Ask Jason@沃顿 (my essays inside!) Free essay advice again~

heythere

group interview....oh, no...

cannedpineapple

bump. been getting lots of 站内信 asking for help on essays, resumes, interviews, etc. Happy to help Let me know!

five626

Hi,Jason. I have a question concerned about the time management issue in a face-to-faceinterview. I don’t have a clue how much time I should spend going through myresume to the interviewer Or how detail should I answer the behavioral question(“tell me a time when you…..”). I am preparing my first interview on the comingSaturday, so your help is absolutely highly appreciated. Thanks

cannedpineapple

hi 5626,

Thanks for the question! I would recommend a few things:

1) be sure to be ready with an elevator pitch of who you are. A "story" you can tell about yourself that you want the adcom to walk away with. They're not likely to remember the entire 30 minute interview when it comes time to decide- but they may remember an impression of you. You'll want to make sure you control this impression. Throughout the interview try to portray yourself as this. If, by the end, this is not fully articulated, then ask for a minute (ONLY one minute!) to emphasise certain aspects!

For example, my story was 'a young, but promising, future leader in the media industry. not enough work experience shouldn't be held against me cos i've done well in the cases i HAVE worked, and not being a "leader" is not for lack of ability but because I am more a team-builder rather than a ra-rah type.' At the end of my interview, I thought my interviewer had not asked enough about leadership, so I took one minute to tell him that, although I don't have much "leadership from the front" experience, it was because I had a different style of "leadership"- of influencing people in a group setting.

2) for every other story you have, prepare a long version (10 minutes) and a short version (3-5 minutes). Make sure your stories can be used for multiple different questions, so you end up only needing maybe 3-5 stories, depending on what they ask. Some topics you may be asked are: a) conflict resolution b) ethics c) leadership d) negotiations e) analysis f) failure g) cross-cultural management h) creativity. Basically, these are all the same things business schools look for in your application.

When they ask the question, then be sure to skew your topic to ANSWER their question. If they ask about leadership, don't tell the story so it's mainly about your analytical ability but only a bit of leadership in it. This is where you'll need to be able to react quickly to retell the story in a way that emphasises what is being asked. If I were you, I would rehearse, again and again, telling the same story with slants on the different traits of you that it's supposed to highlight. That way, you won't be 'caught unprepared'.

Also take the cue from the interviewer. Listen clearly to what he or she is asking, and answer that. You can start with the short version, then add more details if he/she prompts you. OR, you can start with the long version, then cut it down if he/she interrupts you. Let them guide the interview- they have an idea of how they want the interview to go, so let them take the lead.

3) I know I emphasise a lot about preparation, but don't memorise. You can practice again and again and again, but don't memorise your speech word for word. You want to seem natural and friendly. Have you ever tried having a conversation with someone who is reciting a memorised script? That probably never impresses you, right? It won't impress your interviewer either. This is not a chance to recite an essay to them. It's a conversation.

Good luck!

cannedpineapple

More:

In my 'walk me through your resume' I spent ten minutes, and the interviewer was perfectly happy to just quietly take notes. I weaved in 'why MBA into that', as well as 'why now' and a bit of 'why Wharton'.

As for length of interview, I've had classmates who had entire interviews of 10 minutes long and still got in. I guess some interviewers are so experienced, they can decide within 10 minutes what they're going to write about you.

Ultimately all interviews are different. Prepare a shorter answer and a longer answer, and sit back and see where the interviewer wants to take the questions.

five626

Hi, Jason. Thanks so much for your advice, and Ihave to say I did not think much of the interview before. You are right, I needto prepare my stories and rehearse them again and again, and last, hopefully, impressthe adcom by delivering them naturally.Many thanks!!

cannedpineapple

No problem. Good luck!

cannedpineapple

Now I'm getting all sorts of questions. I've looked at Personal Statements, Essays, helped with Interview Questions... Happy to help. Hope you guys can post in my thread too, so others can benefit. Cheers, and good luck to all.

balabalabo

cannedpineapple

Thanks for the questions!

1. This doesn't really matter. Sometimes you end up with someone junior (like myself) but who has worked extensively with the adcom, and who know them all personally. That might be worth more than seniority. The fact is, if they agree to let the alumni interview, it means they trust his/her judgement.

2. While you should emphasise your strengths, I also believe that you should directly address any concerns that you think the adcom might have. After all, wouldn't you rather attempt to address it, rather than ignore it, and let them come away with thinking "yeah, so all this stuff he wrote in the essays and reiterated in the interview is great, but I'm concerned about his leadership, and he hasn't addressed this at all"?

As for how to address not having leadership, I recommend you look beyond "我是领导" and start thinking of a broader idea of leadership: influencing those around you to get a job done. The fact is, there is only one 领导. But there is more than one leader in a team.

When I applied I had never been school president/ leader of a club nor anything like that. However I had been part of well functioning teams, in which I had helped guide the group's decision-making through persuasion, communication skills and other methods of influence. I told Wharton that this was my style of leadership- not necessarily standing at the front, but nonetheless still helping to shape the outcome. From within.