How To Face A Case Interview

By Author: Tom Rochtus
Total Articles: 4
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If you are an aspiring management consultant and are planning for the Bain case interview, McKinsey case interview or BCG case interview, then you are surely going to face several rounds of interviews.

When you have case interviews, the most important thing which the interviewer wants to see in you is the ability and intelligence to solve problems. The interviewer often guides you on the possible paths so that you can identify and formulate a solution. The recommendations and solutions given on the problem by you is analyzed by interviewer. It’s definitely advisable not to be too quick in giving responses and you may end up overlooking important elements of the case in consideration. For ensuring a good final answer, go at a steady pace.

Have a fluent interaction with the case interviewer and ask questions, so that you can fill the missing gaps of information and gauge the scope of the problem. To determine your inquisitiveness, sometimes certain ...
... details of the case may be withheld purposely.

Innovative ideas are always appreciated especially when it’s the matter of a management consulting case. For this it is often a good idea to also think outside of the box during case interviews. Furthermore, let your personality come through with confidence. Be comfortable and enthusiastic. Sometimes the personality of the person determines whether he/she moves on to the next round of interview.

Don’t forget to bring structure in your problem solving, common methods for which are the methods and frameworks like BCG Matrix, Cost modelling, Swot Analysis, Porters 5 forces. These are generally however additions to flexible business methods to crack cases.

Showcasing your key strengths in the best possible manner is another very important point to be taken into consideration. Consulting firms hire from a variety of educational backgrounds. What they look for is the right mindset and attitude for the job. They are always hunting for candidates with competencies and interests in a range of disciplines. For this reason, it gets important to demonstrate your creativity as well. Display your key strengths and show the interviewer that you can solve problems in multiple ways. Keeping all these points in mind will greatly help you in passing all case interview rounds.

Author Bio:
This article is based on content from Victor Cheng, Marc Cosentino and Tom Rochtus on how to ace case interviews.

Please check the following materials for more background:
- LOMS by Victor Cheng
- Case in Point (4th edition) by Marc Cosentino
- Case Interview Success (1st edition) by TOm Rochtus