The ticket to MBA has been changing colours
MBA admission procedures at Indian b-schools have traditionally followed the set routine of holding a mass admission test, calling the shortlisted candidates for group discussions in stressful environments and then grilling them one-on-one in personal interviews. A small crop of b-schools, however, are breaking away from the formula to admit their batches using innovative methods that require applicants to pitch themselves on video, participate in group activities, get their personalities profiled or participate in interviews from home.
Admission processes have traditionally demanded of applicants to demonstrate that they are intellectually capable of absorbing the MBA curriculum, can fruitfully contribute to class discussions and be employable at the end of the programme. The demands of the industry however, are changing, say b-schools that have been experimenting with b-schools admissions. Dr Pritam singh, director general of International Management Institute (IMI), Delhi says, “Companies today are looking for managers with skillsets that go beyond just intellectual ability.”
Companies are now also interested in knowing what a candidate’s personality is like, whether he has sufficient resilience to perform in uncertain environments, what motivates him, how thorough he is and a range of other traits. With conventional aptitude methods not being designed to measure such qualities, a few b-schools are using a range of psychometric tests — which measure both aptitude and personality rather than only aptitude as in the case of traditional admission tests — to identify candidates matching a personality profile.
The Caliper Profile used by the Gurgaon-based School of Inspired Leadership (SOIL) is one such psychometric test. Designed by the US-based Human Resources Consulting firm Caliper Corp, the written test measures an individual’s personality characteristics, potential and motivation across over twenty five attributes.
The standard format of a Caliper Profile gives all applicants two hours to complete a written test with 150 objective questions. The result of the test provides the school a detailed analysis of how well or badly the candidate is likely to, say, handle rejection, be forthright without being downright aggressive, how good he is at initiating new relationships with people, and so on.
Based on the Caliper Profile, SOIL shortlists candidates on the basis of benchmarks set out by them for each of the personality traits measured by the test. For instance, the school could have a minimum benchmark for assertiveness or a maximum limit for skepticism. That was just an illustrative example, of course. SOIL refused to divulge how exactly they dealt with the test results.
According to Aakash Mathai of the admissions department at SOIL, the school’s focus on leadership development led it to pick a test that identified leadership qualities in a candidate over other more basic forms of psychometric tests such as picture identification or a conventional personality measurement test.
Not far behind is the IMI, Delhi which is planning to introduce a practical skill based psychometric test as part of their admission procedure from the year 2012. According to director general Singh, the school will make applicants perform tasks as unusual as making candles to passing an Olympic style flame to observe and judge how they behave in groups, how well they plan, how they function under stress, what are they like at decision making, etc.
The criteria for judging the tasks are still a work-in-progress, but Singh told PaGaLGuY that a panel of evaluators comprising IMI faculty as well as industry representatives would judge how candidates react to, analyse and approach each task.
Pune’s Foundation for Liberal and Management Education (FLAME) uses a picture perception test as a part of its admissions procedure. Candidates are asked to formulate and write a story based on an image that they are shown for a short period of time. The images may depict people conversing with each other or sitting on grass. According to the institute, a candidates perception of the picture helps the admissions committee tune into his personality and mental wavelength.
FLAME refused to divulge their modus operandi in detail, but a current student at FLAME who did not wish to be named told this reporter that there was no way one could really prepare for the test. “The Institute does not specify what they are looking for during the picture test. The picture that we were shown made me think of an old moral story I had once heard and I wrote a story on the same lines. I must have done something right because I was shortlisted after the test, she said.
Indus World School of Business (IWSB), Greater Noida administers a written psychometric test to prospective students. Inspired by the Career Launcher (CL) psychometric test (Career Launcher, the CAT prep institute owns IWSB), the IWSB test requires candidates to attempt 60 personality-based questions in 90 minutes. While CL uses the test to identify personality traits of potential employees, IWSB claims to have adapted the test to figure out if a candidate is entrepreneurial by nature — what is his risk-taking capability like and whether he has leadership qualities and a knack of taking control of stressful situations.
IWSB also makes admission candidates perform group tasks, such as building blocks with their eyes closed while group members pass on vocal directions. The school feels that such methods help them measure the cooperation and collaboration capabilities of the candidates.
Similar departures from conventional admission routines to look for specific skills and qualities have been used by niche MBA schools such as the Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad and Institute of Rural Management, Anand since several years.
Digitising parts or whole of a school’s admissions process is the other tangent that admission innovation is following at a few b-schools. The Institute of Management Technology (IMT), Ghaziabad had last year allowed applicants to participate in interviews over the Internet using technology provided by a company called ‘Vmock’. Candidates had to answer one randomly generated mandatory question and two questions of their choice by facing a webcam that would record them in video and deliver the videos over the Internet to the IMT admissions team. In addition to helping working professionals interested in IMT avoid travelling to attend interviews, the recorded ‘virtual interviews’ were meant to be viewed by a diverse panel comprising faculty and industry representatives before a decision was made.
Even though the system experienced several snags in its first run last year, it was a first-of-its-kind initiative. IMT is confident that it is better prepared to use Vmock for admissions this year. The major problem we faced (in 2011) was with bandwidth availability. However, one entire year has passed by and we are confident that the same issues will not be faced again, Dr AM Sherry, IMT’s admissions in-charge told PaGaLGuY. He added that the IMT board was scheduled to hold a meeting soon where it would be finally decided whether Vmock would continue to be used for the upcoming 2012 admissions or not.
On similar lines as IMT, starting 2012, SOIL Gurgaon requires applicants to submit a Video Resume as a part of their application form. Applicants need to record a two-minute video (using digital cameras, webcams or even cellphones) pitching themselves as fit-for-admission candidates and upload it on Youtube. According to Mathai, the institute will use the video resumes to gauge the body language and personality of applicants from within their comfort zones. Evaluators will pay attention to the content, diction, grammar, structured-ness in the presentation and the thinking as showcased by the applicants, he added.