How would you answer this question in your Personal Fit interview? Receive feedback on your answer and browse through the Q&As to review the approaches of other applicants and experts.
This is a key part of the interview! Please do not overlook it at all.
DO
Ask questions about one the below 3:
-consulting industry (how have clients need evolve?)
-case (did you wind up proposing this to the client? which were the roadblocks during the project?)
-himself (which step of the consulting career did you like best?)
AVOID
Ask stupid questions on:
-questions you can ask to HR (how long before I have an answer?)
-basic consuling career stuff (how often do you promote people?)
This is one of the most important parts of the interview.
It's a chance to demonstrate what you know about the firm, truly understand the office/culture/fit (remember this interview is two-ways!), and also build some rapport with the interviewer leaving on a high.
Good interviewers use this to test candidates EQ (I certainly did, and poor candidates either asked irrelevant questions or didn't have any in the first place)
Certainly do not waste the opportunity by asking silly administrative questions or HR-type questions.
Ask insightful questions related to topics:
Hi,
This is a very important part of the interview. Interviewers typically ask this question during the last 5 minutes of the interviews. This is the moment where you can show that you have done your research, you can ask things around:
As a last caveat, there are some awkward questions I was asked as an interviewer such as where do I see myself in 5 years or what are the things I don't like about the company, so try to avoid these questions.
Best,
Deniz
More than DOs, I would talk about the DONTs: no operational questions that you can later ask to HR.
This part is for emphasizing with the interviewer, getting to know some things about him/her -professional of course-...
Hope it helps!
Cheers,
Clara
Dear A,
Ideally, there are questions hat could show your intrinsic interest in the company, person, or both ideally. So one of the greatest question could be for example the following:
"Now, look at your career XX long, what is the one project assignment, by looking back, makes you very proud of accomplishing smth great?"
Hope it helps,
Good luck,
André
What team activities are part of the firm´s culture?
This question is not part of the fit section, but rather one on its own after the interview. It is supposed to take ~5 min, but usually does not last more than 1 or 2 min (sometimes interviewers said “I need to run to my next meeting, so I am happy to answer one question of yours).
Contrary to what experts say here, my opinion is that this is NOT a critical part of the interview, and NOT even an official evaluation criterion! By the time you get into the Q&A, the interviewer has already so many datapoints from case and fit part that it will not influence their decision.
The Q&A part is supposed to be an opportunity for you to find out more about the firm (remember, fit needs to be mutual), rather than for the firm to further evaluate you.
That said, while there is not really an upside in asking an extraordinarily well-thought question, there can be a downside if you say “No questions from my end”, ask basic questions which can be found from googling or answered by HR, or ask no-go questions like “How many sick days / holidays do consultants in your firm have?” or “How much bonus is on top of the salary?”.
The best way to approach Q&A is either a) asking play-it-safe questions like “What has been your interesting project so far?”, “What are the 3 things you like most about your firm?”, etc., or b) If you are provided with a short CV of the interviewer, pick 1-2 interesting things and ask about them, e.g. “I saw you were in a European office before and relocated to Middle East. What are the key differences in terms of work culture?”
That’s it! Prepare 10-15 minutes max on this, and focus on nailing the case and fit part!
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One of my favourite is:
"What don't you like of your work?"
What has the change in consulting been like in the past years?
Do you ever get together after work to get to know each other?
Do you have a certain structure you use for the clients or is it different every single time?
Are there big trends all clients want or do they all have different needs? Is it true that almost all your clients have issues with digitalisation?
On your webpage, the company advertises X as key part of the company culture. As an insider, what are the 3 key elements of the culture which if a new applicant doesn't have, you think it would be worthless for him to apply, even though the has the necessary skills to be consultant.
As team member, has it ever happened that for a particular point you disagree in terms of results with a teammate, even though you both see objectively that both approaches are logical and sound. If it happened, how did you deal with it keeping in mind the best interest of the client?
How would you describe your normal day and your special day and your bad day at work?
Which challenges does the company currently face?
What do you like best/least in your current position?
What made you successful in your current role?
How would you describe the company culture?
No
Can you tell what pain points are currently existing?
Why consulting?
What are the long term objectives if this dept
What is the workplace culture like? What was a challenge you faced as you started and how did you overcome it? Is there something you know now that you wish you would have known then?
I would like to know how the learning process for new entrants is structured, which are the opportunities available to your employees and how the company contributes in maximizing everyone potential?
I would like to know about the strategy your company follows to enhance the new entry consultant's skills and prepare them for the consulting career
how is the feedback policy in your company? How often are Feedback sessions and in which way are they conducted?
What are the hierachy levels for your consultants?
What is your fulfillment by doing consulting?
Where should I start
Coming from a legal background, I woud probably try and understand how I would succeed as a consultant from a Company's point of view. I would also try and get to know the interviewer. I would ask how his professional career developed and why he decided to work for the selected Company.
Ja, zunächst würde ich gerne etwas mehr über die Unternehmenskultur erfahren. Würden Sie Ihre Kollegen als Kollegen oder als Freunde beschreiben?
How does your background strengthen your work as a consultant?
-International Mobility
-Medium/Long term plans in Spain (my country)
I'd like to know the background of my future collegues
How do you see the consulting industry in face of technological change?
Yes! Many!
what's the relationship between technology background and consulting job.
no
i am really ambitious
Hi
This question usually comes up at the very end of the interview, at least for MBB. I think it's nice to prepare one or two questions either 1) related to the interviewer's personal background/experience or 2) something about the firm that you can't find elsewhere. I say this because of the following reasons:
1). usually the interviewers are on a tight schedule so if you have too many questions they ran out of patience, so 1 or 2 would be ideal
2). this part is relatively unevaluative, so you should put most focus on the case and PEI part, for this part just make sure you don't do stupid things
hope this helps!
Yes
I long will it take to get feedback from you?
how did you find me ?
I would like to know more about the opportunites in Data Science and Analytics that also incorporate consulting at your firm and what should be my approach for the same?
What is the most interesting project you have worked on personally in your career at this company?
Identifying my personal motivations. But it helps me hone skills and focus on deliverables.
Your consulting firm is into a variety of areas like Strategy, investment advisory, analytics and equity research. So my role will be mostly in strategy consulting or in other domains as well?
What's the process like of getting assigned to my first project?
How does your company ensure you are keeping up with the changes in the different industries, especially where there's no precedence?
How was your first day like in the firm? What did you feel after the first month?
Ask about former projects or about 1 of their values
What has been the most exciting project you worked on?
How often will i visit a costumer and how many hours will i spend behind my desk
Whak makes a good consultant?
Nein
i would really like to know what a consultant in companyX does during the day... what's the best and worst part in a "routine" workday? Morover, what kind of activites, or achievements, or even daily-baisis events make you happy at the end of the day to work in consulting? and what about company X... can the answer be the same?
Yes, well how do you think I will perform well in a real scenario?
How long does it take to get there?
What's the company culture like at McKinsey?
Yes! I'd love to know more about what differentiates a great consultant from a good one. I hope to succeed long term within consulting.
What led you to join this firm over any other?
Could you describe one of the most challenging aspects of your role and what you do to ensure you handle it?
What does this firm do to ensure that female talent isn't lost as the years progress?
why_
Why did you invite me to this interview?
What do you think is characteristic or distinctive about your leadership style?
What is something you find really challenging after having worked for so long in consulting?
What makes Bain having a superior advantage in the PE field in your opinion and how can new hires benefit from that?
Is there daily meetings for the team?
How do you choose your case teams?
What is an aspect of being a consultant here that differs with your past jobs at other companies?
Is there a certain portion of working on a project that you enjoy doing best (preliminary research, crunching numbers, presenting...)?
sdf
Can you tell me more about the company and its values, culture, and overall objectives (short term and long term)?
How long have you been working here and if it has made you feel like it is right thing to do for your career?
What keeps you up at night?
How would a great teamplayer in your team look like?
How can I apply to specific cases in branches I am interested in?
War der Case ein Teil ihrer tatsächlichen Projektarbeit?
wie definieren sie Erfolg auf dieser Stelle?
- What does your company differentiate from other consultancies?
- If you were in my shoes, why should I switch from Consultancy A to consultancy B?
- What are the qualities you are most looking for in a candidate?
- What iniatives do you support to strengten diversity in your team?
Wie genau sieht ein durchschnittlicher Arbeitstag bei Ihnen aus?
Worin unterscheidet sich ein guter von einem nicht so guten Tag für Sie?
Was the case we talked through one you actually worked on? What were the challenges? What solution did you end up giving?
what do you like about your job the most?
Yes, I know that you have great opportunities for personal development through online classes and lessons, however I would like to know how you work with personal development during and after projects, do you have a structured approach to feedback?
What are the aspects you like the most in your job?
What are the cons of being a consultant?
What are the future goals of the company and how you wish to achieve them?
How does the experienced hire track typically look like?
What is the percent of cross-border projects?
How do you feel the management consulting changed through last 5 years?
could you please tell me more about the design process in the company and the team work
Im Moment noch nicht
no
How is the culture in the office?
In your opionion, what is the most imortant thing to becoming an professional consultatnt?
I would like to understand how is your firm adapting your ways of working amidst the Covid-19 pandemic
Yes! What are the expectations you hope to see on a newly hired employee? Of these criteria, would you recommend some way I can improve and perform in the way you expect? Lastly, would you give any feedback after this interview?
What have been the most useful qualities to facilitate your integration within the firm and enhance your success in projects, and what would you recommend me to work on if I were to join your firm?
What's your process for deciding staffing? Who makes the decision? What are the main factors to the decision?
no
