Reposting from Pagalguy: Llewellyn Desouza's tips for ISB interview
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Congratulations to the first set of people who have a call for an Interview...
As requested here are some tips for the Interview:
1. The interview at ISB is a test of what you know and not what you don't . This is the difference between other schools in India and ISB.
2. By design it is supposed to test your strengths and not grill your weaknesses.
3. It is not a stress interview unless you are stressed out or get intimidated. Yes they do try to get under your skin especially if you are from the IITs.
4. Most of the questions (90%) are based on what you have put in your profile. So read your application in detail ... Not just your essays but the entire app.
5. Remember the panel gets only about 10 to 15 mins to read your profile so your application and essay quality matters.
6. Panelist know that you are not looking at ISB for NETWORKING and KNOWLEDGE but Career Progression. Be candid it helps and save yourself the trouble to camouflage your aspirations.
7. Most evaluation at the interview is aimed at finding out if you can be PLACED post ISB. This is natural. Especially people with 7 plus years of work ex need to be very clear where they see themselves after ISB and how do they plan to get there even if the Placement Team from the School cannot help.
8. Your Plan B should inspire confidence and not stress them out. Usually your long term goal is of little interest to anyone but interviewers have a tendency to ask for it so that your plan A & B can be tested. Ideally Plan A & B should lead to the same long term Goal.
9. Every MBA worth the salt wants to be an Entrepreneur in the long term. So this is a given... How you plan to bide your time getting there is the interesting part that interviewers are interested in.
10. You may want to anticipate questions but do not forget to practice your answers at mock interviews.
11. Remember the key is crispness (not sharpness) of the response.
12. It is better to give a short answer and then be probed than give a long answer that makes panelist switch off.
13. Never argue at the interview... you cannot win.
14. Last but not the least ... 7 out of 10 times you may think you aced the interview but at ISB you can still be dinged on the basis of the rest of your profile.
15. Also remember unless you practice right and get your answers validated by a pro there is no sense practicing. By doing Mock Interviews with your friends you are getting nowhere.
Wish you all the best...
Llewellyn Desouza
Principal Consultant Hash & CMO Felecidade Villa
in.linkedin.com/pub/llewellyn-desouza/1/6a1/a52/
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