Interviews « Master Admissions

February 15, 2012

When Your Interview is on Skype

Filed under: Application ideas,Harvard Business School,Interviews — Tags: Admissions, Darden, EF Education First, GMAT Club, Harvard Business School, interviewing, job interviews, MBA, Ming Chen, Sara Neher — admin @ 1:17 pm

I'm wrong. A few weeks ago, I wrote an article on interviewing for a coveted spot in an MBA program and announced right up front "whether it’s for work or for school, the goal of the interviewer is to figure out what kind of a person you are in the flesh." I assumed the meeting would be in person. But that’s not always going to be the case, especially with Skype and other emerging technologies.

Skype is a Verb

This look is for practice only

Admissions departments at business schools have been Skyping for awhile; at a conference two years ago, Sara Neher of Virginia’s Darden School made strong plea for us to ensure that students know how to use Skype competently. Ms. Neher has been videoblogging since 2008, so you can see that she’s pretty comfortable in front of a camera. Darden may have been in the vanguard of Skype interviewing, but it’s getting more and more popular, especially as the technology improves.

Hiring managers are turning to Skype. Fellow Harvard Business School graduate Ming Chen, now Executive VP of EF Education First, wrote this week in the Huffington Post that the Aberdeen Group research firm, found that 42 percent of companies in 2011 used video interviewing in the hiring process. And her company, a world leader in international education, uses Skype for about 90 percent of first-round interviews for jobs.

Because Ming is such an expert, I thought it might make sense to summarize some of the key points of her insightful HuffPost article, entitled, 7 Deadly Skype Interview Sins.

1. “Can you hear me now?”   This is true for admissions and job interviews alike: make sure your technology works. This means your interview connection, your microphone, and your speakers. Ming also suggests having a link to your resume ready, just in case.

2. Clean User Name It’s a business interview. Full stop.

3. Dress to Impress Ditto: it’s a business interview. Having said all that, I did see a hilarious post on GMAT Club about wearing boxer shorts with a suit jacket and tie. Well, if you are a guy that is.

4. Do Your Homework Make sure you are prepared, especially about why you want to go to that school or work at that company. Don’t just recite off the school’s website or Wikipedia entry. Make sure you really understand the school or company’s culture, values, and positioning.

5) Look Alive Ming Chen is a very busy woman, in a senior position at a rapidly growing company. She has a lot going on. She knows from experience that “In a Skype interview, where your interviewer is still on their work computer and email notifications are appearing inches above your video feed… It is your responsibility to engage them.”

6) It’s All About ME Even though the interview is about you and your strengths, whether in person or on screen, you should connect your abilities with what the school or the company is looking for. This includes the questions you ask the interviewer—don’t dwell on what’s in it for you.

7) The Right Way to Follow Up Two don’ts and a do

-          DON’T follow up using Skype chat

-          DON’T add the interviewer to your Facebook friends

-          DO follow up with an email, following the traditional rules of engagement. Be polite, concise, and spell the interviewer’s name correctly.

8) Rehearse I’m going to add one more to Ming’s list, and that is PRACTICE. Especially with technical glitches, you really want to make sure the entire operation is fluid. You don’t have to record your rehearsal – but it’s worth it, at least, to practice with a friend, mentor, or professional

Take your Skype interview seriously. Your performance could make the difference between a warm welcome or a ding.

-- Betsy Massar

Don’t forget to check out our new book Admitted: An Interactive Workbook for Getting Into a Top MBA Program

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April 7, 2011

Advice from a Recently-Admitted Wharton MBA

Filed under: Application ideas,Essays,Inspiration,Interviews,Wharton — Tags: business school, business school admissions, getting in, Kellogg MBA, waitlist, Wharton — admin @ 6:56 pm

A student I worked with, let's call her Jennifer, was recently admitted to Wharton (really) and waitlisted at her first-choice school, let's call it Kellogg. While waiting, she agreed to offer advice from the trenches, of one who succeeded in the process. She discusses four issues: staying committed to the goal, receiving feedback, waiting (lists), and financial matters. This is very useful stuff!

STAYING COMMITTED
I am so glad that I reapplied. I was rejected from the four top business school programs I applied to three years ago (all without an interview). While it stung to get so little traction in the business school process, I did not take it as a sign that I wasn't "meant" for business school. Instead I tried to understand the weaknesses in my application and knew that I would try again and do it better. I have learned so much in the application process and am very happy I have even more experience that I can bring to business school when I attend.

RECEIVING FEEDBACK
Get feedback! Make sure the people you are asking have something valuable to add to the process and take the time to listen -- better to find two people who will give you great feedback than send your materials to 10 people and listen to no one.

Also, be strategic in your decisions about who you want to use for help in the application process, and seek out those people early on. Make sure you really WANT someone's feedback before asking for it; I have been on both sides of the equation. Recently, a friend asked for feedback on his essays. I spent a lot of time on his essays and when I returned them it seemed that he hardly looked at my suggestions. He was giving me the essays because he thought that was what you were supposed to do, but had little interest in following up on the suggestions or incorporating feedback.

WAITING FOR DECISIONS AND THE WAITLIST
In terms of my advice for people who have been waitlisted or general feedback for students after they have applied: the most valuable thing I've done in my application process is turn every moment I have been frustrated into an opportunity to do something. When I found myself going crazy waiting for one program to get back to me while another waited on my decision, I brainstormed a list of all the things I had accomplished since I applied and wrote a letter to the school where I was waitlisted explaining those accomplishments. I created a campaign fueled by waiting and (sometimes) panic and created something productive. I am so glad I did this, because the time you spend sitting anxiously waiting and checking MBA chat forums is, in the end, not useful (though I did that too).

FINANCIAL ISSUES
Given the calculus course I am taking and other requirements, I have completely neglected to begin financial planning and thinking about the costs and consequences of my decision. I wish I had done this in a systematic way earlier, not only so that I would be better prepared and informed about my choices and responsibilities, but also because finances are an important part of my final decision (for instance, I am trying to make a decision about two programs that cost vastly different amounts of money). Now I am finding myself overwhelmed at the process of tackling everything right now. If I had to do it again, I would start planning and filling out financial aid information earlier and getting the advice of students, faculty, family and others about their tips on going through the process.

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February 20, 2011

Do I apply to Business School in Round 3?

Filed under: Application ideas,Inspiration,Interviews,Round 3 — Tags: Admissions, business school, MBA, MBA interviews, MBA Round 3, third round — admin @ 10:27 am

It’s the end the second-round cycle. Some of you got some great news about interview invitations and are busily practicing in front of the mirror. Or at a very least, you reviewing their essays and old blog posts that I and others have written about telling stories in the interview . I’ve always maintained that the students and admissions directors who may be doing the interview look to see what kind of study group member you will make—will you pull your weight, will you add to the mix so that your team can nail not only the finance problems but the operations and/or marketing or behavioral or globally social ones?

But others of you have had some disappointments. Other than blasphemy, I’ve heard words like, “bummed,” “frustrated,” “confused” and “worried.” If you are still in the game and have interviews coming up, FIRST THINGS FIRST: keep your eyes on the prize. Even if a school is your fourth choice, you did decide to pay your $250, go through the exercise of writing the essays, run after recommenders, attend open houses, and even spring for a nasty airplane ride. You also chose this runner-up school out of the 20 or so other choices that you considered, so you must consider it worth your time. So if you didn’t get into Harvard, or Wharton, or wherever, the world will not end and you have to focus on being really excellent at the interview.

And then, what if you got shut out? Maybe you aimed a little too high or too narrow. You are probably asking yourself : “what about third round?” And to that I say

It depends.

You should go ahead and apply third round if:

You ran out of time second round and still thought about some schools you liked that you would actually go to, and fell within the profile of the student population
You improvedyour GMAT score by enough to put you in the profile
You overlooked a school and, after taking a closer look, you think you might be a good fit
After going through the whole application process, you really realize you want to go to a school, and you are less hung up on a top 5 name.
You are considering part-time programs when you only applied to full-time programs

You should NOT go ahead and apply third round if:

You only want to go to a top 5 school and you didn’t get into the top 4
You are (well) outside of the class profile of the school in choice
You aren’t sure what you want to do
The thought of filling out another application gives you a rash
You hate your job and it just occurred to you to apply to business school last week

Reviewing the handy list, you can see that there some good reasons to apply rather than wait until next year. But, you will notice that being outside the class profile is the stumbling block. If your scores/grades are lower than average/mean/standard distribution for your target school, take the time to retake your tests (a new blog post on that coming), or take a few courses in finance/accounting/business statistics and ace them. If your work experience isn’t strong enough, take on more projects, or start your own business on the side – entrepreneurship is the new rage these days.

Let me know if you have any more ideas, or want to hash it out. I’m around and available for a chat.

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November 15, 2010

Telling Stories at the MBA Interview

Filed under: Interviews — Tags: Admissions, Berkeley Haas, Chip and Dan Heath, Duke Fuqua, MBA, Stanford GSB — admin @ 2:44 pm

It’s the middle of the MBA applications cycle and some of you are working on essays, while others are preparing for interviews with admissions committee members or alumni. Congratulations! But now it's time for more work.

The goal of the interviewer is to figure out what kind of a person you are in the flesh. But there’s a question behind that question too—they want to know how you will fit in. And it’s not just about “fit,” which is a mushy term no different than that used a fraternity or sorority rush. It’s about being different enough to add to the mix, being able to get along, and most of all, being able to contribute.

You can find lots of tips, and even questions that interviewers ask. But I’d like to frame it from a different angle:

1. The interviewer thinks as a study group member

The interviewer wants to know what kind of a study group member you will make. Are the other members of the team going to be excited because of your industry or academic perspective? Will you be able to add something from a global perspective? From a business success or failure? The interviewer is looking for someone who is going to pull her own weight and make the team stronger.

So you’ve got 30 - 45 minutes to show your stuff. Your interviewer is channeling those three or four other study group members, those who have earned their way into a very competitive school, and want to know what you bring to the table.

2. Create a portrait through vignettes

You’ve got to tell stories. I like to think of these stories as vignettes – brief scenes, as in a movie. According to Wikipedia, a vignette is a “short impressionistic scene that focuses on one moment or gives a trenchant impression about a character, an idea, or a setting.” You are telling stories that give a “flash” impression of you. Another definition of vignette is a portrait – and that’s what you are doing: filling out the portrait of yourself that you began with your essays.

What kind of stories are you going to tell? Yes, it’s ok to tell some of the same stories that were in your application. But tell them in a way as if you were talking to your three or four study group members. Tell them why they want you on their team. Tell them why you will work smoothly together, how you will help them with their thinking about a problem, tell them not just how much fun you are, or what a great leader you are, but how you will help *them* succeed.

3. Make it Stick

Stanford business school professor Chip Heath and his brother, Dan, a fellow at Duke’s Fuqua Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship, wrote a book a few years ago called Made to Stick. This book, about how ideas gain traction, made it very clear that people have to “get” your message. And what’s the biggest recommendation? Tell stories. Tell stories that are concrete, with a real problem and a real solution. And who is the hero? You.

4. Stay humble

Granted, you are telling stories about why you are great. (P.S. You are!) But don’t overdo it. You’ve done some great things, and you can add to the party, but those study group members will be turned off if you show up like you are too cool for school. UC Berkeley comes out and says that they their students possess confidence without attitude. I think they are onto something.

So tell them sticky stories (without being arrogant) about what you will bring to three diverse members of this very competitive business school.

Piece of cake.

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