Interview Skills Course - Nov. 2nd

Interview Skills Course:

Master Your Nerves - Ace Your Interview

-"How can an MBA help you achieve your goals?"

-"What key skills do you have that can help you succeed in your career?"

-"How can you contribute to our program?"

Are you ready to answer these and the many other extremely difficult MBA interview questions?

This one-day four (4) hour course is designed to give you real-world, practical knowledge which can quickly improve your interviewing ability and increase your chances for admission into your dream program.

Books are helpful for preparing for the GMAT, but to nail your MBA interview, you need to deeply understand the interview process, get inside the interviewer’s mind and learn what they want to hear - and you need real world practice in front of real people.

Schedule:

11/2 (Saturday):  14:00-18:00

Class Size, Location & Pricing:

Size: limited to 20 students

Location: A2 GMAT (台北市大安區信義路四段6號13F-7).

Pricing: NTD1,500 per student

RSVP to David at: david@transcendadmissions.com 

Instructor:

David Johnston (Graduate of Georgetown University Law Center; Founder of Transcend Admissions Consultants)

Course Overview

(14:00 – 15:00)  Understanding the MBA interview

-          An explanation of the MBA interview process

-          Review the most important interview questions and discuss the purpose of the questions

-          Learn how to best structure your interview answers

-          In-depth discussion of how to approach the most important questions (“why MBA?”, “why career goals?”, “why our school?”, and questions about teamwork and leadership)

-          Analyze a sample written answer to a “Why MBA?” question

(15:00 – 16:00)  Applying Your New Interview Skills

-          In the “hot seat:” Students give presentations and receive in-depth personalized feedback from the instructor other students

(16:00 – 17:00) Applying Communication Skills to the Interview

-          Introduction and examples of how to use effective body language

-          How to make a positive impression on the interviewer and get the interviewer to like you

-          Learn how to “break the ice” and convey a sense of humor in a professional setting

-          Strategies to practice for your interview

-          How to adapt a story to multiple questions and situations

-          Examples of the best questions you can possibly ask your interviewer to connect with them

(17:00 – 18:00)  Applying Your New Interview Skills

-          In the “hot seat:” Students give presentations and receive in-depth personalized feedback from the instructor other students

-          Ask David interview questions to see how he responds under pressure, and adapts the same story to different scenarios

How to Clearly Express an Accomplishment

Graduate programs, especially MBA programs value diversity of ideas and are extremely results-focused.  There is no one ‘right’ type of background for MBA programs - in order to create an optimal learning environment the admissions committee aims to fill the class with students from a wide range of industries and countries.  The admissions committee simply seeks students who are outstanding and the primary way applicants can to prove that they are outstanding is to provide clear explanations about some of their accomplishments.  Stories about key accomplishments will be first delivered in essays and eventually in the admissions interview.  

Many applicants struggle to identify and adequately explain their accomplishments.  In many cases, applicants have had an experience with a great result, such as completing a project that helped their company save US$250,000 per year - but they fail to help the reader deeply understand why this accomplishment should be viewed as impressive.  Other times, applicants fail to see that their stories could be viewed as impressive accomplishments, if explained in the right way.

Stories with an impressive result:  Achieving an impressive final result is obviously a great reason to tell a story but there should be much more substance to the story than the final result.  Providing an explanation of the challenges that you overcome to get to the result will give the reader some context into specific situation.  Explaining challenges faced can also allow the applicant to showcase the creative thinking and skills they applied to find a solution.  Most importantly, an explanation of challenges will heighten the drama in an essay and make the story more interesting - and more memorable in the mind of the reader.     

Stories without a really impressive result:  Even if a story does not have an amazing result (like helping your employer save US$250,000 in one year) it does not mean the story is not worth telling.  Sometimes the result of our actions cannot be easily quantified.  For example, perhaps you have had a volunteer experience teaching English to children and you created a unique learning method that the children really responded to and benefited from.  It might not be possible to quantify exactly how much their English improved, but as long as you can explain that you felt your idea had a positive impact on the children, the volunteer organization, or yourself then it could still be a great story.  Always look for ways to explain the impact on others, and also on yourself, such as something you learned or a skill (like leadership!) you improved.

By clearly presenting your accomplishments and the challenges you faced during the process you’ll be sure to help the admissions committee fully comprehend and value them.  Of course, if you are having trouble clearly expressing your key stories and accomplishments in your essays, using our Essay Analysis & Editing service would probably pay dividends for your business school applications.       

How to Shorten Your Resume to One Page

MBA essay word limits are shrinking.  Essays that used to have a 750 word limits are now limited to 250-500 words.  With these very tight space restrictions it is impossible to mention all of your important past experiences in the essays.  As the essays get shorter, the resume becomes an even more important vehicle to provide the admissions committee with a holistic perspective of your background.  And of course, your resume might provide the only information your interviewer knows about you.

You will want to convey a lot of critical information in your resume.  However, trying to shift large chunks of essay content into your resume won’t work - it is still highly advisable (or even required) for applicants to submit a one page resume.  If you have had a lot of important professional and extracurricular experiences you face the difficult task of prioritizing them and squeezing them into one page.  If you are struggling with this here are some tips that can help you save valuable space on your resume:    

Reduce the length of your statements. Your bullets should provide adequate detail about your responsibilities and list your achievements but they do not need to tell the entire story.  Sometimes context is important; but if your bullets are spilling over into three lines you’ll need to reduce some context from your statements.

Remove the statement of objectives.  A statement of objectives is not necessary for an MBA resume.  It takes up a lot of space and provides little value.  The typical information conveyed in a statement of objectives would normally be covered in a personal statement or “goal” essay. 

Reduce the number of sections.  You do not need a separate section for items like awards, publications, community service, etc.  This would often eat up too much space and could be condensed under broader headings like: “Additional Information.”  It might make sense to create a specific section only if the information was critical to your field of study or future goal.

Reduce the number of bullets.  You do not need to list several bullets for every experience you’ve had.  Use more bullets for more recent or longer professional experiences.  Limit internships or military experiences to one bullet unless there is something particularly important you need to express.

Adjust the formatting.  The last thing you can do is make minor adjustments to the formatting to squeeze more information into one page.  But be sure that the resume is uncluttered and easy to read.  Some minor formatting adjustments can make a big difference: the font theme Times New Roman takes up much less space than some other fonts and you can create extra space by listing your address, phone number and email address on one line.

We hope these tips were helpful!  If you need any help creating the perfect resume for your graduate school applications please consider using our Resume Editing Service.