WAT-GD-PIs for your dream b-schools are just around the corner. Which means competing with a bunch of aspirants, just like yourself, equally focused on cracking that coveted seat in one of the top b-schools of India. This also means you have your work cut out for you. You need to make sure you’re prepared and ready to answer tough questions, make the right choices and decisions, as well as read the interviewers’ body language in order to perform your best. In this article, we help you figure out how you can answer some of the frequently asked PI questions. Learn just why interviewers ask such questions, and how you should prepare your answers.
Check out these questions, likely to pop up during personal interviews, with directions on how you can answer them.
***
Before proceeding, read the first part of this series!
10. Your Short term goals.
Why this question: Most questions related to goals are asked because the interviewer wants to know how clear, focused and committed you are towards your future. So you have the wherewithal to persevere towards your goals even when things get tough. This particular question also helps the interviewers understand your clarity of thought.
How to answer: Simply share your short term goals with the interviewers. Check out how you can isolate goals more concretely in the answer to the next question.
11. Your Long term goals / What’s your dream job?
Why this question: Just like the previous question on short term goals, questions about long term goals are asked to figure out how clear and focused you are. These questions help the interviewer understand your ability to go through the highs and lows of b-school life and add value to the brand in the future.
How to answer: Once again, share your long term goals with the interviewer. This is when you share goals like, you want to be a CEO of a Fortune 500 company in the next 10 years, or you want to start your own VC fund, or you want to be a social entrepreneur. Once you have a rough idea of a long term goal/s, you’ll be able to create short term goals to reach the long term ones too. So the easiest way to figure out what your goals are includes figuring out roughly what direction you want your career to take. The ideal direction you can take lies at the intersection of your interests and needs of the industry. Figuring it out though is not a one-time effort. You may, for example, decide you want to work in consulting today. But at b-school, you discover the world of marketing, and you start liking it. Your goal changes too, right?!
Anyway, here are the 5 steps to figuring out your long term goals:
- Work backwards. Think about what you want to achieve then plan steps going back to what you can do right now.
- Create a picture of where you want to be in life 10 years from now.
- Think about what you need to do in five years, in one year, and in six months to get to your long-term goal.
- Write down what you need to do each month to achieve your goals.
- After each monthly goal is achieved, look at your goals and adjust them as needed.
After you crystallise your long term goals, it’s easy to make short term goals in order to achieve your long term goals, get it!?
Note: During your interviews, the panelists check if you're aware of the concepts of the domain that you wish to pursue your career in, post your MBA. To help you with that, here are a few important concepts across the four domains. Take a look!
12. Why ABC College?
Why this question: Interviewers once again want to know the purpose behind your choice to study an MBA.
How to answer: This can be a bit of a trick question. Mainly because giving platitudes about the college or institute will not work. The interviewers will see through you as clear as day. What you instead need to do is give a solid reason. For E.g.: if you’re being interviewed for a seat at XLRI Jamshedpur, you can mention that you’ve heard of the HR courses at the college and want to build a career in that domain.
13. Why should we consider you?
Why this question: This is another variation of the “what are your strengths,” question. The interviewer once again wishes to know if you are focused and have a career path in mind.
How to answer: Just inform the interviewer of how you think you can add value to the institution. Don’t quote values you may possess. Instead, share how you demonstrated value through actions at your workplace or college or regarding a hobby you are passionate about and how it brought about positive results. For example, if you work in digital marketing, or if you have a youtube page, you can share how you strategize your content to get maximum benefits, high numbers of users, engagements, etc. Make sure to facilitate your answer with proof. Share how you bring the same attitude, same vigour and belief to the b-school you’ll attend. You can also share how you plan to fortify your future career and how that too will be a plus point for the b-school. But make sure to not boast. Give logical, thought out answers.
Check Out Our Previous Guides On Answering The Difficult Personal Interview Questions: Part 1 | Part 2
14. Why should we select you over any other candidate sitting out there?
15. What makes you unique?
Why this question: These are trick questions. The interviewer once again wishes to know what value you bring to the institute, what attitude you possess, etc. It is a spin on the “why should we give you a seat,” question.
How to answer: Beware. Don’t paint yourself as superior to others. Once again, talk about your strengths, your success, your passions and hobbies that show your character, perseverance, dedication, etc. Refer to the above answer.
16. What makes you a good team player?
17. Do you prefer to work in teams, or alone?
Why this question: This is simply a spin on questions related to your strengths. The interviewer wants to know if you’ll be able to fit into various teams and yet bring value.
How to answer: Share anecdotes about when you worked in teams and how you contributed to the team’s efforts. Mention college projects, festival-related activities, sports, work-related stories about working in a team and how you were an integral part of the same. For e.g.: you can talk about how you play cricket of football as a hobby and how you gel with the team.
18. Any ethical dilemmas you have faced? How did you deal with it?
Why this question: This question can be pretty explosive if you do not answer it properly. Basically, this question helps the interviewer understand your strengths and weaknesses, your attitude towards work and life, as well as how you react to situations. It also helps the interviewer figure out whether you are problem-oriented or solution-oriented.
How to answer: To answer this question, you can speak about an actual ethical dilemma you may have faced and how you dealt with it. It does not have to be a huge issue. It just needs to demonstrate that you, as an individual, faced an ethical dilemma and it put you in a tough spot. But you managed to get through it. Beware though. If you weave social or moral issues as a part of your dilemma, it could leave you in a tough spot with the interviewer and your interview could turn into a stress interview.
***