I have had an opportunity to meet so many great prospective students in the past several months while interviewing them for admission at UCLA Anderson and I would like to share some advice for future candidates to help them get ready for an upcoming interview.
1) Know your resume! You need to know your story well in order to make a good impression. Think about it: when you get to business school, you will be talking to companies and you will have to know your story well. It’s much more impressive when a candidate knows his or her story without having to refer to a copy of the resume during the conversation.
2) Treat a skype interview as a face-to face interaction. Eye contact and strong presentation skills are just as important over Skype as in person, so be sure to look in the camera while you are talking! Avoid having ready answers printed in front of you. It is very easy for an interviewer to realize that you are reading the answer instead of telling it from the heart. This one thing can quickly make the wrong impression.
3) The interview normally is about 30 minutes long, and the time flies very quickly. Remember your goal is to show you are a strong candidate, while the interviewer’s goal is to get to know you. Be mindful of time and aim for 2-3 minutes for an answer to a question, avoid taking up most of your precious interview time discussing too many details in your responses. Use a high level approach describing the situation, your impact and the results. The interviewer will ask follow up questions if something is not quite clear.
4) Come up with good questions for the interviewer! Show your interest in the school and the person! The worst situation is when the interview went well and then the candidate asks very general questions about the program with answers easily found on the web site or even worse says: “I have no questions”…
5) Don’t rush to the answer especially if you are taken aback by the question. Take a second to think your answer over and I guarantee you will find a good answer that will demonstrate how awesome you are and what you will bring to the program!
6) Relax and smile! It is an opportunity for you to talk to somebody who was in your shoes some time ago and who is interested in learning more about you! Smile, be positive and speak about yourself with passion!
Good luck with the interviews!
Stay well,
Alena
