Behavioural interviews at A.T. Kearney

Hi Anonymous,

indeed, there is a list of questions that tend to appear more frequently; the most likely fit questions and topics you will find are:

• Tell me about yourself (personal overview)
• Why consulting (motivational)
• Why ATK (motivational)
• Give me an example when you led a team (leadership)
• Tell me about a time when you had to convince someone not agreeing with you (impact)
• What has been your major achievement so far (drive)
• Why should we hire you (motivational)

Although the company that emphasize more the fit part is McKinsey, following a preparation including the key areas of leadership/teamwork, impact and drive will have you covered for the other consulting companies as well.

The best way to prepare is to complete the following check list:

1. Understand the difference between, leadership, impact and drive areas. You can find a link with their differences here: https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/mckinsey-pei-difference-drive-and-personal-impact-918#a1780
2. Identify good stories for each area. Ideally you want to have at least two stories for each area. Three would be even better.
3. Use a structure for your story. I would suggest to use the STARR model (Situation, Task, Action, Rational for Action, Results)
4. Identify for each story one sentence clarifying what the story is about and start with it. Think of it as the title of a journal article.
5. Practice live, collect feedback from people listening to you, reiterate until when you get fluent and convincing

Best,

Francesco

Hi,

I am surprised that there a whole 1h interview dedicated to fit ?! Can you precise what office you are applying for ?

In any case, you'll find below my advice for fit interviews including specifics of ATKearney.

- Build a personal narrative, detailing in a fluid way your own sotry. Avoid reading out loud your CV, since the interviewer already has it

- Be sincere. ATK's interviews guidelines have recently evolved to try to really meet who the candidat his, asking him to expose himself and be able to share his emotion. For instance you can be asked to tell a difficult situation, and then how you felt about it, why it was personnaly difficult and how you manage to solve i

- Stay humble. While really demanding with expectation on performane, the culture at ATK is mostly humility with brilliant people who really avoid any form of showing of. Fitting with this attitude is not that simple, it requires to find the right level of energy to be confident and dynamic without being arrogant.

Hope this helps

Don't hesitate to reach me for other questions.

Best

Benjamin

Hello!

On top of the insights already shared in the post, the "Integrated FIT guide for MBB" has been recently published in PrepLounge´s shop (https://www.preplounge.com/en/shop/tests-2/integrated-fit-guide-for-mbb-34)

It provides an end-to-end preparation for all three MBB interviews, tackling each firms particularities and combining key concepts review and a hands-on methodology. Following the book, the candidate will prepare his/her stories by practicing with over 50 real questions and leveraging special frameworks and worksheets that guide step-by-step, developed by the author and her experience as a Master in Management professor and coach. Finally, as further guidance, the guide encompasses over 20 examples from real candidates.

Feel free to PM me for disccount codes, since we still have some left from the launch!

Hope you find it useful!

Best,

Clara

Just keep in mind that these questions is designed to check you on:

1. How would your react under the pressure

2. Whether your weaknesses are serious to your role

3. Whether you are aware of your weak parts and can work on to mitigate them

To answer this kind of questions, make a list of your mistakes you can remember, prepare a short story where you make this mistake, to give an idea that you are fully aware of it, and also add how you dealt in that situation and how you make sure to prevent it in the future. 

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GB