Please provide honest opinions - did you land an offer? Did you not land an offer? Do you wish you used a different coach? How long did it take for you to be interview ready? Any details you can provide would be very helpful.
Hi!
I hope you'll get a few answers from candidates, so I'll briefly offer my two cents on the topic.
1. If you do decide to get a coach, get them early. A common misconception around candidates is to get feedback from a coach right before an interview. Often times, this is rather too late. Think about them as a mentor that can give you guidance at the start of the process so you know how to move through it in the most effective way. That doesn't entail doing more sessions. You can do as many, and just space them out throughout your preparation.
2. The average time for a candidate to get 'ready' from within my candidate base is 1-2 months. This is a very very rough average (so rough that it is almost irrelevant) since I've worked with people across 18 months and also with others who were 1-2 days before the interview. Once again, I would suggest that you just have one session early on to understand where you are and what to focus on in the future and then plan your timeline from there (leveraging the coach's knowledge).
All the best!
Cristian
Hi there,
Thanks for your question!
When i hired a case coach (which was 3 weeks into studying on my own), I felt very sceptical. I was afraid some of them might be a scam and that I would get very little value out of it. Turns out, it really helped me. Getting honest feedback before the interviews helped me understand what could potentially be perceived as a » weakness » in the context of a MBB interview and put extra effort on that area.
I landed a job offer at McKinsey and BCG (no Bain in the country where I was applying).
I also took the help of friends who had worked at companies like Google and/or done their MBAs. Also very helpful and free :)
Hope this was helpful!
All the best!
Aude Augias
Looking forward to seeing answers from other candidates here! Always happy to put you in touch with some of mine.
Some observations of mine over the years:
Hey,
Here's my honest opinion: if a candidate does not have a motivation to learn and improve, no coach can help them.
Getting coaching can significantly increase your chances of getting an offer but it's not a magic pill. You should still do the hard work: work through the feedback, do cases with peers for practice, attend mock-interviews with the firms and course-correct in a timely manner.
To progress quickly, I suggest you take this approach (in the following order):
1. Getting coaching when you are a complete beginner to learn the basics;
2. After you've learned the basics, practice cases with peers to polish your case solving process and acquire understanding of a wide range of industries and problem types;
3. Before the interview, ask a few acting consultants to give you cases in a mock-interview format to assess your readiness.
Good luck!
Nick
Expert case by
