First interview:
My first interviewer was the CEO of a start-up company. He had much experience in mergers and acquisitions and as an investor as well. He was polite and very business-like. He had been interviewing candidates for many years for INSEAD.
At first, he perused my resume and made some comments, then asked me to explain, in general terms, my career up to now. He asked me why an MBA, why now and why INSEAD. That was the easy part… Then he asked me about my company, how it was structured, questioned me on how I would structure it differently if I were the manager, what were the challenges in my various positions and finally why I had not taken so and so initiative and what could I have done differently. I felt grilled: one question after the other, no time to think about my answers. I felt like I should’ve already had an MBA to have answered his questions in a satisfactory manner… I guess that he wanted to push me to the very edge of my knowledge to see how I would react and to see if I could think out of the box. What made the difference is most likely that he was a “no-bullshit” person so I answered calmly, frankly, directly and, even if not always to my advantage, truthfully.
Second Interview:
My second interviewer was a head of research and development for an international bank. She had a resume as impressive as the first interviewer, yet she welcomed me in a much more relaxed atmosphere. She asked me to describe my career up to now and my international experience, then asked me why an MBA, why now and why INSEAD. She asked how I saw my role in a work group, about career goals and where else I had applied. We also discussed how I was prepared and what I could expect out of this experience. I had the good fortune of having many friends which had gone so I was well prepared about what to expect at INSEAD; I think she appreciated that I knew exactly what I was getting into and that I was candid and genuine about my experiences and the reasons why I wanted to do an MBA at INSEAD.
My advice: be yourself, don’t stress yourself out with the interview and do prepare…
Both interviews lasted about an hour.
Below is a link to a compiled list of questions which I thought were very useful in preparing for the interview. My interviewers were quite creative and definitely asked me questions which were not on the list… but it can always help.
http://insideinsead.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/omjs-insead-interview-list.pdf
Results: Accepted.
