Tips on How to Prepare for Personal interviews and PI questions
As soon as some one says something about CAT we just remember one thing which is IIM and then we
start thinking about PI (Personal Interview). The CAT aspirants who will be trying
to be a part of IIM will start focusing on entrance exams and then the start preparing
for personal interview. Between the two, the personal interview carries more weightage
and requires more preparation. Here we will focus on how
to prepare for your personal interview.
CAT Personal Interview will be focused on these
things…
- Personal Goals.
- Work Experience.
- Academics.
- Hobbies.
- General Knowledge/ Current affairs.
Clarifying your thoughts is more important than answering any question during Personal
interview that’s why striking a good balance among the various areas should be the
objective of your interview preparation.
1. Personal Goals
The most important part of your personal interview preparation is knowing yourself
& expressing it in a proper way. If a candidate cannot answer questions based on
his/her own personality then it would give an impression of an immature or "self
- unaware" person. A candidate hence needs to do a lot of soul searching on questions
like: "Why MBA?", Strengths and Weaknesses, Examples of Leadership abilities, long
term/ short term goals.
A Consistent personality demands clarity of thoughts. So the best and easiest way
to manage this is to be honest with you.
Stop considering others fool by saying "I do not have any weakness" as it is obviously
an overstatement; such an answer implies either an arrogant person or a misinformed
person and the panel would not want either.
Sometimes, introspection becomes quite tricky as various qualities may coexist in
bits. One should always consider the dominant quality. In such cases, feedbacks
from friends and colleagues can be quite effective. Try to supplement your answers
with at least two relevant examples while preparing; so that during an interview
you are not unnerved if the interviewer asks you for another example. It brings
additional coherency in your thoughts.
Quite a few interviews start with "Tell us something about yourself." please refrain
from giving a summary of what is already written in your form / resume. Try to use
this question to lead the interview into your comfort zones. For example, if you
are an avid reader then you could speak about the influence of your favorite books
on your character.
2. Work Experience
If you have been working for more than six months then questions on your work experience
will play a role during your interview. The obvious areas of questioning are work
profile, your projects, organization chart of your company and where you fit in.
You should be able to give some examples of team work and leadership from your employment.
You must also focus on the macro picture of your experience in the corporate life.
What it has taught you? What kind of mistakes have you made? How it has influenced
to make choices in specialization for your MBA? How you have influenced the goals
of your department / company? Along with this, you should also do some home work
on the industry in which your company operates the history of your company, the
culture of your company / industry, etc.
3. Academics
If you have been working for less than 2 years then you are still supposed to remember
some aspects of your education. Sounds pretty scary, considering that a lot of us
do not know what we are studying even when we are studying it. Do not worry; you
do not need to study everything, ensure that you know the basics of all the subjects
that you have studied. A good barometer would be curriculum till higher secondary.
You should also have one or two favorite subjects (If you do not have one, pick
one); for these subjects you should know your curriculum and maybe a little bit
more in-depth.
4. Hobbies
Ideally, hobbies should be the area of your comfort and can really make interviews
quite interesting as they can clearly make a distinction between you and the rest.
Most IIM graduates possess influential hobbies like reading, playing some sports,
(watching sports does not count unless you are a walking sports encyclopedia), dramatics,
photography, trekking etc. Watching movies and listening to music do not count as
hobbies unless you can discourse on topics like directorial styles or history of
various genres of music. Not having a hobby is certainly negative; but worse is
getting grilled for a cited hobby when you do not have one.
5. General Knowledge / Current Affairs
General Knowledge can be a really vast topic. However, this should not stop you
from having opinions on current affairs. Familiarize yourself with the issue by
reading magazines, blogs, and newspapers. Back your opinions with facts and justifications.
Common knowledge like the capital of some countries should be known. Prepare for
GK only if you have the time and have finished preparing for all the other areas.
Be systematic regarding your preparation, make a check list of what you do not know
and work with it. If you are organized, you will definitely do well in your interview.
Best of Luck!
Commonly asked CAT Personal Interview questions:
- I. Personal
- 1. 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 was an experience in your life that you would want to go back and change?
- 2. Self Description
- How would your friends describe you?
- Give me three words to describe yourself.
- 3. Goals
- What new goals have you established for yourself recently?
- What are your five to ten year career goals?
- What are the attributes of an ideal job for you? If you could do "it" all over again,
what would you do differently?
- 3. Goals
- What new goals have you established for yourself recently?
- What are your five to ten year career goals?
- What are the attributes of an ideal job for you? If you could do "it" all over again,
what would you do differently?
- 4. 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?
- II.Management / Leadership Style
- 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 two attributes are most important in your job?
- How do you feel about working overtime?
- III.Strengths / Weaknesses and Skills
- What are your strengths/ weakness?
- Give me an example of something that you have done that shows initiative.
- What makes you stand out among your fellow students?
- Have you ever had any failures? What did you learn from them?
- How do you feel about working in a structured environment?
- In what kind of work environment do you do your best work?
- What kinds of tasks and responsibilities motivate you the most?
- IV.Education
- Why did you decide to get an MBA?
- Why IIMA? (Or whichever institute you are being interviewed in.)
- What made you decide to major in ____?
- What electives have you taken? Which did you enjoy the most?
- What college classes did you like the least? Why?
- V.Extra Curriculars
- What extra-curricular school activities are you involved in?
- What have you learned from your activities?
- Which is your favorite book/ movie/ song/ painting or author/ actor/ singer/ artist?
- Which magazines/newspapers do you read regularly? Which books have you read recently?
- VI.Job / Company / Industry
- What do you know about your company?
- What do you predict is going to happen in this industry in the next 5 years?
- Do you know who your competitors are?
- What interests you most about this position? What parts of the job do you think
you would find the least satisfying?
- What concerns you about your company?
