Case Interview Preparation & Management Consulting | Strategy | Critical Thinking

Networking calls/coffee chats are tricky. You should not be following the advice found for general recruitment. We insist our clients network with partners so most of the advice we provide is for networking with McKinsey and BCG partners. The reality is that partners are best equipped, and most influential, to assess a unique profile and make a judgement call on the spot. The danger is that if you do not impress the partner, you are very unlikely to go anywhere with further networking. The more atypical your profile, though, the greater the need to network with a partner, and the benefits far outweigh the risks.

This podcast unpacks the typical lifestyle of a consultant. It touches on some elements for associates and business analysts, though delves more on the issues and challenges addressed by partners at BCG and McKinsey. Nonetheless, it is a good idea to understand how consulting lifestyle trends change one progresses further and further up the organization. This at the very least will help you decide if you want to stay all the way to partnership. This podcast is largely based on my own experiences as a partner.

It is a ridiculous myth to assume the world is fair and females have an even playing field with males. Females, especially in emerging markets, face unique and trying obstacles during the case interview process. Firmsconsulting has always been fairly direct in telling the truth as we see it to ensure female clients have the correct expectations, understand the hurdles they will face, and are armed with the correct training to handle their interviewers. This podcast explores this topic further.

Image management is crucial. A significant part of our approach is around teaching clients to manage, control really, the image they portray. This involves a wide area like dressing, networking, emailing, speaking, hand movements, body language etc. This podcast touches on these elements of image while exploring several in depth. This is one of several detailed podcasts exploring different areas of image management.

In our ongoing series of podcasts, we again introduce new advice about case interviews or sometimes view an old topic in a different manner. The objective of these podcasts is to explain concepts like MECE, 80/20, brainstorming, hypotheses etc in different ways so that as many listeners as possible will understand these concepts. We have seen some listeners obtain McKinsey offers merely by using the podcasts to prepare and we therefore want to increase the amount of material we generate - in the hope of helping more listeners.

In this podcast I examine my rapid progression up the ranks of the elite firms all the way from analyst to principal and then director. I offer anecdotes or my own experience and especially the mistakes I made, strategies I followed and the lessons I learned along the way. What you find is that analytic skill is very important early on, but being brilliant at analyses only gets you so far - and not very far at that. To push into the partnership ranks you need to have much more skills, especially the ability to influence others, take risks and build your peoples capabilities.

You cannot and will not improve your case skills from practicing case alone. "Case skills" refers to a variety of skills including body language, communication and especially business judgement. Business judgement effectively means your ability to make reasonable guesses/inferences in business situations. That largely comes from being well read. This podcast breaks down business judgement further and offers advice to improve this skill.ies.

An earlier podcast discussed a fairly labor-intensive case where we needed to literally roll-up our sleeves to find and extract data, and a corporate finance study. This engagement is somewhere in-between. It discusses a study I led to help a major corporation completely redesign their entire R&D strategy and restructure their R&D division, a behemoth of a unit with little direction. I do recall this being one of the friendliest clients I have ever encountered. PhD's usually are this way.

In this series of podcasts we look at each of the typical McKinsey/BCG FIT/PEI questions and provide a typical answer. Note, that while replicating this approach and standard will help you, we caution you that the main test of fit is in handling the cross-examination of your answer. Most candidates tend to be unprepared for that and we urge you to be very aware this will happen and to practice this interrogation style. You can never memorize your way out of these interrogations questions, since you cannot predict the actual question and, therefore, prepare for them. At least 20% of clients ignore this advice at their peril. The reality is that McKinsey will rarely ask this question directly. They will ask a simple question, not referring to leadership, but expect you to always draw out leadership, analytic, teamwork and "can-do" attributes.

In this series of podcasts we look at each of the typical McKinsey/BCG FIT/PEI questions and provide a typical answer. Note, that while replicating this approach and standard will help you, we caution you that the main test of fit is in handling the cross-examination of your answer. Most candidates tend to be unprepared for that and we urge you to be very aware this will happen and to practice this interrogation style. You can never memorize your way out of these interrogations questions, since you cannot predict the actual question and, therefore, prepare for them. At least 20% of clients ignore this advice at their peril. Talk about a leadership example, sample answer

In this series of podcasts we look at each of the typical McKinsey/BCG FIT/PEI questions and provide a typical answer. Note, that while replicating this approach and standard will help you, we caution you that the main test of fit is in handling the cross-examination of your answer. Most candidates tend to be unprepared for that and we urge you to be very aware this will happen and to practice this interrogation style. You can never memorize your way out of these interrogations questions, since you cannot predict the actual question and, therefore, prepare for them. At least 20% of clients ignore this advice at their peril. Talk me through your resume, sample answer

In this series of podcasts we look at each of the typical McKinsey/BCG FIT/PEI questions and provide a typical answer. Note, that while replicating this approach and standard will help you, we caution you that the main test of fit is in handling the cross-examination of your answer. Most candidates tend to be unprepared for that and we urge you to be very aware this will happen and to practice this interrogation style. You can never memorize your way out of these interrogations questions, since you cannot predict the actual question and, therefore, prepare for them. At least 20% of clients ignore this advice at their peril. Why is BCG appealing to you, sample answer

In this series of podcasts we look at each of the typical McKinsey/BCG FIT/PEI questions and provide a typical answer. Note, that while replicating this approach and standard will help you, we caution you that the main test of fit is in handling the cross-examination of your answer. Most candidates tend to be unprepared for that and we urge you to be very aware this will happen and to practice this interrogation style. You can never memorize your way out of these interrogations questions, since you cannot predict the actual question and, therefore, prepare for them. At least 20% of clients ignore this advice at their peril. Why are you interested in this office, sample answer

In this series of podcasts we look at each of the typical McKinsey/BCG FIT/PEI questions and provide a typical answer. Note, that while replicating this approach and standard will help you, we caution you that the main test of fit is in handling the cross-examination of your answer. Most candidates tend to be unprepared for that and we urge you to be very aware this will happen and to practice this interrogation style. You can never memorize your way out of these interrogations questions, since you cannot predict the actual question and, therefore, prepare for them. At least 20% of clients ignore this advice at their peril. Why did you go to Arizona state, sample answer

In this series of podcasts we look at each of the typical McKinsey/BCG FIT/PEI questions and provide a typical answer. Note, that while replicating this approach and standard will help you, we caution you that the main test of fit is in handling the cross-examination of your answer. Most candidates tend to be unprepared for that and we urge you to be very aware this will happen and to practice this interrogation style. You can never memorize your way out of these interrogations questions, since you cannot predict the actual question and, therefore, prepare for them. At least 20% of clients ignore this advice at their peril. Please elaborate on a weakness, sample answer

In this podcast we outline some simple guidelines to use for McKinsey and BCG FIT/PEI cases. The objective is to know what each firm is for and then design the answer to address each of those points. The objective of FIT is not to deliver your life story. That is largely meaningless but unfortunately a common tactic used by many candidates.

Written cases, pioneered by Monitor Deloitte, and now used by all firms are very intimidating. Written cases actually test core prioritization skills much better than verbal cases, since written case interviews can dump tonnes of data on a candidate. The trick to written cases is to have a filtering system to find the data you need from the worthless data, and of course, recognizing that not all the data is useful. Written cases mirror cases done in case-method schools like Harvard. Lots of data is provided in those cases, but not all is useful. Your job is to find the useful data and that means having a framework upfront.

Richard Ivey in Southern Ontario is one of the 4 great case schools in the world - along with Harvard, IESE and Darden - and a school with which we have a deep affiliation given our client history. In recent years we have had much fewer clients, but we still retain a deep understanding of the program and receive many queries from Ivey candidates. This podcast details some of the common questions we receive from Ivey candidates in the hope it answers them all in one location. Much of the advice is counter-intuitive and we hope it helps with your own case interview preparation.

As a policy, we do not write much about our clients. However, I felt this story was worth sharing. A candidate from an unknown school, from one of the poorest developing countries in the world, lands an offer at BBM. In fact, the first from her country. I have heavily disguised her details to protect her identity. Note, this client was a Firmsconsulting Emerging Fellow, the very first and the reason we started this program, when she was admitted to our program and is part of the scholarship program we run to identify and groom outstanding individuals from the emerging markets and inner cities.

These are the 4 books we recommend for summer reading. Two, are among the most important books for management consulting that we recommend for all management consultants. "McKinsey's Marvin Bower" is a book we recommend to every single and aspiring consultant and is the foundation of understanding the values of management consulting.