Interviews are a crucial part of our lives and at every step of progression in our career, they are there to do a status check of where you are and what you have become. In a literal sense, it’s just a structured conversation between two people where the interviewer asks the questions and the interviewee has to answer. We will discuss the most important MBA interview tips through a 3-phased approach.
The main purpose of the interview is to select the candidates, and that’s why Thomas Edison conducted the first interview in the form of a written test in 1921 to evaluate job candidates’ knowledge.
For an MBA or MS interview, one may argue that most of the information, facts, stories, etc. are all presented in the application, then what’s the main purpose of the interview.
First and foremost, the purpose is exactly to authenticate your stories and things that you have written in your essays. It may not be done directly but that’s the end goal anyway.
With your application, the school has shortlisted you based on your facts and stories, now they need a sanity check to whether they are right in understanding your profile or whether it was over/under projected.
To begin with MBA interview tips, check a few things about the school first to get a better perspective
- Average interview Acceptance rate
- General focus areas and things that the school looks for
- What information interviewer would have about you before the interview
With some general research on the internet and talking to friends, mentors, and alumni you would be able to find this information, if not accurately, at least a close match.
If we have to put an average number for the acceptance rate after the interview, it would roughly fall around 50% (if we think of the top 50 schools). There are certainly some with very high acceptance rates like more than 70% for Stern; UCLA, Cornell & Darden are all beyond 60¬65%; then there are some like Kellogg and Tuck which are in the range of 35%. It’s a good fact to check for the schools that you are applying to. This may help you to have the right amount of confidence and set the right expectations.
Also, with the new trends, rising schools are continuously experimenting with new methods of interviews like video essays, KIRA interviews, case-based interviews, more than one interviewer, etc. But basically, the core of every interview is the same, it’s to understand the candidate and different aspects of their personality. There are many aspects to check for and different schools may have a different focus. Some may focus on behavioral aspects, demonstrated leadership, vision and goals clarity, intellectual stimulus, thought process, motivations, and values, etc. It’s important to find this out as you need to look at these factors and see how they match with your personality in order to see the right fit for the school. It doesn’t need to be an exact match but try to make sure that there are some overlaps at least.
Check what kind of information the interviewer will have prior to the interview. In some cases, it’s just the CV, in some cases it’s the whole application or in some rare cases, no information about you is possible as well. Also, if possible, check a bit about the interviewer if you know that in advance. All of this will help you to have a good background and context to prepare for the interview.
Now, let’s say you have landed up and interview with the school. So, how should you prepare and what are the things that are important for the interview. Let’s dig deeper to explore some important MBA interview tips. In my experience with hundreds of mock interviews with diverse MBA and MS students, these are crucial MBA interview tips divided into 3 phases:
Phase 1: Research & Prepare
Phase 2: Practice & Improve
- To the point answers and avoid detours
- Avoid heavy business/technical jargon
- Identify your key selling points and stick them in the mind of the interviewer
- Structure your answers well
Phase 3: Tone & Manner
- Be honest and candid in your answers
- Believe in yourself and have faith
- Open Windows of Conversations
- Prepare relevant questions to ask
Phase 1 : Research & Prepare – MBA interview Tips
In this phase, mainly you need to do as much research as possible and keep accumulating all the relevant info.
- Read your whole applications (essays, questions, LORs, etc.) multiple times
- Industry/workstream trends and insights
- Prepare answers to standard questions
- Introduce yourself
- Strengths and weaknesses
- Short and long term goals
- Why MBA/MS?
- Why now?
- What happens if you are not selected?
- Why this school/program?
- Examples of leadership, teamwork, difficult/diverse teams or projects, failure, achievement, etc.
- Arm yourself with as many examples/situations as possible
The list can go on, try to prepare as much as possible, and follow these MBA interview tips. For all these questions, you just need to write down the points and memorize them. The actual answer must be delivered directly so that it sounds natural and not crammed. For the first question, “introduce yourself” part, you can prepare the full answer in advance and time it as well. It should be around 120-150 words, focusing mainly on yourself and identifying your key selling points or core aspects of your profile. Avoid repeating information from CV or essays.
Phase 2 : Practice & Improve – MBA interview Tips
In this phase, all you need to do is to practice based on your research and preparation. There are several techniques that you may use
- Mock interviews with the Mentors/Friends
- Talking in front of the mirror
- Record your answers and listen back to fine-tune them
Having mock interviews with experts definitely helps to bring confidence and pushes you in the right direction. It also helps to stick some answers in your head so that you don’t miss critical information during the actual interview. Practicing in front of a mirror helps to build confidence for many people.
Lastly, recording yourself and listening to it may help you analyze your own mistakes and improvise accordingly. Self-learning always brings better results. The goal is to practice as much as you can. However, don’t overdo it and stress yourself as well. Do not keep practicing a few hours before the interview or late at night before the interview day. Keep your brain fresh and active before the interview by giving it rest and a good night’s sleep.
Practicing well will help you to check your answers, avoiding business/technical jargon, and making your answers to the point. Another key aspect to practice is structuring your answers, if your answers are long, talk about it in points or bullets format so that it’s clear and you don’t miss any important info. Mention the points first and then start explaining, this way you won’t miss the point at least in case you are stopped in the middle of your answer.
Identify your key selling points and make sure that you stick them into the head of the interviewer. If you would have followed storytelling or visualization approaches in your essays, this should be easy. Else also, from all your answers you can identify what are your key selling points. Mainly something that is evident in most of your examples and stories. You must make sure to mention them multiple times in different examples, your introduction, and as much as possible in different ways. This is how you will be remembered by the interviewer and this should be in sync with your profile and application.
Phase 3: Tone & Manner – MBA interview Tips
Tone & Manner may have different meanings in different contexts like advertising, corporate setting, etc., but what it means here is how you present yourself, how you respond to different situations, articulate and structure your thoughts and other behavioral aspects, etc.
Being honest is always the key as it keeps your confidence unshakable and gives you the ability to give quick and strong responses. Focus on giving candid answers and stick to the point. Don’t digress too much when you are talking about stories and examples. Be yourself and take your time to answer the questions. Think about the interview as a conversation and hence you should seize every opportunity to open a new window of conversation. This makes the environment easier going and comfortable for both you and the interviewer.
Remember the interview for MBA/MS school is a two-way evaluation, so it’s not just the school evaluating you but also you are evaluating the school to see whether you fit there well or not. This also boosts confidence and also helps you to prepare relevant questions to ask at the end of the interview. Prepare your questions in advance, do the research to try to find answers, and ask specifically what you couldn’t find. Focus on questions that are important for you to make a decision like a program, life, financing, specific clubs/immersions/programs, etc. Your questions should also link to your goals and the things you say during the interview. Avoid questions that are too broad or open-ended.
Lastly, some of the small but important MBA interview tips:
- Right before the interview go for a walk, breathe fresh air or watch comedy videos
- Dress formally, have a clean background (video interview), and keep a notepad and pen handy
- Arrive early for an in-person interview, For a video interview test the technicalities in advance
- Take your time and pause to answer your questions
- Be yourself, honest, humble, and smile if you can
All the very best for your next interview!
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