flying high on the clouds of hope but then some-how he couldn’t clear the interview; the dreams shattered, the hopes devastated, this was the first taste of real life for the young boy.
The journey continued for 4 more times, and every-time the results were the same, SSB not cleared; somehow the boy never thought that may be he is not made for this job, or that may be lacks something needed for the job, he just went back more determined to come back harder and failed again, while among these failures the boy managed to get between 80-85 percentage in 10’th and 12’th which were supposedly good enough for his parents et al, and though he couldn’t clear IIT JEE, he did get an okeyish rank in AIEEE and a decent rank in UPTU. To have some time for living alone, and to run from the constant expectations of doing good, the boy decided to chuck UPTU colleges and join an almost unknown engineering college in Bhubaneswar.
This boy was never really very talented, nor very hard-working; rather he was, one of the laziest and careless person you will ever come across. But he had a few good qualities, the ability to think smart and the ability to back himself no matter what.
Based on these qualities, the boy managed to clear his semesters with okeyish grades, somehow in the mind the boy realized that somehow he actually enjoyed that burden of expectations and hence he started searching for avenues where he can show his mettle, and as luck would have it, it was just around the corner; in the form of CAT and other management entrance exams, when he came to know that there is some place where in even the so-called-talented IITians strive to enter, he only became more determined to do it, or as they say make it to one of those coveted colleges.
He appeared in the mock-Cat cum scholarship tests of various institutes and with-out exception secured a city rank 1 in all, decided to join the class-room coaching of TIME - because it gave maximum discount and because he didn’t like the attitude of another coaching’s director. Somewhere in the mean-time he heard about a few forums for CAT aspirants with crazy but captivating names forums like Totalgadha, pagalguy, crazyustad, testfunda and a lot more he joined all of them, stayed there for some time and finally decided to settle on the most active of them all (yes this is PG – a no brainer -).
The mocks (aimcats) started, the boy started doing fair enough, scoring mostly in 99.xx percentile range with all cut-offs cleared, the not so talented, lazy and dreamy eyed the boy was, he always thought this “ I am doing good as of now, so no need to think about strategy or time allocation, with time I will read everything I need - as I’ve enough time for that – and then I will score better than what I am scoring now without preparation; that the mentioned preparation thing never came is a different story.
In the mean-while there came an e-book called “ ALL I wanted to say about CAT” by PG, the guy read it and thought that may be even my story will be published like this (you see, I’ve told you the boy dreamed a lot :P). Among all the all-so-tough AIMCATs, there came an AIMCAT which was very simple and high-scoring, so confident and arrogant this boy was that he decided to give the paper a ditch 27 mintues before the finish time and went ahead to criticize the paper on PG; a newbie that he was, quite expectedly he was thrashed by people – this boy always tried to help people, just because he loved doing so, as long as they recognized and appreciated his efforts – and the boy, unable to take all this thrashing decided to call “I quit” to the forum.
Then as the boy thought more on it, and as his friends told him (special mention to Abhishek Sharma) he came to realize that he was at some fault in the whole and that quitting is not the solution, meanwhile in came a call from estranged_gnrs, out went the ego and there was a return of the boy, this time more active, more cautious and more mature.
Meanwhile the boy was nominated for the dream team of PG by many people, and the boy felt he finally achieved the thing he loved to have, the burden of expectations but then this perhaps was just one sweet part of an otherwise bitter and testing year including a long, bad and hurting cold-war with the roomies and best friends(at one time, the boy actually considered either committing a murder or a suicide), demise of first his bhabhi(she was very young with just a girl of 2 years) and then his father followed by a sine die in the college and subsequent college suspension for 1 month and many more incidents which would have broken his young heart had it not been strengthened by the earlier blows.
Then came the news which gave a ray of hope in the dark night, the selection into PGDT and into KDT. The zeal had returned and it showed in various forms, with more aimcats and a few other mocks following that boy heard a lot about why and how he was wrong, he heard a lot of advice on emphasizing more on accuracy than on speed, mug up the vocab lists and formulae and the tables and what not.
The boy did give them a serious thought –though he never showed so –but he somehow realized that they were all complicating the things too much, the boy read the books on vedic maths and the likes but never applied them in exam as he found that he could do well without them and hence thought the best way to do things is “to keep things simple and have fun”. The idea basically never changed, except for a short time when he decided to do like others, thinking and implementing various time allocation strategies etc and attained the new lows in his percentiles ranging from lower 99s to 96.xx; soon he realized that this isn’t what he loves doing and came back to his philosophy -“to keep things simple and have fun”.- and started getting the same upper 99 percentiles.
The dreams once again started growing, so much so that the boy started hoping to join only one of the two institutes WIMWI (IIM A) or FMS (DU, New Delhi) –for reasons PM me –the boy first decided to appear only for two exams CAT and FMS (with no affiliate colleges) –what arrogance, eh –but then filled XAT(for XLRI, Jamshedpur).
Soon the mock phase ended, and the second phase “the real game” started, as the all so famous Mr. Murphy would have it, the XAT paper started 15 mintues late at the poor boy’s center, the boy was still hope-full for a good enough overall percentile and was only worried a little for his sectional in LR –rest two he was sure to clear – in FMS exam the boy decided to go all out and attempt all the 200 questions –this ended up with the boy being known for his 200 attempts in his college and on PG for some days to come –the papers ended and the wait for results started. Every-one told the boy, he is gonna rock but then the fate had slightly different plans, he scored a 99.7x in XAT but missed out on VA cut-off (at 83.xx). When the phase of written results ended the boy had two calls in his hand, both from his second favorite institute –FMS.
The end of the story –for now –is the boy is joining FMS, New Delhi.
Some more Gyan :
1.) For people like me(neither very talented, nor hard-working still aspiring to make it big) the key is to keep things simple and have fun.
2.) Try to learn; whatever people suggest you, think about them –if possible try them –but accept them only when you are convinced with them.
3.) Life is long –one college, one exam, one degree, one accident or one misfortune can’t define it –one always gets a chance to prove his worth, provided he carries on.
4.) Fate may delay one’s success but it can’t deter it.
Hope it helps to some ....
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
CAT '09 and Beyond ....
Let me start by quoting a paragraph about CAT '09 from the wikipedia entry for Common Admission Test, more commonly known as CAT.
Being honest, a lot of people had expected that the first ever online CAT might not go very smooth, but even the most pessimistic ones won't have have thought that it could go as it did.
Right from the word GO, CAT 2009 proved to be a disaster. In the initial stages the form filling interface posed a lot of difficulties to many students but it proved to be just a tip of the iceberg when the process reached its subsequent stages.
Prometric, a U.S. Company was awarded the contract for organizing
And then the doom started, starting from the first day, first slot. The process of "CAT going Global" and the world renowned testing company Prometric seemed to be a part of joke which was played with the fates of some 2.5 lakh students. A point to note here is although one of the reasons IIMs gave in favor of CBT was that its user friendly but even in times of recession the number of aspirants applying for CAT went down something never heard of and never been imagined.
Varying difficulty level across different slots, repeated questions from previous year CAT papers and initial slots and canceled tests because of so called virus attacks which some-how the globally renowned TESTING agency failed to catch are some of the points which amused the students, and though there was a huge demand for retest from almost all sections of society, autonomous CAT authorities decided against it.
In response to the repeated questions a un-resolved logic of some kind of psychometric equivalence was provided, nobody has/had any idea about the marking scheme or the negative marks or about what would follow next.
What followed this is was a seemingly endless wait for results with a website which was seldom updated, a help-line where no-one knew the dates of results and a result which few people could trust, people who had scored in 99s in other entrance examinations and previous year CATs suddenly landed up with percentiles in 90s; people who were full-time faculty of VA in prestigious coaching Institutes for CAT preparation landed up 60 odd percentile in VA, people who had left the lower ranked IIMs to read in the upper ranked ones landed up fighting for calls from the IIMs they had converted and left, people in the dream team of pagalguy.com the largest MBA forum, whose DT has a record of 3 hundred percentilers with a lot of BLACKIS previous year,landed up with no-one in 99.9x and a lot of guys with no calls at all.
A lot of doubts and questions follow this, does all of preparation and pain for studying in the prestigious Indian Institutes of Managements really worth it. Is it really worthwhile to study management from people who can't manage their own entrance exam, from people who have less confidence on their own methodologies than on the so called globally accepted ones disregarding the fact that whether or not they are appropriate in Indian context.
And the biggest doubt as a cat 2010 aspirant asked on a public forum .
" If CAT is really going to be like this, why am I even preparing for it?".
Hope that CAT is not going to be like this, and that people start realizing that just because something is global, doesn't mean its beyond debate or that it can't have any faults or that it can't be further improved or that its valid in all contexts.
Amen ....
The first ever computer based CAT conducted by Prometric during 28'th nov-7'th dec created a lot news, mostly for the wrong reasons. On the one hand, technical glitches attributed to hardware problems and virus attacks made sure that around 8,000 students were not able to appear in CAT in their allotted slots, on the other hand a lot of controversy around depreciated standards, repeated questions and different difficulty level for different slots ensured that people started demanding to have a paper based retest.
CAT organizing committee didn't agree to this demand and instead allotted extra slots on 8'th dec and later on 30'th and 31'st jan for those who couldn't appear in the tests due to glitches.
The controversy didn't end here but followed a long delay in declaration of results, which was deferred many a times and finally announced on 28'th feb, with IIM A and IIM S declaring the list of shortlisted candidates while the result website maintains that lists for other IIMs is awaited. While the website mentions that the scores reported are the scaled scores arrived at by establishing psychometric equivalences to adjust for any variation in difficulty levels across the tests, but it lacks any information as in how it is done. Owing to this and other reasons it is likely to attract a plethora of applications filed under RTI.
Being honest, a lot of people had expected that the first ever online CAT might not go very smooth, but even the most pessimistic ones won't have have thought that it could go as it did.
Right from the word GO, CAT 2009 proved to be a disaster. In the initial stages the form filling interface posed a lot of difficulties to many students but it proved to be just a tip of the iceberg when the process reached its subsequent stages.
Prometric, a U.S. Company was awarded the contract for organizing
And then the doom started, starting from the first day, first slot. The process of "CAT going Global" and the world renowned testing company Prometric seemed to be a part of joke which was played with the fates of some 2.5 lakh students. A point to note here is although one of the reasons IIMs gave in favor of CBT was that its user friendly but even in times of recession the number of aspirants applying for CAT went down something never heard of and never been imagined.
Varying difficulty level across different slots, repeated questions from previous year CAT papers and initial slots and canceled tests because of so called virus attacks which some-how the globally renowned TESTING agency failed to catch are some of the points which amused the students, and though there was a huge demand for retest from almost all sections of society, autonomous CAT authorities decided against it.
In response to the repeated questions a un-resolved logic of some kind of psychometric equivalence was provided, nobody has/had any idea about the marking scheme or the negative marks or about what would follow next.
What followed this is was a seemingly endless wait for results with a website which was seldom updated, a help-line where no-one knew the dates of results and a result which few people could trust, people who had scored in 99s in other entrance examinations and previous year CATs suddenly landed up with percentiles in 90s; people who were full-time faculty of VA in prestigious coaching Institutes for CAT preparation landed up 60 odd percentile in VA, people who had left the lower ranked IIMs to read in the upper ranked ones landed up fighting for calls from the IIMs they had converted and left, people in the dream team of pagalguy.com the largest MBA forum, whose DT has a record of 3 hundred percentilers with a lot of BLACKIS previous year,landed up with no-one in 99.9x and a lot of guys with no calls at all.
A lot of doubts and questions follow this, does all of preparation and pain for studying in the prestigious Indian Institutes of Managements really worth it. Is it really worthwhile to study management from people who can't manage their own entrance exam, from people who have less confidence on their own methodologies than on the so called globally accepted ones disregarding the fact that whether or not they are appropriate in Indian context.
And the biggest doubt as a cat 2010 aspirant asked on a public forum .
" If CAT is really going to be like this, why am I even preparing for it?".
Hope that CAT is not going to be like this, and that people start realizing that just because something is global, doesn't mean its beyond debate or that it can't have any faults or that it can't be further improved or that its valid in all contexts.
Amen ....
Friday, February 26, 2010
the best of pg ...
Pagalguy.com or Pg as we puys(people at pg) call it, is one of the places where one can find some of the most helpful people around, this includes students and alumni of best management Institutes around the world and some others who like Ramakant Achrekar are helping people be the next Sachin Tendulkar with-out an MBA.
Now, these people are really good in all that they do but they have extra-ordinary command over some aspects of MBA prep and beyond; So I thought to make a list of people you may contact if you want to clarify your doubts and you can be sure to get the best possible guidance from the best in business.
The list is just indicative and is in no way exhaustive, PG is a big place and there are a lot of people who are equally or may be even more capable and helpful I've just written down the names of people I could remember as of now.
But this list should suffice in clearing more than 99% of the doubts one may have ....
I will keep on editing this list as and when a change will be felt needed and you all are welcome to suggest any addition or modification via a comment.
DI doubts : Vipul88
Quant doubts : ShashankMishra and Naga25french divishth
VA doutbs : r11gupta, silent_assassin
Exam taking strategies etc : writetotanveer, shashank3012
Organizing a pg meet : Estraged_gnrs
Features on PG : Puri.Pallavi, shashank3012.
Statement of Purpose (SOP) : The Raven
Help for newbies : Avinav
Appropriate Link required : pagalguy, nikozi_999, amodh.
Institute Specific Queries.
FMS : rainbowz
MICA : Admissions@mica
IIM C : rik_12
IIM S : Diablorulez
IIM L : made_for_iims
IMI : avinav
XLRI : Gurdit
Now, these people are really good in all that they do but they have extra-ordinary command over some aspects of MBA prep and beyond; So I thought to make a list of people you may contact if you want to clarify your doubts and you can be sure to get the best possible guidance from the best in business.
The list is just indicative and is in no way exhaustive, PG is a big place and there are a lot of people who are equally or may be even more capable and helpful I've just written down the names of people I could remember as of now.
But this list should suffice in clearing more than 99% of the doubts one may have ....
I will keep on editing this list as and when a change will be felt needed and you all are welcome to suggest any addition or modification via a comment.
DI doubts : Vipul88
Quant doubts : ShashankMishra and Naga25french divishth
VA doutbs : r11gupta, silent_assassin
Exam taking strategies etc : writetotanveer, shashank3012
Organizing a pg meet : Estraged_gnrs
Features on PG : Puri.Pallavi, shashank3012.
Statement of Purpose (SOP) : The Raven
Help for newbies : Avinav
Appropriate Link required : pagalguy, nikozi_999, amodh.
Institute Specific Queries.
FMS : rainbowz
MICA : Admissions@mica
IIM C : rik_12
IIM S : Diablorulez
IIM L : made_for_iims
IMI : avinav
XLRI : Gurdit
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Frequently Asked Questions IN Personal Interviews ....
Self Awareness
1. How would you describe yourself ?
2. Tell me about yourself ?
3. How do you think a friend or professor who knows you would describe you?
4. What motivates you to put forth your best effort ?
5. How do you determine or evaluate success ?
6. What academic subjects did you like best ? Least ?
7. What led you to choose the career for which you are preparing ?
8. What personal characteristics are necessary for succeeding in the career that you are interested in ?
9. What is your philosophy of life ?
10. Why have you switched career fields ?
Weaknesses / Negatives
1. What major problems have you encountered and how have you dealt with them ?
2. What have you learnt form your mistakes ?
3. What do you consider to be your greatest weakness ?
4. Did you ever have problems with your supervisor ?
Skills / Abilities / Qualifications
1. What do you consider to be your greatest strength ?
2. Are you creative ? Give an example.
3. What qualifications do you have that makes you think you will be successful ?
4. In what way do you think you can make a contribution to society?
5. Why should we take you ?
6. What are your own special abilities ?
7. Why should we take you over another candidate ?
8. What is your managing style ?
9. Why do you want to join this institute ?
10. What do you know about our institute ?
Values
1. What is your attitude towards working hard ?
2. What part does your family play in your life ?
3. What are the most important rewards you expect in your career ?
4. What is more important to you : money offered, or the type of job ?
5. Do you enjoy independent research ?
6. In what kind of a work environment are you most comfortable ?
7. How would you describe the ideal job for you ?
8. What two or three things are most important to you in your job ?
9. Do you prefer working with others or all by yourself ?
10. How do you like to work ?
11. Under what conditions do you work best ?
12. What is the highest form of praise ?
Experience
1. In what part-time or summer job have you been most interested ?
2. Tell me about your experience.
3. What jobs have you held ?
4. How did your previous employer treat you ?
5. What have you learnt from some of the jobs that you have held ?
6. What jobs have you enjoyed most ? Least ? Why ?
7. What have you done that shows initiative and willingness to work ?
8. Describe your current job.
9. What did you like least about your last job ?
10. What did you like most about your last job ?
Goals / Objectives
1. What are your short-term and long-term goals and objectives ?
2. What specific goals other than those related to your occupation have you chosen for yourself for the next 10 years ?
3. What do you see yourself doing 5 years from now ?
4. What do you really want to do in life ?
5. How do you plan to achieve your career goals ?
Education
1. How has your education prepared you for a career ?
2. Describe your most rewarding college experience.
3. Why did you select your college or university ?
4. If you could, would you plan your academic study differently ?
5. Do you think grades are a good indication of your academic achievement ?
6. What have you learnt from participation in extracurricular activities ?
7. Do you have plans for continuing your studies ?
8. Why did you pick your programme ?
9. What courses did you like best and why ?
10. What courses did you like least and why ?
11. How has your college experience prepared you for this job ?
12. How did you pick your dissertation ?
13. Describe your dissertation process.
Salary
1. What do you expect to earn in 5 years ?
2. What did you earn in your last job ?
Interests
1. What are your outside interests ?
2. What do you do with your free time ?
3. What are your hobbies ?
4. What types of books do you read ?
5. How interested are you in sports ?
6. How did you spend your vacations in school ?
General
1. What qualities should a successful manager possess ?
2. Describe the relationship that should exist between a supervisor and a subordinate.
3. What 3 accomplishments have given you the greatest satisfaction ?
4. If you were taking a graduate for this institute, what qualities would you look for ?
5. What can I do for you ?
6. Tell me a story.
7. Define cooperation.
Stress Questions
1. What causes you to lose your temper ?
2. How often have you been absent from school, work or training ?
3. Have you ever had trouble with other people on the job ?
4. Can you take instructions without getting upset ?
5. Don't you feel you are a little to old/young for this job ?
6. How does your family like you being away on business trips ?
7. With your background, we believe that you are overqualified to join this institute.
8. You haven't had sufficient experience in this field.
9. Our experience with women on this job has not been good.
10. What would irritate you most if I as a manager did it ?
Influencing Others
1. Tell me about the time you were most persuasive in overcoming resistance to your ideas or point of view.
2. Tell me about the last time someone made an unreasonable request of you.
3. Describe the most disappointing and frustrating experience in gaining the support of others for an idea or proposal.
Interpersonal Skills
1. Describe a situation where it was most important for you to display tact and diplomacy.
2. Tell me about the last time you had a clash or disagreement with someone at school/college/workplace.
3. Tell me about a time when you felt most frustrated and disappointed at a person with whom you had worked.
Personal Adaptability
1. Tell me about the last time you were criticized by a supervisor or a professor.
2. Tell me about the time when you felt most pressured or stressed at work/ school/internship.
3. Tell me about the time when you felt most frustrated at your school/workplace.
4. In what aspects of your work/internship do you have the most confidence in your abilities.
Communication Skills
1. Tell me about the time when you felt best about your ability to draw out or solicit information from another person.
2. Tell me about the time when you had to work your hardest in order to fully understand what another person was saying to you.
3. Describe the last time when someone at school/work misunderstood what you were trying to communicate.
Motivation
1. Tell me about the most long term, sustained extra hours of effort that you put into your work/college/internship.
2. Describe a time when you felt most frustrated or discouraged in reaching your goals or objectives.
3. What do you feel has been your most significant work/school/internship related achievement within the past year or so ?
4. Describe the last time you did something well which went beyond the expectations in your work/internship.
Administrative Skills
1. Tell me how you go about organizing your work and scheduling your own time.
2. What do you do to ensure that your goals and objectives are met in a timely way ?
3. Describe the most extensive planning that you have ever done.
Problem Solving and Decision Making
1.Tell me about the most difficult problem that you faced in your work/school/internship ?
2.Tell me about the last time you made a decision that backfired.
3.Tell me about the time when you regretted most not getting advice before you went ahead ?
Conflict Management Skills
1. Tell me about the last significant crisis situation that you faced in your work.
2. Tell me about a time when you were most persuasive in overcoming resistance to your ideas.
3. Tell me about the time when you had a disagreement with someone at work.
Note 1 : The credit for this post goes to manduks an alumni of ICFAI who has read on this on some website ( !!! ) and to Nagaraj* for digging it out 7 years after it was first published.
Note 2 : This post is a little modification of the original post, the original post can be found here or here.
* Nagaraj, better known as naga25french or naga is one of the most trusted, well known and friendly guys on pg. He has been and is an inspiration for a lot of guys including but not limited to people from DT,UDT,SBT and Regional Dream teams on pg and consisting of quite a few people who have already been there and done that.
1. How would you describe yourself ?
2. Tell me about yourself ?
3. How do you think a friend or professor who knows you would describe you?
4. What motivates you to put forth your best effort ?
5. How do you determine or evaluate success ?
6. What academic subjects did you like best ? Least ?
7. What led you to choose the career for which you are preparing ?
8. What personal characteristics are necessary for succeeding in the career that you are interested in ?
9. What is your philosophy of life ?
10. Why have you switched career fields ?
Weaknesses / Negatives
1. What major problems have you encountered and how have you dealt with them ?
2. What have you learnt form your mistakes ?
3. What do you consider to be your greatest weakness ?
4. Did you ever have problems with your supervisor ?
Skills / Abilities / Qualifications
1. What do you consider to be your greatest strength ?
2. Are you creative ? Give an example.
3. What qualifications do you have that makes you think you will be successful ?
4. In what way do you think you can make a contribution to society?
5. Why should we take you ?
6. What are your own special abilities ?
7. Why should we take you over another candidate ?
8. What is your managing style ?
9. Why do you want to join this institute ?
10. What do you know about our institute ?
Values
1. What is your attitude towards working hard ?
2. What part does your family play in your life ?
3. What are the most important rewards you expect in your career ?
4. What is more important to you : money offered, or the type of job ?
5. Do you enjoy independent research ?
6. In what kind of a work environment are you most comfortable ?
7. How would you describe the ideal job for you ?
8. What two or three things are most important to you in your job ?
9. Do you prefer working with others or all by yourself ?
10. How do you like to work ?
11. Under what conditions do you work best ?
12. What is the highest form of praise ?
Experience
1. In what part-time or summer job have you been most interested ?
2. Tell me about your experience.
3. What jobs have you held ?
4. How did your previous employer treat you ?
5. What have you learnt from some of the jobs that you have held ?
6. What jobs have you enjoyed most ? Least ? Why ?
7. What have you done that shows initiative and willingness to work ?
8. Describe your current job.
9. What did you like least about your last job ?
10. What did you like most about your last job ?
Goals / Objectives
1. What are your short-term and long-term goals and objectives ?
2. What specific goals other than those related to your occupation have you chosen for yourself for the next 10 years ?
3. What do you see yourself doing 5 years from now ?
4. What do you really want to do in life ?
5. How do you plan to achieve your career goals ?
Education
1. How has your education prepared you for a career ?
2. Describe your most rewarding college experience.
3. Why did you select your college or university ?
4. If you could, would you plan your academic study differently ?
5. Do you think grades are a good indication of your academic achievement ?
6. What have you learnt from participation in extracurricular activities ?
7. Do you have plans for continuing your studies ?
8. Why did you pick your programme ?
9. What courses did you like best and why ?
10. What courses did you like least and why ?
11. How has your college experience prepared you for this job ?
12. How did you pick your dissertation ?
13. Describe your dissertation process.
Salary
1. What do you expect to earn in 5 years ?
2. What did you earn in your last job ?
Interests
1. What are your outside interests ?
2. What do you do with your free time ?
3. What are your hobbies ?
4. What types of books do you read ?
5. How interested are you in sports ?
6. How did you spend your vacations in school ?
General
1. What qualities should a successful manager possess ?
2. Describe the relationship that should exist between a supervisor and a subordinate.
3. What 3 accomplishments have given you the greatest satisfaction ?
4. If you were taking a graduate for this institute, what qualities would you look for ?
5. What can I do for you ?
6. Tell me a story.
7. Define cooperation.
Stress Questions
1. What causes you to lose your temper ?
2. How often have you been absent from school, work or training ?
3. Have you ever had trouble with other people on the job ?
4. Can you take instructions without getting upset ?
5. Don't you feel you are a little to old/young for this job ?
6. How does your family like you being away on business trips ?
7. With your background, we believe that you are overqualified to join this institute.
8. You haven't had sufficient experience in this field.
9. Our experience with women on this job has not been good.
10. What would irritate you most if I as a manager did it ?
Influencing Others
1. Tell me about the time you were most persuasive in overcoming resistance to your ideas or point of view.
2. Tell me about the last time someone made an unreasonable request of you.
3. Describe the most disappointing and frustrating experience in gaining the support of others for an idea or proposal.
Interpersonal Skills
1. Describe a situation where it was most important for you to display tact and diplomacy.
2. Tell me about the last time you had a clash or disagreement with someone at school/college/workplace.
3. Tell me about a time when you felt most frustrated and disappointed at a person with whom you had worked.
Personal Adaptability
1. Tell me about the last time you were criticized by a supervisor or a professor.
2. Tell me about the time when you felt most pressured or stressed at work/ school/internship.
3. Tell me about the time when you felt most frustrated at your school/workplace.
4. In what aspects of your work/internship do you have the most confidence in your abilities.
Communication Skills
1. Tell me about the time when you felt best about your ability to draw out or solicit information from another person.
2. Tell me about the time when you had to work your hardest in order to fully understand what another person was saying to you.
3. Describe the last time when someone at school/work misunderstood what you were trying to communicate.
Motivation
1. Tell me about the most long term, sustained extra hours of effort that you put into your work/college/internship.
2. Describe a time when you felt most frustrated or discouraged in reaching your goals or objectives.
3. What do you feel has been your most significant work/school/internship related achievement within the past year or so ?
4. Describe the last time you did something well which went beyond the expectations in your work/internship.
Administrative Skills
1. Tell me how you go about organizing your work and scheduling your own time.
2. What do you do to ensure that your goals and objectives are met in a timely way ?
3. Describe the most extensive planning that you have ever done.
Problem Solving and Decision Making
1.Tell me about the most difficult problem that you faced in your work/school/internship ?
2.Tell me about the last time you made a decision that backfired.
3.Tell me about the time when you regretted most not getting advice before you went ahead ?
Conflict Management Skills
1. Tell me about the last significant crisis situation that you faced in your work.
2. Tell me about a time when you were most persuasive in overcoming resistance to your ideas.
3. Tell me about the time when you had a disagreement with someone at work.
Note 1 : The credit for this post goes to manduks an alumni of ICFAI who has read on this on some website ( !!! ) and to Nagaraj* for digging it out 7 years after it was first published.
Note 2 : This post is a little modification of the original post, the original post can be found here or here.
* Nagaraj, better known as naga25french or naga is one of the most trusted, well known and friendly guys on pg. He has been and is an inspiration for a lot of guys including but not limited to people from DT,UDT,SBT and Regional Dream teams on pg and consisting of quite a few people who have already been there and done that.
FAQs regarding Personal Interview ...
For general tips regarding Interview Preparation by the same author click here
Is it better to have a longer selection interview or a shorter one?
The length of an interview in no way is an indicator of how well an interview went. This is especially so when there are a number of candidates to be interviewed, like in the Civil Services interview or the MBA entrance interview. In the past, a number of candidates have reported varying lengths of interviews. Nothing positive or negative should be read into this. An interview is only a device whereby the panel seeks information about the candidate. Information that will help the panel decide whether or not the candidate should be selected. If the panel feels that it has gathered enough information about the candidate in 15 minutes of the interview commencing and that it has no further questions to ask the interview will be terminated in 15 minutes. If on the other hand the panel takes an hour to gather the information required to take a decision the interview will last for an hour. In either case the decision could be positive or negative. It is a fallacy to believe that interview panels take longer interviews of candidates whom they are more interested in. No panel likes to waste its time. If an interview is lasting longer than usual then it only means that the panel is seeking more information about the candidate in order to take a decision.
What to Expect in a PI?
In general, B-school interviews are not formulaic. The focus can range from specific questions about your job responsibilities to broad discussions of life. Approach the interview as a conversation to be enjoyed, not as a question-and-answer ordeal to get through. You may talk more about your hobbies or recent cross-country trip. This doesn't mean that it won't feel like a job interview. It just means you're being sized up as a person and future professional in all your dimensions. Try to be your witty, charming, natural self. Interviews are conducted by students, faculty, admissions personnel and alumni. Don't dismiss students as the lightweights; they follow a tight script and report back to the committee. However, because they're inexperienced beyond the script, their interviews are most likely to be duds. You may have to work harder to get your points across.
How to Prepare ?
Prepare for the interview in several ways: Expect to discuss many things about yourself. Be ready to go into greater depth than you did in your essays (but don't assume the interviewer has read them). Put together two or three points about yourself that you want the interviewer to remember you by. Go in with examples, or even a portfolio of your work, to showcase your achievements. Practice speaking about your accomplishments without a lot of "I did this, I did that." Finally, be prepared to give a strong and convincing answer to the interviewer's inevitable question: "Why here?"
How do I answer questions as :
Tell us about yourself? : An often asked opening question. Perhaps the most frequently asked question across interviews. Your opening statement needs to be a summary of your goals, overall professional capabilities, achievements, background (educational and family), strengths, professional objectives and anything about your personality that is relevant and interesting. This question represents an opportunity to lead the interviewer in the direction you want him to go e.g., your speciality or whatever else you may wish to highlight.
Your intention should be to try subtly convincing the interviewers that you are a good candidate, you have proved that in the past and have a personality that fits the requirement.
Remember that the first impression you create will go a long way in the ultimate selection. Keep in mind, most candidates who are asked this question just blurt out their schooling, college, marks and qualifications. All this is already there in the CV. Why tell the interviewer something he already knows?
A final word on approaching this question. Once you have said what you have to say - shut up. Don't drone on for the sake of speaking for you just might say something foolish. Sometimes interviewers don't interrupt in order to give the candidate the impression that he has not spoken enough. This is just a stress/error-inducing tactic. Don't fall for it, especially if you feel you have spoken enough. In case the pause gets too awkward for your liking, just add something like, "Is there something specific that you wish to know about me?"
Why MBA? : When you are asked this for God's sake don't tell the panel that you are looking for a"challenging job in a good firm with lots of money, status and glamour". That is the first answer that most candidates think of. Unfortunately, it is the last answer that will get you admission. In the answer to a direct question on this subject you must convey to the interview panel that you have made a rational and informed decision about your career choice and your intended course of higher study. There are broadly four areas which your answer could touch upon:
Career Objectives : You could talk about your career objectives and how the two year MBA programme will help you achieve them. This implies that you have a clear idea of what your career objectives are and how you wish to achieve them. For example, you may want to be an entrepreneur and wish to set up your independent enterprise after doing your MBA and then working for a few years in a professionally managed company. You could explain to the panel that the MBA programme will provide you with the necessary inputs to help you run your business enterprise better. But then you must be clear about what the inputs you will receive in the MBA programme are.
Value Addition : That brings us to the second area that your answer should touch upon. What is the value you will add to yourself during your two year study of management. Value addition will essentially be in two forms knowledge and skills. Knowledge of the various areas of management e.g. marketing, finance, systems, HRD etc. and skills of analysis and communication. You will find it useful to talk to a few people who are either doing their MBA or have already done it. They will be able to give you a more detailed idea of what they gained from their MBA.
Background : Remember, there must be no inconsistency between your proposed study of management and your past subject of study or your past work experience. If you have studied commerce in college then management is a natural course of higher studies. If you are an engineer this is a tricky area. You must never say that by pursuing a career in management you will be wasting your engineering degree. Try and say that the MBA course and your engineering degree will help you do your job better in the company that you will join. But then you should be able to justify how your engineering qualification will help.
Opportunities and Rewards : You could also at this stage mention the opportunities that are opening up in organizations for management graduates. Highlight with examples. At the end you may mention that while monetary rewards are not everything they are also important and MBAs do get paid well. You must not mention these reasons as your primary motivators even if that may be the case.
Note 1 : The credit for this post goes to manduks an alumni of ICFAI who has read on this on some website ( !!! ) and to Nagaraj* for digging it out 7 years after it was first published.
Note 2 : This post is a little modification of the original post, the original post can be found here or here.
* Nagaraj, better known as naga25french or naga is one of the most trusted, well known and friendly guys on pg. He has been and is an inspiration for a lot of guys including but not limited to people from DT,UDT,SBT and Regional Dream teams on pg and consisting of quite a few people who have already been there and done that.
Is it better to have a longer selection interview or a shorter one?
The length of an interview in no way is an indicator of how well an interview went. This is especially so when there are a number of candidates to be interviewed, like in the Civil Services interview or the MBA entrance interview. In the past, a number of candidates have reported varying lengths of interviews. Nothing positive or negative should be read into this. An interview is only a device whereby the panel seeks information about the candidate. Information that will help the panel decide whether or not the candidate should be selected. If the panel feels that it has gathered enough information about the candidate in 15 minutes of the interview commencing and that it has no further questions to ask the interview will be terminated in 15 minutes. If on the other hand the panel takes an hour to gather the information required to take a decision the interview will last for an hour. In either case the decision could be positive or negative. It is a fallacy to believe that interview panels take longer interviews of candidates whom they are more interested in. No panel likes to waste its time. If an interview is lasting longer than usual then it only means that the panel is seeking more information about the candidate in order to take a decision.
What to Expect in a PI?
In general, B-school interviews are not formulaic. The focus can range from specific questions about your job responsibilities to broad discussions of life. Approach the interview as a conversation to be enjoyed, not as a question-and-answer ordeal to get through. You may talk more about your hobbies or recent cross-country trip. This doesn't mean that it won't feel like a job interview. It just means you're being sized up as a person and future professional in all your dimensions. Try to be your witty, charming, natural self. Interviews are conducted by students, faculty, admissions personnel and alumni. Don't dismiss students as the lightweights; they follow a tight script and report back to the committee. However, because they're inexperienced beyond the script, their interviews are most likely to be duds. You may have to work harder to get your points across.
How to Prepare ?
Prepare for the interview in several ways: Expect to discuss many things about yourself. Be ready to go into greater depth than you did in your essays (but don't assume the interviewer has read them). Put together two or three points about yourself that you want the interviewer to remember you by. Go in with examples, or even a portfolio of your work, to showcase your achievements. Practice speaking about your accomplishments without a lot of "I did this, I did that." Finally, be prepared to give a strong and convincing answer to the interviewer's inevitable question: "Why here?"
How do I answer questions as :
Tell us about yourself? : An often asked opening question. Perhaps the most frequently asked question across interviews. Your opening statement needs to be a summary of your goals, overall professional capabilities, achievements, background (educational and family), strengths, professional objectives and anything about your personality that is relevant and interesting. This question represents an opportunity to lead the interviewer in the direction you want him to go e.g., your speciality or whatever else you may wish to highlight.
Your intention should be to try subtly convincing the interviewers that you are a good candidate, you have proved that in the past and have a personality that fits the requirement.
Remember that the first impression you create will go a long way in the ultimate selection. Keep in mind, most candidates who are asked this question just blurt out their schooling, college, marks and qualifications. All this is already there in the CV. Why tell the interviewer something he already knows?
A final word on approaching this question. Once you have said what you have to say - shut up. Don't drone on for the sake of speaking for you just might say something foolish. Sometimes interviewers don't interrupt in order to give the candidate the impression that he has not spoken enough. This is just a stress/error-inducing tactic. Don't fall for it, especially if you feel you have spoken enough. In case the pause gets too awkward for your liking, just add something like, "Is there something specific that you wish to know about me?"
Why MBA? : When you are asked this for God's sake don't tell the panel that you are looking for a"challenging job in a good firm with lots of money, status and glamour". That is the first answer that most candidates think of. Unfortunately, it is the last answer that will get you admission. In the answer to a direct question on this subject you must convey to the interview panel that you have made a rational and informed decision about your career choice and your intended course of higher study. There are broadly four areas which your answer could touch upon:
Career Objectives : You could talk about your career objectives and how the two year MBA programme will help you achieve them. This implies that you have a clear idea of what your career objectives are and how you wish to achieve them. For example, you may want to be an entrepreneur and wish to set up your independent enterprise after doing your MBA and then working for a few years in a professionally managed company. You could explain to the panel that the MBA programme will provide you with the necessary inputs to help you run your business enterprise better. But then you must be clear about what the inputs you will receive in the MBA programme are.
Value Addition : That brings us to the second area that your answer should touch upon. What is the value you will add to yourself during your two year study of management. Value addition will essentially be in two forms knowledge and skills. Knowledge of the various areas of management e.g. marketing, finance, systems, HRD etc. and skills of analysis and communication. You will find it useful to talk to a few people who are either doing their MBA or have already done it. They will be able to give you a more detailed idea of what they gained from their MBA.
Background : Remember, there must be no inconsistency between your proposed study of management and your past subject of study or your past work experience. If you have studied commerce in college then management is a natural course of higher studies. If you are an engineer this is a tricky area. You must never say that by pursuing a career in management you will be wasting your engineering degree. Try and say that the MBA course and your engineering degree will help you do your job better in the company that you will join. But then you should be able to justify how your engineering qualification will help.
Opportunities and Rewards : You could also at this stage mention the opportunities that are opening up in organizations for management graduates. Highlight with examples. At the end you may mention that while monetary rewards are not everything they are also important and MBAs do get paid well. You must not mention these reasons as your primary motivators even if that may be the case.
Note 1 : The credit for this post goes to manduks an alumni of ICFAI who has read on this on some website ( !!! ) and to Nagaraj* for digging it out 7 years after it was first published.
Note 2 : This post is a little modification of the original post, the original post can be found here or here.
* Nagaraj, better known as naga25french or naga is one of the most trusted, well known and friendly guys on pg. He has been and is an inspiration for a lot of guys including but not limited to people from DT,UDT,SBT and Regional Dream teams on pg and consisting of quite a few people who have already been there and done that.
Interview Preparation ....
Personal Interview is one of the most widely used methodology for selection across all fields and positions. Here the interviewer(s) tries to find out whether you will be able to do justice to the position he is trying to offer you, though less emphasized and mentioned you also get a chance to find out more about the institute or organization you are applying, and about the responsibilities that come with the position being offered. This is true both for admission in coveted Institutes or recruitment in organizations.
To help you prepare for the same, here are some tips and suggestions, but these should be taken with caution; there is no one size fits all policy and you are not supposed to follow every advice given here blindly but to think on it and modify it according to your personal needs etc.
1.) General tips :
# Be open and honest.
# Ask questions, since the interview is as much an opportunity for you to learn about the school as for the school to learn about you.
# Follow proper business decorum.
# Watch your nonverbal clues, such as eye contact, posture, and fidgeting.
# Be courteous to the administrative staff, since how you treat them can have an impact (positive or negative).
2.) Application / Resume / CV :
# Review and re-review your application; the interviewer is likely to ask specific questions about it.
# Be ready to provide examples and specifics and to elaborate on info on your resume and application.
# Write all and only relevant info.
# Don't exaggerate; people have tendency to exaggerate skills and achievements, but try not to write something that can not be proved or justified.
3.)Gearing Up for the Interview :
# That nobody is perfect is the maxim that sounds even more pertinent in the context of an interview. Interview is without a doubt a trepidation for everyone, and the novices and the old hands alike find themselves on pins and needles at the prospect of being interviewed. What makes people lose sleep over the interviews is essentially an apprehension of the unforeseen, a dread of being confronted with something they don't know; and no matter how many interviews has one faced and sailed through, every new interview brings a new pain in the neck. Jitteriness hangs over everyone; only the intensity may differ. And though there are no alternatives to awareness and conviction, there are certain guidelines which when followed will put off some seemingly trifling slip-ups, which could turn your interview into a dismal affair at the end of the day. These are the gimmicks that must be exercised if the interview is to be saved from some apparently petty blunders.
4.) Before Taking the Bull by the Horns :
# The homework starts right from the word go- immediately after you receive the interview call. Apart from brushing up your technical know-how, which is undoubtedly pivotal to your success, you need to pay heed to some aspects that will pump up your confidence level and help keep off nerves at the interview table.
# Reaching for the interview late may put the interviewer off, as it can also dampen your spirit. So to have an idea as to when you should leave for the interview, just go by the venue at least one day prior to the interview as a rehearsal.
# Envisage the likely questions and picture yourself answering them with confidence. Keep telling yourself that you are good enough to sail through. This will infuse just enough confidence in you, and that'll make all he difference in the interview.
# Consider the dress you'll be wearing. 'Formal dress' is often a deceptive phrase as it may mean different clothing for different companies. Sometimes, it's indispensable to put on a three-piece, while the other day it may seem too much of affectation; only a tie with formal shirt and trousers may do. Make out what dress could be apposite for a particular company.
# If the company is too far-off and your dress is likely to get rumpled in the bus, better travel in a taxi. Carry a comb in your pocket. There is no excuse for a clumsy appearance in the interview.
# Reach the venue at least half an hour in advance so that you have enough time for having a breather and bracing up for the interview. Arriving at the last minute and entering the interview room panting will reveal you in a poor light and you won't be in the right kind of frame to take on the interview.
# In case the interview does not commence on the scheduled time, don't lose you focus. Don't be distracted and maintain your composure. Read some magazine or talk to the people about the company. Go out for a breath of air but don't go too far away. And don't ever let it show that you disliked being made to wait. You have got some time on hand, so use it discreetly
5.) Inside the Interview Chamber :
# Pull yourself up the moment you are summoned inside the interview chamber, and enter the room with an air of confidence. And while you are taking on the real deal, practice the following:
# Maintain a body language suggesting confidence and cheerfulness. Don't look uneasy or dispirited. Smile at appropriate moments.
# Maintain eye contact while answering the questions. This will suggest that you are confident enough.
# If there is more than one interviewer, address to all of them. Remember names if you can and address by the names. Sound confident but avoid being brash.
# Saying 'sorry' or 'pardon' when you couldn't quite get the interviewer is civility, but making the interviewer repeat something for you too often could really make you sorry at the end of the day. You say 'sorry; once, and the interviewer willingly repeats, you say again, and he takes notice, you say thrice, and his exasperation shows, you go on to say yet again, and you just lose it all. What puts the interviewer off is the revelation that you are not all ears during the interview. So better listen attentively and minimize 'being sorry' or 'begging pardon'.
# Don't speak too loudly or too faintly. Maintain a pitch that is audible as well within the perimeter of courtesy.
# Don't delve too much on a topic. Neither keep the answers too short. Just speak enough on every topic(now defining enough is a mundane task in itself :P).
# Use wit and make the interviewer smile. But again, discern the faint edge between humour and discourtesy. Also, whatever you speak to bring smiles on the interviewers' face should sound germane to the topic. However, use this trick sparingly- making the interviewer chuckle twice in an interview is just sufficient.
# Some questions may be devised to judge your self-restraint and tolerance as a professional. So if a question sounds provoking, don't fall for the trick. Avoid acting feverishly and maintain your cool. Handle such questions discreetly and with shrewdness.
# Try to make out what is going through the interviewer's mind while you are answering to the questions. His body language may well give you a clue if he's listening to you attentively or you are just pushing on an off-putting gab. Put on the brakes the moment you discern that you have deviated off the point.
# The interviewer might ask you towards the close of the interview if you have any questions. Don't think it impolite to ask a question or two. Rather, not asking a question could revel that you just want the interview to be over, so go ahead. However, exercise caution regarding the question you pose. Never inquire about the salary. Preferably, show inquisitiveness about your role or the organisation. In the end when all is said and done and you make an exit from the interview cell, you might well be knowing in your heart that you've just made it. After all, it's all about being confident and acting astutely.
Note 1: The credit for this post goes to manduks an alumni of ICFAI who has read on this on some website ( !!! ) and to Nagaraj* for digging it out 7 years after it was first published
Note 2: This post is a little modification of the original post, the original post can be found here or here.
* Nagaraj, better known as naga25french or naga is one of the most trusted, well known and friendly guys on pg. He has been and is an inspiration for a lot of guys including but not limited to people from DT,UDT,SBT and Regional Dream teams on pg and consisting of quite a few people who have already been there and done that.
To help you prepare for the same, here are some tips and suggestions, but these should be taken with caution; there is no one size fits all policy and you are not supposed to follow every advice given here blindly but to think on it and modify it according to your personal needs etc.
1.) General tips :
# Be open and honest.
# Ask questions, since the interview is as much an opportunity for you to learn about the school as for the school to learn about you.
# Follow proper business decorum.
# Watch your nonverbal clues, such as eye contact, posture, and fidgeting.
# Be courteous to the administrative staff, since how you treat them can have an impact (positive or negative).
2.) Application / Resume / CV :
# Review and re-review your application; the interviewer is likely to ask specific questions about it.
# Be ready to provide examples and specifics and to elaborate on info on your resume and application.
# Write all and only relevant info.
# Don't exaggerate; people have tendency to exaggerate skills and achievements, but try not to write something that can not be proved or justified.
3.)Gearing Up for the Interview :
# That nobody is perfect is the maxim that sounds even more pertinent in the context of an interview. Interview is without a doubt a trepidation for everyone, and the novices and the old hands alike find themselves on pins and needles at the prospect of being interviewed. What makes people lose sleep over the interviews is essentially an apprehension of the unforeseen, a dread of being confronted with something they don't know; and no matter how many interviews has one faced and sailed through, every new interview brings a new pain in the neck. Jitteriness hangs over everyone; only the intensity may differ. And though there are no alternatives to awareness and conviction, there are certain guidelines which when followed will put off some seemingly trifling slip-ups, which could turn your interview into a dismal affair at the end of the day. These are the gimmicks that must be exercised if the interview is to be saved from some apparently petty blunders.
4.) Before Taking the Bull by the Horns :
# The homework starts right from the word go- immediately after you receive the interview call. Apart from brushing up your technical know-how, which is undoubtedly pivotal to your success, you need to pay heed to some aspects that will pump up your confidence level and help keep off nerves at the interview table.
# Reaching for the interview late may put the interviewer off, as it can also dampen your spirit. So to have an idea as to when you should leave for the interview, just go by the venue at least one day prior to the interview as a rehearsal.
# Envisage the likely questions and picture yourself answering them with confidence. Keep telling yourself that you are good enough to sail through. This will infuse just enough confidence in you, and that'll make all he difference in the interview.
# Consider the dress you'll be wearing. 'Formal dress' is often a deceptive phrase as it may mean different clothing for different companies. Sometimes, it's indispensable to put on a three-piece, while the other day it may seem too much of affectation; only a tie with formal shirt and trousers may do. Make out what dress could be apposite for a particular company.
# If the company is too far-off and your dress is likely to get rumpled in the bus, better travel in a taxi. Carry a comb in your pocket. There is no excuse for a clumsy appearance in the interview.
# Reach the venue at least half an hour in advance so that you have enough time for having a breather and bracing up for the interview. Arriving at the last minute and entering the interview room panting will reveal you in a poor light and you won't be in the right kind of frame to take on the interview.
# In case the interview does not commence on the scheduled time, don't lose you focus. Don't be distracted and maintain your composure. Read some magazine or talk to the people about the company. Go out for a breath of air but don't go too far away. And don't ever let it show that you disliked being made to wait. You have got some time on hand, so use it discreetly
5.) Inside the Interview Chamber :
# Pull yourself up the moment you are summoned inside the interview chamber, and enter the room with an air of confidence. And while you are taking on the real deal, practice the following:
# Maintain a body language suggesting confidence and cheerfulness. Don't look uneasy or dispirited. Smile at appropriate moments.
# Maintain eye contact while answering the questions. This will suggest that you are confident enough.
# If there is more than one interviewer, address to all of them. Remember names if you can and address by the names. Sound confident but avoid being brash.
# Saying 'sorry' or 'pardon' when you couldn't quite get the interviewer is civility, but making the interviewer repeat something for you too often could really make you sorry at the end of the day. You say 'sorry; once, and the interviewer willingly repeats, you say again, and he takes notice, you say thrice, and his exasperation shows, you go on to say yet again, and you just lose it all. What puts the interviewer off is the revelation that you are not all ears during the interview. So better listen attentively and minimize 'being sorry' or 'begging pardon'.
# Don't speak too loudly or too faintly. Maintain a pitch that is audible as well within the perimeter of courtesy.
# Don't delve too much on a topic. Neither keep the answers too short. Just speak enough on every topic(now defining enough is a mundane task in itself :P).
# Use wit and make the interviewer smile. But again, discern the faint edge between humour and discourtesy. Also, whatever you speak to bring smiles on the interviewers' face should sound germane to the topic. However, use this trick sparingly- making the interviewer chuckle twice in an interview is just sufficient.
# Some questions may be devised to judge your self-restraint and tolerance as a professional. So if a question sounds provoking, don't fall for the trick. Avoid acting feverishly and maintain your cool. Handle such questions discreetly and with shrewdness.
# Try to make out what is going through the interviewer's mind while you are answering to the questions. His body language may well give you a clue if he's listening to you attentively or you are just pushing on an off-putting gab. Put on the brakes the moment you discern that you have deviated off the point.
# The interviewer might ask you towards the close of the interview if you have any questions. Don't think it impolite to ask a question or two. Rather, not asking a question could revel that you just want the interview to be over, so go ahead. However, exercise caution regarding the question you pose. Never inquire about the salary. Preferably, show inquisitiveness about your role or the organisation. In the end when all is said and done and you make an exit from the interview cell, you might well be knowing in your heart that you've just made it. After all, it's all about being confident and acting astutely.
Note 1: The credit for this post goes to manduks an alumni of ICFAI who has read on this on some website ( !!! ) and to Nagaraj* for digging it out 7 years after it was first published
Note 2: This post is a little modification of the original post, the original post can be found here or here.
* Nagaraj, better known as naga25french or naga is one of the most trusted, well known and friendly guys on pg. He has been and is an inspiration for a lot of guys including but not limited to people from DT,UDT,SBT and Regional Dream teams on pg and consisting of quite a few people who have already been there and done that.
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