Interviews
The first round interviews
If you pass the benchmark score on your online tests and HR like your online application, then congratulations – you are onto the first-round interviews! This can take place through a variety of different mediums: telephone (most common), video or face-to-face.
The contents of the interview obviously differ from firm to firm, but as a general guide, first- round interviews tend to be more competency and your motivations based, whilst later round interviews are a bit more technical and nuanced.
It’s important to be well prepared but you must also make sure you’re not coming across too rehearsed. Memorising and reciting answers is therefore not a good idea. Often practising with a friend/family member is beneficial so they can give you feedback on how you’re coming across. Ask about the pace you’re talking at, the tone (you want to come across confidently!) and whether or not you’re being concise enough.
Your Elevator’s Pitch
At the beginning of the interview, you may be asked to summarise who you are and your experiences. As this would be the first question they ask, it’s key to be able to make a good first impression and to be concise. Information to include:
Where you are now: university, course, which year you’re in, predicted grades.
Why you’re interested in consulting/the firm.
Key experiences you’ve had.
Competency Questions
Competencies are key qualities or skills that a recruiter is looking for, and in an interview, they will ask you to give an example of a time when you demonstrated these competencies. Often firms have a list on their career’s website of the key competencies that they are looking for. If they do, definitely write these down and think about times you have demonstrated each one!
Common competencies include:
Communication
Teamwork
Leadership
Personal Impact
Integrity
Innovation
Passion/Drive
Client/results focus
When thinking of examples, remember these don’t need to be consulting specific – simply a school group project or extracurricular activity where you’ve used your skills to make a positive contribution is what they’re looking for.
For the different examples you think of, chances are, you showed multiple competencies in each one. Whilst you might associate one particular example with one particular competency, it might be worth having a think about what other skills you demonstrated in each, as that allows you to be a bit more flexible if in the interview they ask a question you haven’t exactly prepared for. For example, if you led a society, that is a good example of displaying leadership. However, perhaps as President of the society you introduced something new which demonstrates innovation, or perhaps you were in a difficult situation where you showed integrity.
A popular approach to addressing these types of questions is the STAR technique.
Situation: Present the challenge you were faced.
Task: What were you required to achieve?
Action: What did you do to resolve the issue?
Result.
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Interviews can sometimes be CV-based, so make sure you re-read your CV before an interview to ensure you can talk in greater depth about anything you’ve included on it.
Example competency questions:
What are your past failures and what have you learnt from them?
Tell us about a time you’ve convinced someone to do something.
Tell me 3 qualities/3 weaknesses about yourself.
Tell me 5 key competencies a consultant should have. [...] Now order them according to your personal skill level and explain your order.
Tell me about a stressful situation and how you dealt with it.
Tell me about a situation when you were in conflict with a person at work and how you dealt with it.
Other Common First Round Interview Questions:
About the firm:
Make sure you have thoroughly researched the firm and can say exactly why you want to work at this firm rather than its competitors (even if you have also applied to its competitors!).
Motivations for applying to this firm?
What makes this firm different to its competitors? Why do clients choose this firm?
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Answer each question in a precise way. The content is equally important as your way of formulating an answer. The interviewer wants to test your client interaction skills and may test how you deal with unusual questions or may interrupt you mid-sentence.
CASE STUDY INTERVIEWS
Case studies arguably represent the most important part of consultancy interviews. The candidate is presented with a business problem and has to solve it in a clear, analytical and logical way.
Why case studies?
The purpose of a case interview is to simulate the daily job of a consultant in a condensed way. It allows analysing the candidate’s way of thinking, structuring, and problem-solving. At the same time, it also simulates a client interaction and evaluates your communication and interpersonal skills. More important than the solution to the problem is the way you approach and communicate it.
Case interview styles
There are several types of case interviews.
Candidate-led. The candidate is supposed to actively ask questions and lead the problem- solving. This is the most common type of case interview.
Interviewer-led. The interviewer asks questions directing the case. Each question should be answered in a concise and structured way. This style is preferred by McKinsey and also referred to as McKinsey- style.
Group case. Cases can also be given to a group of candidates. The main goal is to discuss the case together and come to a collaborative solution. This is to test your team-working skills. Be active but at the same time not too dominant. Rather impress with contribution and impact.
Presentation case. The candidate is given a business problem together with data (charts, graphs, etc.). The conclusion has to be worked out by oneself in a given time and presented to the interviewer in the form of a power- point presentation or similar. Not all of the data you receive has to be relevant. This is to test your ability to prioritise the most important pieces of information in solving a problem.
Make sure to find out which case interview style(s) to expect. Information is given either on the website or by a recruiter.
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The interviewer is likely going to challenge your answer. They may ask ‘so what?’ or question it. Don’t be afraid to stand by your answer and defend it. At the same time listen to feedback and demonstrate that you are coachable if your answer was wrong.
How to prepare for case interviews
Preparing for case interviews takes time. Start early and structure your learning for optimal results. The key points of the case interview preparation are:
Acquire basic knowledge. If you are new to consulting and case studies, it may be worthwhile to first learn about the topic and the way how consultant’s think. The most popular books are Victor Cheng’s Case Interview Secrets and Marc Cosentino’s Case in Point.
The amount of required business knowledge is usually small. If you study natural sciences nobody expects you to have the same knowledge as an economics or finance student. That said, it may help to become familiar with commonly used terms and what is most relevant in a business. Scanning through an introductory text as Steven Silbiger’s The 10-day MBA may be useful.
Case interview simulation. The key to becoming fluent with the process of case interviews is live-practice. Try to find a study partner in your peer group or online using platforms like PrepLounge.com or similar.
The advantage of this type of practice is that it comes close to the real scenario of the interview and sharpens your communication skills.
Usually, you act once as the interviewer and once as the interviewee. Providing clear feedback to your partner makes you alert about important aspects such as case opening, communication skills, precision, prioritising, calculation, synthesis, case closing, etc.
Skill drills. Short drills of individual key aspects of a case interview such as case opening, estimations, brain-storming, individualised frameworks, analyses, hypothesis testing, chart interpretation.
The key is to practice each task in a structured manner. Each drill takes only up to 15 minutes which allows you to focus on strengthening any weaknesses.
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Your problem-solving approach has to be as individually tailored to the case as possible! General frameworks are useful tools to identify important variables and problem-solving patterns, but you should avoid using them without adaptation. Being a ‘framework-robot’ is a red flag for most interviewers!
Calculations. Although the math required during a case interview relies on basic operations such as addition/subtraction, multiplication/division, fractions, percentages, it is crucial to become fluent and confident in your calculations. This is easily achieved through very frequent practice using an app or website. First focus on precision, then on speed.
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You can incorporate case interview practice into your day by taking a minute to develop a problem-solving structure for business headlines you encounter in news. Also, use any numbers you come across to practice your mental calculation skills.
Structuring. This has been mentioned before but its importance is hard to exaggerate. It is the foundation of a consultant’s way of thinking. Structuring involves top-down ordering of categories and ordering from most to least important. That principle goes beyond the first framework at the opening of a case and should be present in every single answer you give to an interviewer in any part of the interview.
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Practice structured thinking and reasoning in your daily life. E.g. when deciding where to go for dinner with friends (“We could go to A, B, C. We should pick A because of X, Y, Z.”). At the risk of annoying your friends and family, this is a great way to become familiar with this style of thinking.
THE SECOND ROUND INTERVIEWS
If your first-round interview is successful, you will be asked to go to a second-round interview. This is often a face-to-face interview or a group case study. There may also be more than another single round of interviews. This differs between companies but information about the number of interviews and the interview style should be provided on the website or by a recruiter. Make sure to prepare for the specific style of interview.
Other than competency questions (which definitely could come up again so make sure you refresh your memory on these), the focus of second-round interviews is usually also on case studies.
Second round cases are often a bit more challenging. While first-round cases tend to be designed to test your basic structuring and communication skills using profitability cases or simple business cases, second round cases can range from public sector cases to cases hidden in a simple question such as ‘what do you think about my phone?’
TOP TIP Second round interviewers often test the weak points of your previous interview. Make sure to ask your first- round interviewer for feedback and write down the areas where you feel you struggled most. Prepare those extensively before the second-round interviews!
The final-round interviewers often have a more senior position in the firm. They may be at the manager or senior partner level. Their impression will carry a lot of weight in the final decision regarding your application. But if you made it that far, they think that you have what it takes for the job. It is now about consistency in your performance and to test any possible weak points of the previous rounds. So, stay calm and structure every single answer that you give.