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Just briefly building upon the great answers already given:
“Why do you want to join firm X”: I find it especially effective to take the time to do some research on the firm you are trying to get into to find an article/ piece of research/ asset of said firm that caught your eye or that is somehow related to a field that interests you. Couple of examples: if you are interviewing for McKinsey and are interested in fintech, you could mention that you know they publish a very comprehensive overview of the fintech space in Europe. If you are into Sustainability, you could talk about their growing Sustainability practice or about the multiple articles that have been coming out on that topic.
“Guide me through your CV”: Ideally, instead of going through your CV lines and highlighting all the achievements, frame it as a story and use the most CV lines as the supporting argument. Couple of examples: “Since starting uni I have been actively trying to combine a successful academic career with a varied professional exposure. You can see this through the fact that I achived a GPA of xx while conducting 2 interviews in y and z. These 2 experiences allowed me to complement my academic background by having exposure to reality a and b”; “I have always been very interested in Sustainability and am really invested in becoming an inclusive and impactful business manager in the future, so, while my degree was focused in Business, I organized x conferences in environmental topics, having reach attendance numbers of xxx”
Hope this helps, feel free to reach out in case you have additional questions!
Usually, candidates explain what they want to get out of consulting, but, consulting recruitment is extremely competitive with low acceptance rate. It is true, candidate also evaluate the firm they interview with, but the firm is in a stronger position… as a recruiter I want to hear story – evidence - that will acknowledge that you will enjoy the environment in consulting, and you will fit into this job which is different than industry job. I want some reassurance you will be able to handle:
VERY fast-paced environment & prioritization: ability to work under pressure, knowing you will never be able to tackle all you would like
Enjoying complex problem, no routine work: As you would be working on diverse project, you will never feel comfortable that you dominate the topic, once fixed we go on a new project
Able to work many hours and not burn and keep engaged (I would say in average consultants approx. 14 hours a day, how sustainable it is in the long run for you)
Resilient and self-confident to face highly demanding environment (facing C-level clients and be surrounded by extremely bright colleague – it is challenging to stand out vs industry job/university)
Enjoy facing unknown and ability to cope with ambiguity
Open minded and excellent team player
Walk me through your CV….?
This question is too see how well you synthetize, prioritize and tell stories. the CV is in front of the recruiter, but what s/he wants is the fully view of who you are. Make sure to tell correct stories (e.g. context…), dont miss achievements… Show that your personal career goals align with the needs of the company.
Very valuable is practice of your stories is with someone who has very different background than yours. Tell them your stories and then ask the person to tell you what exactly s/he understood.
Preparation for Personal interview is usually a tough work and many candidates underestimate the importance. I recommend to spend good time, read blogs here and eventually get a coach.
Lucie, thanks a lot for your answer! It is incredibly inspiring, especially the first part on what a recruiter wants to hear, partially because what a recruiter wants to hear is exactly what excites me. My highest appreciation!
"I got really excited about [X] in [ABC consulting] after talking to [John Doe] at [event / coffee chat / call]." This shows that a) you did a bit more homework than read the firm's website and b) someone at the firm already spend some time with you, meaning you could be a promising candidate
“It really resonates with me because [Y]”. This shows that you are not just spitting the ‘right’ words, but actually share values/philosophy/etc. with the firm.
All in all, this answer is short enough (and it's good since it's a quite transactional one imho) but compelling.
- Can you walk me through your resume/CV?
One thing to note is you should not make your vis-a-vis unwillingly learn every detail of your life. So the structure would the following:
“I'm going to do a brief overview of my path to date, feel free to ask questions during or after. OK?” [Interviewer nods]. This way you make sure that you will spend time on what is interesting / relevant for the interviewer.
Briefly go over your experience and education, each item in the following order: what was your job / program in general, relevant highlights and achievements, why you took the next move. Do pauses to make sure information sinks in and your interviewer has time to ask questions without interrupting you
On moves, make sure to provide solid(ish) reasoning: it turns your bullet points into a plausible narrative. NB: if you moved to a competitor because of better compensation (and similar cases), your interviewer might appreciate honesty if you tell about it an a humble but straightforward manner.
A few great answer below already, but I just want to emphasize one additional point:
Aim to be as natural as possible and don't overprepare answers here. Overprepared answers to these questions sound very awkward and prevent you from building a genuine connection with the interviewer (which is the purpose of the interview in the first place).
Ex McKinsey EM & interviewer (5 yrs) USA & UK| Coached / interviewed 300 +|Free 15 min intro| Stanford MBA|Non-trad
So there is no best structure - but what you want to do is create a story about why it is the most logical next step ever for you to go into the role that you've applied to, at the Firm that you've applied to.
What I mean by this is:
1) Can you walk me through your CV?
The aim here is to highlight all the most impressive things that you've done, casting a story about your life which ends in why you want to go into consulting.
For example: I have a XYZ degree classification from XYZ university. While I was there I read (name of course) which led me to become interested in XYZ. I did this job / joined this company because it allowed me to grow my interest in that area. I was really successful and did XYZ things, and while I was doing that, I realise that I wanted to (and then put in here something that you can only get from consulting).
2) Why this company:
You need something tangible. It drives interviewers mad when you parrot things about how great the Firm is e.g., you're the best in the industry and you have a great brand; you have a global reach; you have a wonderful client base. Anyone can say this - you need something specific to you.
For example: While I was working at my last company, I built a specialism in X. While I want to continue working in X, I realise that I need a broader set of experiences to allow me to be really effective to achieve XYZ. I am interested in (name of company) because you have the specialism in X, but the way in which you do your project allocation means that I can also do XYZ.
Always good if you can name drop - who have you spoken to and what did they teach you about the company that you want to join?
The other question to prepare an answer for is ‘tell me about yourself’ - people get so flustered on this, but really it should be quite simple!
Hi Emily, could not leave comments how right you are (and I couldnt write it better) " It drives interviewers mad when you parrot things about how great the Firm is e.g., you're the best in the industry and you have a great brand; you have a global reach; you have a wonderful client base. Anyone can say this - you need something specific to you." So true!
McKinsey | Awarded professor at Master in Management @ IE | MBA at MIT |+180 students coached | Integrated FIT Guide aut
Hello!
You are addressing two out of four of the key families of questions for FIT: "Intro and cv" and “Motivational”
If you want to deep dive on the topic, 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.
Furthermore, you can find 3 FREE Expert Articles on PreLounge, in a sreies dedicated to preparing for the different parts of FIT:
Bain | EY-Parthenon | Former Principal | 1.5h session | 30% discount 1st session
Please remember this is an interview. They want to know why they should hire you. So this is how you structure your answer: on “why should they hire you”.
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