I.

Personal
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Background

Tell me about yourself.

What would you like me to know about you that is not on your resume?
What are the three most important events of your life?
What were you doing during this gap of time I see here on your resume?
Where did you grow up? What are your three major accomplishments?
What was an experience in your life that you would want to go back and change?

B.

Self Description

1. How would your friends describe you?

2. Give me three words to describe yourself.

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What new goals have you established for yourself recently?

What are your five to ten year career goals?
What are your career and educational goals?
What are the attributes of an ideal job for you? If you could do it all over again, what
would you do differently?
What are you looking for?
How long a commitment do you plan to give me?
What is your ideal job?
What other types of positions are you considering?
What kind of boss would you prefer?
Why are you pursuing this field?
What would you like your lasting impression to be?
Do you have a final statement?
What are your career options right now?
How could you have improved your career path?
What salary are you expecting? In addition to salary, what benefits would most interest you?

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Values

What does success mean to you?

What does failure mean to you?
Which is more important to you: money or the type of job?
Who do you admire? Why?
What do you get passionate about?
Who is your hero, and why? The greatest answer is if you can use a family member or friend;
try to stay away from celebrities.

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Goals

Previous Bosses

Did you get an offer from the firm you worked for this summer?
Do you have other offers? Why would/wouldnt you take our offer over one of the others?
What can you tell me about your past bosses?
How do you think a former supervisor would describe your work?
What did you enjoy most about your last employment? Least?
How did you find your summer jobs?

7. Describe the job or the activity, which has had the greatest impact on your career goals.

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III.

Management / Leadership Style

What is your management philosophy?
Define leadership
Tell me about a time when you successfully resolved a conflict.
Give me an example of a leadership role you have held when not everything went as planned.
What qualities should a successful manager possess? Do you have these attributes (of a good
manager)?
What two attributes are most important in your job?
Give an example of a situation in which you provided a solution to an employer.
Give an example of a time in which you worked under deadline pressure.
Name a point in your life where you turned a negative into a positive.
Tell me about a decision you have made that you later regretted.
How do you feel about working overtime?
Give me an example of how you manage multiple projects.
What would you say to a boss that has a sub-par idea?

Strengths / Weaknesses and Skills

1. Are you creative? Give me an example. What have you done that you consider creative?
2. What are your strongest abilities?
3. What is your biggest weakness? Never say that being a perfectionist is your biggest
weakness. Some applicants think that this makes you look better, but it seems that you not
secure.
4. Why should we hire you?
5. Give me an example of something that you have done that shows initiative.
6. What makes you stand out among your fellow students?
7. What makes you different from the other candidates for this position?
8. What can you do for us that someone else cannot do? What was the most important thing
you learned from your previous experience/internship?
9. How do your skills relate to our needs? What can you offer us?
10. What have you disliked in your past jobs?
11. How long before you can make a contribution? In the past year, what have you been
dissatisfied about in your performance?
12. What major problem have you encountered and how did you deal with it?
13. Have you ever had any failures? What did you learn from them?
14. How do you feel about working in a structured environment?
15. Are you able to work on several assignments at once?
16. In what kind of work environment do you do your best work?
17. What kinds of tasks and responsibilities motivate you the most?
18. What has been your greatest challenge?

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Interpersonal Skills
How competitive are you?
How do you work under pressure?
Give me an example of a time when you successfully worked within a team.
What types of people seem to rub you the wrong way?
Define cooperation.
What kinds of people do you enjoy working with?

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What kinds of people frustrate you?

Have you ever managed a conflict? How?
Have you ever spoken before a group of people? How large?
With what kind of people do you like to work?

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Education
Why did you decide to get an MBA?
Why this Institute?
What made you decide to major in____?
What have you learned at this B school that will help you on this job?
Do you hold any leadership positions?
What electives have you taken? Which did you enjoy the most?
What college classes did you like the least? Why?
Why didnt you attend (another school)?
How do you balance the different priorities MBA student life presents?
Did your grades accurately reflect your ability? Why/Why not?
Describe the course that has had the greatest impact on your thinking.

VI.

Extra Curricular

1. What extra-curricular school activities are you involved in? While it is a good idea to show
that you are well rounded, it is a good idea to stress those activities, which show team
involvement and leadership.
2. What have you learned from your activities?
3. Were your extracurricular activities worth the time you put into them?
4. How did you become involved in your extracurricular activities?
5. What do you enjoy doing outside of work-in your free time?
6. What is your favorite book/movie/song/painting-or author/actor/singer/artist?
7. Which magazines/newspapers do you read regularly? Which books have you read recently?
8. Have you ever done volunteer activities?

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Job / Company / Industry

Why are you interested in ______? / Why do you want to work for us?
What makes you want to be a _____?
What makes you think you would be successful in _____?
What do you think this job requires?
Given that you have no background in this field why are you interested in it?
What do you predict is going to happen in this industry in the next 5 years?
How would you go about evaluating a business?
What do you know about our company?
Do you know who are competitors are?
What interests you most about this position? What parts of the job do you think you would
find the least satisfying?
You have five minutes to describe the most relevant and specific items in your background,
which show you are uniquely qualified for this position.
What would you add to our firm?
What particular expertise do you have that would lend itself well to this position?
Demonstrate/illustrate skills that you can transfer from past experience.
What concerns you about our company?
What do you believe are the key issues and problems in our industry today?

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IX.

Why do you want to relocate to______?

Are you willing to relocate every two years or so?
How do you feel about travel?
Are you familiar with how taxing travel can be?

Functions
A.

General

1. Tell me a joke.
2. What if I told you that youd work very hard, but recognition of your contributions would be
nil?
3. What stocks do you recommend? Why? Should I buy stock in Netscape?
4. Where are interest rates going in the next 3 months?
5. How many new highs did the Dow reach last year?
6. If you could make a major policy change this B school, what would it be?
7. If you had six months ahead with no obligations and no financial constraints, what would you
do?
8. If you could invite anyone you would like to a dinner party (famous or historical figures, dead
or alive), which ten people would you invite?
9. If you could trade places with someone for a week, who would it be?
10. Sell me the desk.
11. Rate me as an interviewer.

B.

Consulting

1. Why consulting? Why this firm?

2. What does a consultant do? What are the three most important qualities of a successful
consultant? How is our practice different from other consulting firms?
3. How do you rank in relation to your peers?
4. Imagine we are reviewing your performance at our firm after working with us for six months.
What do you think our evaluation would be?
5. Highlight your top achievements/accomplishments?
6. What has been your biggest setback?
7. With whom are you interviewing? How have you fared?
8. What is the most important thing that you have learned in the past year?
9. Give me an example of a situation in which you had a problem, how you identified the
problem, the methods you used to solve the problem and discuss the resolution. If given an
offer, how will you decide whether or not to accept it?

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Marketing

Why ISB? Why not IIM?

What is marketing? Define the difference between marketing and advertising.
What does it take to be successful in marketing?
What are the attributes of a successful marketing campaign? How do you motivate others,
particularly those over whom you have no direct authority?
5. How have you developed your interpersonal skills?
6. Give me a specific example of a time you solved a problem creatively?
7. What is the most important thing that youve learned about managing people from your
previous work experience?

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Rank order characteristics important for brand management.

Scenario: Create a plan to market Brand X in Bangalore.
What did you dislike about your former employer?
Give me a 30 second commercial about yourself.
Pick a good and bad ad campaign and discuss them.
Give an example of a well/managed product.
Pick a product and position it.
Give me an example of a leadership role you have had. Give me another one, give me another
one, give me another one............

D.

Corporate Finance (Investment Banking)

1. Why investment banking? Why this bank?

2. Why corporate finance as opposed to sales and trading? What are your outside activities?
Why would you be willing to give them up for such a demanding job?
3. What role do you play in group situations?
4. What would you do if offered drugs as part of the deal? (or other ethically focused questions.)
5. How smart are you? How do we know how smart you are?
6. Sell us on your quantitative skills.
7. If we made you an offer today, would you take it?
8. What did the Dow, S&P or NASDAQ close at yesterday?
9. What stocks do you follow and why?

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What other firms have you talked to?

What makes you think you can sell?
Would you like to do sales or trading? Why?
Tell me what you think a trader (or salesperson) does.
Why selling debt vs. selling equity?
Why not corporate finance?
What do you think having an MBA does for you in this field?
What particular markets or instruments are you interested in?
Describe an instance where you persuaded someone to do something they initially didnt
want to do.
What about your personality will make you a good trader?
How will you motivate yourself to make the calls you hate to make?
What are your grades? (yes, they know about the grade referendum.)
Tell me a joke.

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Sales And Trading

Strategic Planning & Corporate Finance

What do you hope to gain by working for our firm?

Where do you see yourself five years from now?
How do you see your career progressing in our firm?
What do you know about our industry?
Our ____ division is thinking of introducing a (such and such) new product. How would you
go about determining if this is a good idea?
6. How does M&A activity in banking affect our industry?
7. We are having trouble managing our (division.) What do you think the key performance
metrics might be and how might you go about improving them?
8. How would you go about valuing our (division) for a potential sale, spin-off, liquidation?

X.

Questions to Ask
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Company

What are your companys strengths and how do you capitalize on them?
What are your companies weaknesses and how are you dealing with them?
How have you strategically responded to the competition?
Where will the major sources of your business be in the next 5 years?
What challenges are facing this company? Do you think your company is reacting to them?
Do you have plans for expansion?
What are your growth projections for the next year?
Have you cut your staff in the last three years?
What is the largest single problem facing your staff/department right now?

B.

Industry

1. What changes do you anticipate in the industry?

2. What risks will your company face due to industry changes?
3. What legislation is pending that will affect your firm?

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What are the best opportunities at your firm for new hires?
How is worker performance measured and reviewed?
Do you have a mentor program? How about formal training programs?
Why do people leave?
Why have you stayed with the company?
Describe my initial assignments?
If you hire me, what are the three most pressing issues you need resolved?
What kinds of assignments might I expect during the first six months on the job?
Are salary adjustments geared to the cost of living or job performance?
In what ways is a career with your company better than one with your competitors?
Please describe the duties of the job for me.
Does your company encourage further education?
How often are performance reviews given?
What is the usual promotional time frame?
Has there been much turnover in this job area?
Is there a lot of team/project work?
Where does this position fit into the organizational structure?
Do you fill positions from the outside or promote from within first?
What skills are especially important for someone in this position?
What qualities are you looking for in the candidate who fills this position?
Will I have the opportunity to work on special projects?
What is the next course of action? When should I expect to hear from you, or should I contact
you?

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Career Opportunities / Path / Training

Culture

What is your companys management style?

How do you feel about creativity and individuality?
What do you like best about your job/company?
What characteristics do the achievers in this company seem to share?
Saumya Kumar