Obinna Arizor

Obinna is absolutely wonderful! I worked with him as a part of Menlo Consulting. The interview prep was invaluable. Obinna facilitated a full mock interview that was spot on when it came to atmosphere, demeanor, questions, and flow. He was very attentive and gave very concrete, constructive, and specific advice on my performance. Aside from the mock interview itself, Obinna was a great mentor and provided very personal support throughout the MBA application process, something I think most applicants forget as important during their applications. He provided comfort.

I couldn’t speak any more highly of Obinna! I worked with Obinna as part of my Menlo package. We had one session prior to my CBS and Wharton interviews, and I received offers to both schools. A 2/2 success, wahoo! I recruited for Investment Banking while I was in college and thought I had been familiar with the BQ interview process, and Obinna definitely took me to a higher level. He was patient and super clear with his instructions and made me feel at ease as soon as we started the conversation (even when I was somewhat unprepared walking into our session). He helped me analyze my answers and walked me through how he would have done things differently. I could see myself using some of the points he highlighted in future job interviews as well! He was also kind enough to provide edits / comments to my answer drafts.

I had a one hour interview prep session with Obinna. This was the best decision I took before going for the interview. I have 3 points that made Obinna stand out.
1. Obinna was very sharp in analysing my answers, pointing out very clearly how the intended message came out and how to better formulate crisp replies to questions.
2. Obinna is very considerate in understanding that in the early stages of preparations, answers may not come out in the best possible way. At the same time, he has a knack of getting the best out of you, and I came out of the session feeling very confident having improved myself.
3. Obinna instills a framework model into approaching the interview questions. This helped me a lot in clearly articulating my answers in a structured manner.
To summarise, he not only provides with the information required to approach the interview in the best possible way, but also makes you feel very confident and fully prepared going into the interview.
I would highly recommend anyone preparing for an interview to work with Obinna so as to bring the best out of you in the interview process.

I could not be happier that I signed up for a Menlo coaching session with Obinna! I had decided not to go with a consultant when applying but opted to try out a single coaching session prior to an interview for Kellogg. Obinna was incredibly helpful and knowledgeable and left me feeling confident about the interview. Not only did he provide specialized advice for the Northwestern program, but his comments helped me succeed in other interviews as well. I don’t know that I would have received an offer without him!

I was admitted to Columbia’s new MBA/Executive MS Engineering program. I scheduled a 60 minute mock interview with Obinna which I found extremely helpful. He tailored the interview specifically toward Columbia. After each question, he gave insightful feedback and was extremely helpful in figuring out ways to structure my answers. He did an excellent job in helping me tailor my responses specifically toward the dual degree program, emphasizing “why MBA”, “why MS”, and how both of these degrees combined will be useful. Obinna also gave great general advice in addition to the pointed advice he gave after each of my answers, helping me understand what the admission committee looks for and what can hurt me during the interview.

I worked with Obinna at Menlo coaching to prep for my MBA admissions interviews. I had 3 mock interviews with him for 3 different schools and his expertise in MBA interview prep really helped me during the interview preparation! His mock interviews and feedback were customized by different schools, which were super helpful to me. For example, he alerted me that one behavioral story is not very convincing and I might want to restructure my answer. Another example, he spent time working with me developing answers to some tricky questions got asked during those interviews in the past, which I found was super helpful. I spent day and night, trying to come up with something, and he was able to provide me with totally new perspectives and ideas. In general, when he provided feedback, he included specific examples and also gave me ideas on how to make the answer better. He was very patient, really calmed my nerves, and gave me the confidence for the real interview. Obinna was also detail orientated and focused on the big picture as well. He made notes on each of my answers, and he also provided high level feedback on how I should behave and talk in general. His mock interview was very similar to the real interview. I was so grateful I had the mock interviews with him.
I also had the communications training, which was also super valuable. I really built on my confidence and improved the way I talk. David (the founder of Menlo) also answered a few strategic questions for me, which is totally out of the scope of the services. In the end, I received an offer from Booth! I would definitely recommend Menlo to anyone who is looking for MBA consulting services!

Obinna is an absolutely incredible interview coach. His guidance made a huge difference in the quality and structure of my answers, as well as in my confidence level going into the interview process. I was ultimately accepted to all four schools I interviewed at.

I was admittedly completely unprepared going into my first mock interview. I was extremely nervous, which was reflected in my answers. Obinna was very patient and understanding, striking the perfect balance of being thoughtful and supportive while also extremely structured and thorough. He first suggested a more effective high-level way to approach the interview. He then provided very detailed feedback for every one of my answers to make them higher impact. What really struck me was his level of structure and specificity. Instead of merely saying, “You need to structure this part more clearly”, for example, he’d say, “I really liked the first part of your response. I think you should highlight that more by mentioning XYZ. The second part is a bit too long and has too much overlap with the first. I suggest cutting ABC and instead just focusing on EFG.”

After implementing his suggestions, I could feel a major improvement in the quality and structure of my next run-through. Ultimately, I was admitted to every school I interviewed at. Obinna is really an exceptional interview prep coach — so eloquent and meticulous. I couldn’t recommend him highly enough!

I worked with Obinna to prepare for the HBS interview. He conducted a very realistic mock interview and provided extremely relevant and helpful feedback. Obinna is personable and patient and really calmed my nerves. When I went into the HBS interview, I felt prepared and had a plan – and it went great and I was admitted – many thanks to Obinna! I would recommend working with him 100 times over.

Obinna’s approach to mock interviews ensures maximum impact in a short amount of time.

Before working with Obinna, I had worked on high level interview prep with my main Menlo Coaching consultant and was then referred to Obinna as the interview expert. In just two sessions, Obinna took me from novice to expert as it pertained to alumni interviews at Kellogg.

During each session, Obinna was prepared with commonly asked questions during MBA interviews and questions the school was known to have asked applicants previously. Obinna gave both specific advice, such as ways to reword a response to be clearer and more succinct, and thematic advice based on habits he had observed across multiple questions. After just an hour, I could see how small changes could significantly impact how my responses were received.

After listening to the recording of the mock interview sessions and incorporating his feedback, Obinna pushed me during the second session to further improve my communication style and responses, and included a few curve ball questions to keep me sharp. Finally, Obinna provided me with a list of questions for my interviewers that I was able to adapt based on my background and interests.

It was only with Obinna’s experience and comprehensive approach to interview preparation that I gained acceptance to one of my top choice schools.

To say it plainly – I was terrible at interviewing before I worked with Obinna. In just a few sessions, I saw tremendous improvement in my ability to communicate my message clearly. Obinna was extremely knowledgeable and went above and beyond to make sure I was prepared for any possible questions thrown at me during my interviews. I would not have been successful without Obinna’s help and support. With my improved skills, I earned a range of scholarships from all five schools I applied to.

Obinna’s mock interview is super helpful and insightful. I highly recommend it!!!

First, Obinna tailored the mock to each school’s format and frequently asked questions. He helped me with 2 schools’ mock interviews and covered almost all questions in my real interviews.

Second, for each feedback, he provided me with examples (in my second mock, he went through each of my answers in detail!!) that taught me how to make my answer clearer and better structured. Instead of simply saying something like “your answer is far too long”, he told me where I should keep the same, where I should shorten and how, and where I could include more details and how.

Third, for questions that I did not answer very well or were difficult to answer, he taught me how to think about and provided his answer for my reference.

Fourth, he collected sample questions to ask the interviewer. My interviewers loved the questions I picked from his sample!! They found each question super interesting and shared lots of their stories/experiences accordingly.

Last but not the least, he is very patient, encouraging, and supportive. He helped me build my confidence for the interview. He is also very flexible, and spent his weekend helping me.

Obinna is a thorough and thoughtful Menlo Coaching consultant who led me through interview prep ahead of interviews at 10 schools. His expert counsel left me well equipped to present my story in a compelling way that was authentically me and tailored to the spirit of each program. I performed better than I ever could have hoped and was admitted to 7 of those 10 schools. Obinna didn’t stop there, though. He was incredibly generous with his time in sharing a few important differences between MBA programs that really helped to guide my decision-making process. If you are looking for a professional, detailed, and experienced consultant, look no further – Obinna is your guy!

I interviewed with 6 programs and was accepted to 5 including my dream school Wharton thanks to intense preparation with Obinna! We worked together in 3 hourly sessions. During the first session, I was quite new to MBA interviews and he broke down the answers to key questions one by one and reorganized my answers each time after I gave them. I was quite surprised that he was able to tell the story I just told him better than I did myself, which provided me with great examples on how to re-answer these questions. After each session, he provided me lists of past questions from each of the schools I was going to interview with and even questions to ask my interviewers, which really boosted my confidence going into the interviews. During the second and third sessions, we mostly rehearsed school specific questions as I’ve improved enough to not worry about the typical questions. I would say that one hour’s prep with Obinna was probably worth three hours doing it on your own or with a friend as he’s really the pro here with 500+ sessions under his belt.

I got connected with Obinna through Menlo Coaching. He helped me prepare for the interview, specifically for CBS, and the prep session was a lot more thorough than I ever expected. His feedbacks allowed me to enhance my responses with more personalized/ program-specific examples. I felt very well-prepared during my actual interview and received an offer after the interview. The interview prep with Obinna was also very helpful for interviews I had with other schools. I would 100% recommend him.

I worked with Obinna on my interview prep. He took time and explained nuances in interview processes b/w schools I applied to. Throughout the prep session, he didn’t even miss a single point. Very good listener. Came-up with great suggestions on rephrasing some of my points. After each question, he explained from the interviewer’s point of view. I got admitted into my top school of choice. I highly recommend him.

From working with Menlo Consulting, I was connected with Obinna to conduct my interview preparation. With eight school interviews to prepare for in Round two, I knew I needed to be concise and well-prepared and there was little margin for error. Obinna helped me with just that and more! Given his experience as an MBA interview, Obinna was able to share incredibly valuable insights as to how certain answers are perceived. He also helped me avoid using ‘we’ language and directly taking ownership for my accomplishments. Throughout our time, I never felt like he used a cookie-cutter approach and instead tailored his approach and advice to my particular strengths/weaknesses. I competed for seven years in speech and debate at both the high school and collegiate level and received a lot of speaking advice and still felt like I walked away from my interview prep with Obinna with novel insights that I could apply from Day 1. Out of the eight schools I interviewed with, I was accepted into seven so I would say the results speak for themselves. I would not hesitate to work with Obinna in your interview preparation.

I had an excellent experience preparing for four interviews with Obinna. Each school used a different format (subject matter, intensity, interviewer, duration, etc.), and he prepared fantastic mock sessions for each. In general, he is very professional and flexible, often accommodating my requests for mock interviews at the time of day that my actual ones would be, weekday and weekend. His responses are near-instantaneous; each session is well-documented (follow-up notes, recordings, etc.) to allow the applicant to truly self-reflect afterward. He provided great advice outside the interview, like how to prepare in terms of mindset and even giving feedback on my broader interview prep plan – he is very pragmatic. I even found that the way he speaks, himself, is a model for interviewees and great coaching in and of itself.

Obinna really cares – he reached out to me after my most challenging interviews just to see how they had gone and provide encouragement. He was certainly instrumental in helping me gain admission to programs that I thought were big stretches throughout the process (HBS, Stanford), you just won’t find support like his anywhere else.

I came into the MBA application process from a non-corporate non-traditional background with an incredible mountain to climb. I knew I needed help in order to gain acceptance to my target schools. After meeting Obinna, he checked a few major boxes for me. 1) He seemed to genuinely care about me, constantly checking in on how I was doing and actually listening to my story. I never felt like just another client to him and that was huge for me. 2) He sifted through my long-winded interview responses and constant questions to find the best in me. I would email him every other day and he always gave insightful advice and feedback. 3) The guy is just a cool down-to-earth person who made one of the most nerve-wracking aspects of the MBA process (interviews) much more bearable.

In the end, I had 9 interviews in the second round in this crazy competitive cycle. My sessions with Obinna helped me land a spot at the highest-ranked school I applied to and end up with a decent scholarship. I am forever indebted to his guidance in this process. Getting an MBA is a life-changing opportunity and personally, as someone who doesn’t work with other MBAs or comes from a traditional background, Obinna’s support helped me level the playing field…truly.

I did an interview prep with Obinna for HBS, and from the minute we started the mock, I could tell that he had thoroughly read my application. I appreciated the level of detail that he inquired about my personal story and background, and having a practice interview with him made me feel so relaxed for the actual interview. Ultimately, I was accepted to HBS!

I worked with Obinna to do interview prep for a number of my first-round interviews. He quickly understood my story and the ways in which I was trying to position myself. His feedback and insight were critical in helping me to craft my narrative for interviews in a way that was organized, connected my background and experiences to the questions that would be asked of me in interviews, and allowed me to stay true to myself. I was accepted into 4 programs, including my top choice Kellogg, and I truly feel this might not have been possible without his help. I would 100% recommend working with Obinna to any future applicants.

I worked with Obinna for my interview prep and found my experience with him to be incredibly helpful. Obinna, conducted many interviews on behalf of Tuck while he was a student there and has a lot of experience conducting interviews. He quickly helped me (i) identify areas where I needed to be more specific and (ii) frame my answers in a way that ‘made sense’ and flowed very easily from one question to the next. He also helped me think about what elements of my story were critical to get across to the adcom and helped me find creative ways to embed that into my answers for the standard interview questions. I highly recommend him to anyone looking for interview practice. This was definitely one part of the Menlo package that was very valuable to me. In the end I was able to get admission to both Tuck and Yale – this would not have been possible without him.