During the next few weeks, we will be publishing the discussions that we had with some of our interviewers about the interviewing process at their business schools to help the prospective applicants. Here is the interview of one of our INSEAD interviewers: The author is an INSEAD alum who graduated in July 2009 and now works for a Consulting firm. InterviewBay: How has been your experience at INSEAD? Has INSEAD met all your career and personal aspirations? What do you like the most at INSEAD? INSEAD is one of the leading Business Schools in the world. With 2 campuses – in France and Singapore and students from dozens of different countries, INSEAD takes pride of being a global, multi-cultural school. The MBA programme only lasts one year – but it will be the best year you’ve ever had! You’ll study with an amazing group of people, learn interesting topics from world class professors, travel across 2 or 3 different continents, enjoy wine & cheese nights and chateau parties and make true friends for life. InterviewBay: What is the importance of interviews in the overall selection process at INSEAD? Is it a make or break after the interview? Or, does it form a parameter in the applicant's candidature? INSEAD’s interview process includes two separate interviews. These interviews are normally conducted by alumni from your country of residence and in many occasions from your own, or similar, industry. If for some reasons there are no available interviewers in your country of residence the interviews will be conducted over the phone. Both interviews are critical – should one of the interviewers provide you with negative feedback your candidateship will most likely be rejected. The interview itself lasts about an hour, during which your interviewer will ask you a set of questions in order to get to know you better. The good news - if you’ve made it to the interview stage you must be a good candidate. The bad news - much like you, there are other worthy candidates out there and not enough spots for everyone. The way I view it, interviewers at this stage will try to “eliminate” candidates based on various criteria. Thus, they ensure at the end of the process the remaining candidates match the school and its spirit. The interviewers will try to “tick” their “boxes” – is the candidate intelligent enough? Can he demonstrate leadership? Will he contribute to the class? Is he a social person? Failing to match any one of these criteria could rule out your candidateship. InterviewBay: How should a potential candidate prepare for the INSEAD interviews? Being an international business school, INSEAD does not have a dominating nationality. In fact, no nationality represents more than xxx% of the students in each the class. However, the non-native English speakers amongst you should note that one of the “boxes” the interviewer has to tick is fluency in English. During both interviews, parts of the conversation (sometimes the entire interview!) will be conducted in the English language. To prepare I would recommend answering some of the typical interview questions in English and preferably conduct a short mock-up interview in English. Here are a few interview tips that will help you through the interview process: Interview "Do"s: - Emphasize multi-cultural aspects in your life - INSEAD takes pride in being a multi-national school. INSEAD students come from various backgrounds, speak several languages and many of them hold several nationalities. Don't worry - living and working in only one country will not rule out your candidateship. However, you will need to demonstrate an international "side" as well. Just to give some ideas - you can talk about trips you took to other countries, you can talk about an international club you are a member of or you can mention overseas pen-pals.
- Show you are a worthy candidate – show the interviewer why he would want to have you as a classmate and why he’d be proud to have you as his future alum. Show that you are a social person, can contribute to your class and will be successful in your future career path.
- If applicable – talk about your entrepreneurial side. In my opinion, this is a quality INSEAD appreciates.
- Demonstrate specific knowledge about the school - show that you did extensive research on the school and you’re not just a “serial applicant”. Mention small details such as the dual campuses, “Blue Ocean Strategy”, vast alumni network etc. In particular – mention alumni you talked to and specific names of professors and courses.
InterviewBay...
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