To make your interview process easier, we have compiled a list of commonly asked questions in the Personal Interview for MBA admissions. So, here we go!!
The personal interview is the last door that you have to open to enter the Business School of your choice. Despite months of preparation, no one can predict the questions you’ll have to face in your personal interview. But there are a few most common asked questions in the personal interviews by most B Schools.
You are not expected to know the answer to every question you will be asked in the personal interview. The interview panel of the MBA college knows that you are a student and are not expected to know everything. So, be honest when you’re in the interview room. The personal interview takes place to check your inter-personal & communicative skills and to know your vision as an MBA aspirant. So, here are some popular personal interview questions discusses in detail for you.
Commonly Asked Questions in Personal Interview for MBA
This is perhaps the most commonly asked question and is the one question that you should always be prepared to answer. While trying to answer this, be brief & clear and always try to include the following points in your answer:
a. Your educational and professional (if any) background
b. Your interests & hobbies
c. Your family background
Don’t give long-winded answers or keep repeating what is already mentioned in your application. The interview panel may have various reasons for asking this question. Sometimes, it is to test your communication skills, your body language, your confidence etc. If this is the first question thrown at you, then make sure you do a good job answering it.
Another popular question that keeps recurring in the MBA personal interviews. Be honest while answering this one. Just don’t say “at your position”! Your answer should justify and substantiate the course that you are applying for.
For example: If you’ve applied for an MBA in HR, it would only make sense if you see yourself in a managerial position handling responsibilities in the human resource department of an organisation.
Also, note that you don't have to be particular about your professional growth, personal achievements are never countless. Success in personal life also gives a glimpse of what you would be doing 5 to 10 years later. But be careful, to not give details on very personal stuff.
This can be a tricky question to answer, especially the “weakness” part. Prepare yourself well for this question. Make sure that your strengths and weaknesses don’t contradict each other.
For example: If you say that “giving attention to detail” is your strength but then go ahead to say that your weakness is that you can be “careless” at times, then your strength & your weakness are contradicting each other. Your interview panel will be quick to spot such errors.
Also, avoid the clichéd method of presenting a “strength” as your weakness. For example: "My weakness is that I’m a workaholic". Nobody is perfect and your interview panel knows that best. Try to come up with a genuine weakness and also state immediately how you’ve planned to tackle it.
For example: “I can be disorganised at times and thus miss important events. I’ve started maintaining a planner & leave reminders on my phone to help me keep track of important deadlines, events etc”.
Your answer to this question might vary depending on your background. If you are a fresher right out of college, you could say that an MBA would be the ideal launch-pad into the corporate world. Apart from the fat salary packages (don’t pretend that it’s not a reason!), an MBA would equip you with both the technical knowledge and soft skills to function well in your chosen industry.
If you are someone with prior work experience, you would have different reasons for pursuing an MBA. You could either be planning to switch industries or could be looking for more responsibilities in the same function. Talk about your career objectives and the value-addition that an MBA would provide you with. Be well-prepared with valid reasons for a question like this.
You should go prepared knowing all about your job profile, your KRAs (key result areas), your organisation, its performance in the markets, your industry, your organisation's competitors.
If you've mentioned gardening as a hobby, you are expected to know which fertiliser works best for rose flowers! So make sure that you have in-depth information about your interest. If you have mentioned hobbies that are genuine, this should not be a problem. But if you've mentioned "reading" as a hobby, just to impress the interview panel, then you better do some R & D
It's quite possible that your Personal Interview panel could be the same as your Group Discussion. In such a scenario, be prepared to expect questions around your GD topic. They could probe you further about it or ask about a certain point you'd made in the GD. You should know how to defend or justify your point of view.
These are just a few of the common questions asked in the Personal Interview round of most MBA colleges’ selection procedures. However, you should note that every personal interview is unique. You might or might not be asked one of these questions. At the end of the day, what matters is that you should be honest and confident while facing your interview panel.
Source - htcampus.com
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