How to analyze interviewer feedback?

Hi Levia,

I was also not an organized person in keeping track of various feedbacks during my prep day.

Largely, I agree with all the points shared by Achyut and Aws. If you can practice that discipline, that would be perfect.

Some tips from me - and these are what I did - are:

1. Prepare a physical notebook or a note app (like Evernote or OneNote)
2. Create 3 categories only Fit, Case, Recap
3. Jot down the feedback based on the category Fit or Case, and make it very simple e.g., Structure is not MECE, Math is too slow, etc.
4. Every 10 feedbacks you have received, then you start to put the common feedbacks (the silver lining) under Recap section (prioritize the weaknesses, just put love or smiley icon on the strengths)
5. Prioritize 3 weaknesses feedbacks you want to start working on
6. If you start feeling confident then you can just cross it and move on
7. Repeat the process

Hope this helps.

The most important thing to remember is "The interview is never perfect". With this in mind, you just need to always keep in mind 3 areas of your strength and keep manifesting it during the interview; and 3 areas of weakness that you must eliminate during the real interview and push this during the practice.

Difficult question, it probably depends a little on both you and the feedback. When I was in your shoes, I probably under-utilized the feedback - only near the end of my preparation did I realize the early feedback had given me what I needed, but I just wasn't ready to hear it then.

Here is what I would recommend:

1. You write down the feedback next to your case notes, and you review the case every week or two. This won't necessarily help you 'crack the case', but it will help you reduce stress and may give you some creative ideas when you get stuck during the interview

2. As the same time, and more importantly, you aggregate all the feedback on a separate, single page. This one, you review every few days without fail. After each new case, you look at the single page and figure out if you were just given some feedback you had heard before; if so, this should definitely become a strong focus for the next time

You may not be able to 'understand', or 'feel' some of the feedback you receive at the beginning of your prep, that's ok. It takes time to really absorb the essence of case interviews: it is not easy, it is not natural, it just... takes... time. But by aggregating all the feedback in one place and reviewing it on a regular basis, hopefully you can shorten that time.

tl;dr: Don't put your preparation on hold until you understand the feedback, but don't discard it either. 

I hope that helps? Good luck! Cheers, Guennael ex-BCG Dallas

I just started with my first case with a friend, and he is more advanced in case interviews so he knows how to give feedback.

What I started doing (and this might change as I get more experienced) is use Microsoft OneNote to write down feedback after every case in the following format:

[-] Quick overview of the things that didn't go well

[+] Quick overview of the things that went well

[Case specific findings] Smart things I discovered/answer sheet provided - regarding the case in question

[Detailed feedback] Every interviewer will give you different feedback. It makes sense to ask every interviewer for specific feedback (better yet to let him/her know in advance, so they can focus on these points).

I plan to do this for every case in a different sheet. After 10-20 cases, it's good to take a day to review these notes and sharpen your skills.

Hope this helps a bit,

Aws

I would largely agree with Aws and add the following points: 

• Maintain the same notebook / scratch pad for all cases that you do. Use the same book to record the feedback that you receive. 
• Note down all main points that the interviewer tells you in the same space where you made notes for your case. Write in another ink if you like. 
• Categorize feedback – both positive and negative into the main aspects of performance, which are:
  • Structuring 
  • Logical and hypothesis building
  • Math and other analysis
  • Communication and attitude 
• Figure out which of the good things and bad things you are repeating over time - which areas need improvement and which ones are strengths?
• Know what exactly you need to do in order to improve. For e.g. Math practice, structuring, learning how to make it MECE, etc.Once you have this figured out, make time to work on special exercises or readings to improve in those areas. 
• Track the number of times you are making mistake and observe if there are some underlying habits that are causing you to make the same mistake (for eg. speaking too fast). These are the most difficult ones to fix  IMO and sometimes you can be too conscious especially if it's an integral part of your general behaviour.  
• Also keep track of the "overall feedback of the case". The first question a recruiter will answer when you leave the interviewer leaves the room is a simple "Yes/No". When you're doing cases - with friends or with experts here on PrepLounge - I would encourage you to seek an honest yes/no to the question "Would you send me to the next round?"

Hope this was helpful, 

Thanks! 

Thank you guys for your opinions! 

Very helpful - would also appreciate it if a few experts pitched in :) 

I have been using a XP-Pen Star G640 drawing tablet to take notes in Microsoft Onenote for the past year or two . I can writing and drawing all in one app . the digital pen give the best realistic experience of all apps I ever tried .

Hi,

I would use the following steps:

1. Understand who gave the feedback? In terms of trust, from high to low: Consultant / candidate with an offer / candidate who failed the 2nd round / candidate who has done 50+ cases / other candidates
2. Check the feedbacks for consistency. Is it something you hear for the first time?
3. Have an issue log with the detailed statistics of the mistakes you are making
4. After you've done the case and received the feedback, I recommend spending some time on building the perfect structure and the case flow. I had a separate notebook with the perfect structures for the cases I've done before.
5. Constantly revisit the previous cases while getting more knowledge and think how you would do the case differently
6. Ask proactively the next interviewers about the issues the previous partners mentioned to calibrate the feedback
7. Give the cases to other candidates. It should be the cases you've done yourself. It helps greatly to understand and memorize the approaches.

Best!

How do I estimate candidates' feedback to... you, or to me? Sadly, very few candidates give me any meaningful or actionable feedback after we do cases. Just like everyone else, I progress better if you give me (actionable) feedback, so I wish I would get more. End of rant :)

Assuming you were asking me how I rate candidates' feedback to their fellow candidates now: I frankly don't think it is very good most of the time. At least my own feedback wasn't good back when I was in your shoes. You need to understand something to explain it clearly. If you don't really understand how to do a case, you may say something like "yeah, was good. You should improve your math, and the framework wasn't great, and maybe you should do this or perhaps that...".This is not actionable, and wrong half the time. I am embarassed by some of the feedback I gave way back when!

There is a reason some of you guys are willing to pay hundreds of dollars for good coaching: Our feedback is typically much more pointed, much more actionable.

My recommendation is such: do a (couple of) case(s) with a current/former consultant early on, and write down their feedback; practice on your own and with fellow applicants and work on the initial feedback; mid-way through your prep, perhaps do another case with a consultant to course-correct. Near the end, do one or two more cases w/ a consultant to make last-minute adjustments. All throughout, do 15-20 minutes of mental math and market sizing every day.

Look, I know some of you may think I am just talking my book and trying to convince you to spend money - no, I am not. I was lucky to have 5 friends at BCG when I applied, and each one of them gave me at least 2 cases (for free). But if I had not had these friends and had just studied on my own, odds are I wouldn't have made it, plain and simple. If you are in school, you probably have access to alumni or upper classmen/women who have at least done an internship and would be willing to help for free. If you do cannot find someone to help you, my honest opinion is, get ready to spend some money. Yes you can get in without this - but the odds would be stacked against you. It is a competition, spots are limited - and we always have a lot more qualified applicants than openings. Luck definitely plays a role, but you might as well be as prepared as possible -> At the end of the day, nothing can replace the feedback a current/former consultant can give you.

Good luck,

Guennael -

ex-BCG Dallas

Hello Guennael,

this is an extraordinary helpful advice. As you said, it is indeed important to gather all the specific feedback and, subsequently, try to look for patterns that help you understand your mistakes more profoundly.

However, as an expert, you had certainly a lot of cases to solve with candidates here through preplounge. How do you estimate THEIR feedback? Do you have any tips I could take to heart in order to rate the feedback of other candidates? TBH, sometimes it seems that the feedback is inconsistent or even unjustified to me.

I am looking forward to your response! It’s really great to have people like you here who share valuable advice with freshmen! Thanks a million in advance!

Hello Guennael,

Thank you again for that comprehensive answer. Well, I meant the latter, i.e. the feedback candidates give to candidates (like me). However, your opinion confirms my apprehensions somehow since I’ve been sometimes sceptical in terms of feedback I received from fellow candidates.

Nevertheless, at least in my case, just a few of them were faulty. I assume that there are a couple of appropriate indicators that illustrate the credibility and reliability of candidates’ feedback. I usually tend to look at features such as the recommendation rate, the reliability rate, the experience rate, the number of meetings the user had and, finally, the user’s achievements. Most of the time, those users with better ratings know what they are talking about. Even though there is of course nothing as valuable as an expert’s feedback, I suppose that there are indeed a bunch of means you can measure the users’ feedback with.

However, it makes absolutely sense to me to practice - especially in the initial phases - with experts like you to get an in-depth understanding before practicing with other users. Best regards!

For argument's sake, I will assume the case partner knows 'what good looks like' and gave you actionable, relevant feedback.

In this case, you want to read the feedback, memorize it, internalize it - and perhaps even keep it visible during you next case practice.

One of the first question I always ask my clients is "have you done a case with a consultant? Yes? Ok, what feedback were you given?". 90% of the time, they just don't know and fumble. This to me is the tell-tale sign that the applicant is not focus on actually improving, but just focused on doing as many cases as possible and "hoping" progress would somehow come.

Now, if the feedback was given by an applicant who hasn't figured out how to crack a case, or just isn't actionable... there is probably not much value in it, sorry. This is why I failed the first two times I tried to get in consulting. This is also why the PrepLounge 'experts' (I hate that term) are here: we know what good looks like, we have successfully passe this test, and we can give you the actionable feedback you actually need to get there. Yes, our services aren't free - but you are also competing against people who use professional help. By the way - I suspect all my colleagues do the same, but if you have a question after one of our sessions, I will always do my best to respond and help you. We are here for you, our (side) job is to help you become the best case interviewee you can be.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

Hi A,


I would recommend you to structure your feedback from interviewers into certain criteria:

-Personal fit

-Communication and individual behavior

-Case structure




If you figure out that you receive some common feedback from multiple people, you need to work on it specifically. 

Hope it helps!

Best,

André