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Saturday, April 16, 2016

The Seventh Seal of Job Interviews: Insights from Top MBA Colleges in Greater Noida, Delhi NCR

The top MBA Colleges in Greater Noida, Delhi NCR offer the best academic curriculum to their PGDM and MBA students, unique in both content and form. The definition of the scope and ambit of the design of academic curriculum includes the syllabi of text books in many MBA Colleges. But for business schools like Ishan Institute of Management & Technology it takes on an all-encompassing and all-pervasive approach that integrates business films, general knowledge, communication, power dressing and a lot more with a singular objective of enabling students to cross the line successfully and get placed with a corporate enterprise of their merit. To this extent the top MBA colleges in Greater Noida, Delhi NCR develop and follow a blue print for placement preparation. This placement preparation is a process that aims to develop and process the academic knowledge gained in the lecture sessions into the capability to brand and sell oneself during an interview.


Developing the Right Perspective for a Job Interview

Many people may actually wonder about the title of the post of this blog. It makes enormous good sense to assert that a job interview is very different from an academic interview. The basic point is for students and people running the show in placement cells of different business schools to understand that a job interview amounts to selection in a team and thus academic merit is not the only factor to be considered. The interviewer is a part of a team himself and has a job to offer the best possible value addition to a specific team from a department or function. The point is to understand the psyche of the interviewer and get into the “behind the screens” mode as much as possible. Once inside the interview room it is more like a game of chess or rather a mind game. We take a look at some of the best practices from job interviews.

How to Deal with Historical Questions?

Historical questions are also called behavioural questions. Questions like “tell me how you addressed this issue when you were working in that position 2 or 3 years ago...” are examples of historical questions. These questions are not very effective in scanning the problem solving skills of a candidate. Yet there is a better way to use historical questions. An intelligent interviewer would follow the above given example with straighter one that focuses on the present times. Candidates should while answering the first example of historical questions e prepared to answer the follow-up question on how he would adapt the solution to the problem in the context of the present time.

How to Deal with Problem Solving Questions?

As said above any interviewee should expect a follow up question to a historical question. The follow-up question may be more pin-pointed forcing the candidate to offer a working plan of the idea he has to offer. In many cases depending upon the level in the corporate hierarchy for which the interview is being undertaken the interviewer may also offer a pen and a piece of paper. For example almost all Japanese companies ask their hires and employees to present the solution to a problem on a piece of A4 size paper. If a candidate offers an algorithm or a process flowchart, it makes the job of the interviewer easier. The interviewer should concentrate on each step in the process flowchart and deduct marks for missing out on steps like data collection, knowing the work culture, structure and authority protocol, consulting clients and distributors, identifying KRAs (key result areas).

How to Deal with Questions that are Futuristic?

There are questions that are futuristic and hence require the candidate to prove that he has got a sense of anticipation and vision for the future. Developing a vision for how a function like data analytics, marketing, business development or accounting shall change over the next couple of years is a difficult task. Developing a vision for how an industry is going to play out in terms of growth, organic and inorganic growth routes, recessionary pressures, government policy changes in the pipeline, etc is even tougher. At Ishan Institute of Management & Technology, the top MBA College in Greater Noida we ask students to think in terms of an industry and observe it as much as possible during the two years of the MBA course. A vision takes time to develop. It is about looking at the big picture. We expect an interviewer to ask questions like forecasting major trends that are likely to emerge in 2-3 years, developing a plan for the first 100 days (following the 100 hundred day rule in Silicon Valley) and outlining goals for the first 3 months. To answer these type of questions a candidate must absorb knowledge like sponge by concentrating on lecture sessions, solving industry or function specific case studies, staying updated on company specific details by reading blogs, e-magazines, articles and business news portals.

How to Deal with Questions on Adaptability, Learning and Innovation?

The next level of questions in terms of difficulty level relate to adaptability, learning and process innovation. It is crucial to have answers to questions on these 3 metrics. Business environment is always and everywhere a dynamic one. It is not easy to keep balance while standing on ball that is rotating and revolving all the time. It calls for skills of adaptability, learning and process innovation to stay ahead of competition. At Ishan, one of the top MBA and PGDM Colleges in Delhi NCR we prepare students to face these questions. The answers to each of these questions have to be pin-pointed and objective. That is to say that beating around the bushes is no solution to this kind of questions.

These were a few insights on how to handle a variety of questions for job hiring interviews. At Ishan, the first graduate business school of Greater Noida, we have a very proactive multi-layered placement cell that engages in collaboration with faculty members to groom students for job interviews.