How to Tackle an MBA (HR) Interview
Human source administration is progressively becoming a crucial function within most companies and much more and extra b-universities in India are supplying specialized classes in HR. As a subject of point, MBA as a training course of study is transferring toward higher specialization and it is not strange for an MBA aspirant today to uncover himself shortlisted for five distinct programs – an MBA in Finance from SP Jain, a PGDHRM from XLRI, a PGP in agri-enterprise from IIM-A, an MBA in Rural Administration from IIFM Bhopal and an Functions Administration system from NITIE. A attainable reason for these types of prevalent specialization between MBA courses is that with the proliferation of b-educational institutions all around India, the superior types are making an attempt to fortify their brand name by supplying tailor-manufactured classes based mostly on their core competences. This way, the institute stays away from the rat race of basic MBAs and builds for alone an image of a market place leader in its distinct domain of MBA training. Even though it would be untimely to signal the end of the general MBA system, it is plain that specialization is on the rise and MBA aspirants ought to, in addition to cracking the entrance examinations, get ready them selves for the team discussions (GDs), individual interviews (PIs) and statements of function (SOPs) of the certain function that they have applied to.
Presented this context, I have, from my encounter as an interviewee for and now a university student in an HR system, experimented with to set alongside one another 7 factors that an aspirant for an MBA in HR could do well to bear in brain. Though the concerns outlined beneath have been specifically linked to an HR job interview, I feel they would apply in a related vein to other specialized programs as properly. However, my achievement in an HR interview and my practical experience in an HR study course limit my observations to the HR area only.
1. Be knowledgeable about HR as a job. If requested about which domain in HR you discover appealing, you must not stare blankly as if you thought specialization ended with selecting the MBA(HR) possibility on the application kind. The HR operate has a lot of sub-capabilities inside it, like Compensation, Recruitment and Range, Instruction and Development, General performance Management and Industrial Relations. Examine up broadly on the various domains and try out to delve a bit into any just one area that appears to be fascinating to you from the surface area. This equips you with fodder for an knowledgeable discussion with the panel. For occasion, if IR (industrial relations) interests you, you could study up on the most recent industrial strikes in the nation and a little bit on the various trade unions that are there and their political affiliations, so that you can substantiate your curiosity in the matter by offering illustrations. Often don’t forget that the greatest evidence of interest is knowledge.
2. Interaction is not a main HR talent. By no means say that your communication skills (or any other so-known as ‘soft’ ability for that make any difference) will make you an excellent HR supervisor. Communication is a standard skill that is needed of any supervisor inside of any corporation. In simple fact, a internet marketing manager working with brand names or a output manager on a store ground requires to connect much more on a day by day basis than an ordinary HR manager working with payrolls or appraisals. He would never ever be envisioned to converse to purchasers or suppliers, and even inside of the organization, his interaction with workers is to a considerably lesser extent than the quick supervisor’s. On the contrary, an HR manager creating a payment technique for 10,000 workforce would will need as a lot analytical and variety crunching techniques as would another person in finance or functions. The perception therefore that HR is all about delicate expertise is a absolutely incorrect one and talking about delicate expertise as a core competence in an HR interview could be a recipe for disaster.
3. Audio reasonable about the prospects in HR. Do not sound nave when speaking about the place you see yourself in the lengthy run. It is very good to say that you desire to be a CEO, but be ready for a counter-assault from the panel offering you a dim statistical chance of an HR manager at any time becoming the CEO of a organization (nevertheless there are these examples). You should really be informed of the occupation route of a normal HR professional, equally in functional HR as well as in the consulting domain. You should really also be aware that a shift to a common management part from an HR role is not probable at any or each and every phase in one’s job. Typically, this sort of shifts are doable only at the senior and top management stages where by one has collected enough functional expertise to be capable to acquire on a strategic part. Most of his profession, an HR experienced would gather knowledge as a generalist or professional in a line function (within any firm) or as expert in a consultancy company (like the Hay Team or KPMG). Ultimately, you need to also be informed of the fundamental variance between a line or functional HR position and a consulting job and the worries associated with every single. Really broadly, a practical HR manager is effective within just an existing HR framework in an group, whilst a specialist styles frameworks for a variety of organizations of various dimension, age and tradition and advises them on plan and implementation.
4. Be very clear as to why HR. This issue would haunt you in any interview in different varieties, and it is superior to be geared up with a particular solution in its place of giving a common answer for ‘why MBA’. Even though there is no ‘model’ response to this question, I would counsel offering a frank and straightforward reaction as a substitute of something that includes your inborn ‘people skills’ or ‘communication skills’. One thing as straightforward as ‘my cousin is a senior HR manager at P&G and I like the do the job he does‘ could be a beautifully satisfactory answer, furnished you know broadly what your cousin does. You have to arrive up with your own respond to primarily based on your earlier knowledge in or exposure to the company world and if it appears authentic, there is no cause why a panel really should doubt your reason for wanting to do an HR training course.
5. Be obvious as to why ‘XYZ’ to HR. You could be questioned to justify why you want to change from a job in the computer software coding to one particular in HR. Personally, I have confronted this query at two of the major HR institutes in the nation, viz., TISS and XLRI and more so since my background was something as unlikely as architecture. Most aspirants often make the error of striving to relate their earlier work or education with HR and justifying how expertise obtained in 1 will appear in handy in the other. (On a lighter note, most panellists feel you really don’t acquire any expertise in a software program job!) Do that only if you can strongly relate the two, else steer clear of it. The most effective remedy to this would once more be a frank answer and just one that is related to your personal experience in life. In my situation, I instructed them that architecture was remarkable as a training course of review, but as a career, it was overhyped in conditions of creative imagination and stagnating in phrases of progression. I wished an MBA in HR for the reason that, to start with, MBA would give my occupation a fillip, and HR was one thing that I could grapple with, given my background and inclination (as compared to finance, operations or advertising and marketing).
6. Mirror on HR concerns in your office. If you have worked right before, then assume about what problems you oneself confronted in your workplace and how you would test to address them if you ended up the HR manager in the business. A good friend of mine who was a journalist just before joining an HR course talked about in her interview that she knew also properly how a sub-editor is overworked and underpaid, and her whole interview turned in the direction of worker pleasure in the journalism marketplace, something she could discuss for hrs on. Hence, realizing about HR troubles in your previous task reveals that you are mindful of the troubles an HR manager would generally confront in an firm.
7. Do not aggrandize HR. Lastly, HR is not the top career in the globe. It is only as very good or as bad as any other company function. Try out not to make statements that propose HR as the motive powering all company successes or that HR can resolve all corporate evils. Be informed of the limitations of human source administration equally as a function in an firm and as a career for you. At the same time, emphasize the point that HR is an emerging subject and most of the unsolved or unattended challenges in businesses today lie in the area of HR, and even as a help perform, effectively-made HR guidelines and tactics can help HR engage in a strategic part in the results or failure of a business.
Holding the over details in head will with any luck , support any aspirant to an HR training course to make a constructive impression on the interviewer and express an impact of authentic fascination in pursuing a profession in human useful resource management.
Sourav Sengupta