Unconventional B school interview questions you should prepare for!
“Tell us something about yourself”?
Or
“Describe some of your best achievements”?
Or
“What is your goal after MBA”?
These are some of the mandatory questions that might come to you when you are preparing for your MBA interview. Personal interviews serve various purposes to B schools (Business Schools) and each of them follows a different pattern. For some institutions, interviews act as screening tools while some interviewers sketch down the psychology and personality of prospective students by using an unconventional questionnaire. Some B schools even use interviews for gathering information about the students.
While there are plenty of resources for preparing for the common interview, the unconventional is the most dreadful. Here we have lined down some unconventional categories of questions you must prepare for your B school interviews.
Question about failures:
Look at the below questions:
All these are some unconventional questions you might come across in B school interviews. We all surely prepare for answering questions on achievement, however, we tend to fumble when we are asked about our failures. The interviewer’s motive is not about finding your failures but knowing how you dealt with that episode of your life and what you learned from it.
You will have to handle such questions tactfully. Instead of narrating your fears, you must describe them how you handled your fears, what you learned from those incidents, and how you emerged stronger from them. In this way, you will create an impression that you have dealt with even a discomfiting situation as a positive one. Remember never to pass on the blames of your actions on others, it proves a sense of responsibility.
Questions on Personal Weakness
Refer to these two questions:
Responses to such personal questions too should be answered in a positive tone. You can highlight sharable personal stories of how despite having a personal weakness, you emerged from a situation. However, it would be cleverer if you can highlight instances of situational weakness instead of character weakness.
The motive of your interviewer is to understand whether you will be able to contribute actively throughout the program. He/she will also try to accesses whether you have a clear vision of your future and whether you are confident enough to use your MBA degree for productive purposes in life.
Though an interview is not a mandatory medium for admission to a B school, if you do not present yourself confidently, you might miss your dream school! So keep your chins high and do your interview homework well. Follow these tips and prepare for unconventional B schools' interview questions.
The world today is digitally interconnected and for every business to flourish, the management must be acquainted with international contexts. Organizations hence look for qualified professionals who are trained to ideate strategies and resolve org level issues on a global level. An MBA degree in International Business (IB) trains you in understanding the global economic trends and solve cross-culture problems and also implementing leading global trends in the domestic business for expansion and growth. Apart from ideating and implementing strategies, a student of International business has the scope of traveling abroad to understand cross-culture trends which can aid in the growth of a corporation.
Pursuing MBA in International Business
Pursuing a degree in international business does not need you to be in European or American nations, there are many top-grade colleges in India where you can pursue this course. Typically, MBA in International Business is an extensive two years course in International business that is comprised of a comprehensive combination of both theoretical and practical knowledge that helps students to gain acumen over workplace ethics as well as solve business challenges.
The eligibility criteria are
This course is a great scope for working professionals to augment their careers. Apart from the solid foundation of the management and International business discipline, this course imparts education in Marketing, Finance, and HR.
Career scopes with MBA in International Business
We all pursue higher education to achieve higher ambition and, MBA in International management offers one. Pass outs of IB management are hired by top-tier organizations like Amazon, Apple, Bank of America, Walmart, Cognizant, Capgemini, Deloitte, Wipro, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Accenture, TCS, BCG, Goldman Sachs, and its contemporaries. Upon completion of the course, the students acquire all the required expertise and subjective knowledge regarding the international market scenarios and contemporary economic trends. They can hence choose from an array of career opportunities in their preferred geographic location.
You will not only have the scope of working for big corporates but also working in association with the government departments. However, if you have a knack for entrepreneurship, your studies in International Business will be your asset as you have a fair understanding of the global financial scenario with acumen in research and analytics. With a degree in International Business, you can achieve any of the following roles.
These are only some opportunities we have mentioned here, you can also explore opportunities like the business manager (domestic and international) or investment-banking manager. As we said there are endless opportunities for exploring, and it is up to you how you are going to explore your skills.
Has it ever occurred to you how eCommerce giants like Flipkart, Amazon, Ikea, or big manufacturing units manage to operate so smoothly? How do they manage to procure and dispatch goods in such a disciplined manner? The answer lies in their strong logistics and well-structured Supply Chain Management (SCM).
Simplifying these two terms logistics is all about delivering the required product to the customer within an agreed timeline at the right place in good condition while SCM manages the synchronization of production, inventory, location, and transportation of all the organizations involved in the supply chain.
An MBA in Logistics and Supply Chain Management teaches students the innovations related to reverse logistics and warehousing apart from the intricacies of supply chain and operations. Training in the latest analytical tools and techniques is also one of the purposes of an MBA degree in Logistics and Supply Chain Management.
Reasons to opt for MBA in Logistics and Supply Chain Management
MBA today is not merely confined to business studies, rather it also teaches students to widen their thinking and unleash newer domains in the modern business world. An MBA degree in logistics and Supply Management will train you in understanding the innate technicalities of how a business operates. It will also teach you a data-driven approach to carry out an end-to-end operation efficiently and manage the flow of data, goods, or services from organization to end customer right on time. Now let us see some of the main reasons why you should opt for an MBA in Logistics and Supply management.
A comprehensive MBA degree by CMS Business School
According to a report compiled by Supply Chain Management Research Association (APIC), for millennials, this sector has provided tremendous growth opportunities. Those who are already in this sector believe they have imbibed the ability to create a difference in the business world apart from enriching their intrapersonal skills.
CMS Business School offers a comprehensive four-semester MBA degree in Logistics and Supply management. We train our students with all the functional operations of an organization so that they can make a better career choice either being entrepreneurs themselves or become professional as logistics analysts, sourcing specialists, global supply analysts or purchasing managers and likewise.
Our experienced and innovative Faculty members will teach you to create efficient strategies to initiate effective production methods and create profitable partnerships with suppliers enabling you to contribute to the maximum. With us, you will get the best-in-class infrastructures like:
In recent years’ logistics and supply chain management has become indispensable to every industry. No matter what industry you are talking about, be it automobile or chemical, food & beverages, or technology, everyone will need to buy raw materials or manage their inventory or need to dispatch products either across the town or the globe and will need a sturdy logistics and supply chain management to manage the whole process efficiently. So you can assume the importance of this specialization and JAIN (Deemed-to-be University) offers you every scope to make a promising career in this domain.
Get in touch with us for detailed information on this course.
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Be a Logistics and Supply Chain Professional
In today’s world, there is an enormous choice of careers to choose from and a plethora of well-educated people to compete with. Finding the right post-graduate program to enroll in often proves to be quite a challenge for students to choose from so many career choices. However, if you have made up your mind to start a business of your own or join your family-owned business then look no further, an MBA is the best fit for you. Pursuing MBA will provide you with the required knowledge, skills, and morals that will help you to fit right in with the business community.
Top Reasons as to why to pursue MBA:
Tips for Excelling in an MBA Program:
The MBA program is a great opportunity to upscale your knowledge of the business world and to pursue valuable skills for a successful career after graduation. But between the links to the completion, there is a certain task that needs to be completed to have a successful career. Below are some tips that will help you excel in the MBA program.
All said and done, if the business is the way forward, there can be no better degree than an MBA. From bringing out effective communication skills to developing business acumen, an MBA degree outclasses most other degrees and helps in developing character and a strong business sense.
In today’s competitive world, it is of utmost importance for MBA graduates to have skills that will enable them to stand out from the crowd. One of the best ways to do this is to pursue a dual specialization MBA program. Such programs offer dual specializations, which are highly desired by recruiters as they look for people who can handle a lot of responsibilities and bring in experience from two different functional areas.
What is Dual Specialization MBA Program?
The dual specialization MBA is a two-year post-graduate program. The program focuses on offering students skills that will help them take up attractive positions in industry, trade, commerce, and other services. The dual specialization MBA program emphasizes on professional skills of the students in various ways. It is done both systematically and creatively to improve business and management practices.
The program offers specific training to students and empowers them to work with self-determination and have an innovative mind. In addition to this, students are equipped with skills that they can use to apply the knowledge they have learned and in general contribute to business and society as a whole. The dual specialization MBA program offers students various career options, like accounting, business technologies, communications, economics, entrepreneurship, finance, marketing, operations management, organizational leadership, etc.
Duration of the Program
The dual specialization MBA is a two-year degree program with equal emphasis on two separate verticals. The program offers a Master’s degree in two different concentrations.
Why should you pursue an MBA?
Below are the top reasons as to why you should consider pursuing an MBA:
Advantages of Dual Specialization in MBA
In conclusion, a dual specialization MBA degree takes the already beneficial MBA program to another level and adds even more advantages to it with a variety of skills, knowledge, business handling capabilities, and many more rewards that help students pursue careers of their choice. Aspiring students need to look no further than a dual specialization MBA for a successful career.
Today, most organizations seek additional qualifications while hiring for technical roles, which are mostly filled by engineers. Organizations scout for employees who have a basic understanding of the business environment and who can lead teams in the future. They also look for leaders who can drive the business initiatives and projects by taking ownership of the tasks assigned to them. These days, management skills have become the key requirements of the organizations that are considered before hiring. Hence, technical skills along with managerial skills are essential to have in your future workplace.
B.Tech graduates students can pursue their MBA degrees either from India or from foreign countries. However, before pursuing an MBA one should clear the standard entrance exams like CAT, MAT. Other entrance exams include XAT, SNAP, GMAT, CMAT, etc. These exams can be challenging and tough nuts to crack but one can clear the entrance exams by early preparations and proper dedication. Once you clear the entrance exams, the institute might call the student for group discussion and personal interview. However, many MBA colleges prefer students who have a minimum of 2-3 years of work experience.
Why should you pursue MBA after Engineering?
Getting into a suitable and technical role is perfect for those who have sound and in-depth technical knowledge. Most engineering professionals dream of working in multi-national companies which one can achieve with the right skills and directions. To reach higher designations in the company it is of utmost importance for one to have managerial skills.
Therefore, to break through from a technical role and smoothly traverse up in their career to fill managerial roles, it makes absolute sense for engineering graduates to get into an MBA program.
Below are the pointers as to why should you pursue MBA after Engineering:
Advantages of Pursuing MBA after B.Tech:
As the job market has become highly competitive, choosing a promising professional degree program is extremely important to ensure a successful career. Considered as one of the most coveted and prestigious degree programs, MBA has gained massive popularity. An MBA degree from a reputed business school can bring you loads of benefits.
While it is true that an MBA degree can provide wings to your career, choosing the right specialization can be extremely important and difficult. But then, the availability of so many specializations can overwhelm and confuse the aspirants. Well, what if you were told that you could choose two different specializations for your MBA program and the same weightage will be given to each specialization?
Yes, a dual specialization program offers you that option. A dual specialization program lets you choose two distinct specializations during the same tenure of an MBA program. The business world is such that the more versatile you are, the better the opportunities you are likely to come across. An MBA with dual specialization helps you avail this advantage. Such courses offer an appropriate amalgamation of theoretical knowledge, practical exposure, and personality development.
The trend of dual specialization was not so common until a few years ago, but the need for versatility and core domain knowledge brought it into existence or rather made it popular among the masses. Such a program offers a combination of two courses that complement each other appropriately and transforms the students into proficient working professionals who are familiar with more than one domain. So, if you are ambitious about making a mark in the world of business, then you must consider a dual specialization.
Reasons that make MBA dual specialization courses a smart choice
Helps keep up with the market trends: The market dynamics change constantly. The more versatile and knowledgeable you are the better are your chances of staying connected with the latest trends. The market inclinations are unpredictable, so having a dual specialization is always regarded as an advantage. The dual specialization offers diversity and security to remain updated with changing job market trends.
Time and cost-effectiveness: When you obtain an MBA with a dual specialization, it is just like getting two postgraduate degrees by spending money and time on one. It affords the benefits of two-degree courses rolled into one and offers a wholesome curriculum.
An advantage over others: The current job market requires people who possess multitasking abilities. The demand for employees who can fit into diverse roles with the required competence is massive. An MBA degree with dual specialization addresses this demand-supply gap. When you acquire a dual specialization you ultimately become the preferred choice over the ones who specialize in a single domain or sector.
A wide range of opportunities: When you opt for a dual specialization program you can explore more career options. Such an MBA helps students to develop two areas of expertise through its curriculum, and thus improves the chances of getting hired by increasing the employability percentage. Once you complete your course you may work simultaneously in two areas for a company or choose between two entirely different sectors. It opens doors to more career choices in different sectors and industries.
Helps expand the horizon of knowledge: An MBA with dual specialization helps you develop a broader vision that leads to added knowledge and experience. A student gets to learn about more than one domain concurrently. A dual specialization program is usually designed to provide students a vast and detailed knowledge in two domains. Students opting for such programs end up gaining more knowledge than their counterparts.
The option of career shift: The best part about these dual specialization programs is that they let you change your domain, industry, and profession throughout your working life. It is not so uncommon for a person to feel the need for change due to things being monotonous or lack of interest and when a person feels this need professionally, an MBA with dual specialization can make the process of career shift smooth.
Secure an MBA degree from CMS Business School, JAIN (Deemed-to-be University)
CMS Business School, JAIN (Deemed-to-be University) offers the best dual specialization MBA programs that are designed to provide academic excellence and holistic growth to students to make them industry-ready. The program aims to provide an understanding of rapidly changing market trends by offering the required skills and knowledge to its students.
An MBA in Human Resource – A Promising Degree to Consider
Introduction to the Human Resource Department:
The human resource department takes care of the most valuable resource of an organization; the employees. The HR department is alone responsible for managing employee life cycle and administering employee benefits. Hiring or training employees is not the only task executed by the HR department runs their role is very extensive. The HR department deals with the administrative responsibilities of a business organization such as hiring, recruitment, employee retention, strategic planning, employee engagement, benefits, payroll administration, and intercommunication. The department is extensively involved in the establishment and functioning of organizational culture and structure. It closely works with employees to help them deal with workplace dissatisfaction, improve communication skills, grow their careers, and feel secure in their work environments.
A brief overview of MBA in HR:
MBA in Human Resources is a 2-year post-graduate program that is designed to offer knowledge on a variety of topics such as recruitment, hiring, retention, and performance evaluation of employees within an organization. The curriculum also explores labor law, corporate cultures, organizational structures, and employee welfare.
The Potential of MBA in Human Resources:
The scope of an MBA in HR is very much high. The HR department is the most important part of an organization, and this generates a high demand for HR professionals in every industry. Here are some of the reasons why pursuing an MBA in HR is a great option:
Develop managerial skills: The role of the HR department has expanded in terms of areas of operation; it now involves strategic decision-making and handling special situations requiring mergers or layoffs. In current times, the HR department is not only responsible for recruiting and training new employees, but also for managing situations and employee relations. With an MBA in HR, you can acquire an understanding of business operations, the ability to understand complex business models, leadership qualities, decision-making ability, and the ability to gather and interpret data. The program is designed to equip you with the required managerial skills so that you become industry-ready.
Attractive financial package: Everyone wants a job that can offer a high salary package. An MBA degree with a specialization in HR enhances your chances of occupying a well-paid job in a reputed company. The HR department is considered as the backbone of a company and plays a crucial role in its smooth functioning, thus organizations do not mind paying a handsome package to an expert HR professional.
Good job opportunities: The demand for human resource professionals is on the rise given the growing industries and organizations. Those who are planning to opt for an MBA in HR can gain access to a wide range of good job opportunities. As an MBA degree holder, you can unlock various opportunities and acquire an edge over your peers as no sector and industry can function without having its human resource department.
Stability of job: The human resource department is considered a valuable asset for an organization because HR professionals ensure that an organization functions smoothly. No organization can function without them, thus there will always be a demand for HR professionals. The ever-increasing demand provides HR professionals high job stability.
Develop leadership: An MBA degree with a concentration in human resources will prepare you to become a leader within your organizations, by teaching you how to take the advantage of human resource analytics to improve decision-making and leadership skills. It will help you develop a strategic mindset and attain organizational goals by enhancing your leadership skills. It will transform you into a speculative and committed leader that can develop an agile and solutions-based work culture that brings together diverse talent and perspectives.
Know an organization’s psychology: The human resource department works extensively to achieve the desired outcome, so an HR professional needs to know the processes and workflow of an organization in detail. The department works closely with the top management to gain knowledge about the brand’s purpose and objective. It specializes in understanding the behavior of the employees and channelizes them towards a common goal. An MBA in HR provides you insight into all the practices and processes involved.
Acquire your MBA from CMS Business School, JAIN (Deemed to be University)
CMS B School is one of the best business schools in the country. It offers industry-led management courses with a distinctive and contemporary curriculum. The expert faculty at CMS B School ensures qualitative learning and leadership development to make students industry-ready. The strong alumni network of the institution speaks for itself.
Why is Marketing Important?
To understand the relevance of marketing you first need to know what is marketing! So, marketing includes all the activities that a company or an organization undertakes to promote their business. In short, marketing is the new fuel of business strategies. The below-mentioned factors make marketing essential for the successful functioning of a business:
The combination of marketing and MBA
In current times a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) degree in marketing is well-sought by students as well as employers. It can help students and professionals enhance their career opportunities by providing them in-depth knowledge of marketing as a functional area of business. It provides the required skills and knowledge to start a business or to ensure the functionality of an already existing business. Many employers specifically require an MBA in marketing for certain management or leadership roles. When you do an MBA in marketing, you study a broad range of key marketing principles and learn how to apply those in real-time scenarios.
What does an MBA in marketing offer?
Marketing plays a crucial role for any business, without various marketing techniques many businesses would not even survive. Pursuing an MBA will help you develop insights into how the markets function and consumer trends. It will teach you how to develop strategies to accomplish organizational goals. An MBA in marketing will open your doors to various fields like advertising, banking, FMCG, tourism, retail, and consultancy, etc. The popular roles include marketing manager, sales manager, marketing research analyst, brand manager, product manager, and media planning manager. As a marketing professional, you will develop a knack for innovation and a natural vision for the future. You will learn the importance of goodwill from a business point of view and converse with technology at the same time.
The two-year post-graduate program is structured to provide you the core business skills and real-world learning experiences. Being one of the oldest disciplines of management study common courses within MBA in marketing specialization program include:
Are you the right fit for an MBA in Marketing?
If you are someone with interpersonal skills, strategic thinking, entrepreneurial skills, communication skills, and leadership skills with a keen interest in marketing strategies, then you are the suitable candidate to pursue an MBA degree with a specialization in marketing.
Apart from enhancing knowledge and providing the right push to your career an MBA in marketing also plays a crucial role in determining your package by proving you a competitive edge over your peers and non-MBAs. So, if earning a lucrative package is on your mind, then an MBA in marketing will be the right choice.
Now that the relevance of an MBA in Marketing has been established, what is next? Well, the next step is choosing the right institution!
Among its many distinguishing accomplishments, the CMS Business School is one of the best schools for management studies in India. In association with The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), the CMS B School offers an MBA in marketing that helps students develop skills and strategies to interpret and analyze consumer behavior to map market trends. It offers live sessions with industry experts, consistent interaction with practitioners, experiential learning through live projects, and a syllabus in line with industry expectations to make you industry-ready.
The world is seeing an upsurge of MBA aspirants since a while. An MBA entrance exam gives a concrete platform to an aspirant. Today, entrance exams have become a prerequisite for many UG and PG programs. The MBA isn't an exception. Several popular MBA entrance exams are the Common Admission Test (CAT), Management Aptitude Test (MAT), Common Management Aptitude Test (CMAT) and Maharashtra Common Entrance Test (MAH-CET). Xavier Aptitude Test (XAT) and Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) are the other MBA entrance exams.
Here are some tips an MBA seeker can use and ace the entrance exams for MBA.
The MBA entrance exam gets divided into three sections. They include Verbal Ability, Reasoning Ability and Quantitative Ability. We must start by preparing short notes and quick mementoes.
Tips to ace the Verbal Ability section:
Tips to ace the Reasoning ability section:
Tips to ace the quantitative ability section:
What are the last-minute tips to crack MBA entrance exams?
