Improving Final Round Performance

Hi there,

Thanks for sharing, sorry to hear about the rejection. I replied below to your points:

1) How can I practice prioritizing and deciding what to focus on? How does using a hypothesis help?

Depending on the prompt and previous information, you might be able to prioritize some options in some cases. 

For example, if the client is a pharma company looking to increase revenues in 6 months, launching a new product from scratch would not work well, given that the timeline to create a new product in pharma is years.

In some other cases, you might not have a very clear root to one path – meaning you might be able to exclude option A, but don’t have information on whether B or C is the most appropriate. 

In that case, you can point out that your hypothesis is that B could make more sense, but you would need more information on variable XYZ, if available, to be sure B is the option to prioritize.

Presented in this way, in both situations (previous information provided or not), you should be alright.

2) How can I train myself to take more time to think without making it seem bad? Is it okay to ask for time to think during interviews?

As a general rule, it is fine to ask for time before any brainstorming question. Thus, to fix this point, you can simply request time whenever they ask to brainstorm.

In some rare cases, the interviewer might want you to provide an answer on the spot. Unless they tell you so in advance, you can still ask for time. If the interviewer says “no” (which rarely happens), then you can brainstorm on the spot.

3) How can I be more concise? When is it a problem to be too concise?

For this point, it would be useful to see your live performance, but I suspect it might be a communication issue. Given you said what you presented was confusing, I would recommend the following, if not done already:

• Present the first level, then the second level of your structure: “So given XXX, I think we could look at 3 main areas: first ABC, second DEF, third GHI”
• Use numbers/clear bullets when presenting levels: “In the first area I would like to look at the following: First…, Second..., Finally..."

Hope this helps,

Francesco

Hi there,

The best way to improve is a coach.

Self improvement is hard. Think about learning guitar, or a language, or getting fit.

You “can” do it yourself, but it's much easier, and with higher success, with a personal trainer.

Prioritization - it's not about guessing. You can't just throw things at a problem. Remember, a case is real life - you need to be objective-driven

Brainstorming - this is mini frameworking. You need a hollistic view of the problem.

Conciseness - being objective-driven and learning frameworking then results in conciseness. Knowing why you're saying what you're saying is critical.

Honestly, all three of these weaknesses are VERY hard to fix on your own - please get a coach!

Watch the video in this case: https://www.preplounge.com/en/management-consulting-cases/candidate-led-usual-style/intermediate/bain-bcg-hot-wheels-with-video-solution-186

^Look at how I do all of points 1-3

Here's some more reading to help you with all 3 of your struggles:

ttps://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/how-to-shift-your-mindset-to-ace-the-case
 

https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/pitfalls-case-interview-preparation
 

https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/dos-and-donts-in-a-case-interview
 

https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/candidate-led-cases-what-to-expect-and-example-cases

Hi!

First of all, congrats on the granularity of feedback! It's amazing that you have that and a great place to build from. 

Now, let's move on past the obvious point that it would help to work with an actual expert on these things (the same reason why it doesn't help to self-medicate) but briefly, I would recommend the following:

1)Prioritization: My structure was too exhaustive. He felt I was throwing all possible components and hoping something would stick. He suggested prioritizing using a hypothesis. I was trying to impress him by being exhaustive, but it didn't work. He wanted to see how well I could communicate key issues to top management quickly and effectively. How can I practice prioritizing and deciding what to focus on? How does using a hypothesis help?

In general, don't try to impress. Try to connect in interviews. That sets the focus in a different direction. Then, going broad and deep is more of McKinsey structure. For BCG, it's better to be hypothesis-driven. So the feedback makes sense. A hypothesis is basically you best educated guess as to where the potential is. A hypothesis should be communicated when you have a ‘hunch’ that can be demonstrated through data. If you don't have supporting evidence, then you shouldn't formulate a hypothesis.

2)Brainstorming: I answered a brainstorming question on the spot to impress the partner, but he didn't like my first answer. I quickly gave him a better one. Like the first issue, he mentioned clients don't have time for do-overs. I tend to answer quickly in interviews due to time pressure and to impress. How can I train myself to take more time to think without making it seem bad? Is it okay to ask for time to think during interviews?

Wow, that's an important one. In general, assume you're never expected to answer on the spot. Always, always take time. Brainstorming answers should not be a list of ideas, but a structure. In that sense, frameworks and brainstorming questions are the same - structures. 

3)Conciseness: My answers were too detailed and came out a bit confusing he said. All because I wanted to impress the him with my creativity and thoroughness. How can I be more concise? When is it a problem to be too concise?

Again with the impressing :) Please try to only impress yourself :) This is more difficult to fix because it has to do with top down communication. On your own, it might help to record yourself and get feedback through tools such as poised dot com. Otherwise, get a former consultant to coach you on how to communicate top-down. Barbara Minto's ‘The Pyramid Principle' is also a good place to work from. 

Good luck!
Cristian

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Hi there,

First of all, I am sorry to hear about the rejection from BCG!

I would be happy to share my thoughts on your situation:

• First of all, given the rather fundamental feedback from the partner, it seems like you might have had either quite a bit of luck in your first interview round or quite a bad performance in your final interview round. Either way, I would highly advise you to reach out to an experienced coach since these aren't aspect to easily fix on your own.
• Moreover, when it comes to prioritization, a hypothesis-driven approach will help you avoid those all-encompassing dimensional structures (which they sometimes still ask for at McKinsey, unfortunately). This means you start with a clear hypothesis about what might be the core issue and structure your analysis around testing this hypothesis.
• Lastly, for any type of task that requires mental efforts, I would advise you to practice the habit of pausing before responding. It’s perfectly acceptable to ask for a moment to gather your thoughts during an interview.

You can find more on this topic here: How to succeed in the final interview round.

If you would like a more detailed discussion on how to best prepare for your upcoming interviews, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Best,

Hagen

Hi,

sorry to hear about the rejection but the good thing is that you got at least specific feedback and clear areas to work on. 

Whatever you do in case interviews (or in the consulting profession later) should be deliberate. So shooting answers from the hip based on what comes to your mind first in order to save time or to impress someone with how fast you are is not the right approach. 

It is perfectly fine (and actually also logical) to first think through the problem a bit before you make a statement that could be construed as your “expert take” on the situation (keywords: brainstorming and concise communication).

One rule of thumb: Don't go too deep (meaning too many details about any given aspect) too early. Go broad first to cover the general areas you think are relevant. Let the interviewer react - only in a subsequent step should you elaborate on the details - and only in those areas that end up being actually relevant (here you need to also read the interviewer's reactions a bit).

You can still score points in terms of creativity and thoroughness on that first high level (meaning you thinking through the breadth of the problem) but you don't run the risk of confusing the interviewer by getting caught up in rabbit holes.

It would be a good idea for you to do a practise session with a coach to get more tailored and actionable feedback and guidance for your specific needs.

Best of luck

1. How to improve structure?

It feels like you are using an old-fashioned bucket list approach where you list every factor that could have an impact (customer, competition, suppliers, distribution, regulation, my own products and capabilities, investment needs, etc.).

You should be thinking instead of decision criteria. This is your hypothesis, i.e., I would invest if X, Y and Z are true. Of course, to define the decision criteria you need to know what is the GOAL. 

E.g. You want to reach a 10% market share? Then you need to look at market segmentation, and understand which segments you can win. You want to reach 100m revenue? Then you need to look at market size, and understand your potential market share. You want to reach 10m in profits? Well, need to add in looking at margins and costs as well.

Brainstorming  questions ARE NOT brainstorming questions.

Your approach is actually the opposite of what you should be doing. You should be quickly structuring the problem in a simple way (e.g. let me look at internal vs. external factors; grow current business vs. new business opportunities) and then sistematically exploring each possibility within each “branch” of your structure (if necessary, making up new branches.

Hi there,

The most time-efficient way is to work with a former consulting interviewer. I have run +200 first and second round interviews during my 6 years at McKinsey. Happy to keep talking in private, just send me a message.

Best,

Alberto

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