Bain Dubai Round 2 Interviews

Hi there,

In general, the structure of the round is the same (fit + case+ your questions – although Bain in Dubai doesn’t always ask fit questions); however in interviews with Partners there is usually more emphasis on communication and fit.

Specifically, the main differences you may find in a final round with partners is that at that stage they:

1. Spend more time on fit questions and your alignment with the company
2. Check more closely your communication (eg how you react to challenging questions)
3. May not have a “proper” structured case to present – during one of my MBB finals I had one interview which was made by two market sizing questions and a brainteaser, without any business case. That's because during the final they know you can structure and crack a case (you passed 1 or 2 rounds already) and are more interested in your logic, personality and fit with the company

So in order to prepare I would concentrate on the following:

• Review in detail your fit stories – they will matter more than in the first round. In some finals I had almost exclusively behavioral questions
• Work on your communication (reaction under pressure, how to gain time when you do not have a structure ready, connect with the interviewer, etc). This is something you can do almost exclusively in interviews with peers.
• Prepare cases as you did for the first round. If you got feedback on a specific area, focus more on that part.

Bonus point: partners focus often on cases related to the industries they cover. If you know the sectors they focus on, it would be a good idea to review those industries / do cases related to that sector / read their research papers on that.

Generally speaking, good questions to ask should:

1. Not be related to something you could easily find online or that shows you don’t know much about consulting
2. Not be related to the firm per se (eg how is XYZ at Bain), but to the experience of the partner (How did you find XYZ in your experience?)
3. Be related to a positive experience (ie avoid questions related to negative emotions. Instead, let him/her talk about successes in the past)

In the first reply at the following link you can find some examples:

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/open-house-at-bcg-311

Good luck!

Francesco

Hi there,

It shouldn't differ much as these interviews, more or less,  will require the same areas of readiness/skills. 

Make sure you're strong on the case, fit, behavioral, etc. and ready for any scenario that could occur!

Make sure to work on any weaknesses that you displayed in the first round as they will be paying particular attention to these!

Hi there,

First of all, congratulations on passing the first interview round at Bain!

This is indeed an interesting question which is probably relevant for quite a lot of users, so I am happy to provide my perspective on it:

• Generally speaking, the difficulty level in the final interview round will be about the same as in the first interview round. As such, I would advise you to continue preparing as you did before to at least keep your current level of readiness.
• Still, it might very well happen that the case interviews with Bain partners will be slightly less structured and come off more like a real discussion instead of a case study. I would advise you to embrace the slightly different interviewing style and you should be fine.
• Regarding the questions to ask Bain partners, they are as much an “employee” as all other interviewers before are, yet more experienced. As such, asking them about their perspective on (aspects of) the future development of the company aso. might be beneficial.

In case you want a more detailed discussion on how to best prepare your final interview round at Bain, please feel free to contact me directly.

I hope this helps,

Hagen

Not really. It's still case interview, so you should now the drill by now.

Of course, focus on your weaknesses and on the feedback you received.

Regarding questions for partners… well, what do you really want to know in order to decide on whether that is the right move / role / company for you?

I always like to ask about the kind of traits that make people successful in the company, or one thing that wouldn't be so obvious about the company or specific office, or even their view on what really sets that company apart from the other MBB.

Hey Anon - can you please tell me when you had your first round at Bain Dubai and how long did they take to get back to you for your second round? I had my first interview 10 days ago and still haven't heard back from them. I also emailed HR but got no response.