Important Facts on the Preparation of Case Interviews

Posted by aceyourcase on September 5th, 2011

Nowadays, there are many consulting companies, which continuously look for young and aspiring consultants for critical cases. The interviews conducted by the consulting firm are very comprehensive and delegate.  The interview consultant should have sound mental abilities to provide a suitable solution for the problems. The solutions provided by the interviewee must be practical and relate to the real world. All this counts the massive thinking abilities of the case interviewee. The purpose of the interview is to judge the logical abilities of the interviewee. The case interviews are hectic for the candidates, but they were designed to recruit the best consultants.

For preparing case interviews, it is very important for the candidates not only to be aware of various technical skills required for handling the cases, but also requires sound behavioral skills. The candidates must practice hard before appearing for the final interview in front of the interview panel. The interview panels are very strict and never show any leniency towards candidates.  Mock interviews with colleagues are a good way to practice for the final interviews. The candidates must beprepared for grilling and drilling in the interview, as often many case interviews are exhaustive. The interviewers make complications and more complications in the scenario and expect candidates to come out of their best for consulting a case. The candidates must be calm and reset their minds in different modes as the scenario changes andmust be confident in providing the respective solution for the case. There is no such perfect solution for any case, the interviewers were not concern for the solution, and rather they are more concerned with the approach of the candidates. They judge the candidates on various parameters such as confidence, understanding of the case, mental abilities and technical skills.

The case interview is been conducted in two stages. First stage is the preparative stage, where the basic questions is been asked by the interviewers regarding the profile and personality of the candidate. After successfully clearing the preparative stage the candidate move forward for formal case interview. This is the most critical stage of the interview for both interviewer and interviewee. Here, the interviewer panel drops some business situations before the candidate to analyze. The first job of the candidate is to go through all the related issues of the case and ask some logical questions back to the panel pertaining to the case. The candidate has to deeply go through the case and then draw a conclusion based on his/her mental aptitude and technical abilities. The candidate has to justify each single point with confidence before drawing the conclusion. Creativity is an important factor; the candidate must take his creativity to the level to provide best solution to the case. That’s what they eventually have to do when they become consultants and handle real cases.

Author Bio:

Tom Rochtus was born and raised in Belgium. He has a bachelor’s degree in management from the University of Leuven in addition to a master’s degree in management of technology from the Louvain School of Management, where he graduated magna cum laude. He has furthermore spent several years traveling and studying abroad; including a master’s degree in International Business at Egade in Monterrey, and an academic exchange at the University of Edinburgh. His professional career started when early at university, he set up his own successful information technology company, and participated in and won awards at prominent competitions for innovative young entrepreneurs. As part of his master’s degree, he completed an internship at Procter & Gamble as a strategy planner, which eventually inspired him to pursue a career in management consulting. After successfully applying for most of the leading management consulting firms, Tom eventually signed with Bain & Company, one of the world’s most prestigious management consulting companies. During his free time, he enjoys traveling to “off-beat” destinations, as well as spending time with his family and friends.