My UNC Interview Experience

Here goes my UNC Phone interview experience, which was done on 29th January 2006 ( 10:30 PM IST). Dont curse me writing this so late... though late, better than never :) Also, if it helps, I had jotted down most of the questions and my responses, so not many chances that I have forgotten or missed out.

One good anecdote that I happened to hear is that "A good interviewer will make you go home with a feeling that you have done well". I def. know that my interviewer, Ms.Peggy Tate, was a very good interviewer. I hope I was good too! Waiting with my fingers crossed.

The interview started with her stating that my work profile and background was impressive and told me that she wanted to know more about me as a person and my values, beliefs , motivations behind what I did etc.. I explained to her my background, why I joined the company that I had ( it was a startup when I joined, though now it has been acquired by Flextronics ). I then went ahead and explained my career progression. She seemed satisfied with it. She asked how I found out about the company and how I could take up some of the initiatives that are generally within the purview of senior or middle management. It was very nice to see that she had gone through my resume in detail and was well prepared with the questions. Then came "why mba" - I was waiting for her to ask why_unc but she did not. she asked me how i caem to know of UNC - i told her through businessweek initially and ten through a couple of currrent students.. I metnioned how helpful they were in reviewing my resume etc.. thats probably the reason why she did not ask me the why_unc question!

She then asked me which leadership experience would I consider the most challenging, why and what sort of challenges I faced. I explained to her a leadership role that I had at work.

The next question was about what my passions were outside of work - I mentioned about my hobbies and my extra curricular activities. She asked if I had questions - I asked 3 questions.
1. About the branding of UNC in India.
2. How good is the UNC alumni network in India for Entrepreneurship ? How many of them in India are entrepreneurs approx? - She did not hvae an exact idea but mentioned that several of tehm are planning to come back to India as oppurtunities are picking up in India. Though its just starting, but there are several people who have contacts in India, I would be able to leverage the indirect benefits in India.

3. Has anyone been offered placements in India? How many jobs are offereed in consulting in Asia? She mentioned that consulting is becoming stronger in UNC and was improving. With India doing well, several consulting jobs in India would be coming up as well. During the latter part of the conversation, because she ad nto asked the question, I felt it was my duty to show her that I valeud UNC. I showed her that I had done good research on UNC.

Some tips/things that I missed out in the interview
1. Use the advantages of a phone intvw - write notes.
2. UNC wants leaders who can contribute to society. She seemed interested in community work.
3. Smile during the interview. They do hear it!
4. Sleep , eat well before the interview ( though not to an extent that you fall asleep ).
5. Go to an open, quiet place.
6. Make sure you can make the ISD call if need be.

On the whole, the experience was great. I was initially sceptical of the phone interview , but the advantages were very good - I could keep my own notes during the interview and could speak slowly. A lot of efforts went into it by both the interviewer as well as me.

True to Montauk, adcom members are well prepared and the interview went well coordinated and was concise. It lasted for about 40 mins. Finished the conversation with a good feeling as at the end, she said "You have a good balance of values, technical work and management work." While discussing about collaborative culture, she said "It is not a buzz word, I could see more when I go there". Am I reading too much or did she genuinely like me? Well, again as I said, she was a great interviewer. Waiting with my fingers crossed!