After continuously going through the 6 steps above, ask the interviewer for a break to (explain) gather your thoughts and develop the first part of the problem tree. In addition, general social skills and interview tips also apply – show your appreciation by thanking them for their help, keep a smile on your face to maintain a positive atmosphere, etc. Therefore, you should focus your energy on developing bespoke frameworks that take into account the information you gather in each case interview. In preparation, some candidates practice many different cases in order to be ready when they encounter new twists, exotic questions or extremely unusual cases. The actual interview will be much less intimidating if you have taken the time to work on many possible cases. Start your counseling preparation process with 35 sample case interviews, 16 case books, and a video rich in commentary from the most trusted sources. Enough theory! Pretty cute little illustration here and there. It`s time to dive into an example of a serious case interview. Memorizing predefined frames will NOT impress your interviewers. You need to learn how to create custom frameworks tailored to the details of each case.
We will discuss this in more detail in section 2.2 below. So how do you make sure your recommendations are relevant, smart, and engaging? By mastering communication at the CEO level. This sounds easier than it is, because talking like a CEO often means presenting your answers to the case interview by doing the exact opposite of what you would if you told your mom a story. Here are three key areas you need to focus on in your communication: Business acumen: A strong business instinct helps advisors make the right decisions and develop the right recommendations. The most important point to understand about a case interview and the case interview process is that it is designed to simulate the life of a business consultant. It reproduces all the phases of a three- to six-month engagement in thirty or forty minutes. Don`t forget to line up in case interviews as well, at the beginning of the case and at each important step. Most people will be put off by this fact – in fact, with all the effort put into learning for the last part of the case, and the hiring decision is made when you`re not even properly warmed up yet. As we mentioned earlier, old-fashioned case interview frames (such as those found in Case in Point and Case Interview Secrets) are unreliable and won`t impress your interviewer. This could be a bitter pill to swallow if you`ve already gone through the relevant books and spent time learning these frameworks. Interviewers test their analytical skills by paying attention to your ability to ask challenging questions, analyze data to gain new knowledge, and develop data-driven conclusions.
Perhaps surprising to some, they also observe how nervous you are during a case interview. Nervousness or lack of self-confidence can translate badly when it comes to customer trust. First 15-30 minutes: Aptitude interview, assessment of your motivation to be a consultant in that particular company and your leadership and teamwork skills. Read more about the adjustment interview in our article here. In pricing cases, you will be asked to determine how to determine the optimal price for a product or service. To do this, you need to take into account various factors. To make this decision, you need to assess whether the market is attractive, how strong the competitors are, whether your company has the skills to enter, and what the expected profitability is. Have you been told you have a case interview? What is a case interview and why do employers use it? A case interview is a job interview that involves questions about how to handle a particular job scenario. This way, you break ties in management teams when each leader has a different project or opinion about what the company should do.
A consulting firm will show up, conduct an analysis and make a recommendation based on facts. The key lies in decoupling problem solving, business concepts, and analytical tools to achieve the modularity needed to apply the same overall method to solve each case. The synergistic effect of these three elements allows you to address any case interview question. Let`s take a closer look at these elements. Many of the skills and qualifications required to successfully complete a case interview are the same skills and qualities required to successfully complete a case consultation project. If the other person utters the words “Our client,” you know you`re in a case interview. Usually, this specific business problem or situation is one that a candidate would face if hired for the position at that particular company. For example, a candidate`s application could determine whether there is a market for UV sterilizers for domestic use. You can start by asking questions about the target market, the cost of each unit, and the sale. As they dig in, they can come up with ideas on how to create more markets, such as units of different sizes or for specific items like phones. In addition, follow-up implementation projects are an important source of revenue for larger consulting firms (such as McKinsey, BCG, or Bain), so mentioning your end-of-interview pitch proves that you`ve done the proper research before applying. In the case of mergers and acquisitions, you will be asked to determine whether to acquire a particular business.
The overall objective is to assess how the candidate as a consultant thinks and arrives at specific solutions or answers to a particular business problem scenario. Keep in mind that for all these different types of case studies, we have many examples of case questions that you can solve in our free case bank. The reason the interviewer asks these questions is that they use the case interview to test you on the work you will do as a business consultant. They provide you with realistic scenarios so they can get an idea of how you would interact with a real customer. You want to know that you know how to behave and that you won`t embarrass the company if you get hired. Once your file is closed, there may be a few other corresponding questions, including the opportunity to ask questions of the interviewer. This is an opportunity to leave a goodbye impression – we`ll cover the details in our Fit Interview resources. Every meeting, every phone call, even every random catch-up has to end with everyone being explicit and absolutely clear about what to do next.