sisi100

1st and 2nd interviews / Alumni / Off-campus (Published May 13th, 2010)

First Interview: I had interview with a Bain partner in Shanghai. The interview was quite standard. He asked a lot of questions about why INSEAD, why MBA, long term career goal, short term career goal, why go to France, how would colleagues describe you, what is your weakness... What is the cultural difference between China and France… And I have taken some chances to ask back on some of his questions. Time was very short, I hadn’t had chance to ask a lot of questions.

Basically the interviewer is formal. I had won some smiles on his part when talking about his travelling in China. He had given some insights on the private equity market in China.

Second Interview: I interviewed with a Chinese alumni who has 10 years of experience in sales and marketing before joining INSEAD. And he is now an entrepreneur in the energy-saving space. Basically he asked about standard questions, introduction of me, my personal goals and professional goals. How to reach the goals… etc. He questioned about my leadership capabilities because I don’t have a title of manager. He asked about leadership qualities demonstrated in non-leadership positions. Then we talked in Chinese about the current state of China. Why he created the company in energy space. I asked to keep in touch. He said we keep in touch no matter what the result of INSEAD.

sisi100

INSEAD interview experience: two rounds

I applied INSEAD 2007 Sep intake and just finished 2 interviews. Share with the rest as what I can still remember.

The first interview was with a consultant of a management consulting firm. she was quite busy and I was waiting in her office for over 20 minutes since she had a urgent discussion. The alumni was quite kind and friendly and she apologized for making me keep waiting. To me, it is a good chance to get familiar with the environment.

Questions are pretty simple and standard, such as:

tell me something about your education, career and your current work
why MBA and why INSEAD
How do you work with people from different culture and background
what are the social groups you have been involved?
How well have you adapt to the foriegn environment? (i am abroad)
any questions for her
we talked about her job and her own experience in INSEAD, the tough program (8am to 9pm course work) etc. and i also asked for feedback, according to her, my profile is pretty ok, except that I have fewer working experience (3 years), but it should not be a problem because of my achievement within the 3 years.

The 2nd interview was with a IB associate, he was pretty serious and didnt talk much about things outside of MBA. It lasted for 45 minutes (1st one lasted around 1 hour) and he asked fewer questions, such as:

brief introduction of my education and career
why INSEAD?
He placed a lot of weight to dicuss on this topic. It is understandable, INSEAD is kind of special compare to other schools
my career goals
how can I compete with consultants from other firms when 4.1 I apply for INSEAD? 4.2 I graduate from INSEAD and look for consulting jobs?
why you think your personality fit INSEAD?
How can you make people be interested in you? in terms of experience, background and personality
any questions for him? (as i feel the interview is a bit short, so I asked a few questions and try to reflect more about myself during those Q&As)
For these 2 interviews, I felt the personalities of the alumnus are quire different and quite consistant with INSEAD's style: diversity, direct, short and focused. quite different from interviews from the US schools as I expereinced. They are indeed busy and excellent. both of them gave me 3 days to stand by for the interview and they called me in the morning to have the interview in the evening. I would say it is really difficult to prepare and actually no need to prepare anything. Just think about 1 question" Who am I".

Good luck to everyone

sisi100

INSEAD Interview experience(story)

I just finished the two interviews required by the school. Here i'm sharing my story, not just interviews.

Both of the interviewers are super busy and i struggled 3 weeks to finally set up the time slots. Both of them are based in a city about 1.5 hours flight away. I was sopposed to be there on Monday for the appointment at 4pm, but i sat on the plane like a idiot for 3 hours and then off-loaded because the flight was cancelled. The air company said there was something wrong with the engine!!! What a joke!!!! I had to make a hundred phone calls to re-organize the whole thing.

Anyway, the next day my first interviewer, Paul, interviewed me in a 5-star hotel by a stunning beach. Pual graduated from INSEAD in 1995 and was a banker with Barkley(UK) and then joined Mckinsey after INSEAD. Now he is Principal (means senior Partner?) of Mckinsey. Paul is nice and was kind enough to buy me a skinny flat white, which i didn't have chance to touch at all. The interview last approx. 30 minutes and there is not much to say but just standard questions such as Why MBA, why INSEAD and why this career goal. Anyway it's not bad.

I said goodbye and checked in a backpackers' in the city central cause i had another interview scheduled the morning next day. Here comes the drama.

I was in deep sleep at 5am in the lower bed. All of a sudden, it rained!!!! You know what? The British guy living in the upper bed peed!!!!!!!!!! He was drunk and I couldn't wake him up. Jesus Christ!! I rushed into the bathroom to have a shower and had to ask for another room. The receiptionist promised to kick him out, hahaha

OK, let's get back to the interview thing.

Peter, my second interviewer, was with Bain before and after INSEAD (1995 as well, I guess). And now he is a Director in a prestigious PE. His last title in Bain was Partner or something even higher. BTW, the office of that PE is the most luxurious office that i have ever seen (British style with super harbor view). This time the interview went very well (thanks to the British guy). I was asked to tell the story of myself. It last about 45 minutes and I got absolutely positive feedback. Actually, it was so positive that not only he imply to recommend me to INSEAD, but also he promised to write a letter recommending Bain to keep in touch with me, as my career goal after MBA is management consultant as well. Actually, I got the copy of this letter, in which he forward my resume to his former workmates in Bain, when i was killing time in the airport.

Again, there was a thunder storm that kept me in the airport for another 2 hours.

All in all, terrible journeys but good interviews.

By nnm, 28-Feb-2007

sisi100

昨天INSEAD在上海面的

在校友的办公室，上海杨浦长阳路。校友是一个40多岁的法国人， 汉语非常好。 一上来他就说，由于英语都不是我们的母语，我们讲中文吧。 接下来的面试用中文进行的：

先过了一遍简历，之后是
why MBA,
why INSEAD,
career goal,
management experience,
道德困境，
人力资源管理等等问题。
跟他特别交流了零售业的一些观点， 跟我所在的行业进行了比较。中间聊的比较轻松，我还问他， 无锡水危机是否是他们公司展示social responsibility的时机等等。 感觉校友问的很细致，尤其是我的简历，包括父母的职业什么的? 不明白为什么要关心这些问题。

Total 1.5 hr, including my questions。

心里没有什么底， 感觉用中文面，深度和广度都有了， 不知道校友是否这样认为。。。 下面就要看运气了啊。 我的经历估计也够奇特的

sisi100

[原创]INSEAD面试小记

面试官：Min Chen （DunHill），中国mm.她好像是02年进入dunhill，现在是推广部主管。

下午5:00开始面试，全英文，大概的问题如下：

Why MBA? Why Now?
Why INSEAD? Why not 2-year school since I only work for at most 3 years when entering the MBA?
Besides the top-10 reputation, what else do you know about INSEAD?
What's your career goal?
What do you do in your leasure time?
What will you do if your team members have very different personalities?
嗯，中间穿插了一些小问题。

最后留了些时间让我问她问题，大概问出来的答案：

Students often can learn more from peers rather than from the course :-)
INSEAD is a party MBA, which means a lot of exciting parties are held frequently;
To study the second language ASAP before the MBA once accepted, because once the semester starts, a lot of fun is ahead :-)
Many MBA students find their real strength through MBA :-)
整个时间差不多是45分钟。

总体感觉，面试官很nice，也给了很多constructive 的建议。

期待月底的news.

sisi100

INSEAD面经(1) 和 新添的 2
我刚刚面试过一个,丹麦人，现在在新加坡和印尼之间做生意。 昨天晚上突然给我短信说今天面试，还让我自己选地方，于是我就挑了一家星巴克，好赶。。。

那家星巴克环境很好，由于我去得早，有一个好位置。他人很nice, 我们从12点20一直谈到2点半，一共谈了两个小时还多（饿死我了），其间他买了两份咖啡。。。我一杯都没喝完（汗！）他问的东西很细致，先是聊他的business, 然后问我一些关于IT technical 方面的东西，几乎面试所有的问题都包括了，也怪我给了他整个application package, 他就从头问到尾，真是一点都不落。。。

Why mba? Why now? Why Insead?

What other schools? why not choose American business schools? or choose NUS business school?Do you know CEIBS?

career progress until now?

Career goals?

Extracurricular activities? Hobbies?

What are the most impressive things when traveling in South East Asian countries?

Any idea about Vietnam’s economy? What are the challenges of Vietnam? Any suggestion? （他将来要在越南做生意）

How to maintain relationship with my girlfriend if I go to France to study?

If in my current company, what positions do I want most?

Teamwork experience?

How do my colleagues or friends describe you?

Have you told your bosses about your plan? How they react?

Failures (except the one in application form)?

能记起来的就这些了，两个小时实在是够问所有的问题了，。。。不过他很friendly, 所有这些更像聊天。。。他记了满满一张纸，还画中国的地图，让我告诉他我的家乡，还有我女朋友的家乡。。。说了很多鼓励的话。。。

呵呵呵呵。。。挺有意思的。。。

sisi100

INSEAD 面试1 and 面试2

今天上午做了面试，面试官比较NICE。

开始我们先用中文聊了聊其它的话题，然后转到英文，面试题目为

1）self introduction

2)  specific questions in the self introduction: * what made you succeed in the work  * how did you adapt new enviroment

3)  how do you understand leadership

4) how do you manage team

5) outsdie of your work

6) why mba

7) why insead

I will post my 2nd interview next week, hope to help you, guys.

今天完成了INSEAD的第二个面试，在ARCH里面做的，面试官非常NICE.

问题是

1）introduce yourself

2)  your company strength

3) where you learned English

4) how you made up your mind to apply MBA

5) what is your leadership experience

6) any other questions

finish insead. Hope to hear good news in Dec ;-)

sisi100

Insead MBA 校友面试 - 香港

I had my interview with two alumnis in HK last week.

I scheduled both on a weekend in a coffee shop because I live in Shenzhen.

Both interviews were very similar in terms of questions:

1) Walk me through your resume
2) Why MBA
3) Why Insead
4) Why Now
5) What would you like to do 5 years down the road
6) What can you contribute to Insead
7) What would your coworkers describe you
8) How do you motivate team members
9) What do u think makes a good leader

First interviewer was a guy and was more probing than the second interviewer who was a woman. First interview lasted 45 minutes, and second around 1.5 hours. Both were very friendly. The first person started giving me tips on what to do after I get to Insead, so I am assuming that's a sign that he will recommend for me. The second person didn't give any clear signals. She told me her input might account for a very small % of my overall mark. So if I don't get in, write to her and she'll give me some feedback. Umm...

Anyways, hope this helps for any future interviewees

sisi100

Insead 面经 Round 1, Sept 2010 Intake
我申请的是2010 Sept Intake, R1. 10月29号拿到校友的信息。11月18号下午在新加坡面的。第一个面试3点，第二个6点半。

第一个面试在Starbucks。校友是新加坡女士，03年毕业的，但是很年轻，毕业后以前在麦肯锡做过，现在做asset management。面试很随意，没有walk thru resume,没有self-introduction,没有leadership example,没有teamwork example。一上来就顺着我简历上现在的工作经验问，问我们公司restructuring的咨询是怎么做的，就解释了一下，然后给了她一个例子。这个开场白竟然和塔克校友的面试一模一样。看来经济形势不好，大家都对restructuring consulting很感兴趣。后来的问题就比较自然了。前后50分钟。

What are your career goals

Why Insead

Why do you need a MBA if your short term goal is to continue consulting

How did you choose your first job?

Why Singapore campus, Why not France campus

How to manage conflict

What are other schools you apply for


然后又回到career goals，问我为什么会对能源咨询感兴趣。后来就互聊了很多关于咨询的工作，校友直接说她受不了咨询的life style，而且咨询算起来的hourly pay其实很不怎么地，所以就换了。

面试开始一个小插曲，我先到，点了咖啡。校友来的时候，我都快喝完了。而且买咖啡排队的人太多了，她说就不买了。我连忙说，不急，你先看我的简历（之前我没发简历，只发了申请表，简历现场给她的），我帮你买。我排了两分钟，发现前面还有7，8个人，太长了，灵机一动，直接就到柜台前先place order，说等一下deliver 到我们的桌子。再后来，我insist付账，校友也没争。这样我心里也舒坦了很多。想想看校友是女士，这样的殷勤还是应该的，说不定人家还很在意这个呢。

结束了第一个面试，4点钟坐地铁转场第二个面试，在校友的办公室面。找了校友办公附近的一家starbucks，基本傻坐了两个小时，internet surfing也心不在焉, 真难熬。

终于等到了6点15分，上楼。校友是韩国人，一个VC firm的VP，不过很年轻，很有礼貌，04届的。开场白他介绍了一下面试的形式。然后下面是问题的顺序


How did you learn about Insead
What are other schools you are applying for (这个问题出现在第二个好早) 这个问题我说着说着，连带着把why MBA, why now, why Insead is best choice都说了。说完了，感觉讲得有点长，很抱歉的说，不好意思多说了一些。他听得很认真，说没有关系，这些也是他想知道的。

How would your co-worker describe about you

Why did you switch from industry into consulting

Which one is your strength, is it more about execution, or more about managing and coaching people？他问这个是看着我的简历的经历问的。我跟他讲两个都是。在industry的时候，因为工作的需要，要更多的去管理和培养团队；在咨询公司的时候，则更多的是自己必须亲力亲为的，不能期望delegation, 虽然有些时候需要coach一下analyst

Give a brief description of a typical work day of both your current consulting job and your previous industrial job

Did you encounter any challenge when you switched from industry to consulting?

What do you think if people comment that you are too nice as a colleague

Why did you choose Singapore for post-graduate study? Why not U.S. or Europe?

我直接说911后签证很难，当时美国一个学校的offer后来没去成，很郁闷。但是现在看来是更好的一个结果，因为what I learned from my experiences in Singapore shaped who I am today..blah blah举了几个小例子，说因为这个自己后来变得很positive. … whatever happens, it happens the best for me… 他听了应该很有共鸣，因为后来他分享了当时insead毕业后没有进入到自己最想进的管理咨询, 很沮丧，却机缘巧合进了VC，现在他觉得这是一个很适合的选择。

Do you drink wine? 看来韩国人很注重把生意和喝酒联系在一起啊，我老实的说喝得不多，但是可以喝。然后强调一句，我卡拉okay唱得不错，哈哈

What do you do outside of work

Where have you traveled to? Which country you like most

Where do you prefer to work in terms of location after MBA…
这个校友真的很坦诚。说他读insead的时候，因为之前是software engineer的背景，所以读的蛮吃力，不像其他一些同学很enjoy the study life。然后说学校也是一个大林子，有jerk，也有bitch（呵呵，听到他用这两个词我满shock的）。然后说韩国教授Chan Kim的蓝海战略课其实有点被外界过度推崇了。不过尽管这样，这还是一门非常unique的课，很值得上，而且他说他很有幸和Prof Chan Kim面对面的沟通过，这样的机会是很宝贵的。我接着问了几个关于VC行业的问题。结束面试的时候他送给我一句话, 说不管申请的结果怎么样，记住，这个世界上有很多成功的人士是没有读过MBA的，只要你明确了自己想做的东西，就大胆的去做。。。

好了，就写这么多了。祝大家申请顺利。

sisi100

INSEAD MBA R3 interviews
第一个面试人是2007毕业的,在一家很大的通讯公司做corporate developement manager. 从给他写第一封信开始，就感觉到了他对这个事情的重视以及条理性。两封信，确认了面试的时间和地点。面试没有什么很特别的，他人很nice,没有什么很刺激人的问题。
1，go through your CV， 挑了几个重点地问了问
2,  long-term, short-term goals
3,  leadership story
4,  how did you handle the resistance from your team members
5, how would you describe chinese, australia, french and german
提问部分我重点问了课程的设置，请他推荐一些他觉得很好的课程。然后我们聊了dash，还有alumni。面试大约做了90分钟，他没有提任何推荐不推荐的话，回来后我给他写了一封感谢信，他也回信了，就是祝我申请顺利的客气话。

第二个面试人是1995毕业的senior，女性。做过PE，IB，Consultant，siemens, 现在自己开了公司。互通信件,联系时间地点时很客气，让我有了点轻敌的思想，以为面试应该很短，她可能就是走走形式。
她完全没按一般的面试形式走。
1，解释一下你职业生涯的几次大变化，为什么这么选择。
2，为什么重视职业，做家庭主妇有什么不好
3，人生中最大的动力是什么
4，如果你突然有了1000万欧元你做什么
5，人生什么都不能control那读MBA干吗
6，为什么不在中国发展你的事业，要在德国
7，你的终生目标是什么
8，为什么不选择简单的生活，为什么要竞争，要赢
9，对 Pène du Bois（一个艺术家）作品的看法
这些问题里，我觉得可能就是Why MBA回答的稍微弱点。对于一个若干年前已经读了MBA的人来说，他们现在对MBA的看法和正在申请的人绝对是有很大的不同的。她可以举出很多别的选择来驳斥MBA的优选性。她是一个很强势的面试人，虽然面带微笑，但是还是比较容易察觉她对你问题的满意度的。在最后提问时,我只问了关于networking的问题。我们面试大约2小时，她送我出来时，站在雪地里还谈了10分钟，她没直接说推荐的事，但是她说你去ＩＮＳＥＡＤ将大大增加他们的diversity,INSEAD 咨询背景的人太多了，这是非常错误的决定，哈哈。最后让我有了任何结果都通知她一声。

现在所有的面试都完了，回过头来看整个申请过程，最有乐趣的部分还是面试。见到了不同的人，听到了不同的声音。虽然结果还没出来，但是已非己能控制了。
just happy it is done...