Take me through your resume and tell me how you made a difference at each experience.
This answer should be no more than 3-4 minutes long, and allows you to “set the stage” for the rest of the interview. Begin with your Undergraduate program, then highlight your work experience(s) and tell them why you chose to study for the MBA, and why KFBS. For each of these experiences try to show how you excelled: through strong academics, leadership roles, quick promotions or outstanding work achievements. You choose which skills or accomplishments to highlight, allowing you to “pique the recruiters interest” and possibly direct further questions toward your strengths.
How have these experiences prepared you to be an employee with my firm?
Try to highlight the functional skills you have developed which are important and RELEVANT to the position your are interviewing for. Leadership/teamwork skills, motivating others, solid business judgment, ability to see the big picture and think strategically, “client/customer focus”, meeting deadlines, project management skills, strong intellectual capacity/ problem analysis, etc.
Most recruiters will not ask you this second question, strive to combine the “resume walk-through” and your response to this question into one 3-5 minute answer, reviewing your resume and focusing on RELEVANT skills.
There are situations such as “the interview from hell” where the recruiter has led you off on a tangent for 25 minutes and you need to “close” with a concise 2-3 minute summary statement which highlights all your relevant skills. If the recruiter asks, “Do you have any questions?” tell them you had several which have been answered and ask permission to close with a brief summary of your skills.
Describe a frustrating group project you worked on in which the group had difficulty accomplishing its objectives. Describe your role in the group. What actions did you take to bring the group to a successful conclusion? (Team)
They want to hire someone who can get things done, but can also work with team members or clients who are not cooperating. Tell them of a time when a team you were on was “stuck” and how you moved it along. Examples: you were the leader or took the leadership role; or played mediator between 2 opposing people with 2 diff. viewpoints; & brokered a compromise (a win-win solution); or you were the facilitator bringing structure to the group; or recommended to break up the work load and assign specific tasks to specific people to meet the deadline. (Any one of these approaches works well). Close with results!
Describe a situation or problem you were involved with which you were able to solve in an imaginative or innovative manner. (Intellectual/Adjustment)
They want you to be able to “think outside of the box” and approach problems from a new angle. It does not have to be the next innovative super bowl ad, but just a new idea or solution to a business problem which saved time or money.
Tell me about the most difficult person with whom you have worked. What made this person so difficult? What steps did you take to turn this situation into a positive conclusion? (Team/Personal)
They are looking for people with poise and maturity who can handle challenging staff or situations. Focus on the “co-worker/manager/client from hell” and how you were able to understand their point of view, their motivations and were able to win them over. How you went out of your way to make it easy for this person to work with you, (you asked for a meeting in their office, over lunch or after work), you convinced them to cooperate; you spent extra time with this person, trained them in the latest software, etc., all of which enabled you to get your job done, finish the project on time and under budget.
What was the best idea you ever sold to a group of people in order to convince them to take action? What was your approach? What was the outcome? (Leadership).
The ability to “Sell” an idea to a group of people demonstrates leadership and communication skills. You identified a problem, analyzed or researched options, came up with a solution, presented it to a group of clients/ your management/ or a group of your peers. How you presented your solution, how you countered objections and/or gained buy-in from others, and close by telling them the results, how your idea was implemented and produced tremendous results!
Tell me about a busy time in your career when you were managing your time /projects/deadlines. Tell me how you set that deadline and planned to meet it. How did you react if you fell behind schedule? (Time Management / Administrative)
They want to hear that you prioritize, break projects down into daily, weekly and monthly chunks, set intermediate goals and milestones, and take a planful approach to work each day.
For the second question, they want to hear that you are able to re-prioritize your work (put some work on the back burner) to dedicate more time to this project, notify your boss so there are no last minute surprises. You analyzed alternatives and costs and recommended bringing in more staff or resources to work on the project, and lastly they want to hear that you worked till midnight 3 days in a row to deliver on time. (They do not want to hear that you waited to the last minute to notify your boss, or just got the deadline extended).
Tell me about your academic qualifications, your Undergraduate GPA, your GMAT scores and Kenan-Flagler grades.
Just spit the numbers out in a confident manner, too many people get defensive with this question and come out with a weak answer (making excuses for why they were so low), or get very defensive with their body language. This is generally not a make-or-break issue, most firms treat academic achievement as one data point during the entire recruiting process
What is your greatest weakness? (Some recruiters may ask this question THREE times, you need to think through and be prepared to address your three greatest weaknesses).
This question is tough because you do not want to talk about a weakness which will kill your chances for an internship offer. On the other hand, recruiters want to see that you are able to self-reflect and recognize areas for improvement. Try to identify a genuine weakness (vs. a strength disguised as a weakness) and talk about this. Point out how this was a weakness earlier in your career, how you recognized or realized this was a weakness, and the steps you have taken to overcome this weakness. Often, if you give a well thought out and genuine answer, they will not ask you for weakness #2 or 3.
Be prepared to talk about anything on your resume, to take the macro view of industries you have worked in and discuss competitors and trends. (This is considered a “resume based CASE” Interview question). Any recruiter may spring a “Case” interview question on you!
Very tough to prepare for, but anything on your resume or anything you have worked on is open game. You may be asked to show that you understand the “big picture” in industries or fields you have worked in, or in the specific industry for which you are interviewing, also the trends going out 5-10 years, how competitors, new technology, etc. may impact this field in the future. There is no right answer for a “Case” question, they want to “see” how you think, and how well you follow and understand business issues and techniques.
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