Business School Interview: How to Look and Play the Part

After submitting a perfectly prepared resume, motivation letter, and application; another dreaded challenge is yet to be conquered: the business school interview.Admission teams seeks applicants who share the same values as the school and who can also add value of their own: from maturity, integrity, leadership, and ambition, an interview can show a lot of the candidate’s character. Here’s how to prepare for it either face to face or virtually.

Business School Interview Questions

A lot of business school interview questions can revolve around past and current professional experiences, motivations behind choosing the program and the school in particular, professional project, future plans, strengths and weaknesses. However, candidates should also be ready for another set of  specific questions that are not “creative” per say, but rather more challenging and unconventional. For both types, here are some to be ready for:

Traditional questions:

– Why do you want to pursue a business degree?

– What made you choose this program and this school?

– Talk about your leardership experience.

– Do you have any questions about the school or program?

– How would your coworkers/classmates describe you?

– What are your short-term and long-term goals?

These questions might seem innocent, but there’s not. They’re in fact a “pre-set” trick to see how candidates can anwser and whether they choose to give a typical input or genuiely share their thoughts.

Tricky questions:

– How will you contribute to our campus?

– Describe a challenge at work, how did you handle it?

– Describe a professional failure how did you overcome it.

– What do you want to be known for in life?

– Do you have any questions for us?

– What other schools are you applying to?

The thing about these types of questions is that they are more “real”. They test how candidates handle conflict at work, their emotional intelligence, as well as their level of honesty, even with awkwardly tough questions like the last one.  As unfair as some of these may seem, there are several reasons why interviewers might ask them, mainly to see how a candidate can improvise the answer.

Body Language

First impressions and stereotypes are not always used in a bad way; after all, they came from a place were they were applicable and relatable for a certain majority. This being said, in a very busy and fast world, interviewers have a short amount of time to profile candidates, which is why there are some guidelines that can be practiced to make sure candidates exude confidence during their interview.

Face to face

• Showing excitement: it never hurts to show motivation, whether it’s for the application itself, or for the whole academic or professional industry. Getting carried away with too much energy can be perceived as somewhat childish, but expressing excitement about the opportunity and the potential privilege of working there.
• Transitioning smoothly: this not only shows confidence but also that the ideas and stories are connected. By transitioning homogeneously from one idea to the other, candidates cmight end up anwering
• Listening carefully: it might be easy to lose sight of the fact that an interview is still a conversation, not just a one way message delivery. Candidates who listen showcase good listening skills, patience, and a “less rehearsed” attitude when talking.

Virtual interview call

• Looking at the camera: not the screen. It is a common reflex everyone has, but it basically means that candidates are looking at themselves and not the person interviewing them, which is not only awkward but inappropriate too.
• Preparing the surrounding: and closing other programs on the computer or device that could cause a distraction, ruin the call, or showcase any lack of seriousness.
• Dressing the part: just because the interview is via a video call, this doesn’t mean that pyjama bottoms work. Looking the part plays an important role in the first impressions phase and shouldn’t be taken for granted.

Though the point of this article is to prepare candidates for their admission interview, planning it will always be a two-way effort from both incoming students who will join the campus and interviewers who are the front-liners of the business school and what it represents.

Disover more about EMLV, École de Management Léonard De Vinci.