Indian Institute of Foreign Trade is renowned for its MBA in International Business besides other MBA programs. After the written exam, IIFT conducts a round of Group Discussion, Essay Writing and Personal Interview for the shortlisted candidates.
Group Discussion or GD, is used by an organization (company, institute, business school etc) to gauge whether a candidate has certain personality traits like communication skills, leadership, teamwork etc.
In IIFT, GDs are conducted as a part of the second round of the admission process. The average duration of the GD is 15 minutes and the group usually has 10-15 participants. Once a topic is given, participants are given 1 minute to think, and then the GD commences. The topics in IIFT vary from general topics; to current affairs related topics. Following is a list of GD topics asked in 2017 and 2018 Group discussion rounds of IIFT:
The next step in the selection procedure is essay writing. As effective writing skills are a pre-requisite for global professionals, IIFT has included this round along with the GD/PI Process. Candidates are required to write an essay of 300 words in 20 minutes.
An essay is a reflection of one's personality. It checks the written communication skills, knowledge level and logical thinking ability of the candidate. An essay can be deemed as a good essay only if it has good content, organization and presentation. Few topics that have come in IIFT essay writing are:
A Personal Interview is a great opportunity for candidates to showcase their skills and strengths. It's a chance to show how they are a perfect fit for the particular institute or position. On the other hand, it gives the chance to the panelists to evaluate the personality of the candidate. In the IIFT interview, there are generally 3 panelists. Two of the panelists are faculty members and 1 is an alumnus. The kind of questions and number of questions asked to the candidates can vary from person to person, but the personal interview is designed to know about you.
Typically, interview questions can be of different types, like a personality-based question, which focus on the strengths, weaknesses, achievements, failures and goals of an individual. Questions regarding Academics focus on an individual's academic and extracurricular performance. There can also be current affairs or career planning based questions.
