How to Crack the Personal Interview Round to get into your Favourite MBA College

Posted on 31 Jan 2017 By Ishani Bose

Personal Interview (PI) is the final and crucial step in the entire MBA admission process. This round is focused on getting to know the candidate better by gauging the clarity of his / her thinking process, future plans, etc. In its endeavour to help students crack the PI level, PaGaLGuY speaks to Group Discussion/ Personal Interview (GDPI) expert Sidharth Balakrishna and a few MBA students to know what works and what doesn’t in the PI round.

Introduction is important

In interviews, the candidate is often asked to introduce himself/ herself. Before the interview, he/ she is usually given a form to fill out based on the questions asked in the round. “In your introduction, I suggest you go beyond just mentioning the school/ college you studied in, where you work, the marks you obtained, etc. Highlight your achievements and what you enjoy doing. Try to relate that to the course you are applying to and what you want to learn. In short, try to make the interview panel interested in you as an individual,” said Balakrishna.

According to him, studies have shown that interview panellists often base their decisions on selecting a particular candidate within the first few seconds of the interview. “The rest of the interview is about confirming the initial quick opinion. So carefully think about what you wish to say in your introduction,” he said.

Recalling his PI experience, Archit Garg, a first-year student of IIM Shillong, said that simple and routine questions like the ones based on the introduction, strengths, and weaknesses should be replied to with utmost confidence, giving no chance to the panellists to doubt one’s credentials. “PI forms the most important part of the selection procedure. During my interviews, I always avoided giving monotonous replies to the questions and tried making the interviews more interactive, which helped,” he said.

Nature of questions asked

According to Balakrishna, a candidate must revise his/her academics for the interview round. “I strongly advise that you do not neglect what you’ve learned till your graduation, as basics and application-based questions about one’s specialisation are often asked,” he said.

IIM Calcutta student Sumeet A Kalaskar also said that questions of one’s subject area are mandatory and that one must always be prepared for them. “I had a background in Computer Science and was asked about the subject in detail. Thereafter, they asked me why I pursued an MBA after studying Computer Science. One needs to have valid answers to such questions. If one fails to convince the panelist, he/she will fail to qualify for the round,” Kalaskar said.

Candidates with more than a year’s work experience can expect questions around that, including about the company and the industry where they operate. “For example, anyone working in a Tata company can expect to be asked about the recent boardroom battles in the company,” Balakrishna said.

Garg started his preparations for the PI round by brushing up his basics of finance, marketing, and economics.“I also revised some of the subjects that I studied during engineering. Along with all the knowledge I tried to acquire during my preparation, I paid attention to crafting answers attractively. It becomes essential to know oneself inside out to frame answers for questions specifically directed to know your personality,” he said. Additionally, he said that the panel asked questions ranging from his academic work experience to general awareness and personality. “All in all, I appeared for nearly 8-9 interviews. A couple of them focused more on academics. It is always better to know the panellists before you enter the room as it will help you understand the topics you need to focus on and the ones to avoid,” Garg said.

Is GK necessary?

While no direct GK questions are asked in the PI round, candidates say that general awareness questions about one’s area of subject are asked quite often.“I was asked general awareness questions about the kind of answers I gave in the form. That is why one must be very sure about what he/she writes in the form,” Kalaskar said.

Speaking about his experience, Garg said that he was not asked GK questions that required factual answers but those that tested his awareness of the business world and world economy in general.“The questions revolved around recent mergers and economic policies. Since I had work experience in IT, I was also quizzed on my sector -based knowledge,” he added.

Balakrishna also stated that General Awareness questions would be asked in the most seamless way possible. “Going by the aforementioned example of the Tata company, a general awareness question could be asked to someone from an IT background as to whether he/she feels the result of the elections in the United States could impact the IT sector,” he said, adding that one must be aware of current affairs and know how to relate it to the question asked.