The key to acing personal interviews lies in doing an objective analysis of what you have done in the past, what you are doing presently and finally what you intend to do in the future. Visualise yourself doing well, practise a lot and success will be yours.
Well, here's some food for thought.
Extra-curriculars/ Hobbies
Extra-curricular activities can be broadly defined as activities that are pursued formally, apart from your academic or curricular activity. For example, you could have participated in debates, dramatics or some sports along with your formal education.
Hobbies, on the other hand, are activities you are really passionate about and will do anything to follow. In a nutshell, the difference between an extracurricular activity and a hobby is the level of passion involved.
Do some serious introspection over your extracurricular activities and/ or hobbies. Try and formulate answers to the following questions:
- What have I learnt from this activity?
- Is there any synergy between this activity and my chosen profession? If so, how?
- How will I continue with this activity after I start work, when I am faced with time constraints?
- What does this activity/ hobby say about me as a person?
If hobbies are 'things you are really passionate about', it is expected you will brush up your knowledge about them.
General awareness
This area may or may not be touched upon, but if it is, the purpose is to check how alive and sensitive the candidate is to his socio-political and economic ecology. The purpose may also be to check the candidate's maturity and reasoning ability.
At this stage, you should know the difference between General Knowledge and General Awareness.
Knowing the name of the island in which Tokyo is based is general knowledge. Understanding the difference between Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles of state policy is general awareness. To cite another example, knowing the name of the wind blowing across the Alps is GK, while understanding the problems caused by terrorism is GA.
Career goals
-What you need to do is to spend some time thinking:
-What made you choose your undergraduate stream?
-Why (if at all) are you moving away from pursuing higher studies/ career in that field?
-Why are you interested in management as a career?
-When and how did you first become interested in management?
-What specialisation within management would interest you (given your knowledge and inclinations at present)?
-What are your plans after an MBA?
-Where do you see yourself five years down the line?
-Where do you see yourself 10 years down the line?
Personality
Personality is an outward manifestation of your character. Personality can be developed or groomed; character is more internal. Thinking on these lines will help you handle questions like:
-What are you like as a person?
-What are your strengths and weaknesses?
-Why do you think they are strengths and weaknesses?
-When have you demonstrated these strengths and weaknesses?
-What are you doing about your weaknesses? (When mentioning a weakness in the interview, always mention the action you are taking to get rid that weakness)
-How do you visualise success? What role does it play in your life?
-Has success changed you in any way? How?
-What are your priorities in life, and why?
-List down the three most important events in your life in chronological order. Please state your reasons for choosing these.
-What is your dream in life?
-Describe a personal or familial crisis that you had to go through in your life? How did you handle the crisis? What special qualities do you think you possess that helped you deal with the crisis?
-Who is your role model? Why?
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