Getting Ready for Interviews- The Bocconi Way
-Milan Choudhury The one thing every MBA student needs to be adept at is tackling interviews. It is primarily the final interview which acts as the make or break™ for a student who prospects for a job or an internship with a prestigious company. But, the interview is not something that can be prepared for in the way you prepare for your exams. There’s no fixed syllabus. But that doesn’t mean you can’t get ready for an interview. There are various areas that you can work on, strengths that you should build up and areas of weakness that you must address. Getting ready for an interview is like getting ready for a date, mainly because of two reasons. The first being, you need to scrutinize yourself, identify what you can leverage on, work on what needs to be fixed and finally, leave the best possible impression behind. The second reason is that you need to have a fairly good idea about the person you are going to meet and their expectations from you. In the case of the job interview, this includes the organization and the alignment of its Job Description with your profile. While preparing for your date may be a solo job, in case of interview preparation, you can certainly be helped. At SDA Bocconi Asia Center, there’s both, expertise and experience to help you deliver the best, as you appear for an interview. Here’s a look at the extensive efforts that are put into getting students ready for interviews, not just on campus but also for life. Grooming and Mannerisms: As we all know, humans form an impression about a stranger within the first few seconds of their meet. The interviewer is, after all, a human being and is subject to all prejudices and biases that humans suffer from. Therefore, it is imperative that you go to an interview dressed impeccably and be as polished as possible in action and behavior. These two factors, although most important from an interviewer’s point of view, are generally ignored by students. They end up messing their interview solely due to the fact that the interviewer formed an initial negative impression about them. At Bocconi, this initial stage is taken care of thoroughly by the Career Development Services. Grooming sessions are conducted separately for boys and girls to address all that needs to be kept in mind while dressing up for corporate meets and the interview. In addition, the right etiquette is demonstrated and practiced to ensure that you form a favorable first impression. Content and Delivery: What you talk is what you are judged upon. Apart from knowing your subject area thoroughly, you also need to take care of other aspects such as grammar, brevity and most importantly, delivery. Prof. Seema Khanvilkar’s Advanced Business Communication address both the content as well as the delivery side of speaking. Each student is prepped and evaluated taking into consideration their personal strengths and flaws and corrections are suggested for improvement. Group Discussions: Often an integral part of the selection process during final placements and internships, a group discussion is something you need to be thoroughly comfortable with. The Career Development Services conducts rounds of GDs to ensure that all students get the hang of the process and are able to deliver at the time of the actual selection process. Additionally, the mock GDs are conducted taking into account each student’s area of specialization. For example, marketing aspirants have GDs conducted in their specific focus groups with relatable topics in marketing, branding, or general awareness. This ensures a thorough simulation that ultimately helps students ace their final GDs. The CDS Bootcamp: The Career Development Services also pays special attention to ensure that all students, irrespective of their backgrounds are on the same level. Bootcamps are conducted which cover the basic aspects of quants and accounting for students from different backgrounds. In addition, essential skills such as advanced Excel are groomed and perfected. The CDS also conducts a Thomas Profiling for students to effectively identify the student specific areas of strengths and weaknesses to ensure a perfect job role fit in the future. Alumni Feedback: Your subject knowledge matters a lot when you sit for the final interviews. This is efficiently tested by mock interviews conducted by Bocconi alumni who themselves are in the industry, with the know-how of what is required from a prospective new-hire. Alumni interviews play a very critical role in preparing the students in advance for the final interview day. The likely questions that may be asked and the correct way to address those are addressed by the alumni. All these resources are more than sufficient to ensure that a student is thoroughly prepped for the final interviews. In addition, peer-to-peer interviews are also conducted to have accountability for the progress made by each individual.
Career Development Services at SDA Bocconi Asia Center
A quick guide on Placements – Preparation and Process Objective Career Development Services (CDS) is dedicated to training, advising, and connecting students to opportunities for industry experiences in order to foster their intellectual, social, and personal transformations. Team CDS is dedicated towards Capabilitybuilding and corporate Relations for the school and students. Vision Career development is an integrated component of SDA Bocconi Asia Center’s overarching education delivery system, providing support and a platform for students to excel in life, exceeding expectations for both students and recruiters. Career Development Services is categorised into two functions Capability Building : Training in Skills, Knowledge, Traits and Tools. Corporate Access : Leveraging corporate networks to provide access to industry. Delivering Career Development “Services” The two functions provide service in the following three stages of a student The First Year : Explore The Second Year : Focus Life after Graduation : Sharpen The CDS plays an important part in shaping and helping our International Master in Business students achieve their career goals. Placements at Top Bschools in India, is an important process and at SDA Bocconi Asia Center we approach it in a structured and professional format. » The First Year : Choices and Confusion. Building the base. “Choice is the source of confusion. Given the choices, it is OK to be confused.” Most students take admission into the program, very clear in their minds on the area they want to pursue. We begin by introducing the panoply of careers, industries and trends in roles and jobs present today. We have guest lectures, alumni events, personal interactions and more to talk about the range of careers available today. Often this reinforces what they have planned, more often it leads to people to re-evaluate their plans. During this period of reflection we offer opportunities to take on projects and speak to industry practitioners one on one to get more perspective on the choices available. “Learn Everything”. This is a credo that is instilled in the minds of students that in today’s world not having a thick base of knowledge and information across industries and functions. Finance for Non-Finance, Technology for the non-technocrat are some of the programs conducted to build that base in all. “Build a Consulting Mindset” While roles and industries after graduation will vary, we work towards building a consultative mind-set to Marketing, Sales, Operations, Supply Chain and Finance. Using Case-Study framework models we have practice workshops across formats to apply frameworks to build solutions across the world of Business Problems which include Pricing, Marketing, Acquisitions, Supply Chain, Operations and re-branding Internship Prepare : Most students finalize an internship by January of the 1st academic year. Basis inputs from the companies that they are going to be interning with, the industry they are going to do the internship and the role they will be interning for, a learning plan is drawn up for the Jan to March Quarter. A number of common programs discussed above are administered in this Jan to March period. Perform : The Internship is for a limited period of 2 months and therefore there is often time only for the first impressions to be formed. Not enough time to recover if started on a bad note. During the internship the head of Learning and Development at Career Development Services personally tracks all interns and the companies they are doing it in. Alumni are assigned 2 to 3 students to coach during this period. Often from the same company or industry. Periodic calls are held with the candidates to identify probable gaps between mentors and students and escalate potential issues. » The Second Year : Narrowing it down Students have now built experience from internship, live projects, multiple subjects and exposure to industry practitioners. Students are encouraged to identify one to three areas of focus for their careers. Having developed a benchmark level of knowledge and skills across domains, certifications and in-depth workshops are administered during the second year. Some examples being Tools in Analytics, Technical Product Management, Product Business Management, Six Sigma in Operations and Services, Financial Modelling, Valuations, Case Frameworks etc. CV Reviews. Advanced Interview Skills. Negotiations Skills. Social Media Presence are some of the tactical skills developed during this period. This upgrade in skill and knowledge allow recruiters to access people fit for contemporary roles and problems at the workplace. Final Placement During Campus placement, there are many who will identify with roles and positions that are presented by companies. We celebrate diversity and have students with specific requirements to companies by leveraging the extensive network of the School including staff, faculty, alumni and fellow students. » Life After Graduation : Sharpen After graduation, a change in function, industry and role can be a daunting experience for many. Phase 1 : Well begun is half the battle. A framework for navigating an organization for the 60 days is administered. We provide coaching services from the Alumni pool to help new graduates transition into their new roles. Lessons in terms of what worked well and pitfalls to avoid are worked upon. Phase 2 : Quarterly reviews with coaches on progress within the organization and tweaking learning and career goals are worked up. Periodic Life Long learning sessions are held on campus to provide inputs in key developments in industry and business management. Alumni are connected on a common platform. Access to career opportunities, Requests for Business Contacts and mutual assistance on frameworks to Problems are shared.