7 Steps to Stop Boring the MBA Admission Interviewer

“I could connect with him like I have not connected with any other person,” shared an MIT MBA student about his Admission interview. “We felt completely engaged during our conversation.” Most interesting conversation will not have that awkward long-pause when you are searching for the next topic. Before you learn to be a master conversationalist, cross the first hurdle – “How not to be boring.”

1) Don’t Start & End everything with an “I”

When you are in an MBA Admission interview, the interviewer expects you to talk about yourself. Even if your contributions were visible, quantifiable and according to you -responsible for turning around the outcome for the team, the repetition of “I” in every sentence will force the interviewer to focus not on your thinking, but on whether you are showing symptoms of someone with a Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Mix “I” with “We” wherever you had to depend on at least one person in your team to complete a task.

2) Don’t Whine

Boring conversationalists complain about something bad that happened to them, and most probably dwell on the fate, bad luck or cite some cosmic power that has been destroying their career. Probably, they will find a pattern of bad luck, but those who had the bad fortune to sit through such conversation will testify about the energy drain that happens after the conversation. No MBA Admission interviewer would like to sit through the majority of the conversation listening to you complain about your previous boss.

3) For God’s Sake Don’t talk in a Monotone

Do you remember Ben Stein’s character in ‘The Mask’, where he plays a Doctor, and talks about the various masks that humans wear? The monotone created comedic moments with the ‘jumpy’ Stanley Ipkiss (Jim Carrey), but if you try that in real life in any conversation, your audience will go for a bathroom break, or create excuses to get away from your voice. The subject matter is about your achievements, your goals, and your plan. Even the interviewer with exceptional listening skills cannot listen to your achievements in a monotone.
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