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10 Most Common MBA Interview Questions
January 7, 2014
Some people perceive it as “The Chance” to succeed and fulfil their dreams while others
look at it like just another round of selection. While some feel confident having cleared the
entrance exam as for them in their head that could be the end of their dreams, there are
others for whom the written is a cake walk and they are dreading the Personal Interview.
The Personal Interview is indeed the last mile, the last stretch and the toughest round to
clear in more than one ways. This is because despite months of preparation, no one can
predict the questions you’ll have to face in your personal interview. But we can always
guess right? And some guesses and estimates are accurate is why so many recruitment &
selection processes & decisions have started to rely on your ability to come to accurate
guesstimates. This is where interview questions and answers come into the picture and
take your preparation to the next level. While you aren’t expected to know the answer to
every question you will be asked in the personal interview, you are expected to make sense
all the time. So, be thoughtful and honest while in an Interview. The round is also crucial as
it gauges into your interpersonal & communicative skills & through it, the
university/organization seeks to ascertain your vision as an MBA aspirant or a Potential
employee.
So here are some popular personal interview questions especially for MBA Aspirants
1. Do you know yourself? Tell us something about yourself.
This is perhaps the most commonly asked question & is a question that one should always
be prepared to answer. Some of the things you can talk about here are
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a. Your educational and/or professional background that is, where you come from?
b. Your interests & hobbies, that is to do with your personality, who are you?
c. Your strengths, that is a glimpse for the recruiter into your profile and how that will benefit
any organization that you work for?
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Don’t repeat what’s already there on your Resume. The question is thrown at you, to test
your communication skills, body language, confidence and how you make sure you are
giving the most brilliant first impression.
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11/27/2014 10 Most Common MBA Interview Questions | VMock Blog On Career development, Interview preparation, Resume feedback and everything else arou…
2. Do you have a Resume with a 6second impact? Can you walk me through your
resume?
This is a very challenging question as it requires you to be aware of your strengths and key
experiences. It basically tests your ability to present and talk about the highlights of your
profile. Make sure your resume is making the 6 second impact for free
at http://www.vmock.com/bp now!
3. Do you know where you’re headed? Where do you see yourself 5/10 years from
now?
Another popular question that keeps recurring in the MBA personal interviews. You should
try to be honest while answering this one. Don’t say “In your seat”! It’s outdated and long
foregone. You should have a relevant and appropriate answer ready! For instance, if you
have applied for an MBA in finance, you should see yourself in a managerial position
handling responsibilities in the finance vertical of an organization. You can also substantiate
your answer with the industry, field that you want to go into. You can also talk about a vision
for your personal life or a selfactualization need here. Your ultimate career goal must be in
line with your specialization and your choice to get an MBA.
4. Have you done your SWOT? What are your strengths & weaknesses?
A SWOT is a detailed analysis of yourself. It’s a cool feeling to analyze oneself like a
subject. The most challenging aspect of a SWOT, which stands for Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities & Threats, is the W. It’s really hard to come up with Weaknesses that you can
share with the recruiter who is totally judging every word you utter. Also, need to
simultaneously make sure that strengths and weaknesses are not contradicting each other.
For instance, don’t say in one instant, that you are emotionally stable and then in another,
point out your shorttempered nature. Also, stay away from the clichéd way of presenting
“strength” as your weakness. For example: “My weakness is that I’m a perfectionist”. Come
up with a genuine weakness and then quickly move on to talking about how you strive to
tackle it and take it to your advantage. Interviewer is aware that no one is perfect so trying
to outsmart the recruiter here is a bad idea. For example: “I can be disorganised at times &
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.”
5. Do you know the purpose for your being there? Why MBA?
This answer would be tailormade to where you’re coming from or your background. If you
are a fresher, your answer could be that an MBA would be your ideal launch pad into the
corporate world.
If you are someone with prior workexperience, you would have different reasons for
pursuing an MBA. Answers as abstract as “To make more money”, “To gain more
knowledge” should not be on your list.
6. Can you reason your willingness and potential to be where you’re applying for?
Why do you want to join this Bschool?
In an interview for Bschool X, a person was asked to choose between X & Y while Bschool
Y is better than X. The candidate faced a dilemma wrt the perspective to answer such a
question. Clearly, this is your chance to impress them! You should know about the
institute’s history, its flagship programmes, ranking, placement records, faculty members
etc. It would be good if you can get in touch with a few students of that institute before your
PI. Apart from giving you an idea about the kind of panel you would have to face, they can
give you valuable insight into the college’s academic & extracurricular activities. Your
answer should reflect that you’ve done your homework well & that you’re keen to pursue
your management degree from that particular Bschool.
11/27/2014 10 Most Common MBA Interview Questions | VMock Blog On Career development, Interview preparation, Resume feedback and everything else arou…
7. Do you have a strong hold on your learning curve? Questions about the Course
you are pursuing or pursued.
This is about knowing the fundamentals of your course material well. Don’t assume that
there would be no experts from your field in the panel who can quiz you to
selection/rejection. Be well prepared!
8. Are you wellread? Questions related to your Profession
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.
9. Are you a fun person? Questions about your Hobbies
Make sure your interests and hobbies also give you an edge and help you stand out! 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 indepth 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!
10. Are you really aware or did you just get lucky? Questions from your GD
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 be able to defend or justify your point of view.
But, 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 & thoughtful.
For all this and more, you must have a flawless resume, make one @
http://www.vmock.com/bp!
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Categories: Career Feed, Interview Preparation
Tags: career, how to prepare for an MBA Interview, Interview Preparation, Interview Tips, Job Interview
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Join the discussion…
Skillmills • 10 months ago
Nice information, There is obviously a lot. Your points are very valuable and
knowledgeable. Thanks for sharing this great blog with us.
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anand kumar • 13 days ago
very useful information for new interview facing candidates........
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kavitha • 7 months ago
these and all basic its good for every one
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usman khan • 8 months ago
thanks alot all the point is most important for a student who is going for interview
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SHARMILA • 23 days ago
I WOULD ALSO SAY THAT YOU HAVE SHARED VERY FRANKLY ABOUT THE
INFORMATION THAT PEOPLE ALWAYS HAVE IN MIND.....
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SHARMILA • 23 days ago
can you please answer the questions which you have been telling us with an example??
it will be surely useful to us,mainly freshers. . . . .!!!!!!!
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pankaj verma • 2 months ago
nice information. Your points are very valuable and knowledgeable. Thank you Sir
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Yogesh Chandra • 4 months ago
As a gesture of my appreciation to all my seniors who helped me out, I thought what
better way than to repeat the same for my juniors share my experiences with them !!
So I documented all my experiences from the 7 IIM interviews (there were just 7 IIMs at
my time) on my blog. Read them at your leisure at http://www.expressionskt.in/s...
Hope you find them useful towards your preparations. And do not hesitate to contact me
if you need any further guidance or support :)
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rammurthy G • 4 months ago
nice matter for all mba students
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Areeb Khan • 6 months ago
thank you the above information is very much worthy and i am trying to follow it, all the
best for meeh ;) :)
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Vishal • 7 months ago
awesome
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Niki • 8 months ago
Thanku so much for your tips ... it helped me so much... cheers
11/27/2014 10 Most Common MBA Interview Questions | VMock Blog On Career development, Interview preparation, Resume feedback and everything else arou…
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Shriwal • 10 months ago
During Interview always provide
information that shows you want to become the very best for the company and
that you have specifically prepared yourself to become exactly that. They want
to be sold. They are waiting to be sold. Don't disappoint them!
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Rahul • 10 months ago
Great tips. I think the panel may also quiz you on some of the current events. Like how
AAP is doing or Modi vs Rahul. So have a point of view and express yourself confidently
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