Best Way to Prepare for a Case Interview?

Did you know - When a hiring decision is at stake during consultancy recruiting, your case interview performance accounts for about 80% of the first-round pass/fail score and about 50% of the second-round scoring? 

Well, if you have done an MBA program and want to enter the field of consultancy, you need to start preparing for case interviews as soon as possible. We know Consulting is getting more popular day by day and many candidates want to pursue MBA in Consultancy. Today, in this blog, we have discussed how you can prepare for case interviews. What kind of companies you should look for learning case interviews, what are the preparation tips and how to present yourself before the panel? Keep scrolling through…

What are Case Interviews?

A crucial step in the hiring process is the case interview. Candidates must work together in a realistic setting to tackle problems from the real world. The cases closely resemble the kinds of situations that consultants deal with regularly; in fact, the majority of them are taken from actual customer experiences. A problem or circumstance faced by an organisation (a firm, non-profit, or government agency) often constitutes the case. The problem is explained to applicants verbally, and they have a specific amount of time to analyse the situation, decide what data is required, get the data, compute several possibilities, and present their answers.

Case Interview Process

A typical new hire experiences 4-6 interviews in total, typically split into two rounds that take place on different days. (Superdays, where Round 1 takes place in the morning and Round 2 follows in the afternoon of the same day, are theoretically possible but less frequent in consulting than in banking.) Each interview lasts between 30 and 60 minutes. 

Each consulting appointment typically lasts for the first 5 to 15 minutes to conduct a "Fit Interview." The firm's screeners—typically consultants themselves—ask you a range of questions during the fit interview to learn more about your sense of drive, your leadership and teamwork skills, and your overall fit for the business.

You will immediately enter the case interview, which typically lasts 20 to 40 minutes, after the fit interview. Here is a starter before we go into the 8 components of a case interview:

• Take note of the issue and make sure you comprehend it.
• Make a plan of attack and communicate it.
• Ask for information, then use it to calculate the responses.
• Please provide a suggestion.

Case Interview Examples To Find

Case interviews are never easy. It will always be a difficult path even after understanding thousand of examples still preparing for the interview is important.

You can visit the website of

• McKinsey
• BCG
• Bain
• Boutique Firms

To learn about the different case interview questions. You will learn about different types of situations that they can put you in with some questions and hints mentioned to resolve the question. 

Case Interview Framework

Case interview frameworks provide you with a useful place to start while resolving the problem. These frameworks provide a methodical manner to handle various business issues. 

• Market Entry Framework
• Profitability Framework
• Merger & Acquisitions Case Framework
• Pricing Framework
• 3 Cs Framework
• Porter’s 5 Forces Framework

Always keep in mind that frameworks are there to assist you in determining how to tackle complex issues. They do not consist of a pre-written screenplay that must be forced into your answer to a certain inquiry. Instead of the other way around, the framework works to solve the issue.

Case Interview Preparation Tips

If you want to give case interviews in the coming future, then these case interview preparation tips will help you.

• Start preparing for case interviews at least 6 months before.
• Communication skills are very important and therefore, you need to learn how to communicate effectively.
• To build your confidence, start practising it out loud.
• You need to be good at the structure process, which means, it takes 2 minutes to structure the process and 2 minutes to read it out loud as the case begins.
• Solve at least 30-50 cases to do well in the case interview. It is important to do your homework right.
• You should partner with other aspiring consultants and start practising for case interviews with them.

7 Skills You Need to Stand Out in Case Interviews

To stand out in case interviews, you need a certain set of skills. Let’s have a look at them:

• You should be aware of the Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive principle.
• You should know how to segment data.
• You cannot use a calculator in case interviews; hence, ace the maths. Improve your speed, accuracy and business insights.
• Showcase your analytical and leadership skills and lead the interview.
• You should be confident and have good communication skills to nail the case interviews.
• You should have a point of view, so stay hypothesis-driven during the case interview.
• Don’t sound like you are reciting memorised pages - instead exhibit your personal experience before the interviewer.

Case Interview Preparation Tips: Execution Time

Let’s discuss the things you need to keep in mind while executing:

• Start your case strong, with confidence - let the panel think that you enjoy the process of solving business problems.
• Start asking clarifying questions
• It is recommended to be hypothesis-driven
• Structure your math approach before starting the calculations
• Ask about trends and other information because you only get what you ask during the case interview.
• Be case-specific and think out loud
• You must finish with strong recommendations.

Conclusion

To be in the finance field, you need to pursue an MBA program. Now, if you want to apply for an MBA course, you can do that via Sunstone, a higher education service provider. With Sunstone by your side, you can unlock numerous benefits that can help you kickstart your career. These benefits include 70+ training and development sessions from top recruiters and industry experts, you learn from expert guest faculty who are ex-IIMs and IITs, 70% job opportunities in metro cities and 50+ guaranteed job interviews with Placement Protection Plan. You get a capstone project to work on every semester and Sunstone also helps you in building a professional portfolio that improves your chances of getting hired by top companies.

FAQs - Case Interview Preparation

Are case interviews easy to crack?

No, it is not an easy process. You need to study different kinds of cases and understand the process to crack the case interview questions.

Which are the top firms where I can get recruited after completing MBA in Consultancy?

The top recruiters for MBA in Consultancy are:

• McKinsey & Company
• BCG
• Bain & Company
• Booz Allen
• Kearney
• Roland Berger
• PWC
• Deloitte
• EY
• KPMC
• Accenture

To get into the consulting firm, do I need to do MBA in Consulting?

It is not necessary to do MBA in Consulting but most recruiters look for MBA graduates for this post.