Case Interview Preparation & Management Consulting | Strategy | Critical Thinking

Solving a case while talking an interviewer through your thinking (written or otherwise) is, for the interviewer, a little like trying to understand a presentation without seeing the slides. Or at the very least seeing untidy slides – that is, assuming your working sheets are messy. Here we talk through the anatomy of a case dialogue pointing out key mistakes candidates make and a very simple tech...

When we ask candidates for more details in their resume, fit responses and cover letter, they always write longer sentences. There is an important difference between "more details" and "greater length". Most candidates are accustomed to spending just a few minutes on a thought and then writing up long and poorly structured sentences. When we ask for more details, we require more facts in the case...

It is impossible to read the personality of an interview and we discuss the typical errors candidates make in trying to read too much into the behavior of interviewers: quiet, asking questions, rude, etc. One thing we always caution candidates is to be wary of assuming the friendly person likes them or that the unfriendly person does not like them. Friendliness does not equate to "like" and people...

It is impossible to read the personality of an interview and we discuss the typical errors candidates make in trying to read too much into the behavior of interviewers: quiet, asking questions, rude, etc. One thing we always caution candidates is to be wary of assuming the friendly person likes them or that the unfriendly person does not like them. Friendliness does not equate to "like" and people...

When interviewing with a partner or associate from a different culture, it is very easy to say something which can offend a person. Our very own clients have said seemly innocent things only to have it blow up in their face much later, and sometimes in the interview. We have a strict rule of never discussing religion, politics, culture and ethnicity with clients. This avoids topics which can offen...

Interviewers can only respond to what you say, and poor communication, like in this example, not only wastes time, but is a poor reflection on your candidacy. This is a crucial point to remember. No matter how brilliant you may be, if you cannot communicate that brilliance, and do so in a manner laymen would understand, your intellect counts for little in a case interview since it is all about dem...

The right way to read a graph in a case interview and a set of graphics, is not to look for each insight, but to extract the overall message. Most candidates take enormous pride in reading every insight they can find and proudly highlighting them in no particular order - and the waiting for instructions. While there is nothing wrong with this, it is not the way consultants read cases and requires...

Brainstorming is the core of a McKinsey case interview. It is tough to pass a case without brainstorming skills. The problem is that it is hard to find a definition and technique to brainstorm effectively and efficiently. This podcast introduces a 3 step, or 5 depending on the way you list the steps, approach to ease the brainstorming approach. This is a very powerful technique which all consultan...

There are three phrases which create trouble in an interview: "I think that…" and "In my opinion…" and "But, if I look at my friends…" Not only are they defensive, and arrogant, they are also clear indicators where you are struggling in a case interview. When you use them in the wrong context, as explained in this podcast, they will make it difficult to pass the case.

We produce a significant amount of podcasts with information on case interviews, PEI, FIT, brainstorming techniques etc. This information can be overwhelming and hard to prioritize for the typical listener. This podcast offers some helpful suggestions on how to use the feedback.

Many candidates are obsessed with generating correct answers in estimations they must make within cases or standalone estimation cases. This is a poor strategy. By obsessing about the final answer in a McKinsey estimation case, they ignore the structure of the estimation case which is far more important and forget why an estimation case exists in the first place - to test the ability to generate a...

This podcast examines the typical tell-tale signs candidates show when placed under stress in a case interview and offers suggestions on how to manage these situations. The key to managing this problem is not to reduce the stress, which may be impossible to do, but to change the way you show your stress. We also provide anecdotes on how our own clients manage, or struggle to manage, stress in thei...

Being rejected from McKinsey and BCG is humbling, painful and possibly expensive exercise. The key is to carefully review your feedback since not all rejections are equal. Two people getting the same feedback must interpret them in vastly different ways: an MIT math PhD and Brown Arts undergrad both failing the PST (it has happened) need to take very different next steps from this outcome. Therefo...

Taking resume feedback is one of the most fundamental steps as you begin your application process and case interview preparation. If done badly, no matter how well you practice for cases, you will not get the interview. Feedback refers to two parts. First, is the philosophy around how you collect the feedback. Second, is the physical steps you take as you are collecting the feedback. Both are equa...

Networking with a partner is counter-intuitive. It is much easier to network with a McKinsey / BCG partner for at least four reasons. First, partners always return emails. Second, partners are generally willing to take a call just to explore your profile. Third, partners are less hung up on things like degrees etc. since they look deeper at a profile. Fourth, partners are accessible with easy to f...

We use the terms junior consultants to loosely refer to anyone at the engagement manager level and below: senior associates, associates, consultants and analysts. Our history of working with 279 clients indicates that the best results occur when networking directly with partners. There is no dispute on this point given the difference in our client base between those who networked with partners and...

This is a mistake common to most case interview candidates. They start with the McKinsey approach. This is a very, very bad idea. McKinsey cases are those were the interviewer leads the case. If you are only trained to do cases in this format, you will never learn how to lead a case. This is no small matter. The prompts and guides provided by a McKinsey interviewer play a significant role in helpi...

We try to get our clients to understand that they are always being assessed for fit. Yet, many only pay attention to image and communication during the formal FIT/PEI interviews and then relapse into very poor communication patterns for the rest of the case. Listeners must understand that they are always being assessed for their communication, leadership, speaking etc skills, and especially during...

Finding practice material for corporate finance cases is practically impossible outside Firmsconsulting. We have prepared this podcast outlining a training strategy any listener could follow should they be preparing for McKinsey Corporate Finance interviews. MCF interviews to be tough since candidates must demonstrate above-average strategy skills and a very high domain knowledge of finance, espec...

Communication and image in a case interview is governed by both what you say and how you say. It is true that how you say something tends to carry more weight. However, in some case, certain phrases should definitely be avoided because they cause much damage it is very hard to recover from them. We discuss them in this podcast.

Storytelling is a very powerful technique to ensure someone remembers you after an interview. In fact, even when we screen people at Firmsconsulting today, we use this technique I applied as a partner. The rule is simple: if I can remember your key messages from the interview the next day, I would make you an offer. That, of course, assumes you had passed all the other hurdles well enough. One way...

Being a young business analyst or associate on the receiving end of blunt and harsh feedback from a partner is a very jarring experience. However, it is also somewhat of a compliment. I never understand this very, very important point until my mentor, a senior partner, pointed this out to me when the managing partner gave me a very time about an initiative I was running. In hindsight, this was one...

In this podcast we have listed some of the most common and most significant networking mistakes made by candidates. Since many of these have been made by clients, we have had an opportunity to discuss the mistakes, their motivations, the fall out and their response. Therefore, we can provide a comprehensive discussion on the implications of these mistakes. In general, no matter how badly a McKinse...

99% of clients misunderstand learning and practicing. At its essence, you cannot practice McKinsey cases until you learn McKinsey cases. Most candidates start of their case interview preparation by reaching out to colleagues and consultants to practice cases, not having gone through the learning steps. Without a good strategy of separating learning from practicing you will simply absorb what you h...

Many candidates forget to sanity-check their calculations in a case. That is a bad idea. Without a sanity-check there is no way to meaningfully assess the accuracy of your answer. More important, how you perform the sanity check is the key. All sanity-checks must involve the reduction of the answer to a number that you can intuitively compare to your own experiences. Unless you do this, you can ne...