We’ve discussed what Management Consulting is as a field and what it has to offer to you, here. We’ve also looked at an overview of the recruitment process, here. Now let us dive into the interview section of the recruitment process.
Any interview can be broken down into 7 comprehensive sections, from a preparation point of view. You can read up in detail about that here. This article will exclusively focus on one of those sections, i.e. the technical part of a consulting interview, which is titled as ‘case solving’.
In a consulting interview, you are typically asked to solve a case with your interviewer. You are given a problem statement and an objective. Through an interaction with your interviewer, you are required to solve the case, on-the-spot. The case could be of any nature, however, they typically do fall under a business domain. Let’s look at a few examples:
Example 1: ‘Your client operates in the automobile sector. It is facing a 15% decline in profits. Identify the problem and suggest what your client should do to solve the issue’
Example 2: ‘Your client wishes to launch a new line of cosmetic products. Identify the best market for your client to launch this product.’
Example 3: ‘Your client has come across a map to a hidden treasure. What should she do next?’
The first two are typical examples of cases within the business domain, whereas the third example doesn’t really fall under any domain. Any cases of these types (amongst others) can be a part of your interview.
Your interview could also include a guesstimate. A guesstimate requires you to make an estimation of something based on logic and very minimal data. For example: “Estimate the number of ballpoint pens sold in Mumbai in a day”. Or, “Estimate the weight of an aircraft”. You aren’t given any data. You need to use common sense, logic, and basic demographic information that you already know to make such estimates.
One of the points to highlight here is that in contrast to a typical case study competition that you may have come across, a case-solving session in a consulting case interview doesn't really give you all the information beforehand. As the examples above illustrate, you are barely given any information about the case (or guesstimate). So how do you solve it?
You are required to engage in a conversation with your interviewer throughout, as you solve the case. Through this conversation, you are conveying to the interviewer your thoughts and your approach, and at the same time asking questions to extract relevant information about the case from the interviewer. You don’t have to do this in just one shot, but you can simultaneously solve the case and ask questions to the interviewer at the relevant points. A very important point to note here is that you are not solving the case by yourself. You are solving the case with the interviewer. Thus it is important to keep the interviewer engaged at all times.
You now have a basic idea of what is a case interview, and what a majority of your interview process with a consulting company will entail.
In the next article, we will discuss what an interviewer looks for in a candidate while solving a case study (or guesstimate).
Further Reading: How to build a professional CV
Further Reading: How to crack your interviews
Further Reading: How to land an internship
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