Interview: Most Common Questions

Mental fear of the unknown is often what produces the physical symptoms of nervousness. In addition to preparing yourself physically, you also need to prepare yourself mentally. The best way to prepare mentally is to know what may be coming. Fear of the unknown can only exist when there is an unknown. Take the time to understand some of the interview questions.

There are some most common interview questions, which looks to be difficult, but they are actually very easy to tackle if you are well prepared. These questions can have a variety of answers. The more open-ended the question, the wider the variation in the answers. Once you have become practiced in your interviewing skills, you will be easily able to clear all the interviews.

Most Common Interview Questions

The following are most common questions you should prepare yourself before giving any interview.

1. Tell me about yourself?
2. What do you want to do in your life (Short Term and Long Term Goals)?
3. Why do you want to do MBA (Why not other things?)?
4. Why MBA from this particular college?
5. What are your strengths?
6. What are your weaknesses?
7. What qualities do you feel a successful manager should have?
8. In which specialization, you want to pursue MBA (and why)?
9. What are your hobbies?
10. What are your interests (Academic only)?

Tell me about yourself

This is the most commonly asked question and is the one question that you should always be prepared to answer well. Be brief, clear and try to include your educational and professional background, your interests & hobbies and your family background. Don’t give long answers or keep repeating what is already mentioned in your application. The interview panel may have various reasons for asking this question. Sometimes, it is to test your communication skills, your body language, or your confidence.

What do you want to do in your life

This is another popular question that keeps coming in personal interviews. Be honest while answering this question. Your answer should justify and substantiate the course that you are applying for. For example: If you have applied for an MBA in Marketing, your goals should align with the managerial position handling responsibilities in the marketing department of an organisation.

Why MBA

If you are a fresher right out of college, you could say that an MBA would be the ideal launchpad into the corporate world. Apart from the fat salary packages, an MBA would equip you with both the technical knowledge and soft skills to function well in your chosen industry. If you are someone with prior work experience, you would have different reasons for pursuing an MBA. You could either be planning to switch industries or could be looking for more responsibilities in the same function.

Why MBA from this particular college?

The interviewer might ask you this question to check your level of interest in the B-School. You should know about the institute’s history, its flagship programs, ranking, placement records, faculty members and other details. It would be good if you can get in touch with a few students of that institute before your PI. Your answer should reflect that you’ve done your homework well and that you’re keen to pursue your management degree from this particular B-School.

What are your strengths & weaknesses

This can be a tricky question to answer, especially the weakness part. Make sure that your strengths and weaknesses don’t contradict each other. You can give situations and examples from your personal or professional experiences about your strengths and weaknesses. Also, try to include in your answer how you are planning to improve upon your weakness.

What are your hobbies

Make sure that you have in-depth information about your hobbies and interest.