presentation or lead the group. Likewise, don’t play the shrinking violet. Remember, the recruiter is watching.
Whatever you do, show confidence, not arrogance. A display of ego before John Flato at Cap Gemini Ernst & Young is a certain red flag. “Obviously, those who go to business schools are bright and talented—they wouldn’t be there otherwise,” Flato remarks. “We hire bright and talented people, but only those who can work well with team members and not display arrogance.”
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[Web Exclusive] You don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to ace the cases in a
consulting-firm interview. In fact, a little preparation can make solving them seem, well, elementary.
Ready for some company-specific advice? Here's what five recruiters told us about interviewing at their firms.
Recruiter No. 1: Eileen Coveney, vice president, L.E.K. Consulting
The Questions:
Testing a candidate's skill across a range of areas is the primary reason L.E.K. uses case interviews. Coveney indicates that the case interviews are meant to (1) assess a candidate’s analytical ability, (2) evaluate a candidate's communication skills and logic flow, (3) understand how a candidate responds to redirection, and (4) test his/her overall fit with the firm. Most questions L.E.K. recruiters ask center around strategic growth opportunities for potential clients.
Words of Wisdom:
Coveney points out that she doesn’t have a preference regarding how a candidate initially reacts to the case interview question. “Some people take some time to formulate their thoughts, other people ask a few questions, and other people jump right in,” Coveney says. “Relax and take your time, focus on the specific issues of the case, remember there is no one right answer to the case, and don’t use too many frameworks. Don’t throw in the kitchen sink, like Porter’s five forces, etc. Just be confident, and relax—it will really help with the interview.”
Recruiter No. 2: Kamenna Rindova, senior associate, Mercer Management Consulting
The Questions:
MMC asks most candidates one-on-one questions and doesn’t often do group exercises. Reflecting the firm’s focus, most questions deal with strategy issues, with occasional market sizing questions thrown in. The purpose of the interview for MMC is to see the candidate's ability to structure and think through a problem as they would on the job.
Words of Wisdom:
Rindova says practice and familiarity with cases is essential, and stresses that an interview can go south if the candidate loses sight of the structure he or she is building. Lastly, beating a clear path to any response is more important than getting it right. “You can give (a recruiter) a wrong answer, but if you thought out loud through the process, you could still have a stellar
光华人 向上的精神
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interview,” Rindova concludes.
Recruiter No. 3: Scott Berney, head of U.S. recruiting operations, Monitor Group
The Questions:
Determining a person’s analytical skills, comfort with manipulating numbers, and ability to integrate different pieces of data is the purpose of the case interview for Monitor Group. For the first round of interviews, case questions are usually written and are two to three pages in length. In the final round, a group event is used.
Words of Wisdom:
“My take on most other firms is that they put a premium on [the candidate’s] ability to ask questions in the interview. Monitor cases put a premium on your ability to analyze data, manipulate numbers, integrate, and come up with an answer based on the data you’ve been given,” says Berney. Like L.E.K.’s Coveney, he doesn’t like to see candidates use too many frameworks to solve a problem.
Recruiter No. 4: Sean Huurman, national recruiting director, KPMG Consulting
The Questions:
“The case question helps get to a thinking process and various characteristics of a candidate you don’t necessarily get in an ordinary interview,” says Huurman. “When we use cases, we are really focusing on things that tie into the client.” The typical KPMG consultant hunter wants to know how a candidate can communicate with the team, their leadership, and the client.
Huurman favors group interviews, and knows a lot of candidates can be prepped in advance, but he notes that there’s \amount of coaching\that can prepare you for a group project.
Words of Wisdom:
“Too many people jump right into the case study and don’t put any thought into it,” says Huurman. “I want the interviewees to think things through.” KPMG recruiters are always told to let the candidate have some time to think through the case, but Huurman indicates that very few candidates take advantage of it.
Huurman admits that few recruiters would ask interviewees what KPMG stands for (curious? It's Klynveld, Peat, Marwick, and Goerdeler), but it’s important to do your homework on the firm’s services, strengths, and culture.
Recruiter
The Questions:
Some of PwC’s competencies don’t require that a case question be asked, but it’s probably best to plan for one. Interviews are typically one-on-one and are meant to test the business acumen of a candidate. Seeing candidates' insight into business problems and their approach to solving them (most questions are based on true-life client engagements) is the overall goal.
Words of Wisdom:
Gibney understands that many problems are too big to solve during the course of a half-hour interview, but wants to see a firm grasp of key issues. “The candidate must have an understanding of the overall situation and the overall problem, and then create an approach to solve it,” Gibney says. “For instance, if we’re talking about a client getting into the services business, I would expect to see some kind of framework around identifying what relevant services would be, and the different market and company factors involved. I want the candidate to relate directly what the core issues are.”
No.
5:
Michael
Gibney,
project
manager,
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Michael K. Norris is an expert in consulting and consultant recruitment issues. He can be reached at.
Firm: A.T. Kearney
Case Number:
Case setup (facts offered by interviewer):
?
Your client is a manufacturer of bicycles They have been in business for 25 years
They manufacturer and sell three categories of bicycles:
?
?
? Racing bikes: High end, high performance bikes for sophisticated cyclists ? Mainstream bikes: Durable, but not overly complicated bikes for everyday riders ? Children’s bikes: Smaller, simpler versions of their mainstream bikes for
children
?
Profits at your client have decreased over the past five years
Question:
?
What is driving the decline in overall profits? What recommendations might correct the situation?
?
Suggested solutions:
The first question is to determine what has caused overall profits to decrease. To accomplish this the candidate must first understand what has transpired in each of the three product categories over the past five years during which profitability has slipped. The following are questions and answers that would be provided in an
2020年(招聘面试)怎样应付案例分析面试(英文版)
