Moonwalking with the interviewers: How I aced my interviews — Jitendra Joshi, FMS Delhi
I am Jitendra Joshi, born and brought up in Dehradun. I have pursued Aerospace Engineering from IIT Kharagpur (2012–2016). Most of my schooling has been from boarding school. I am enthusiastic in sports from my school days and love to travel.
My experience in preparing for the CAT was more than tackling the D-Day of the whole journey (if I may say so). The journey itself was a mentor to me as I learned a lot on the way. Be it about time management, about finding loopholes in tackling sections in mocks, what to prepare first or what to focus on more etc. There were stances when one would feel to leave the preparation and just sit and contemplate, doing nothing! This is the main chapter for learning in difficult times. Well, according to me there is no straight answer for Why MBA? (I may be wrong), but one needs to sit, relax and think about this from the perspective of what they have done till now. For a fresher (which I am), I realized that I wanted to do MBA when I was interning. Therefore, what I mean to say is, one needs to think on this very seriously and wisely because Interviewers scrutinize this thing during the whole interview. Along with your scheduled preparation for the verbal section, reading the newspaper is compulsory. This will help you nail your extempore. All you have to do is just speak your opinion and understanding of the topic in a prolific manner so that it sounds good and balanced from the interviewer’s perspective.
Speaking about the interview day, first and foremost, bring your documents and check twice before you come for the process. Sleep well (though you would find it difficult to sleep). In the Interview process always dress up smartly, it gives a first strong impression to the interviewers and save your smile for this final step. Questions were mostly about my understanding about the graduation branch and what is happening in the country, my opinion about the same, Why MBA just after graduation why not after few years? First question is mostly about the introduction about yourself, so consider it out and prepare it very thoughtfully. Your introduction is of utmost importance. Be natural and tell them the interesting side of yours so that you can tackle the questions for the same and it also helps in molding the whole interview in your favor.
Interviewers asked me about the political conditions of my home state (Uttarakhand — at that time president rule was imposed in Uttarakhand) and names of the political leaders like CM, Governor, parties and also about the status of West Bengal (I graduated from Kharagpur, West Bengal). They asked me about my short term and long term goals. When you mention extracurricular and hobbies in your introduction you should know the basics of it. Brush-up the few things so that you can leave a good impression to interviewers. Be prepared with the current ongoing news, you can use apps like Mint and NewsBytes. Make the habit of reading newspaper, it helps a lot both in written ability test as well as in questions related to current news. I used to read Hindu and The Economics Times. So, if I put it precise, brush up the project, internship work, whatever you have learnt in college and stay updated with the global and national news.
The answer for your strength and weakness should be a real one and not what google says to you (which I did in the beginning and couldn’t find anything of much use). So, think and think about your answer for this question. Prepare your answers and then consult with your seniors and people who have gone through the same process. I did the same and interviewers were quite satisfied (They will always groom you for this so do not worry just be clear with your answers). For all those who are preparing for FMS procedure is almost same, just replace the WAT with Extempore (5 marks). You will get an instant topic or word either during your entry or in-between your interview. Your ideas regarding the topic, your ways of communicating the ideas and your confidence is all that will be analyzed.
