A consulting interview is aimed at assessing your candidature across 3 + 1 vitals (a) Structure, (b) Analysis & Business Context, and (c) Quantitative Ability + (d) Experience (for experienced hires)
Having learned through my own preparation, and later having interviewed 100+ candidates, I have found that majority of candidates pay less attention to the following imperatives for succeding in a consulting interview :
1. Structured Communication: A structured communication is the a very vital for both a candidate and the interviews. It’s an opportunity for the candidate to highlight his/her achievements and stress upon the areas he/she wants the interview to discuss about and thus engage with the interviewer. Encapsulating (1) Your profile and experience and (2) your engagement in the discussion, it's your communication that highlights your confidence to both convey your knowledge and learn while interacting with clients in the real world.
2. Contextual Problem Solving: There is a multitude of text available on case solving and business frameworks. But at the end it rests with the candidate’s ability to design, contextualize, and apply his problem-solving abilities.
Typically, your interviews with managers may be on cases, the types of which you might have practices many a times. However, as you progress to interviews with Principles and Partners the case problems are more likely to be from their own real-world engagements. Such cases demand you to contextualize your problem-solving ability and business concepts to a far greater extend, comprehend the problem, determine it's drivers, and identify available opportunities and risks.
Prep sessions with me will help you to (a) master the art of structured communication, (b) engage with your interviewer, and (c) develop contextualized problem solving approaches and framework for any problem thrown at you.
Together, we will structure our prep sessions to help you improve on :
- How to communicate about your experience and profile. I will help you design a communication structure for your experience and profile.
- How to drive your discussion with your interviewer and engage him/her on pointers or subjects you want
- How to construct and present your case approach or framework. I will work with you so that you can identify your own approaches and framework. You will also have access to my detailed framework handbook covering over 30 different types of cases frameworks and approach, business reasoning, and questions guide across (i) Market Sizing (ii) Profitability Assessment (iii) Market Entry (iv) New Product Launch (v) Investment (vi) Outsourcing (vii) PE/Venture Capital (viii) Opportunity Assessment (ix) M&A (x) Revenue Growth (xi) Cost Reduction (xii) Customer Loyalty (xiii) Customer Retention (xiv) Product Assessment (xv) Channel Assessment, and many more
- How to formulate a hypothesis
- How to review your math and analyze exhibits
- I will help you enhance your business acumen by linking real-world tactical recommendations/initiatives with examples and references
- What questions you may ask your interviewer basis you professional and personal aspirations
- You will get a detailed one pager assessment scorecard basis your prep session interview covering your: CV/Experience Profile + Case Discussion
