With the conclusion of Round 1 of applying to ISB PGP 2014-15 and the starting of interviews for shortlisted applicants, I wanted to share some thoughts on how you can put your best foot forward in the interview. The main points were covered in my previous blog post, Important Tips on Interviews. If you haven’t read that yet, please do so now before continuing with this post.
Assuming that you have read it and you now know some of the things we are looking for, let me tell you why they are important to us and give you some insight into our psyche. Through the PGP, we want to encourage well-rounded individuals with leadership potential and strong work ethic to realise their goals. We can help by equipping you with knowledge, skills, resources, opportunities, etc. In return, we expect that you will have an impactful career and make a difference to industry and society. But how can we identify the right candidates to invest our effort and resources in? Our logic is this:
- We believe that future leaders have a strong desire to accomplish more.
- We believe that they often overcome challenges and find ways to make things happen.
- We believe that past performance is a good predictor of future success.
These are the driving philosophies behind our selection process and our interview process. So at the admission interviews, keeping the above in mind, we will be delving deep into your experiences and achievements. We try to learn more about what motivates you, the tasks you took up and completed, obstacles you overcame and the learning from those experiences. We try to gauge your clarity of thought and ability to communicate those thoughts. We also see if you have a track record of exceeding expectations. While we may seek clarifications on any perceived weaknesses, our primary focus will be on understanding more about your strengths and drivers.
So while preparing for the interviews, something you must do is think about each of the things you have stated in your application and try to articulate your thoughts around them. Tie it to your future goals and see how the ISB PGP can help you make the transition from here to there. If you are clear in your mind about all these, then the interview will make for a thoughtful, interesting discussion between you and us.
And as stated before, it is very important to be yourself and to be honest. It will definitely come across in the interview and, needless to say, we value it greatly.
All the best!