Tips as you prepare for interviews-

2013 Consultants

Abby Asem
November 2013
 Overview

Interview insights

Recruiter feedback

Behavioral interviewing tips

Upcoming dates & deadlines

 Overview

Interview insights

Recruiter feedback

Behavioral interviewing tips

Upcoming dates & deadlines

 Interview insights

Interview insights can be a useful guide, but

use your own judgment in interpreting data
Almost 50 students have generously provided feedback on their interviews

Their perspective will be influenced by their backgrounds, interview skill,

advance prep, etc (e.g. someone who has direct applicable experience, has
had 20 interviews before this, and talked to multiple employees to
understand a company may feel they had an easy, conversational interview-
no guarantee you will have the same experience

Companies are likely to bring different interviewers when you interview. Your
experience could be totally different

Basically, use this as one prep tool not THE prep tool

Note: If a company is not represented, interviewees have not submitted a response to the survey

Boston Consulting Group
Case Questions
A retailer who sells clothing and accessories in
SE US has had a tremendous growth over last
10 years, but in past 12 months revenues and
profits have decreased. In particular they feel
there are some concerns over their promotion
strategy of directed coupons. They wanted to
evaluate if their coupons are effective and also
what other couponing options do they can use.
Commissioners office for a South-East College
conference has hired BCG to help increase long
term revenue & profits. They want you to
examine if adding additional universities will help,
and which universities to consider adding. Case
provides revenue streams for commissioners
office, which forms the basis for progressing with
the case
Interview insights
Behavioral Questions
What is one thing that you did as a leader that has
had the most significant impact, financially or
personally
Tell me about a time when you had to influence
someone using data as we do everyday in a
consulting environment
What is the most difficult or challenging analytical
problem that you have solved
Why BCG?
Tell me how you work in a team; tell about a team
situation where you had to go against popular
opinion
Explain why you want to get into consulting - this
was oriented towards explaining how all the
career/educational choices I had made were leading
me to consulting
Talk about a team work situation that you were really
proud of. What was your role in a non-leadership
position?
Of the various achievements mentioned in resume
which one was the most important/had greatest
impact, why - oriented leadership role I had played in
the projects

Boston Consulting Group (continued)
What you wish youd known
Yeah, each case had a lot of exhibits and charts. I
wish we could have some workshops on how to
quickly read charts and charts that are in the format
given by consulting firms
The cases for BCG turned out to be totally qualitative -
non numbers based. They were also very
conversational, and not like a formal - "OK, now Im
going to give you the case prompt". It is easy to loose
track of time in such conversational casing situations,
as well as to ignore structure. The case starts
suddenly as a part of the conversation, and it is
important to have a proper structured approach. The
interviewer will dig deep into everything you mention
so make sure you dont get carried away by the
conversational nature of the case and by mistake
provide unsubstantiated suggestions or arguments.
Interview insights
Tips for future interviewees
Practicing cases with BCG mentors and classmates,
having mock interviews
Do all cases on the website and just be more familiar with
that type of casing. Use the book crack the case!
Apart from regular practice, practice speed casing as well.
We had to solve one of the cases in 20 mins.
1. Very important to have a free and normal conversation
with the interviewer - do not be formal and rigid with case
when the interviewer actually wants to have a free flowing
discussion or conversation about the case at hand. 2. The
more behavioral interviews you do the more polished your
stories will sound, and you might in fact get some new
ideas that you hadn't considered before. Important to do
MANY practice behavioral with DIFFERENT people before
interviews. 3. Go beyond the usual why consulting, why
BCG, why XYZ questions. - in practice interviews
encourage interviewers to ask completely unexpected
questions - be prepared to improvise on the spot. 4. Think
deeply about the questions you ask at the end on the
interview. Avoid asking questions, the answers to which
you could have found out before. I think it works best if the
questions relate to something you have just discussed
with the interviewer, in order to show that you are not just
pulling something off a list that you had in mind from
before - Improvise! Also show that you are evaluating the
firm in the same way the firm is evaluating you. Think
about what you would want to know from your interviewer
if you had offers from all the big 3 firms, and were trying
to pick one.

Campbell Alliance
Case Questions
None
No case interview questions in 1st round with
HR. Before 2nd round I was expected to
write a short essay about pharma generic
competitor entry.
What you wish youd known
Very easy interview. Most of the interviewer's
time was spent talking about what Campbell
Alliance does and one interviewer
commented "it was like a company
presentation in the interview".
Interview insights
Behavioral Questions
What practice areas are you interested in?
Why Campbell Alliance?
I was expected to talk about my experience
and make connection to company practice
areas.
Tips for future interviewees
I had an informational interview with a recent
alumni before the actual interview. I had a
good understanding of company culture and
practice areas. Knowing more about
company practice areas helped me to better
shape my stories. One can easily check
practice areas from company web site. If you
have enough time for prep. check company
white papers.
 Interview insights

Cognizant
Case Questions Behavioral Questions
None Resume walk
If a company wants to give away an in-house Time when you had to lead a diverse team
developed product, how should it go about in doing Tell me about a time when you had to make a sale
so? (convince others - boss/client about your idea)
Not really a case, had me explain in detail a What are your key learnings from your school and
business case that I had built work experience
If you are preparing a strategy recommendation Tell me about a time when you worked in a team/
presentation to a client, what process would you led a team
follow? Time when you had to work on a tough project and
how did you do?
What do you expect to be in Cognizant 3 years
from now
what do you like doing?
What you wish youd known Tips for future interviewees
N/A Be prepared to go in depth on what looks
interesting on your resume and be prepared to
explain the difficult concepts of your previous
positions to this interviewer
Mock case and behavioral interviews
 Interview insights

CSC
Case Questions Behavioral Questions
No cases Reverse resume walk. Start with business
school and talk me backward through the
resume.
Why Consulting?
Why CSC? (there were 2 or 3 versions of
this)
How do you deal with people not pulling their
weight?
Tell me about a time where you dealt with
ambiguity

What you wish youd known Tips for future interviewees

Wish I had known how important the why Do BCC behavioral mocks
CSC was to them

Deloitte S&O (I)
Case Questions
Client has come up with a wireless "TAP" - tap to pay ticketing system
for subways & buses. They want you to examine data presented to pick
one among 3 cities where to launch the product. More financial -
revenue & cost data provided. Calculate if it will be profitable, if target
payback period will be achieved etc. Deloitte mini case - numbers
dominated case. Basically testing analytical skills - they will not push you
further once you demonstrate that you are good with numbers.
Market Entry, conduct assessment of potential revenue in three markets
and identify the best market to enter and whether or not to enter it
Case was just a detailed math calculation. Given lots of segment data
and asked to identify most attractive segment. Then given segment
development costs and revenues and asked to calculate ROI (payback
period).
Evaluating whether or not a technology to automate the subway system
payment process will break even in 5 years (charts used)
Group Case - Auto Parts Supplier considering entering China, India, or
Brazil
Revenue & profits falling for a paper product distribution subsidiary of a
larger firm. Examine why etc. At the end the case also provides 3 other
options of increasing revenue, and asks you to examine them and
recommend which one(s) you would pick
Interview insights
Behavioral Questions
What made you decide to take your first job out of undergrad?
Tell me about your internship
30 second overview of your career, resume walk
What academic experience are you the most proud of?
Why Deloitte? Why Kenan-Flagler? Why consulting? Why office choices
What do you think you will find most challenging if you join
Deloitte/Consulting? Be ready to explain in detail
Talk about a leadership/teamwork situation that is very recent - e.g. in
School. Interviewer dug in very deep to ask what you did at specific
times, what you were thinking, how the other players in the situation
reacted, how you dealt with them etc
You are in a presentation with a lead partner or client when he starts
talking about something that you know to be wrong... what do you do?
What are you most proud (academically) during the MBA program
Talk to me about your industry experience, what project did you have for
your internship last summer?
What would you do if your flight got canceled but then still had to make
the client meeting the next morning.
You and a partner are scheduled to give a presentation at an important
client. The partner can't make it and you are going alone anyway to
give the pitch. You get to the airport and your flight gets canceled so
you don't think you can make it.... what do you do?
Which other firms are you interviewing with? Any Non-consulting firms?
- be ready to explain rationale for other firms & industries if any
What would you do if you and another colleague(same designation)
were working on a consulting project, and while you were finishing your
work ahead of schedule, he was passing on some of his work to you.
How would you react? Be ready for 3 to 4 level follow up questions
based on your answer
If our positions were reversed, what qualities would you look for in a
potential candidate for Deloitte. - In one case I mentioned finding out
about their reason for wanting Deloitte, in which case the follow up
questions was - What would you say is an acceptable reason?
Interviewer said he didn't really believe in behavioral interviews and that
we would instead just have a conversation. He wrote on a notepad, not
on a form with pre-determined interview questions.
 Interview insights

Deloitte S&O (continued)

What you wish youd known Tips for future interviewees

Be comfortable doing math in your head and on paper. Case interviews, do two per day if possible. Start
No charts, but lots of tables with data. early. And review the cases that you do, don't just do
Be ready to look at a crowded data sheet - all of it - cases to get to a high number, understand what you
and pull out what you need. did right and wrong. Engage the interviewer. If you
Lots of data sheets on cases have a hard time during the case maintain composure
and get to a strong close.
The first round case was more straightforward and
basic than I expected Case, case, case...
Deloitte has this specific guided style of interviews, Case prep w/ BCC, classmates, CMC
which you don't see in case books. Especially for the practice cases - 5-8 a week leading up to it with a
larger 2nd round case, they will first give a really long good partner and feedback
prompt (1 full sheet read out quite fast) - of which only Make sure to make them feel that you really want
a small part will be relevant to the problem. Deloitte...moreso than many other firms
Candidates must get used to filtering through this
information and not get overwhelmed. Then the first
question if usually looking for high level options are
areas to look at. They do NOT want you to dig deeper
at this point and ask for details. They may not even let
you come up with a structure etc. After that you will
usually be given a data dump - 1 sheet with 4 exhibits
- usually a bit confusing and ask to hear your thoughts
about them. In most cases very useful insights can be
found by relating the data across multiple exhibits. The
interview proceeds in this fashion - exhibit - thoughts -
specific questions related to exhibit - next part/exhibit.
 Interview insights

Deloitte Tech
Case Questions Behavioral Questions
ERP Implementation in dairy company with Collaboration in teams
silo-ed product lines - Stakeholder Question about teamwork
management, ways to reduce ERP Ambiguity
implementation expenses, increasing
visibility across the organization Brainstorming
Unfriendly team members
Prior technical experience
Flexibility
Small business technology situation
Discuss a current tech trend

What you wish youd known Tips for future interviewees

A little more knowledge of ERP
implementation
Regular case prep does not really help with
this case interview, the question is less
ambiguous
Be prepared to discuss tech trends in detail
Spend a lot of time on the Deloitte website
reviewing their sample tech cases
Relax and be yourself
 Interview insights

Ernst & Young FSO

Case Questions Behavioral Questions
None (1st round) Tell me about a situation in which team members do not agree
with your proposal and how do you acted?
Why E+Y? Where do you see yourself in 5-10 years at E+Y?
How do you structure a presentation?
How would you deal with a Junior Associate who has been at
E+Y longer than you, is an SME on a subject and wants the
team to follow his direction?
Tel me about a complex situation that you resolved quickly and
with restricted information
Walk me through your resume
Give me an example of your most challenging assignment
Talk about a time you were given a business plan with a flawed
process and what did you do to fix it?
What are your weaknesses?
What you wish youd known Tips for future interviewees
Practice a lot of behaviorals, be sure of your personal story
Mock Behaviorals are a must, do them until you have thought
out every scenario and can do it even with some form of
interruption.
Practice a lot of examples of difficult situations that you have had
either in your previous jobs or at Business School.
Really be aware of all areas of E+Y and how they fit in to yours.
This will be beneficial for both networking and when talking
about cross functional behavioral questions/scenarios.

Ernst & Young PI
Case Questions
Gov is looking to save money by switching toll
booth operators with cameras. What would you
think about. Will an automated camera system
for toll booths break even in 5 years. This case
had a little data (less than a Deloitte case) and
led to a final "correct" go-no go decision.
What you wish youd known
There were lots of numbers in the case, lots of
calculations, however in the beginning he said he
wants to see how I think and structure.
The case had several charts but that was what I
expected
Interview insights
Behavioral Questions
Lots of individualized resume walk questions
Tell me about leadership
You have to learn something in a short time but
teach it to client
Tell me about your leadership style
What do you want to know about the specific
practice area? (know their differences)
Tell me what makes a team work well together
Why consulting
Collaboration
How you deal with stress and hard situations
Tips for future interviewees
We should have a book of made up ROI
calculations. Ask everyone in the consulting club
to contribute one case and we'll compile them for
a case book.
Mock interviews would be helpful (including
working on numbers) the case was not very
difficult but the numbers
I think preparing for typical consulting interviews
(i.e. casing and mock behavioral) was sufficient
prep for this
 Interview insights

Grant Thornton
Case Questions
No case in first round, second round is a group
case w/ 4 hours to complete then present
Behavioral Questions
How does my career prepare me for
Restructuring Group?
Walk me through your resume
Lot's of Why, Why undergrad college, Why
UNC, Why Work one place, Why Grant
Thornton
Why do you want to work in restructuring
What other firms are you interviewing with
Tell me about your leadership style

What you wish youd known Tips for future interviewees

Nice to know what offices they are looking to No technicals, no case. Make sure you tell a
hire for so that I can be prepared to give my story with your resume walk. Can answer
preferences questions before they are asked.
Very behavioral Knowing resume inside and out
3 on one interview Did not do any mocks. Went to the company
event beforehand and took the time to really
get to know the interviewers. Once we got
along it was an easy interview.
Typical behavioral prep

McKinsey
Case Questions
Easy ERP has a license per client model and is considering
entering the internet monthly payment model, what would be
your advice?
US blue Jean manufacturer wants to know what its potential
market share would be in China and how it can achieve said
goal
Client provides Enterprise ERP. Wants to enter into
Software as a service (Saas) ERP solutions? Should they?
Large manufacturer that specializes in Perfumes, Dental
Care and Hair products, has shown stagnant growth, what
would be the key factor to increase growth?
The public schools in your county are underperforming?
How do you improve their performance?
What you wish youd known
McKinsey style is very directed and chart heavy. Wish I had
more practice with that
I wish I knew how public schools operate in the US
Interview insights
Behavioral Questions
Be detailed in sharing an example of a situation where you
had to go against your superior and influence them in
changing their mind and following your recommendation (Be
specific on what you did, how you did it and the outcome
including the metrics)
Time you were particularly creative
Tell me about a time when you had to go against popular
opinion to gather resources to get something done.
Tell me about a time when you had a conflict with a person
at workplace.
Resume walk
Tell me about a time where you had to lead a team on a
difficult situation
Tell about a time when you have demonstrated your
leadership skills overcoming difficult challenges.
Tell me about a time where you failed
Tips for future interviewees
When given calculations, make sure you draw and explain
your framework before you tackle the problem
Practice readingconfusing tables.
Take McKinsey style mock behaviorals - as many as
possible
Bcc case prep
I had a case practice partner with whom I started casing
since August twice a week, then I went up until I was casing
2 to 3 times a day. Giving cases was as useful as taking
them
 Interview insights

MorganFranklin
Case Questions Behavioral Questions
Large bank has just acquired a small, regional Experiences as a team member/ in teams
bank and is looking to cut costs. How can you cut Consulting experience
costs and improve customer service? How would
you structure your approach, and what Dealing with ambiguity
recommendations would you provide to the
CFO?
Candy company is profitable with 30% market
share and has excess cash and capital. What
are opportunities it could pursue to increase
revenues and/or profits? What options would you
explore?

What you wish youd known Tips for future interviewees

 Interview insights

PWC Consumer Finance

Case Questions Behavioral Questions
None Walk me through your resume
Very conversational, walk me through your
resume etc

What you wish youd known Tips for future interviewees

Knowing what the group did and about the Preparing for this interview would be very
industry (mortgages) was definitely in my similar to any behavioral interview
favor
Just a conversation
 Interview insights

ScottMadden
Case Questions Behavioral Questions
None Example of conflict resolution
Resume walk
Decision making in an ambiguous situation
Why Consulting
Example of leadership
Why Scott Madden
Lessons learned from the internship experience
Tell me about a time you had to analyze a large
amount of data
Describe your problem solving approach

What you wish youd known Tips for future interviewees

Understand the culture and determine the
potential "fit" within the organization.
Understand what you like about the
business/organization and the value that you
bring to the table.
 Overview

Interview insights

Recruiter feedback

Behavioral interviewing tips

Upcoming dates & deadlines

 Recruiter Feedback

Overall, recruiters satisfied with student

performance & common themes emerged
about students who excelled
Knowledgeable about trends
Had personal examples showing that they were driven to personal
growth
Had obviously researched our firm and practice areas
Stories had great depth
Answers were structured
We could have an easy communication/they were very interpersonal
 Recruiter Feedback

As expected areas for improvement exist

Behavioral
Clearly outline leadership roles in your stories
We would like to see evidence of influencing skills; weave those in
Technical skills are great, but when a student struggles to
communicate, I am not convinced he/she can sell ideas to a client
I asked a question about Kenan-Flagler and I got a resume walk.
Seemed scripted
Student didnt seem interested in us. I would have liked more
engagement/passion
Correlate your experience to our need
 Recruiter Feedback

As expected areas for improvement exist

Cases
Students spent so much time discussing the process they would use
to solve the case vs. actually solving the case; they run out of time.
Get to the key variables/drivers
Get out of the math weeds and see the full picture
Stay engaged even during the case
Outline the problem and show thought process as you work through
the case
Summarize your key points concisely
 Overview

Interview insights

Recruiter feedback

Behavioral interviewing tips

Upcoming dates & deadlines

 Behavioral Interviewing

Remember to use the S-T-A-R Framework

S= Situation
What happened and why did it prompt you to take action?

T= Task
What was the specific challenge, job or project?

A= Action
What was your role in the job or project?/ What action did you take?

R= Result
What happened as a result of your action? Be specific.
What did you learn from the results?
 Behavioral Interviewing

Behavioral Questions vary widely

Tell me about a time when you dealt with ambiguity.

Give me an example of a time when your supervisor was wrong and how you handled it.

Tell me about a time when you worked with a team lacking a clear leader and the team was
having a hard time meeting its goals and objectives? What did you do? What was the outcome?
What did you learn?

Describe a situation in which you had to influence a peer to cooperative with you. What was
your approach?

Walk me through a situation in which you had to do research and analyze the results of a
project.

Describe a time when you decided you should change your actions or approach in order to
respond to the needs of a situation.

Tell me about a time when you had to re-write the rules.

Tell me about a time when you made a bad decision.

 Behavioral Interviewing

Top 10 Mistakes in Behavioral Interviewing

10. Insufficient research on employer and the position
9. Overly-rehearsed or impersonal
8. Not making the case for: Why me? Why this job?
7. Low eye contact and/or smiling
6. Insufficient prep for Walk Me Through Your Resume
(intro statement)
5. Negatively-framed ques. not getting out of the trough
4. No structure STAR
3. Never had a mock interview / No practice
2. No customization for employer
1. Weak endings. The FADE.
 Behavioral Interviewing

Position yourself & story effectively

Think of job/employer

Define the skills the role requires and how you will
highlight these skills

What qualities are important to them?

Where are your gaps? (preempt them!)

 Behavioral Interviewing

Walk me through your resume

Approximately 2-3 minutes
Undergrad graduation to present
Significant contributions
Purposeful transitions
Why MBA?
Why Kenan-Flagler?
The reason Im here is
I plan to add value to your company by
Strong summary
Dont just read your resume bullets. Bring it to life!
 Behavioral Interviewing

Answer negatively-framed questions fully

Weakness?
Tell me about a bad boss? Going forward
Tell me about a mistake?

Learning,
What is different NOW
STORY

Corrective actions

Set up and
Your specific role Accept
Trough responsibility

What went
wrong & why
 Behavioral Interviewing

Many CMC resources to support your prep

Behavioral grid
Sample behavioral questions
Interview Stream
BCC
Peer Counselors
Club education events
Associate Directors

Practice, practice, practice!

 Overview

Interview insights

Recruiter Feedback

Behavioral Interviewing

Upcoming dates & deadlines

 Upcoming dates & deadlines

Upcoming Dates / Deadlines

Now! Resume (and cover letter) drops
Some
applications
iClass Behavioral interviewing hands on practice for international
11/15 students require
transcripts,
etc so plan
11/16 Consulting Club Case in Point workshop
ahead!

11/18 Deloitte Case Competition

11/28 Interview Signups start

12/6 iClass Functional interviewing prep for international students

12/10 12/15 Final exams

1/18 On-campus interviews start