How to prepare for a management interview?

How should one prepare to clear the pre-interview and interview at TISS for Master's of Arts in human resource management and Master's of Arts in development studies?

• What are some suggested strategies, important topics, interview experiences, or study material.

• Answer:

  I was going through my Quora profile and I came across this question which I had asked over a year ago when I was in the admission process of these courses at TISS. Now I am a student at TISS :D so I decided to answer this. I was shortlisted for both the courses at TISS Mumbai and finally got admission in M.A in Development Studies. Some tips based on the preparation strategy I used for the PIT and PI. 1. Read newspapers daily- especially the editorial- suggested newspaper The Hindu 2. For PIT of Development Studies specifically focus on more development related issues- magazines like Yojana, Kurukshetra, Frontline, The Week, Economic and Political Weekly are very helpful- don't do all of these pick and choose- Yojana and Kurukshetra are pretty much the ones you should read religiously (helped me a lot!). PIT question paper had three questions from the development space, you have to choose one and answer it. They were all very generic ones, what is actually tested is your opinion (being well read on the topic helps). I answered a question on the importance of gender equity in propelling development. One of the other options was about higher education in India. So you see very general topics covered. 3. Practise writing a crisp essay for the PIT. 4. For HRM, the questions were a mix in my case one that required a little management or corporate understanding and the other based on caste and politics in India (way too generic). 5. For the PI prepare your graduation subject well especially if you are from humanities (it is a great deal..I am an economics graduate maximum questions were from economics). This is again not a hard and fast rule some people were not asked much from there disciplines but then you don't know which category you would fall into. 6. Focus on knowing yourself well. Questions like tell me something about yourself, why do you want to do this course, why TISS and why not some ABC college, why not MBA, where do you see yourself 5 years from now and all such questions. 7. The preparation you did reading newspapers and magazines will again come handy here. The panel might just start discussing on a prevalent debate (can be anything but yes, not the technical ones to people who might not have the knowledge of that stream). Note: if your views differ from the panel's during the discussion please don't lose your cool or get into an argument, be mature enough to handle the discussion. 8. Be well prepared on your family background (like my dad works with NTPC and questions related to it were asked), home state (specialities, policies, disputes etc. a friend from Orissa was asked about the Niyamgiri Hills case; another one from West Bengal was asked about dropping of arms in his district in the 1900s, college, previous firm etc. 9. You are supposed to fill a detailed application form (DAF)- take time out to answer the questions asked in it properly and be well prepared to answer any questions from those in the PI. Hope this helps :) All the best!!