Now that the interview season has started, many people would be working hard mugging up daily news to crack the W.A.Ts, G.Ds and P.Is, getting some ‘gyaan’ of different management functions, going through the placement reports, ‘optimizing’ your travel plans (can’t help… management jargon has gone into the blood ? ) and the list is endless. In all this, what many people forget about is themselves. Confused?? Well, let me explain(remember Munnabhai MBBS??).

Exactly one year ago, I was also going through the same turmoil as I was about to attend the interview of a b-school. I was never satisfied with the preparation I’ve made. At the end of the day, even though I was storing loads of information and gyaan in my little brain, it didn’t save me from getting bombed up. As it’s said everything that happens is for your own good, it was a good thing because I had an opportunity to sit back and introspect my performance. There I found something, I was forgetting ‘ME’. In the haze of information overload, when I cannot see myself, how can I show it to the interviewers sitting before me?

Then struck an important line which was told by one of my professors “Interviewers always intend to know you better, not test whether you can solve an LP problem in your mind or you know what some ‘X’ king did in 16th century”. Then I started to work on discovering me, my strengths, my shortcomings and the way I should project/communicate who I am. Things like knowledge of domains, being updated with latest happenings etc etc followed eventually. This introspection has taught me a great lesson – “Discover a way to improve, not to fake. The person sitting opposite can easily smell you because you stink when you fake”.

So, does this work? Of course… it’s been working since ages… only that the result manifested in different forms from time to time. For me, it manifested as an admission into a good b-school that I can be proud of. When it could work for me, why not for you? After all, it’s a generic strategy.

Wish you good luck!! May the hurdles be high enough that you deserve an applause when you cross…