Consulting case interview

Case interview training to break into McKinsey, BCG, Bain, Deloitte, et al.

Case interview training to break into McKinsey, BCG, Bain, Deloitte, et al. Break into McKinsey, BCG, Bain, Deloitte, et al. by using a structured case interview training process, learning from ex-partners, and working with ex-MBB coaches. We help aspiring graduates, young professionals, and experienced hires prepare for their job interviews with the world's major consulting firms. We place a specific focus on preparing for case interviews with McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), and Bain & Company. However, if you are targeting a different firm, please raise it with your coach. There are a number of very good firms that are, in some ways, better than MBB for their specialization. However, generally, if you are prepared for MBB, you are prepared for interviews with most consulting firms. The case interview is the hardest interview you will do in your life. And there are a lot of things you don’t know that you don’t know. The only way for you to know the things you don’t know is to have access to experienced case interview guidance. It will help you: - identify and fix your weaknesses - highlight your strengths - learn what to say and not to say - learn what McKinsey, BCG,…

Brainteaser

5 Interview brain teasers with answers

5 Interview Brain Teasers with Answers Interview brain teasers are puzzles or riddles that interviewers sometimes use to assess a candidate's problem-solving skills, creativity, and critical thinking abilities. What are interview brain teaser questions? Brain teaser interview questions are puzzles or logic problems that are used during job interviews to assess a candidate's problem-solving skills, creativity, critical thinking, and ability to think outside the box. These questions are usually designed to be challenging and don't have straightforward answers. Some examples of brain teaser interview questions include: How many gas stations are there in the United States? You have a 3 gallon jug and a 5 gallon jug. How can you measure out exactly 4 gallons of water? A farmer has 17 sheep and all but 9 die. How many are left? What is the next number in this sequence: 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, ... A man is pushing his car along a road when he comes to a hotel. He shouts, “I’m bankrupt!” How can this be? You have two ropes that burn for exactly one hour each. How can you measure 45 minutes? A man has to get a fox, a chicken, and a sack of corn across…

Career

How to forgive yourself

How to forgive yourself I work with many senior clients. Executives at major banks, managers, principals, partners at consulting firms, managers and above at large tech companies, entrepreneurs, etc. Because StrategyTraining.com and the programs within our mentoring programs already have very thorough skills training, our mentoring 1:1 calls are often focused on implementation. And implementation requires removing all obstacles that are keeping clients from getting results. One emotion that I find causes the most damage to clients’ lives is a feeling of guilt and an inability to forgive themselves. Here is a video I recently created on how to forgive yourself. https://youtu.be/VCUmnLDi3kI Star Wars has a lot to teach us about life. I watched every movie the first time over the last few weeks. In Star Wars, you can see a repeating pattern of the Jedi blaming themselves for failure and punishing themselves (knowingly or unknowingly) for it. And, at the same time, abandoning people who need them. Obi-Wan Kenobi went into exile after he “failed” Anakin Skywalker. Anakin Skywalker went to the dark side because, among other things, he couldn’t forgive himself for allowing his mother to die. Yoda, the head of Jedi counsel, thought it was ok for him to punish himself and go…

Consulting Application Process

Case Interview 101 – Management Consulting Interview Guide

Consulting Case Interview 101 – Management Consulting Interview Guide In this post we are going to cover foundational things you need to know to prepare for consulting case interviews. Case interview is a type of interview consulting firms use to select consulting candidates. Case interviews help consulting firms test candidate's analytical abilities as well as FIT, including leadership abilities. This guide includes beginner information as well as some in depth information on how to prepare for the consulting case interview. What is a case interview? A case interview is a specific type of job interview used by consulting firms to test person's abilities and fit. Case interviews are among the hardest job interviews and focused on testing both "soft" skills such as communication and "hard" skills such as problem-solving skills. Case interviews usually last 30-45 minutes each and often involves multiple interviews on the same day. Case interviews are modeled to test the type of skills consultants need during actual projects, such as an ability to solve difficult problems, deal with large amount of data, being able to be likeable and build good relationship with clients. So succeeding in a case interview is an indicator that someone will likely be…

Consulting case interview

Joining McKinsey as an experienced hire is not always a step up

Joining McKinsey as an experienced hire is not always a step up Are you an experienced hire, preparing for consulting case interviews?  If yes, this article may open your eyes to something very important. My name is Kris Safarova. I was recognized among World's Top 30 Management Professionals for 2023 along with Tom Peters, Philip Kottler, James Collins, and Gary Hamel. If you are an experienced hire, you need to keep in mind that when joining McKinsey, BCG, or a similarly top-tier firm, many applicants, especially senior applicants, will take a salary cut. It may not be the majority but it's a sizable minority. A CPG (also known as FMCG) SVP coaching client once wanted to apply to McKinsey. She would have joined as a senior associate, and possibly, and this was a stretch, as an engagement manager.  When we pointed out her likely McKinsey salary, and what she would lose in her stock options, it was a tough pill for her to swallow.  It was even worse when we showed her, on LinkedIn, the levels at which engagement managers joined her CPG employer.  They were all at a level below her.  She was giving up a lot if she left.…

Consulting case interview

Case Interview Prep Myths

Case Interview Prep Myths There are ten myths surrounding consulting case interview prep process that are important to recognize. Much of this advice is expanded in The Consulting Offer where we teach participants in more depth why these misconceptions exist and how participants can increase their chances of succeeding in consulting case interviews. #1 The more unique your profile, the easier it is to network with associates and recruiters from consulting firms. This is a myth because experienced hires, by definition, have an unusual profile. In a pool of case interview applicants, experienced hires tend to stand out, not only are there fewer of them, but also because they have about seven years of experience. In some instances, there may be case interview applicants who are just one level below that of an executive at a major company. It is logical that candidates with such unique profiles will need adjustments to a typical case interview prep process. This unique profile can have the opposite of the desired effect because you may not fit the typical mold or template that recruiters are trained to look for.  First-stage resume reviewers at major consulting firms are usually junior consultants or recruiters and base…

Management Consulting

Start Here with Case Interviews

We use ex-McKinsey, BCG et al. partners to prepare you for case interviews at the most elite consulting firms. We are the only firm worldwide using ex-partners. We do this because we believe only partners who make the final hiring decision in the final round case interview should be training you. My name is Kris Safarova and I am the CEO FIRMSconsulting.com. I work with a network of eminent ex-McKinsey, BCG et al. partners, like Kevin, Bill, Michael and many others who produce all the content on the site. Since 2010, when FIRMSconsulting.com was founded, I have assembled a universe of digital platforms teaching case interviews and business strategy. Our goal is not only to get you into McKinsey but to help you succeed far beyond the firm. We see McKinsey and BCG as mere stepping stones and while we focus on case interviews, we use ex-partners to equip clients with the broader thinking skills to solve mankind's toughest problems. [bctt tweet="I have noticed one thing in common with everyone who either comments on FIRMSconsulting.com or our case interviews podcast channel which is ranked #1 in the world for case interviews: everyone is unsure of what to do and/or starting…

Networking

Guide to FIRMSconsulting Content

We produce an extensive list of podcasts, books, videos, slides and other media. This content guide can help you navigate your way through and build your career development plan. It’s helpful to remember that a leader gets things done. Therefore, always think about how to implement your ideas. We offer 6 services: Books—use in conjunction with video training programs to quickly grasp core skills. The Strategy Journal Succeeding as a Management Consultant The Strategy Engagement Marketing Saves the World Mavis Turquoise Eyes Slides—use our curated editable studies, tools, templates, proposals and letters to significantly reduce the time it takes to generate results, lower your costs and improve the quality of your work. Videos—gain mastery of core concepts to ensure that you solve the problem, implement the solution and bank the benefits. Coaching—to avoid roadblocks and trial-and-error, you can book 1-on-1 advice sessions in which a partner will evaluate your plan and help you develop a bespoke career strategy and solution. This is subject to availability and your admittance to the program. Coaching— Eligible to apply for 1-on-1 coaching only if referred by a prior coaching client. We do not accept applications without a referral. These are the longer coaching programs…

Consulting job applicants: 4 best case interviewees we ever trained

Consulting Job Applicants: 4 Best Case Interviewees We Ever Trained In this article, we will share the key lessons of the top 4 consulting job applicants we trained, as measured purely by their consulting interview skills. A consulting job applicant who was the first person in her country, and university, to join McKinsey At #1 is Sanda, an undergraduate from one of the poorest countries in South East Asia who barely spoke English. She was the first in her family to attend university, a university without a website, and became the first person in her country, and university, to join McKinsey. So what distinguished Sanda from other consulting job applicants we trained? First, she watched the videos so carefully that she could recall and apply all key concepts during her 1-on-1 consulting case interview coaching. Just how efficient was Sanda? We only did 4 hours of case interview coaching before she received her offer! That is just 240 minutes of one on one case interview training or half a season of the Big Bang Theory. Sanda clearly identified her weaknesses and requested help. For example, one of her consulting job interviews was in a luxurious restaurant, and she never been…

Business terms glossary – A to Z

Business Terms Glossary - A to Z If you’re new to business, you may hear a lot of words and phrases that you do not know and that are not well (or are not) defined in a standard dictionary. Our business terms glossary will explain some of the meanings of the most commonly used business terms. If you are a Premium member or an FC Insider, you know that many key business terms are used throughout our programs and other resources (e.g. books). While they are sometimes explained when they are used, this page is intended to capture most of the common business terms as well as their definitions in one location for ease of reference. Our glossary of business terms provides definitions for common terminology and acronyms in business plans, finance, consulting case interviews, accounting, and other aspects of a small, medium and large business. We hope you will find this helpful and we will continue to add to this page as we think of more business terms to include. BUSINESS TERMS TO KNOW: Here are some of the fundamental business terms you should know. Business terms that we felt were especially important to know are marked with "key business…

Consulting Application Process

8 Best Free Business Case Examples in 2023 (McKinsey, Bain, BCG, Deloitte etc.)

Business Case Example: The 10 Best Free Examples in 2023 (McKinsey, Bain, BCG, Deloitte etc.) The Consulting Offer within our Premium membership is, by far, the best way to prepare for case interviews. However, you may be just starting your case interview preparation and not ready yet to commit the resources, time, the effort that is required for serious preparation. So you may be looking online for a business case example to practice with and dip your toe, so to speak, to see if pursuing consulting is even of interest to you. Or it may be the case that you, just like a large number of FIRMSconsulting members, are an executive or a manager outside of consulting, interested in developing problem-solving skills. If so, you may be searching for a business case example/business case analysis example to start honing your skills. If so, this article will also be helpful to you. Before we dive into business case examples, we would like to share with you 2 free resources we prepared for you as a gift, based on FIRMSconsulting book on brain teasers and another FIRMSconsulting book on solving business cases and overall consulting case interview preparation. These downloads include 20…

Physics Skills in Business: 3 Case-Interview Concepts I Learned From Physics

Physics Skills in Business: 3 Case-Interview Concepts I Learned From Physics Physics has been defined as the study of the laws of nature, in all their broad glory! In contemporary physics curricula, students are supposed to study mechanics (descriptions of motion, generally), electricity and magnetism (which are two sides of the same coin), and even quantum particles (the unimaginably small constituents of matter as we know it). Yet a deeper understanding of “physics” typically emphasizes that analogous patterns exist across different natural phenomena -- for example, the equations that describe a gravitational force and an electrostatic force are written identically, just with different letters. Due in part to this idea that regularities can be found in seemingly disparate fields, physicists find themselves in careers that range from basic research science to patent law, and even jobs like banking. Analyzing the world from the perspective of physics has prepared me, in some ways expected and others unforeseen, for a career in consulting. More than this, some of the most essential, core business concepts to which I was exposed while studying for case interviews first made their way into my mind during my physics education. Today, I’ll discuss just three. 1st Concept I…