Case Interview Preparation & Management Consulting | Strategy | Critical Thinking

Candidates sometimes divulge too much confidential details, or too little in interviews, resumes, cover letters and LinkedIn profiles. These are the rules for disclosure. It is important to remember that disclosing confidential information merely indicates to McKinsey that you cannot be trusted with their own client information. Moreover, disclosing information on your resume and hiding it from your LinkedIn merely means you are aware of the ethical breach you are making. It is important to avoid these problems at all costs. From the beginning, be the person that is worthy of a consulting firm.

Building hypotheses is very difficult. Most candidates in a McKinsey, BCG et al interview would not know when to build the hypothesis, what comprises the hypothesis, how to test if it is MECE etc. This simple technique is one way to build hypotheses and used on real consulting engagements. It was developed to help candidates prioritize their analyzes and ensure the hypotheses are MECE. When practicing this technique note that the development of the decision tree must be done quickly and cleanly.

Far too many candidates focus on being faster. That is another myth. Speed is an outcome of having good technique. So if you are slow, deconstruct your technique, analyze weaknesses and develop a new way to solve arithmetic. That is key. Unless your technique improves aka "your process to solve math," you will never improve. We explain how in this podcast. Moreover, if an interviewer or practice partner indicates you are slow, think carefully if your technique can be improved, versus merely trying to speak faster. Note, there are many different techniques to solve arithmetic problems so do not search for the "best" technique. Find one that works for you..

The myth of demand side estimation cases is the greatest mistake taught in case books worldwide and is probably the worst technique a candidate should be using. Candidates around the world are taught that all estimation cases are market sizing cases and all market sizing cases must be done from the demand side. The problem is that not all estimation cases are market sizing cases and not all market sizing cases should be done from the demand side. Fortunately, it is easy to fix

Solving a case while talking an interviewer through your thinking (written or otherwise) is, for the interviewer, a little like trying to understand a presentation without seeing the slides. Or at the very least seeing untidy slides – that is, assuming your working sheets are messy. Here we talk through the anatomy of a case dialogue pointing out key mistakes candidates make and a very simple technique they can use when communicating in case interviews.

When we ask candidates for more details in their resume, fit responses and cover letter, they always write longer sentences. There is an important difference between “more details” and “greater length". Most candidates are accustomed to spending just a few minutes on a thought and then writing up long and poorly structured sentences. When we ask for more details, we require more facts in the case interview or fit answer and this, crucially, usually means denser and shorter answers.

It is impossible to read the personality of an interview and we discuss the typical errors candidates make in trying to read too much into the behavior of interviewers: quiet, asking questions, rude, etc. One thing we always caution candidates is to be wary of assuming the friendly person likes them or that the unfriendly person does not like them. Friendliness does not equate to "like" and people display their emotions in very different ways. So, if the interviewer is very friendly, it could go either way.

It is impossible to read the personality of an interview and we discuss the typical errors candidates make in trying to read too much into the behavior of interviewers: quiet, asking questions, rude, etc. One thing we always caution candidates is to be wary of assuming the friendly person likes them or that the unfriendly person does not like them. Friendliness does not equate to "like" and people display their emotions in very different ways. So, if the interviewer is very friendly, it could go either way.

When interviewing with a partner or associate from a different culture, it is very easy to say something which can offend a person. Our very own clients have said seemly innocent things only to have it blow up in their face much later, and sometimes in the interview. We have a strict rule of never discussing religion, politics, culture and ethnicity with clients. This avoids topics which can offend people if the wrong things are said. The issue is not about who right, since this is an issue of personal faith and rationality does not always work. It is best to avoid these topics.

Interviewers can only respond to what you say, and poor communication, like in this example, not only wastes time, but is a poor reflection on your candidacy. This is a crucial point to remember. No matter how brilliant you may be, if you cannot communicate that brilliance, and do so in a manner laymen would understand, your intellect counts for little in a case interview since it is all about demonstrated competency. You must demonstrate your competency. Period.

The right way to read a graph in a case interview and a set of graphics, is not to look for each insight, but to extract the overall message. Most candidates take enormous pride in reading every insight they can find and proudly highlighting them in no particular order - and the waiting for instructions. While there is nothing wrong with this, it is not the way consultants read cases and requires someone, usually the interviewer, to guide the prioritization of the information and generation of the next steps in the case. You can impress the interviewer by weaving together the one most important message, relevant to the case, from all the data.

Brainstorming is the core of a McKinsey case interview. It is tough to pass a case without brainstorming skills. The problem is that it is hard to find a definition and technique to brainstorm effectively and efficiently. This podcast introduces a 3 step, or 5 depending on the way you list the steps, approach to ease the brainstorming approach. This is a very powerful technique which all consultants use daily and is adapted from a BCG technique.

There are three phrases which create trouble in an interview: “I think that…” and “In my opinion…” and “But, if I look at my friends…” Not only are they defensive, and arrogant, they are also clear indicators where you are struggling in a case interview. When you use them in the wrong context, as explained in this podcast, they will make it difficult to pass the case.

We produce a significant amount of podcasts with information on case interviews, PEI, FIT, brainstorming techniques etc. This information can be overwhelming and hard to prioritize for the typical listener. This podcast offers some helpful suggestions on how to use the feedback.

Many candidates are obsessed with generating correct answers in estimations they must make within cases or standalone estimation cases. This is a poor strategy. By obsessing about the final answer in a McKinsey estimation case, they ignore the structure of the estimation case which is far more important and forget why an estimation case exists in the first place - to test the ability to generate an answer with imperfect information. Listeners are strongly advised, as well, to ignore speed at the beginning and focus on good case technique.

This podcast examines the typical tell-tale signs candidates show when placed under stress in a case interview and offers suggestions on how to manage these situations. The key to managing this problem is not to reduce the stress, which may be impossible to do, but to change the way you show your stress. We also provide anecdotes on how our own clients manage, or struggle to manage, stress in their practice cases and interviews.

Being rejected from McKinsey and BCG is humbling, painful and possibly expensive exercise. The key is to carefully review your feedback since not all rejections are equal. Two people getting the same feedback must interpret them in vastly different ways: an MIT math PhD and Brown Arts undergrad both failing the PST (it has happened) need to take very different next steps from this outcome. Therefore, your unique profile must determine how you will interpret feedback. This podcast explores feedback and its meaning in much greater detail.

Taking resume feedback is one of the most fundamental steps as you begin your application process and case interview preparation. If done badly, no matter how well you practice for cases, you will not get the interview. Feedback refers to two parts. First, is the philosophy around how you collect the feedback. Second, is the physical steps you take as you are collecting the feedback. Both are equally important.

Networking with a partner is counter-intuitive. It is much easier to network with a McKinsey / BCG partner for at least four reasons. First, partners always return emails. Second, partners are generally willing to take a call just to explore your profile. Third, partners are less hung up on things like degrees etc. since they look deeper at a profile. Fourth, partners are accessible with easy to find details. That said, the trick to networking with partners is to treat them as a peer. As soon as you place them on a pedestal, you will kill your networking chances.

We use the terms junior consultants to loosely refer to anyone at the engagement manager level and below: senior associates, associates, consultants and analysts. Our history of working with 279 clients indicates that the best results occur when networking directly with partners. There is no dispute on this point given the difference in our client base between those who networked with partners and those who did not. In this podcast we explain why it is better to network with partners and the inadvertent reasons why junior consultants will be less helpful.