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Do you think someone can overprepare for their interview?

What I mean is they practised their answers to all the questions above so many times that they answer sounds canned and robotlike.


Certainly yes....
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Discuss yourself.



What is your strategy to answer this?
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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.. :wink:
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gmatclb
Discuss yourself.

What is your strategy to answer this?


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.
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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.. :wink:


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.
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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?
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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.
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rampup82
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?


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.
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rhyme
gmatclb
Discuss yourself.

What is your strategy to answer this?

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.


"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?
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abhishek.sardana

"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.
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That makes it more like a mesh :)

Thanks a lot for the clarification and advise. You and Consultancy are made for each other :)
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rampup82
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?

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.


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. :-D
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Great thread. When I visited University of Chicago, Rose Martinelli made a great point that I'm trying to keep in mind as a prep for my Kellogg interview this week. The answer to "Why 'School X' is a set of attributes, not a list of courses." I'm going into my interview with the hope of being able to demonstrate the connection I have made with the school, and hope I don't trip over all the details. Practicing has been a little more nerve wracking than I thought it would be.
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Hey all, I converted Rhyme's questions to an MP3. Download the attached file, unzip it, stick it on your iPod, and practice on the way to work!
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File comment: Rhyme's Questions in MP3 format
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rhyme/anyone else,

What makes for a good team work story? Almost every project I work on requires incredible team work. We are small company try to win big clients, so we are always understaffed and are under time and budget constraints on our projects. What in your opinion would make one team work story stand apart from the others?

Thanks!
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rhyme/anyone else,

What makes for a good team work story? Almost every project I work on requires incredible team work. We are small company try to win big clients, so we are always understaffed and are under time and budget constraints on our projects. What in your opinion would make one team work story stand apart from the others?

Thanks!

teamwork is about leveraging strengths to neutralize weaknesses.

I'll elaborate tonight from the hotel if i have time, but try noodlin on that for the moment and see if sparks ideas.
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Thanks rhyme. But if you are the one leveraging strengths and neutralizing weaknesses (I am assuming you meant to change individuals' roles to play up each individual's strengths), aren't you really displaying leadership qualities rather than teamwork?
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