What MBA Interviewers Look For - 工管

Four Things Interviewers Look For When They Interview You


When you go into an interview as part of your Graduate School Admissions

process, you have one precious chance to make a good and lasting impression

on alumni interviewers and admissions officers. Once that chance is gone, you

can never get it back.


It isn't necessarily obvious to current applicants what interviewers look for

when they interview a prospect. Students have been focused on grades and

tests for so long that they often forget that they're dealing with human

beings who like to be treated with respect and get a firm handshake. In order

to help the current pool of applicants, I'm going outline four of the most

important things that interviewers look for when they interview you.


1. Good Eye Contact


Forget your GMAT and GPA for a minute. When you walk in the door and meet

your interviewer for the first time, you need to greet them with good, strong

eye contact. Eye contact indicates confidence and maturity in a prospective

student, and is especially important when dealing with western interviewers.

If you look at your feet too much, or shift your eyes around all over the

place when you meet with your interviewer, they will feel uncomfortable

speaking with you. You want to give your interviewer every chance possible to

feel comfortable and positive in your presence, so be sure to go in with

excellent eye contact.


2. A Firm Hand Shake


One of the worst things in the world is a bad handshake. The "wet

fish-handshake" as I like to call it, where you feel like you're gripping an

uncooked fish when you shake someone's hand.

Just like eye contact, a strong handshake communicates confidence to the

person interviewing you. Pump your hand 2 - 3 times, make sure your hand

isn't sweaty, and be firm but don't crush your interviewers hand.


3. Interviewers Want to Feel Like You'll Fit In


Interviewers need to feel like you would be a good fit for their community,

and the best way to accomplish this is to get the interviewer talking about

their community. Ask questions about the traditions and values of the school.

By asking questions about the traditions and values of the school, you give

the interviewer a strong impression that you really want to understand what

their community is all about. When they say something like "diversity is so

important in our community" you are then free to echo their words and

emphasize how important a value diversity is in your own personal life.


4. Sincerity


Interviewers have to meet with many potential candidates. So many candidates

that their head starts to swim. The vast majority of students they interview

are insincere. They don't really want to be at the school they are

interviewing for, and so the interviewer feels that their time is being

wasted. Even if the school you're interviewing for isn't your top choice, you

should always let your interviewer know that you are excited about the

prospect of attending their school in the specific city in which it is

located. Be prepared to talk about some of the advantages that the location

has to offer, and about one of the values of the school which you genuinely

respect.


If you can help an interviewer to see that you are a confident and mature

young person by using good eye contact and good handshakes, and show them

that you are genuinely interested in their school, they will walk away from

an interview with you feeling confident you will fit in well in their

community.


If you are in the process of applying for Graduate Schools or MBA Programs

and would like help thinking about how to ace your interview, I"ll be

offering a course called Interview Mastery which you can contact me, David,

for details on at [email protected].




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Transcend Admissions Consultants





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