MBA interview questions – if you are wondering something synonymous with the word ‘infinite’, this ticks the box for sure. There are so many types of MBA interview questions, and the tonal variations in which they are put forth to a candidate.
Of course, the interview season is high on steroids now, and we have been posting several interview experiences every now and then. To check out the other articles of the series, in order to get a brief idea of the different MBA interview questions, check out the following links.
- Great Lakes
- IMT Ghaziabad #1
- IIM Rohtak
- NMIMS
- Symbiosis
- IIM CAP
- S P Jain
- IIM CAP #2
- IIM Rohtak #2
- IIM Lucknow
So, let’s see how the interview progressed!
Firs things, first – the disclaimer
This is fresh out of memory, but I am rushing with thoughts on how to interpret what happened. This is 99% accurate – If anything, 1 or 2 questions mentioned here are not in the right order.
The interview panel
There were two panelists. One of them seemed to by in the mid to late thirties. The other one seemed genuinely experienced – around late 40s or early 50s. I am going to call the former P1 & the latter P2. P2 asked most of the questions.
The style guide (ahem! :P)
Bold: Interviewer speaking.
Non-Bold: Me speaking
In Italics (My brain telling me things)
Now, on to the important part – the MBA Interview Questions (and the answers, of course)
P1: Tell me something about yourself, that is NOT on any of the documents that you submitted.
Uuf.. I wasn’t prepared for this. I wanted to cover as many important points as possible to this question. But I managed to do a decent job here.
P1: What is the primary motive of a firm or company?
The primary objective of any company is going to be in earning profits, but with the idea of being “socially responsible” is very important.
It could be maximizing shareholder value.
Yes that is true & spoke about how Swiggy does that even though they lost a LOT of money at the start. Even though it wasn’t for profit directly, it made sense.
seemed like an okay recovery. I don’t know how to judge.
P1 then said that P2 will ask a few questions now. So I got a bit more nervous – since he seemed like a lot more experienced with all this.
P2: What Chess openings do you play?
I play Queen’s Gambit if I’m white or Sicilian defence if I’m black.
P2: Is the company that you say you’ve worked in – is it a family run business?
No it’s not. We are an ed-tech start up.
P2: Can you “very-briefly” tell me what you have worked in in your organisation?
I started out in Digital Marketing & Sales. Became head of sales & then product manager. I take care of everything that I’ve done in my first three years for a separate product.
P2: Have you seen the movie “Queen’s Gambit”? You said that it was your go-to opening move.
No sir, I actually don’t have a Netflix subscription – I don’t get that much time considering work and the discord server that I run.
Shameless plugging.. Yes I know. Good job! Please ask me question there!!!
P2: Okay, so tell me what the Queen’s Gambit is actually about.
I asked if he was talking about the movie or the chess opening. To which he thought about it and said “Chess opening” – I was relieved because I entirely forgot what the movie was about.
The queen’s gambit as the name suggests is a “Gambit” which means you sacrifice one pawn with the objective of getting an advantage in the middle game because of advanced positioning of your core pieces.
P2: If you played against the Queen’s Gambit, how would you counter that?
One of the best strategies against Queen’s Gambit is to not give in & take that pawn’s advantage and instead progress your pieces simultaneously.
P2: There was a Tsunami that happened in Chennai. Do you know when that was?
I remember that I was pretty young then – It was around 2005-06 (it was actually ’04).
P2: Were you in Chennai then?
Yes I was. I wasn’t affected because I wasn’t close to shore.
P2: Okay so tell me, how does a Tsunami occur?
Explained that to them.
P2: There was recently a person that got released from Jail – Do you think this will…? (Then he abruptly asked) “When are the elections coming up?”
The elections are in May this year. And Sasikala is the person you are referring to. She does have a decent following, but in my personal opinion, I think DMK’s MKS has a better stronghold and support coming up in the elections.
P2: So, you’re saying, in all probability, DMK is going to win right?
Highly likely, in my opinion – yes.
P2: I said “In all probability” though.
Yes sir. That’s what I think.
P2: You said that you graduated as a B. Com – So, if I were to start my company, what would be the documents that you require? I obviously know you need to go to the RoC – but what exact documents would I require?
I fumbled here a bit. Tried to wiggle out of the question. But he insisted very casually. He was looking specifically for a “term” – MoA & AoA.
When he said the words “Memora…” I completed it with Yeah yeah, Memorandum of association and Articles of Association. He asked me if I knew what they were – Unfortunately I didn’t know. I responded so.
P2: When did you Graduate from your B. Com?
I graduated in 2016.
P2: You’ve worked since then?
Right after undergrad, I started looking for jobs. I got one a few months down the line.
P2: So why the switch from B. Com to Digital Marketing?
I have wanted to work in the e-sports industry since college because I used to help out a few friends with writing blogs and articles on forums like “Gosugamers”. I looked for jobs in the market but couldn’t find any without prior work experience.
I found a job that had no future (café head). I was told Digital marketing experience would help me in getting jobs. So I started looking for jobs in this field, which led me to this one now.
P2: So tell me, why MBA with 4 years of work experience already?
Getting comfortable with all aspects of a business with a specialization in Marketing (T-shaped learning) and peer learning – only so many ideas that one person can come up with – are of paramount significance. Having variety is very important and improves the output of any group. Also, IMT’s brand value in marketing is definitely one to have for someone wanting a Marketing career.
P2: Is this something that a coaching institute trained you for?
No sir. I’ve done a lot of research and have spoken with a lot of B-School graduates.
P1 & P2: Okay. It was good talking with you – please leave this call so that the next person can come in.
I actually have one small question that I would like to ask – if that’s fine.
P2: I don’t see why not – go on.
I had pre-planned a question on how the website structure can be improved a lot with some effort.
P2: When you jo.. If and when you join IMT, you can definitely take it upon yourself to make that upgrade.
Thank you sir, Have a good day.
P1: Good day. And Good luck.
How did the interview proceed, overall? How did you feel about these MBA interview questions?
In all, this took around 17-ish minutes. They were kind of rushing the process.
So, there ends another interview experience. It was all about being honest, expressing oneself and trying one’s level best to make sure the interview steers back to one’s areas of interest/strength. Have your wits with you – like Rajesh likes to say – and you should find your interviews – mock and real – enjoyable and interesting.
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