How to frame answers for frequently asked MBA interview questions?

A lot of students think that admissions to top business schools depend on the exam score. This is not the case. The process of choosing a candidate does not depend on academics. The results of the exam, group discussion round, writing ability test, and personal interviews are used to make up the final list. Therefore, it is extremely important that aspiring candidates are aware of the frequently asked MBA interview questions and prepare for them in advance. 

What skills are evaluated through the MBA interview questions (PI round)? 

The skills that a reputed B-school tries to evaluate in the Personal Interview round are listed below.

1. Clarity in the candidate’s thinking process: The interviewers attempt to understand the clarity in the thinking process of the candidate. 
2. Whether or not the candidate fits for the particular B-school: The candidate's culture is assessed by the interviewers, as well as whether or not they fit their B-school.
3. Clarity in future goals: B-schools look for candidates who either have a fixed goal in their mind regarding their future or have multiple goals in mind and are trying to figure out the best for themselves.
4. Verbal communication skills: Candidates who have excellent communication skills are able to clearly convey their ideas to the interviewers about their career goals, and are thus, preferred over others.
5. Presence of mind: There might be some MBA interview questions that are asked for the sole purpose of checking the presence of mind of the candidate.

Weightage to PI round in the final selection process  

The below table demonstrates the weightage given to the PI round for the final call in some reputed B-schools in India:

Tips to score well in the PI round

Some important tips for candidates to answer MBA interview questions and score well in the interview process are as follows:

1. Students are advised to immediately start preparing for interview rounds after the qualifying exam and get away with any sort of hesitation that they might have in appearing for interviews.
2. Check the most frequently asked MBA interview questions from previous years for different institutes and prepare answers for them in advance.
3. Never be overconfident or aggressive as it will definitely annoy the interviewers and will create a bad impression.
4. Try to be as precise and to the point as possible by sticking to the questions asked during the admission interview. Do not deviate from the question asked.
5. Instead of giving long answers, try to shorten them and convey your ideas clearly to the interviewer. 

How to answer frequently asked MBA interview questions?

Question: Tell us something about yourself

This is one of the most common, yet biggest challenge that an interviewee faces. But answering it well is extremely important as it creates the candidate’s first impression in front of the interviewer. 

The interviewer already has the candidate’s resume in most cases so they are aware of what the candidate has done in the past but this common question is asked in order to understand why the candidate did those things in the first place.

Candidates should try to highlight their accomplishments and strengths while answering this question along with their past experiences and future goals, education background and extracurricular activities participation. But it is also important to note that since this question is generally asked in the beginning, the answer to it is not about mentioning each and every point in your resume. Instead, you must explain your career plan and goals in order to establish a personal connection with the interviewer.

Also Read: How Corporate Competitions land you up in an Ideal Job?

Question: Tell me about the gap year in your resume?

There are many candidates who have a gap year in their professional experience. It might be because of a career switch, illness, personal circumstances or because they got laid off during the COVID-19 pandemic. The best way to answer questions regarding the gap year is to be completely honest. Do not give false explanations. The candidates should try to shift the spotlight from their failure or unpleasant past situations that led to a gap year to what they learnt from it and how they improvised themselves after that experience. 

Candidates are also advised not to answer gap year-related behavioral questions in a philosophical manner; the answer should be pretty straightforward and to the point. The candidate’s answer should revolve more around how they maturely dealt with the situations in the gap year rather than around the reason for the gap year. 

Question: How you dealt with failures or tough situations in life?

Every person has some or the other time when they failed in life or weren’t able to live up to their own expectations. Therefore, questions regarding failure in life during your MBA interview are quite common, and answering them in the best possible way can definitely give an edge to the candidate over others. The interviewer wants to know what you learned from your failure, how you faced them, and whether or not you fought back and worked harder to overcome them. The candidate should not elaborate more than required but convey their answer subtly to all these questions to the interviewer clearly.

MBA interviews aren't that difficult, all one needs to do is be a part of as many mock interviews as possible. Dealing directly with personal interview questions can help in building strong answers, along with communication skill and interpersonal skills.

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