Ace_The_Case_2nd_Ed

Introduction

This 2007 edition of our ‘Ace The Case’ © interview guide was created to help you the aspiring consultant, to understand and prepare for the challenging rounds of case interviews that lie ahead as you attempt to begin your career in the competitive but rewarding field of management consulting. This guide brings together our interview experiences, with case questions that have actually been given to individuals like yourself in real life case interviews at some of the top consulting firms in the world including McKinsey, Booz Allen Hamilton, Bain, Boston Consulting Group, A.T. Kearny, and L.E.K to name a few. The worked solutions in this guide combine the actual answers given by interviewees with constructed answers and recommendations made by the team at here at acethecase.com.

Unlike other case interview informational products, this guide and our website, takes on more of an international perspective making it useful to individuals of all nations, not just the United States. Some of the questions have been sourced from Australia, the United Kingdom and even India. Other case questions have been re-worded to give this guide its uniquely global perspective.

The case questions you will be asked in management consulting interviews are generally drawn from the country in which the interview is taking place, however, our combined experiences show that questions based on global markets and businesses operating in foreign countries are not uncommon. Having a reasonable understanding of different countries, demographics and economies will therefore be an advantage to you. Remember, case questions are often just a taste of the international business scene you may experience once you score the consulting job of your dreams!

Before reading further, it is important to mention that by purchasing and reading this guide you are not guaranteed interview success or a place at a prestigious consulting firm. By learning the skills required to answer case based interview questions and through practise, you can however, hope to improve your chances of interview success. All of us here hope you will gain something from taking the time to read this guide. You should at minimum obtain valuable insight into the art of confidently tackling case interviews in the rounds of management consulting interviews that lie ahead.

What is a case interview?

A case interview is a unique style of interview question or interview technique used by management consulting firms to screen interviewees when recruiting new employees. The case question is generally a business problem or an estimating exercise designed to make you think on your toes, use logic and common sense. Consulting organisations want to see that you can analyse information, structure an answer and perform basic calculations with large numbers.

The objective of the case interview is not to get it right. In fact there is often no right answer. Instead it is designed to for you to demonstrate your ability to solve complex problems and to show the interviewer how you think. The interviewer wants to see you as a colleague with whom he or she would want to work with in a team. Often case interviews can be very interactive, as you ask questions, seek clarification and bounce ideas off your interviewer.

The case interview is generally a one on one style interview and you are given a pen and paper or perhaps a whiteboard on which to, brainstorm, perform calculations and structure your answer. After some light conversation and getting to know you type questions, the interviewer will then pose the case question. Feel free to take notes because a lot of information may be coming your way. Clarify the questions details to ensure you are of a common understanding and on the right track before launching into the case. The interviewer will then watch you and is there to answer any questions, give more information when needed and guide you on the problem.

You can expect to be interviewed by 1, 2 or 3 different people on any one day with around 30 mins to an hour assigned to each interview. The case question itself can last anywhere from 20 - 40 mins depending on its difficulty and the specific round of interview.

Although you may feel tense, nervous and anxious, the important thing is to relax be confident and have fun!

Answering case interview questions

In this introductory section we will first offer you some basic advice for answering a case question before moving into more detailed sections on case interview skills followed by the many example case questions.

When answering case questions the most important thing above all else is to demonstrate to the interviewer your intellect and your ability to solve problems. Essentially that is what a management consultant does. They solve complex business problems that their clients cannot solve themselves.

There is a chance that during the case interview you will not even generate a final answer nor will it be correct. Sometimes case interviews can end up being an exploration of issues with the interviewer guiding you down one of many possible paths allowing you to formulate a solution to a problem, give recommendations or ‘ball park’ an estimate.

With this in mind never go too quick because you may overlook important elements to the problem and take too narrow a focus. Work at a steady pace to ensure you can at least give a final answer if required by the interviewer.

Interact with the interviewer and ask any questions to gauge the scope of the problem or fill in missing gaps of information. Often certain details of the case will be intentionally withheld to see if you can determine yourself what extra information or data would be useful. This demonstrates that you are both inquisitive and thorough.

Don’t be afraid to be creative because management consulting requires a large element of ‘thinking outside the square’ and innovative ideas. Be enthusiastic, confident and comfortable. Always let your personality come through. You may get way off track in a case interview and think that there is no way you will make it to the next round, however your personality, attitude and enthusiasm is what often will get you over the line.

A good point to make here is the importance of bringing structure to your case question problem solving. Using a simple problem solving method such as that below may help:

1.Understand and summarize the case question

2.Determine and clarify the case question objective

3.Pull together existing information, ask for and gather more information

4.Analyse this information

5.Group similar issues together and layout a structure

6.Perform calculations or design solutions for issues

7.Formulate and present answer/s

Common business frameworks and other problem solving methods such as Porters 5 forces, the BCG Matrix, SWOT Analysis, Revenue and Cost modelling, Business Life Cycle Analysis, Process Analysis, Mind Mapping, Key Issues Grouping or Problem Decomposition and Reverse Engineering are often useful and can also be great ways of bringing structure to your thoughts, providing you use the right one for the right problem. Never try to force a framework or methodology onto a problem, only use one if there is a natural fit to the case question. Structure your solution anyway you can, keeping in mind what feels appropriate given the nature of the case question. Some of these methods and frameworks are used and briefly discussed in relation to specific case questions within this guide, however feel free to research some of them further by yourself or with a friend.

A simple way of executing a case analysis which we will discuss here is a simple and common method of breaking the problem into distinct segments to create a structured roadmap. You will see this used several times throughout this guide. Be sure that your problem components are mutually exclusive, i.e. no overlaps, and that you have considered as many high level issues as possible. From here you can work top-down using a tree based structure to setup your analysis. Be confident in your analysis and be sure to stick to your roadmap once it is created, however be open to changing direction if you are guided to do so by the interviewer.