Personal Interview: Know the qualities that the top B-schools look for in a candidate

Feb. 17, 2012 - PRLog -- Personal Interview, the very term can make you all nervous and jittery about the process. But the irony is, a nervous look on your face is the last thing that the panelists would like to see. In this season of MBA Admissions, preparing for the GD, PI and WAT is the topmost priority of the MBA aspirants. In this special series of articles, we will share with you the tips to succeed in the PI round. The first article of the series will share with you what the top B-schools look for you and how you can prepare to give your best shot.

What do top B-schools look for?

If you know the answer to this question, the task of preparation will get much easier. The panelists look for the following qualities in you:

•    Basic Knowledge
•    Goal Clarity
•    General Awareness
•    Communication Skills
•    Leadership & management skills
•    Confidence

Now we will elucidate these factors.

Basic Knowledge –The first and foremost factor that the interviewers look for is the basic knowledge. You must be clear with the basic concepts of your graduation. Even if you had learnt any concept in your first year, you should be able to answer questions related to it. Dr. A M Sherry, Admission Chairperson, IMT Group of Institute (IMT Ghaziabad, Nagpur, Hyderabad and Dubai) opines, “Most of the candidates lack conceptual clarity about the subjects learnt by them in their graduation. They are either blank or give an unnecessary verbose answers filled with jargons. Your answers should be to the point and crisp.”
Goal Clarity – You should be clear about what are your expectations from the MBA program. It is a common question among the B-School interviews, “Why do you want to be an MBA’ or ‘Why this B-School?”You should be prepared with the answers of these questions. Be prepared to be cross questioned on your answers as until and unless the interviewers are convinced with your answers. “You should have a really good reason for your MBA. Be very clear about your goals and make sure that you can justify and correlate your goal with an MBA,” says Sidharth Balakrishna, author and IIM Calcutta alumnus.

General Awareness– Having a sound knowledge of current affairs and general knowledge is of utmost importance. Prof. P C Mehra, Admission Chairperson, IMI Delhi and Bhubaneswar suggests, “Build a habit of reading at least one of the pink newspapers. This will give you enough insight on the political and economic happenings.” You should not appear blank when the panelist asks you a question on current affairs or general knowledge. “You are going to be the future managers, you must be aware of what is going on in the world around you. Keep yourself up to date with the world economy, politics, social and environmental happenings,” says Prof. Arora.

Communication Skills – Good communication skill is the adornment of a good leader. The way you answer the questions reflect your communication skills. You should speak as much as required, not too much, not too crisp.

Leadership & management skills – You are expected to be a future leader. So it is quite justified that the panelists will look for the leadership qualities in you. The panelists may give you instances and ask for your opinion. Your answers will exhibit how good a leader or a manager you can become in future.

Confidence – Confidence should be the keyword for the Personal Interview round. No matter what your answer or opinion is, you should be confident. The panelist might ask your opinion about a current controversy. Whatever your opinion is, you must be confident about it and have a proper justification.
In the second part of the article, we will talk about the Dos and Don’ts of the PI rounds.