Rhyme's Totally Fallible Guide to Interviewing

LOL!

But yes, you are too kind sangoman. I'm only an imitator/wannabe.

He is trying to appeal to Kry's ego so that he wont have any posts locked or deleted by the evil mod.

MUAHAHAHAHAHA! I AM APPEASED... sangoman will live another day. (flexes muscles)

Discuss yourself.



What is your strategy to answer this?

Thanks for the tips Rhyme!

What if you are asked a question that really stumps you? Would it be alright to say, "Can we return to this question later?" Just trying to prepare for the worst..

Have fun with it and just say something about what you like to do in your spare time. Its an open ended question with an open ended answer. If that worries you, you can be more focused and approach it with something like:

* I'm from X and lived in Y (start with something not work related, after all you are more than just a worker)
* I enjoy doing Y and Z (activities)
* My career focus has been in X
* I want to move to Y
* Thats why I'm here today

Then let him/her then probe deeper...

But anything like "Discuss yourself" or "Tell me about yourself" is really an invitation to talk about anything you want to tell them that might be interesting about you. I'd probably stick to non-work related things and only get to career focus stuff if it seemed like a logical step.

No probably not... but you can say "Can I have a minute to think about that?"
-- but only if its truly stumping and unexpected... like "What four words would you use to describe yourself?" or something kind of specific like that -- you should not ask for a minute to think about the answer to "What do you want to do post MBA?" ....

Alternatively, if its really really bad - just try to recast the question to something you think you might have a halfway decent answer for - then try to find a way to make that sound reasonable vis-a-vis the question asked. This gives you some time to think and some way to link something together - Its hard to describe... . I'll give you an example.

For instance, I got asked "Why do you want to work in CPG" the other day.

I have no idea why I want to work in CPG.... heck, I don't want to work in CPG. What I do want to do is learn more about the firm, and the recruiter for CPG Marketing happens to be there so ....... I said:

"You know, I think its easier to understand my interests if you understand why I'm interested in marketing first, then how CPG fits into that." (Recasting the question to fit my abilities)...

"My background in consulting provided me with very broad exposures that I enjoyed, and I know that a marketing role will provide me with similar cross-functional expertise and interactions - finance, packaging, graphics folks, supply chain issues - etc. The scope is very broad and I find that attractive." (Ok now I need to find something about CPG.... I pulled this out of a hat)

"At the same time though, I'm looking to really deepen industry expertise ... consulting didn't provide that - it provide broad experiences across function and industry. While I like broad functional experiences, I seek deepened industry experiences -- and thats what draws me to CPG Marketing - my ability to become intimately familiar with one product or product line - develop expertise and become a domain leader. I see CPG as providing that opportunity to own something, develop expertise in certain product lines and grow ... while still retaining what I liked about consulting - broad functional responsibilities."

It was a complete crap answer - and mostly made up - but since I had at least something in mind for "why marketing" (just in case) I used that...

Still better than sitting there and drawing a complete blank.

Thanks rhyme! That makes a lot of sense. I can't prepare for all the questions they can possibly ask me, so yes, recasting the question to fit what I know is a good idea.

One more thing - did any of your b-school interviewers ask you about trends/challenges in your industry?

No, but I brought them up on my own..... That said... if you want to go into banking and the credit crunch comes up, its probably a good idea to know what that is. A little research never hurts.

Even outside your industry, in my interview last week, the interviewer asked me about a particular country's economy, what would I do to improve it, and what is my view on its population "entrepreneurial spirit". I wasn't expecting these questions, and it was a little tricky to answer it.

"Walk me through your profile" vs "Tell me about yourself".

Rhyme according to your answer to "Tell me about Yourself", I think these 2 questions would have different answers. The answer to "Walk me through your profile" would concentrate mainly on your resume and the answer to the other question would go as per your suggestions and would be more personal.

Am I right?

By profile, I assume you mean "resume"... No one asks you to walk you through the profile... ("Check it out, I got 4000 posts, and a kick arse avatar")

The short answer is maybe - *I* would probably approach those two differently. Walk me through your resume is really asking "What have you done, and why have you done it, and why are you here today?"... But... heres the thing.... its just how I might do it - that doesn't mean its the right answer. -- More importantly, I might not do it the same way twice. This is what I meant about trying to think of questions as a network that you can traverse..

Imagine a mesh of questions and answers, each interlinked by different lines. There are a hundred paths to each answer and hundreds of paths to each quesiton. Multiple answers link to multiple questions. Something like this:

https://www.enm.bris.ac.uk/anm/summersch ... _big01.jpg

With that picture in mind, try to develop answers that work that way - there are many ways to get to X and many ways to get to Y, and X and Y can both be reached in different ways...

In general... I'd say not to think of these questions so rigidly. Walk me through your resume does not have to be "X then Y then Z then this and now this".. Similarly "Discuss Yourself" does not have to be all about extracurriculars. Thats just how I might go about answering it....

You should get as comfortable as possible casting thoughts together.. You sound like you might be trying to "define" answers - and I'd urge you not to. Otherwise if someone says to you "So, what are you doing here today?" you'll find yourself struggling -- "Oh no! Is that more like "Tell me about yourself" or is that more like "Discuss Yourself" or maybe its more like "Walk me through your resume".... Oh no! Which answer do I give?" Then you wont be sure which answer to give and you'll waste time worrying about which one is the "right" one that you prepared for - and which one isn't... (when in fact, either is acceptable).

In other words, try to avoid tying answer X with question Y explicitly. Practice being comfortable with the idea of a mesh. There are multiple ways to answer questions and multiple questions that lead to answers. Usually, all that you need is some transitional sentences and thoughts to link things together. That doesn't mean you should actually draw out the question answer mesh....(thats just creating more explicit links) it just means you should conceptualize the idea and practice until it comes naturally.

When you can think of two or three different ways to answer a given question, you are thinking mesh.

The other reason its important to get accustomed to this is that it isn't uncommon to get asked X, you answer Y and then get asked some variation of X (Say X*) .... you can't answer Y again... you need to able to somehow link X* to something else - maybe Z. Or maybe, later on you get asked question A -- to which you were hoping to answer B -- but you already "used up" the B story answering another question altogether. If you get used to the idea that no question has a right or wrong answer - and you practice giving different answers to different questions in different ways - you'll never find yourself "trapped" like this...

I'm repeating myself, so I'll stop... you get the idea.

That makes it more like a mesh

Thanks a lot for the clarification and advise. You and Consultancy are made for each other

geez. If I were asked that, I'd look like a deer caught in the headlights, for sure. If you don't mind my asking - what school asked you that question?

So when the interviewer ask you to provide examples of leadership/teamwork, would it be ok to reuse the examples you provided on your essays? (pls assume that this is NOT a blind interview - the interviewer has briefly reviewed your profile). If not, would it be acceptable to draw examples from outside of work? Or should I stick to work experiences? I don't know if these b-school interviews are like real job interviews. During real job interviews, the interviewer almost always allows me to draw experiences from work, school, volunteer work, whatever.

Thx in advance.

Rhyme,

I believe you will never read this post of mine(I assume you are too busy, studying) ... But i wanted to say thanks for sharing all this with the world

I am sure you are doing great where ever you are ....

Thanks again

Wicked post Rhyme!

Since ppl are all throwing who they admire on the gmatclub its my turn.

I've been "active" here for almost a year and in that time I've learnt to gobble up everything from Rhyme, Kryzak and Riverripper. Sometimes I skip the name of the author and jump into the post first and I cannot tell which one of them wrote that post. They're all that good, equally. Open the RKR admission consulting firm after graduation?

So anyway Rhyme gets 2 brownie points since I met him last month at the GSB, RR gets 1 since I spoke on the phone. But Kry gets 3 brownie points so he doesn't exercise his mod muscles on me haha

keep up the good work guys. there was another thread about why GC >> BW Forum, this is exactly why

I'm right here. You are welcome.... good luck mate!