Fit interviews are part of the selection process at most employers. Top firms, such as McKinsey, BCG, and Bain (MBB), have developed their own flavor of the fit interview to test whether candidates have the character to deliver challenging projects and succeed in consulting.
Being an excellent interviewer is a valuable skill. When you become a great interviewer, you will be in high demand to practice with best candidates. You will be able to learn from their strengths and to raise your game. But how exactly should you go about doing this? What skills should a good interviewer have for […]
Thirty years ago, people started to use frameworks to structure cases, as was popularized by the book “Case in Point”. Another book, “Case Interview Secret”, went further by suggesting that most consulting cases could be solved using a single “one-size-fits-all” framework. Unfortunately, candidates who depend on these books today are being led down the wrong […]
As headhunters who have prepared 500+ candidates for interviews at Top 3 firms we’ve seen too many great candidates fail in interviews despite having everything they needed to succeed and a great background to show for it. To help you avoid the same fate, we’ve rounded up the top five reasons why high calibre candidates […]
Even though these questions are asked in most consulting interview rounds, this is still an area where many candidates make mistakes. In this article, we highlight the common pitfalls to avoid and provide a strategy to help you put forward a distinct and convincing rationale for wanting to make a career move into consulting at […]
Most McKinsey, BCG and Bain offices use two rounds of interviews before making a final hiring decision. If you’ve been invited to interview then you can count yourself as being in the top 10% of applicants. However, the work has just begun! Now here’s the good news: if you make it to a final round […]
At the end of a consulting interview you normally have a few minutes to ask questions to your interviewer. The questions you ask are not formally assessed but they will contribute towards making the interviewer excited (or not!) about you. Remember that your interviewer is, in fact, believe it or not, a real human! Although […]
If you’re hoping to land interviews at McKinsey, BCG or Bain then you may be wondering how preparations for these interviews may vary. In this article, we outline the key differences you can expect to come across if you interview at more than one of the top three consulting firms. They’re not that different The […]
Although most case interviews are live, where you’re sitting across from the interviewer as you work through the case, some firms use written case studies in their recruiting process. Their goal in doing so is to simulate actual consulting work even more closely than in a traditional case interview. The format Similar to a classic […]
You’ve just been given a case question on growing an existing business. Immediately, you have a tonne of ideas swimming around your head. In front of you is a blank sheet of paper and a pen. It’s up to you to organise your ideas on the page into a structure that’s going to set you […]
In an interview with BCG, Bain, and occasionally in the final round at McKinsey, you can expect to be asked a simple (but often challenging!) question on summarising your resume, background, or experience so far in a brief introduction. Although the seemingly innocent question of “Tell me about yourself” or “Walk me through your resume […]
The Personal Experience Interview (PEI) element of the recruitment process at McKinsey is a little different than the ‘fit’ interview questions you may come across at BCG or Bain. Typically, you won’t be asked generic opening questions such as ‘Tell me about yourself’ or ‘Why do you want to join McKinsey?’. Instead, this part of […]
Your resume has passed the test and as an interviewee, you’re already in the top 10% of applicants. This is not the time to arrive looking a bit odd or unprepared. The consulting interview is in fact a role play where the candidate is playing the role of the consultant and the interviewer the role […]
Making sure your interviewer knows how brilliant you are is obviously something you want to nail in a consulting interview. But there’s a way of doing this that comes across confident and capable without being cocky. Despite having a plethora of impressive achievements, many candidates struggle to convey their record of success in an effective […]
You’ve got to the end of the case analysis and your interviewer asks: “So, what is your recommendation to the client?” It’s not the time to relax just yet! You still need to communicate your overall findings and your recommendation. Consulting firms call the skill of doing this ‘synthesis’. Why concluding the case well is […]
Market sizing questions are often presented within a wider case, but they can sometimes feel like mini standalone case questions themselves. They include questions such as: “What is the estimated monthly revenue of a sandwich shop near inner city offices” or “What is the estimated number of SUV cars sold per year in North America?” […]
Of all the assessment dimensions, structuring is perhaps the most challenging for candidates who are just starting out with case interviews. It’s also a critical skill needed to handle any case successfully and it’s an area worth investing a significant amount of time. In a case interview, after hearing the case brief and asking any […]
Having placed over 100 candidates at McKinsey, BCG and Bain while they had a full-time job, we know a thing or two about what successful candidates have in common and what preparation it took to succeed in these interviews. The short answer to the question of ‘how long will the preparation take me?’ is 50-75 […]
There’s no doubt that the fit interview is important; it represents half of the assessment. But for some reason, most candidates neglect this part in their preparation. Your performance in the fit interview will make the difference between you and other candidates who perform equally well in the case interview. So, you need to prepare […]
Most candidates find interviewing with top management consulting firms intimidating—these are prestigious institutions known for their ruthless selection process and incredibly high competition to enter. It can become a problem when top candidates are so intimidated that their fear affects their interview performance. The good news is that there are things you can do to […]
McKinsey, BCG and Bain typically only hire 1% of their applicants. However, by properly preparing for your interview you can vastly improve your odds. Time and time again we see that the successful candidates all do three crucial things. They brushed up on numeracy When preparing for case interviews, it’s important that you can handle […]
The top three consulting firms interview smart and well-prepared candidates all the time. Sadly, many fail to get an offer. They’ve put in the hours. They can structure most case questions. Their math is spotless. They have compelling stories to tell. Still, they fail. You don’t want to be one of them. Top consulting […]
A catastrophic scenario in a case interview is having a mind blank. We’ve all been there. Your interviewer asks for more ideas and you can’t find any. She wants you to calculate something and you forget how. You have conducted an analysis and can’t think what the next step should be. In other words, you’ve […]
One dimension that causes many candidates to fail at case interviews is numeracy. You don’t need to be a human calculator to work at a Top 3 consulting firm and most interviewers won’t give you extra credit for being able to do quick mental math. But, you do need to be familiar with common arithmetic […]
All top consultancies require candidates to be able to solve numerical problems with just pen and paper during both case interviews and the screening test before interviews. Many candidates feel that their numeracy skills have become a little rusty after years of using Excel or calculators. To add to the rustiness, candidates are rarely prepared […]
Practising cases only on your own is no substitute for live practice with other candidates. Believing that you can practice cases only on your own will lead to rejection. In our experience in placing 100+ candidates at the Top 3 firms, we have never seen anyone get the job without practising at least 25+ cases […]
A great consulting interview is one where candidates not only demonstrate that they have all of the skills needed to become a high performing consultant, but also it’s one that gets the interviewer excited about having the candidate on their team. In this article, we outline the three key aspects of the interview and what […]