The easiest trick that MBA admissions interviewer plays on applicants is the conversational nature of the interview. The guards are dropped and the meticulously planned talking points we prepared are all thrown out of the window.
Some schools know this game and quickly switch gears from friendly to poking questions. And those who are not prepared tend to be shocked at how the ‘nice’ interviewer turns aggressive and probing.
Regardless of the nature of the interview – formal, conversational, or hybrid, you must understand that this is an exercise of elimination if the school has a reputation for interviewing a large percentage of applicants (30% and above) or selection if those who interviewed are between 20-25% of the total applicants.
For the latter, the dynamics will be friendly, and the person will be supportive to find a spark that your nervous mind couldn’t understand.
So what should be your style – Talking vs Presenting vs Acting:
Composed
We all start with small talks with strangers.
Once, I spent 15 mins – close to half of the UBER drive talking about 3 models of cars with the driver. All to relate and create a pleasant memory with the person I am unlikely to ever see in my life. When the small talk ended, he upped the volume of the speaker and focused on the road, peeking in between at me to see if I was looking outside or towards the front. When I looked towards the front, new topics emerged.
Once we have a small talk, it becomes easier to carry forward a conversation.
Start with the small talk about the interviewer – family, hobbies, city, ethnicity, food, culture, sports team, or travel.
Avoid politics and religion.
Transition from the Small Talk
The transition from the small talk to the real question would look forced if you have a presenting style, but if you know how to maintain a consistent and composed style of answering, the transitions, highlights of your career & life, and even the conclusion will all sound calm.
ASMR is a popular sub-genre of YouTube for this reason. We feel assured listening to a person who talks in a calm and composed manner.
There are no over-the-top gestures.
There is no overtly excited tone.
If a Composed style of answering is not your natural style, follow the presenting style - the most common style of answering an interview question.
Presenting
When I conduct mock interviews, the biggest challenge I see is the switch from small talk to presenting or consistently maintaining a presenting mode.
Interviews are about presenting your best self, scripting the best answers, and talking as if hearing the questions for the first time.
What is presenting?
See any award show or party where the MC is warming up the crowd. Everyone knows that the MC is there to entertain, to elevate the mood or create a halo effect on the mundane events most parties are.
At its core, it is people getting drunk and trying to hook up.
Build some hype, narratives, and games around this activity, and you see a narrative.
This narrative is not the truth. It is a pretense of a truth that helps you see the interactions as much more glamorous than they really are.
An interview is the same.
Presenting - Capture All your Soft Skills
The interviewer is trying to find out if you can talk, present your ideas without stuttering, or don’t go blank when topics outside the narrow focus of your functional knowledge are presented.
Will you isolate yourself or will you engage?
Are you the great person in the essay, or did some consultant painstakingly create that image?
The interview is about presenting.
Acting
It was as if I was watching a split personality.
Two minutes before the question is asked, the client would fidget in the chair, look worried and go through our scripts - reading it 2-3 times. And when I ask the question, the person is transformed.
A consistent smile came to his face; he was energized, and it was as if all the good things in the world were only experienced by him.
I couldn’t see the person I gave feedback during the first mock interview session. Needless to say, the person got into the best Finance School in the world.
Acting and Resting Face
Acting works if your resting face is the neurotic-looking constant worrier. I certainly have that face in my YouTube Videos, even after imagining all the good things in the world.
Understand how you look in Videos. Ask your partner. They will let you know the truth.
Practice with me and see if your answers fall under talking, presenting, or acting style
