My interviewer was one of the most impressive people I have ever met. He was obviously processing and analyzing every word that I said very intensely, his eyes unflinchingly gazing in mine. I felt as if I had never spoken to someone who listened to me so carefully.
The interviewer began with a brief overview of the interview process and how the interview is weighted in the overall decision process. He then moved quickly into the interview, which lasted for close to one hour. About 40 minutes focused on my job, management responsibilities, etc. The questions and structure of the first 40 minutes appeared to be framed by him, whereas the final 15 or twenty minutes were framed by a list of more typical HBS questions from which he chose several.
He first asked me to explain what I do at work. As I started to explain, he rephrased his question and asked me to explain the management structure of my division and the responsibilities of the people within it. As I started to answer this question, he again rephrased his question and asked me how many people report to me. The next several minutes were dedicated to satisfying his wanting to know about these issues.
Next, the interview moved into a more general discussion about my industry and the company that I work for. He asked me to talk about what my company does and how the division functions within the overall organisation. He then asked me to talk about my greatest accomplishments and challenges in my job, why I saw them as such, etc. He then asked me how I found my job, why I chose to work in my industry, company, etc. Finally, he wanted to know more about who I report to and what this person’s responsibilities are.
He then shuffled a set of papers that he had been looking at and moved to another set, which appeared to include a list of questions with several questions highlighted. It seemed as if this was a list of more HBS designed questions.
- Tell me about a leadership experience that you have not talked about in your essays (he had of course read my essays).
- Who are your best friends and how did you meet them?
- If I called your friends and aksed them to tell me about one of your leadership weaknesses, what would they say?
- What would they say is another weakness of yours?
- How do you make friends here?
- What challenges do you foresee in adapting to the environment at HBS?
- What do you do for fun?
This interview really made me realize how important it is to be yourself. I felt that this person really had the ability to find out a lot about me, my personality, leadership potential, etc. He knew what he was doing.
