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Updated on: 21 May 2019, 05:56
Originally posted by JatinBhandari1 on 15 May 2019, 06:04.
Last edited by JatinBhandari1 on 21 May 2019, 05:56, edited 2 times in total.
Last edited by JatinBhandari1 on 21 May 2019, 05:56, edited 2 times in total.
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Dear MBA Applicants,
I wanted to write and emphasize on the importance of conducting a thorough school research. I also want to emphasise on networking by sharing an example of a candidate who reached out to the school alumni network( INSEAD) and had his first successful networking call this morning.
We were thoroughly prepared with a strong elevator pitch, a very relevant set of questions that we wanted to ask, and we had also developed a strong sense of “Why do we want to pursue MBA?” . The call started, and in the first 15 minutes, the applicant threw in the “INSEAD is one of my Top Choices” a couple of times just to express a strong interest. This triggered the INSEAD Grad, and he countered the applicant with a question asking “Why do you want to come to INSEAD? Why is it your top Choice?”
Result: The applicant had foot in his mouth while laying down all the Googled + Most common Reasons. The expression of “INSEAD is my Top Choice” was not very well supported with the Googled Facts. The applicant got nervous as he was not anticipating an Interviewing Tone on a networking call. The INSEAD Grad wasn’t on the admissions committee, and we knew that the stakes weren’t high. However, there was an awkward moment when the applicant realised that he was unnecessarily harping on “I REALLY LOVE INSEAD” even though he was barely 15 days into getting to understand the process.
Conclusion: Networking call is an opportunity to “FIND OUT” as opposed to “Express Interest” The information you gather from the these calls acts as a feeder to “Expression on Interest” later. If you do not know why a particular school is THE ONE for you, do not make these claims if you can’t back them up with enough meat.
A networking call has no boundaries and it is imperative for you to understand that ahead in the game. It takes a lot of time in researching for the right reasons. It is not about telling them “Why is INSEAD a good school?”. It is primarily about narrating “Why is it a Good School for you ?” It is absolutely fine to tell people you are networking with that you are seeking help to understand how will the school take your life forward. It is absolutely fine to NOT HAVE THE best answer when you are really early in the game. However, it is absolutely necessary to ask very straight questions. If you ask the right questions( No Fact Based questions that can be googled), and seek the right opinions, it is easy to build a great camaraderie. The alum in the morning gave very strong recommendations to the applicant and advised him to even visit the Singapore campus before applying.
Logically, you should also understand that if you are not prepared for a call, then a networking activity will strongly work against you. i.e. “They do not know whom to hire” but “they certainly know that you are not the right candidate”.
Also, for many of the top schools, it is likely that your interviewer will be a part of the local Alumni chapter you network with. So, building that great chemistry is very important. And it is important to do so now. Right Now !
If you are not aware of what am I talking about here, or if you feel that networking is a buzz word, and you have just been introduced to it, it will not make a lot of sense to generate theoretical essays. I know you are a “GREAT GMAT SCORE” candidate, but a lot of other things go into creating the right conversion rate. If you were recruiting for IIM Ahemdabad through CAT, networking would probably be looked down upon and no one will expect you to go out of the way.
However, for international top schools, a highly engaging stream of conversation is very important. While you are working on your goals essays, and are in the process of understanding why a particular school is meant for you, remember, the idea is not to pull out random electives or random professors.
The goal is to really REALLY be able to tell them – Why that particular school meant for you?
This answer should NOT BE limited to your answering:
- Why do you need an MBA?
- Why do you want to go to a B-School?
- You putting information from the school’s website randomly
The goal is that networking exercise is to REALLY REALLY FIND OUT – How will you maximise the effectiveness of their MBA Program to meet your short term/long term objectives. Your goal is not to tell them – why they are good.
Also, some schools do not have a “WHY THIS SCHOOL?” essay question. So, you can prioritise the networking activities accordingly. You should also plan the networking exercise based on the Essay topics. Duke Fuqua has a very strong contribution requirement- and that is a part of the School DNA. Your answer should not be generic. Duke is also known to emphasise a lot LOT on Why DUKE in the interviews, and they are not looking at reasons they already know about them from the website.
Your goal is not NOT to describe their school to them. I know I am harping a lot on the networking activity as it will be a surprise for a lot of you if you haven’t thought through this. Do spend a lot of time on this.
I have never seen anyone crack a top school without really NETWORKING very well.
Hope you understand it ahead of time. It has been a long time now.
Regards,
Jatin Bhandari
I wanted to write and emphasize on the importance of conducting a thorough school research. I also want to emphasise on networking by sharing an example of a candidate who reached out to the school alumni network( INSEAD) and had his first successful networking call this morning.
We were thoroughly prepared with a strong elevator pitch, a very relevant set of questions that we wanted to ask, and we had also developed a strong sense of “Why do we want to pursue MBA?” . The call started, and in the first 15 minutes, the applicant threw in the “INSEAD is one of my Top Choices” a couple of times just to express a strong interest. This triggered the INSEAD Grad, and he countered the applicant with a question asking “Why do you want to come to INSEAD? Why is it your top Choice?”
Result: The applicant had foot in his mouth while laying down all the Googled + Most common Reasons. The expression of “INSEAD is my Top Choice” was not very well supported with the Googled Facts. The applicant got nervous as he was not anticipating an Interviewing Tone on a networking call. The INSEAD Grad wasn’t on the admissions committee, and we knew that the stakes weren’t high. However, there was an awkward moment when the applicant realised that he was unnecessarily harping on “I REALLY LOVE INSEAD” even though he was barely 15 days into getting to understand the process.
Conclusion: Networking call is an opportunity to “FIND OUT” as opposed to “Express Interest” The information you gather from the these calls acts as a feeder to “Expression on Interest” later. If you do not know why a particular school is THE ONE for you, do not make these claims if you can’t back them up with enough meat.
A networking call has no boundaries and it is imperative for you to understand that ahead in the game. It takes a lot of time in researching for the right reasons. It is not about telling them “Why is INSEAD a good school?”. It is primarily about narrating “Why is it a Good School for you ?” It is absolutely fine to tell people you are networking with that you are seeking help to understand how will the school take your life forward. It is absolutely fine to NOT HAVE THE best answer when you are really early in the game. However, it is absolutely necessary to ask very straight questions. If you ask the right questions( No Fact Based questions that can be googled), and seek the right opinions, it is easy to build a great camaraderie. The alum in the morning gave very strong recommendations to the applicant and advised him to even visit the Singapore campus before applying.
Logically, you should also understand that if you are not prepared for a call, then a networking activity will strongly work against you. i.e. “They do not know whom to hire” but “they certainly know that you are not the right candidate”.
Also, for many of the top schools, it is likely that your interviewer will be a part of the local Alumni chapter you network with. So, building that great chemistry is very important. And it is important to do so now. Right Now !
If you are not aware of what am I talking about here, or if you feel that networking is a buzz word, and you have just been introduced to it, it will not make a lot of sense to generate theoretical essays. I know you are a “GREAT GMAT SCORE” candidate, but a lot of other things go into creating the right conversion rate. If you were recruiting for IIM Ahemdabad through CAT, networking would probably be looked down upon and no one will expect you to go out of the way.
However, for international top schools, a highly engaging stream of conversation is very important. While you are working on your goals essays, and are in the process of understanding why a particular school is meant for you, remember, the idea is not to pull out random electives or random professors.
The goal is to really REALLY be able to tell them – Why that particular school meant for you?
This answer should NOT BE limited to your answering:
- Why do you need an MBA?
- Why do you want to go to a B-School?
- You putting information from the school’s website randomly
The goal is that networking exercise is to REALLY REALLY FIND OUT – How will you maximise the effectiveness of their MBA Program to meet your short term/long term objectives. Your goal is not to tell them – why they are good.
Also, some schools do not have a “WHY THIS SCHOOL?” essay question. So, you can prioritise the networking activities accordingly. You should also plan the networking exercise based on the Essay topics. Duke Fuqua has a very strong contribution requirement- and that is a part of the School DNA. Your answer should not be generic. Duke is also known to emphasise a lot LOT on Why DUKE in the interviews, and they are not looking at reasons they already know about them from the website.
Your goal is not NOT to describe their school to them. I know I am harping a lot on the networking activity as it will be a surprise for a lot of you if you haven’t thought through this. Do spend a lot of time on this.
I have never seen anyone crack a top school without really NETWORKING very well.
Hope you understand it ahead of time. It has been a long time now.
Regards,
Jatin Bhandari
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16 May 2019, 09:16
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Hi Jatin,
I am disappointed in this post. Your headline does nothing for your article, which seems to be about networking. Besides, your article is full of platitudes about what networking is and isn't.
I do not understand this. If you helped your client sharpen the Why INSEAD question, why did the question throw him/her off during the call?
While I agree that first drafts are almost always garbage material, but I am not sure about networking in your story. What does that mean?
What do you mean by out there? Is it getting on a phone call with a current student or alums? What is the action? I understand that sitting and drafting essays do not suffice a strong MBA application, but networking is a part of the whole process, and so is drafting and re-drafting essays.
I do not mean to nitpick, but this article is full of typos and really need to address the heart of your content, which seems to be about how to be better at networking. I think that the article will be very helpful and I look forward to reading it. This ain't it, chief.
I am disappointed in this post. Your headline does nothing for your article, which seems to be about networking. Besides, your article is full of platitudes about what networking is and isn't.
Quote:
I do not understand this. If you helped your client sharpen the Why INSEAD question, why did the question throw him/her off during the call?
Quote:
While I agree that first drafts are almost always garbage material, but I am not sure about networking in your story. What does that mean?
Quote:
What do you mean by out there? Is it getting on a phone call with a current student or alums? What is the action? I understand that sitting and drafting essays do not suffice a strong MBA application, but networking is a part of the whole process, and so is drafting and re-drafting essays.
I do not mean to nitpick, but this article is full of typos and really need to address the heart of your content, which seems to be about how to be better at networking. I think that the article will be very helpful and I look forward to reading it. This ain't it, chief.
17 May 2019, 06:24
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Hi Souvik,
You are right in getting disappointed. Some of these posts are unsupervised and have last minute edits done by the team. However, since they represent me, I accept your disappointment.
I disagree with your thought process around the Heading of the Article. I intentionally did not choose “Networking with B-schools” as the topic as it would not serve the uninformed customer. If someone doesn’t understand that Networking is an important of the process, they will not bother to learn or see the post Souvik. I do understand that a lot of people are in very early stages of getting to know this process. I want them to be able to take value from this post.
Let me respond to you by tomorrow. You have raised some very valid points. I will also make edits to this post.
Thank you for pointing this out. Keep doing this.
Regards,
Jatin
You are right in getting disappointed. Some of these posts are unsupervised and have last minute edits done by the team. However, since they represent me, I accept your disappointment.
I disagree with your thought process around the Heading of the Article. I intentionally did not choose “Networking with B-schools” as the topic as it would not serve the uninformed customer. If someone doesn’t understand that Networking is an important of the process, they will not bother to learn or see the post Souvik. I do understand that a lot of people are in very early stages of getting to know this process. I want them to be able to take value from this post.
Let me respond to you by tomorrow. You have raised some very valid points. I will also make edits to this post.
Thank you for pointing this out. Keep doing this.
Regards,
Jatin
