Remember your venth-grade algebra teacher’s three favorite words? "Show your work." At the time, it emed silly: Why not just show the right answer? Now that you’re older and wir, however, you know that in many cas how you get to the right answer is more important than simply knowing the answer itlf.
The same goes for the ca questions that consulting recruiters lob at you. Consulting is a demanding job with few "correct" answers; this method of interviewing gauges how well you manage the process of getting to an answer and how you perform under simulated client-engagement conditions.
We talked to consultant-hunters at veral firms to glean their advice on cracking the ca interview. Here's what the recruiters revealed—and how you can best prepare.
Why the Ca Interview?
Ca interviews have long been ud by recruiters to e a candidate's thought process in motion. Can you deconstruct and analyze complex, open-ended business problems? Do
you stay calm, or will you sweat bullets under pressure at a client site?
At the most basic level, a ca interview is about asking the right questions, developing a logical way of working through the relevant issues, and arriving at a recommendation. Your structure may be a packaged framework or it may be various frameworks strung together; you may even choo not to u frameworks at all. What's important is that you demonstrate some defined structure.
“Ca studies are an imperfect science,” concedes Michael Gibney, project manager at PricewaterhouCoopers, “but are easily implementable in the 30 to 45 minutes we have for each interview.” Since they measure your analytical skills, they're an improvement over simple "fit" or "resumé" interviews.
In most ca interviews, the recruiter gives you an example of a real-life client problem. Some typical categories include:
∙ Company Strategy: “My client is thinking of making an acquisition, and …”
∙ Brain Games: “How many tennis balls are in the United States?”
∙ Operations Improvement: “Why is my client’s factory running behind?”
∙ Market Size: “How big is the global air conditioner market?”
Although each requires a slightly different approach, all are meant mainly to evaluate the process you u, not the answer you come up with.
Practice Makes Perfect
You absolutely, positively must prepare in advance for ca interviews. “It becomes pretty clear pretty fast who has—and who has not—practiced,” says Gibney. “I know there is a basic sort of business acumen that may not be able to be practiced, but candidates must have an understandable approach to solving problems. That’s what our clients demand of us. If we can’t relate solutions to the client, it’s a problem.”
Don’t assume that attending a ca-oriented business school will give you an upper hand. John Flato, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young’s national director of university recruiting, says the candidates don’t em to do any better or wor than candidates from non-ca schools.
Study different kinds of ca questions. Just becau your buddy interviewed before you and gave you a heads-up on the questions doesn’t mean you have a leg up. Recruiters have tons of ca questions in their repertoire, and the chances of their using the same question multiple times on one campus visit are slim to none.
Get a classmate or friend to role-play the interview with you, and u any resources (such as a cabook) that your school's consulting club provides. The more mock cas you sink your teeth into, the more likely you are to be relaxed and poid for the real thing. Sometimes you learn more by prenting a ca question to someone than you do
when solving the ca yourlf.
Deliberately pick industries you're not familiar with so as to test your analytical skills, not memorized facts; for instance, if your pre-B-school experience is mostly in media and entertainment, ask your ca buddy to ask you about steel production or medical device marketing. That said, do consider brushing up on the basics in veral industries—for instance, know the product development cycle in pharmaceutical rearch, and understand current trends in technology. (For more information on various fields, check out our industry guides.) Although each ca is different, with practice you will improve your analytical reasoning skills and solution method.
Think Through the Process
When it comes to strategy or product marketing questions, the interviewer will often give you only the bare bones of a ca and will wait for you to request further details: How many competitors does the company have? What are the major cost and revenue drivers?
Who are the major clients? And don't forget to ask for the firm's mission—if you don't know what a company's goals are, you might come up with a valid—but misguided—solution. U some basic frameworks to drive your questions—the four P's and the three C's, for instance.
A sample question Gibney ud recently involved a manufacturer/distributor/retailer of computer products. This client has traditionally gone directly to the consumer and has developed a solid brand image. The client now wants an asssment as to the issues relating to the core business, as well as the opportunities for the company to get into the rvices side, which it views as a high-margin/high-growth-rate business. The candidate now needs to provide an approach or evaluative framework for analyzing each of the two different problems.
As long as it's permitted, work your answers out on paper. Pencils and pens, plus a notebook or legal pad should be standard equipment in any interview. “It’s amazing how
教育学排名many people show up without a pen and paper,” marvels Kamenna Rindova, a nior associate at Mercer Management Consulting. Thinking through all the facts is a must, and you’re not going to do it all in your head.
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