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Case Interview Preparation

Hi Everyone, I have an interview lined up with one of the management consulting firms. Case interviews are the main focus in their interview process. I am looking for someone who is in the same boat and would be willing to be a partner in preparing for this interview. Ideally, I would like to do a few mock interviews on cases pertaining to Profitability, Go-To-Market Strategy, Strategy, among others. I do have a few free resources and would be willing to share the same. Please reach out if you are interested, we can connect and schedule a few mock interviews. Thank you, Kruthika
A few years ago, I was interviewing at McK and BCG, I met a lot of people to case with through Prep Lounge www.preplounge.com/en/case-interview, Management Consulted managementconsulted.com and Victor Cheng's LOMS Happy Casing! :)
Hi @iynna, thank you for your inputs. How was your interview experience? I did look into preplounge, it does seem like a good option. I am yet to explore management consulted. I am also considering taking up Victor Cheng's LOMS, reading up on the reviews. Would you have some pointers for me on how to prepare best for McK?
Hey @KruthikaKumaraguru! I loved both McK and BCG with a preference for BCG - which is closer to my personality :) I did not really click with Bain but hey it's a fantastic firm and heard great things from current folks and alum of the firm.LOMS was fantastic - highly highly recommend, if you make a friend on one of those forums who is willing to send them for free to you, even better!For your McK interview:Case: - Be VERY VERY VERY methodical in your approach, the consulting mind asks you to be structured but I'd say McK pushes it to the next level which was something I had to work on - in fact case prep helped in soooo many ways in my career. So to give you an example, when you jot your thoughts down on your paper after being intro'ed the problem, most of your interview is interviewer-led (that is still the case right?) you still need to be very structured, don't just jump in with an answer, take time to think about it (incl the questions that do not require calculations)- Have your no brainer answers but also have some outside of the box/creative thoughts - this one can be controversial because in the MBB sect, BCG is the one that allows and welcomes a lot of that and some would argue McKinsey wants you to just be very pragmatic/rational, I'd argue that's not very true and in fact that creative insights might differentiate you from the next person especially if you come from a traditional engineering quant background for instanceBehavioral:Please prepare AS much for this too (I'd say maybe even more because it's the one nobody pays attention since everyone freaks out about the case ... well rightfully so it's different but it does not constitute everything- Know your story- Know your WHY ie. why McKinsey vs another firm, what differentiates us- Why do you want to be a consultant? And go past the typical "I want to solve many problems and be exposed to many industries' that's super cliche, not genuine and copy-paste they've hard it all - tie it to a bigger vision if you have one they will like that Lastly, HAVE FUN in the process!As far as I am concerned, when I received HR feedback, they loved my behavioral but case was off because I couldn't perform the simplest calculations (Whoops haha) so yes, needless to say, I totally blew that! :) But I am very happy about my path and in hindsight consulting really isn't for me, VC is :-) Good luck!
Hi @iynna, Thank you so much for your response. I appreciate your detailed response and pointers regarding the McKinsey interview. Yes, I agree with you. One of the key things they expect from candidates is to be structural but they do provide a lot of weightage for out of the box thinking as well. I am not aware as the other consulting firm's format but all I know is that regardless of them being an interviewer-led format, the candidate needs to take charge and show leadership. Haha, that is one way to understand the candidate. Happy to see that you are enjoying what you are doing, I absolutely love your story. You go girl!! Thank you once again for all your inputs, I appreciate it. Kruthika
Good Luck Kruthika - you got this! Share the updates once they give you the offer :)
hi @KruthikaKumaraguru i'm also currently preparing for case interviews and would be happy to buddy up!
Awesome! I will message you!