Let's discuss the most important question in an MBA interview!
" Tell me about yourself! "

Why is it important?
1. It is the first question which implies its answer creates the first impression. Believe me, a good answer could get you half way in a matter of seconds.

2. It is an opportunity to highlight your unique points and guide the interview towards them. For example, I met a guy who had won an international computer gaming contest and the whole of his 15 minutes interview was about that one contest. Believe me, its much easier answering questions about your strong points - Its like batting on a home pitch.

3. The basic aim of a personal interview is that the panelist wants to know you. In this context, this question is of paramount importance. The answer to this question decides each of the following questions.

What should be the answer?

Well, to be honest, I cannot tell you that. Each one of you has to frame your own answer. However here are some guidelines:

1. The answer should not be too long or too short. The ideal length would be around 1 to 1.5 minutes. (If you are not cut in between :) )

2. Maintain a sense of time. Go in a chronological order.

3. Mention the names of your school and college with pride and confidence.

4. Don't give too long a description about your family. Concentrate on yourself.

5. Decide what is your strong point. It could be academics or extracurricular activities or a special skill or a national/ international level achievement. While mentioning any of these, emphasize on what you learnt and what you intend to display by mentioning this achievement.

eg: I was the Vice chairman of a tech society in my college.
Say this as, "I have been involved in organization and publicity of numerous events as the Vice chairman of the tech society during graduation."

6. If they stop you in between, stop. Do not try to complete.

7. If you have finished your answer and they do not move on, wait for a second, smile and politely ask, "anything specific you wish to know about me?"

8. Maintain a track of what you have filled in your application form. It must be in sync with what you speak.

9. I would advise not to mention specifically, your long term ambitions while answering this question unless you are absolutely sure you will be able to answer any related questions. Remember you are there to prove your candidature as a student, not as a businessman.

10. Lastly, if they do not ask you this question, be sure that you try your best to divert the interview towards your strengths.

I suggest, you just sit down quietly and think about yourself and write it down in a notebook. Remember, it is you and only you who can frame this answer in the best possible way.

Here goes...

1) Why do you want to leave your company?

2) What is your greatest contribution to your company?

3) What changes would you like to see in the processes of your company?

4) What are the steps your company could take to tackle economic recession?

5) Tell me about your CEO.

6) Have you seen the balance sheet of your company?

7) What have you learnt at your job?

8) Would you like to join your company again after MBA?

9) What exactly is your job profile?

10) What is your alternate career path if not MBA?

Have these answers prepared especially for institutes like IIMs that give weightage to work experience. Avoid giving negative comments about the work you do as that indicates that you have squandered some years of your life. Keep a track of major developments within your company. eg: major take overs, re structuring, balance sheets. Remember, you are at an advantage because the panelists do not expect thorough academic knowledge, but do revise basics of your graduation course.

Keep reading!

P1- u r involved in acting and humour (saw my extra curricular) , tell me how humour can be used in conveying a message
Me - told about humour being a good starting point for a serious message-people identify with the speaker- gave an example of one of my own acts in which i start with jokes about marriage and end on a serious note about the same. told humour could be used to avoid problems and convey awkward things politely- told the famous joke of George Bernard Shaw and Greta Garbo
P1- compare humor in two countries and what could be learnt from each other.
Me - told that I was a fan of FRIENDS, an American sitcom. it used subtle humour. Indian humour is more louder making more efforts to make people laugh. But the humour depends on the audience. Friends was tried to be remade in Hindi but didn't work. Also pointed out that sense of humour is related to IQ and exposure. Told that I had performed in front of small children in an ashram and in front of a college audience, different jokes worked.

P2 – tell me about a book u read recently
Me- I have read only one novel completely, Dan brown’s deception point
P2 – why not others?
Me- I saw the Da Vince code movie. I identify more with movies than books. The visual stimulus is more exciting
P2 – so did you see slumdog millionaire
Me – not fully
P2 – (laughing) so u don’t watch movies fully either (P1 laughing)
Me – It is still downloading sir (smilingly…hope they didn't take it in a negative way)

P1 – (coming to acads)
Design an inverter system. Which all modules would it require?
Me – a battery for power storage . An AC to DC converter when power is available. A DC to AC whenever power required.
P1- any other modules?
Me – (thinking) I suppose these will be the three basic modules
P1 – So how would you design these modules.
Me – AC to DC would be a by a diode that acts as a switch
P1 so that is a rectifier and DC to AC?
Me – (stumped…thought for half a minute) actually what I can think of is that an amplifier with a DC bias voltage amplifies an AC signal but that does not qualify as DC to AC conversion…sorry cant recollect
P1 – OK so what would be the design constraints for these modules
Me – battery capacity would depend on number of devices to be supported and for how long – heat dissipation would be constraint for larger systems, cooling mechanisms need to be in place- The AC voltage that all devices support should be at the output of the rectifier circuit, so amplifiers could be needed according to that value
P1 – OK so u have done filter theory! Wat is a filter and give three applications of a filter
Me – defined- basic applications in transmitter and receivers of communication circuits - other application would be digital filters used for audio effects in music
(though hard for a third one but couldn't get another application)
does a coder qualify as a filter?
P1 – No that’s a different thing
Me – (asked for a minute and thought hard again..couldn't get anything) Actually I have lost with these things since I’ve focused on my job since last two years.

P2- OK so lets talk about your job
tell me a big business story in the last six months
Me – Satyam scandal
P2 – other than that
Me – TCS restructured its organisation- told about it being divided into verticals according to domain- each vertical functioning as a mini company
P2 – ya so that is a strategic business unit SBU..but how is it better?
Me – competition between verticals improve efficiency – resources are trained in a specific vertical and hence better knowledge of responsibilities and better resource movement- each vertical has separate HR function, finance function
P2 – that is redundancy. Don’t u think?
Me – anyways we had separate HR functions and finance functions but project and location wise. Now it is more specific – vertical wise
P2 – tell three things that TCS should do in face of recession
Me – told about Ratan Tata’s message to TCS CEO about plan to face recession- told about performance based job cuts- told about the need for a better learning process for freshers with the initial learning to be carried out at project site to avoid wrong allocations and wastage –MATCs (resource allocation committee) role
Also mergers would be right way to tackle recession
P2 – but TESCO or TELCO are in a mess due to mergers itself…the annexed business units are acting as money sinks.
Me- sorry, not aware of this development. Recession is a temporary phase..
P1 - ya so in this phase what to do?
Me - told about people bringing in fake receipts to avail financial benefits, need for a more robust process
P2 – this happens everywhere..what is your take on infosys in all these aspects as compared to TCS
Me – Infosys has a better knowledge management process and the initial learning process for freshers is better managed and with better infrastructure, based on experiences of my friends
P2- so u r now realizing all these faults because it is recession time..otherwise you would have lived with it
Me – It is not that way but the effect is felt much more in this situation. The biggest and most complex problems start from small problems. If the mortgage bankers had not lent mortgage based securities, the recession itself would not have happened.
I was speaking something..cut me in between
P1- OK thank you!
Me - Thank you sir

Verdict: selected! :)

Here is a list of the most commonly asked questions to get you started. I would advise each one of you to think about the answers and write them down in a notebook. I am not supplying the answers as I believe that that the basic aim of an interview is to know you better. The interviewer can easily make out if the answers are not original. However, I will be posting the answers that I gave later. Some of these questions were asked to me in my IIM C interview.

1) Tell me about yourself.

2) Why MBA?

3) Why finance/marketing/HR/operations/IT?

4) Tell me about the last book you read?

5) Why do you want to leave your job?

6) Why is there a dip in your academic performance?

7) Why should we select you?/ What are your strengths?

8) Tell me about the last organization you have worked with.

9) Why our institute?

10) Why should we not take you? / What are your weaknesses?

These ten questions are the most important ones. These tell the interviewer how much you know about yourself. Struggle with them until you find honest answers. I will be posting my answers later.

Get going!