Case Interview Nerves / Getting stuck

Hi Anonymous,

You are raising a great point here. 
 

Honestly, as an interviewer, a thirty seconds break wouldn’t put me off. However, I strongly encourage you to articulate your thoughts so that I, as the interviewer, have transparency over what you are considering and can see that you are engaging with the case, not just spacing out.

So, for example, you may say, ‘just thinking out loud here, I’m weighing argument A vs approach B, and taking a moment to see which path looks more promising’.

With adequate prep, I guarantee you will never face a total ‘blackout’.

Best

Dr Stephan Rihs

Hi there,

agree with other coaches - with an addition

If you need time and the interviewer forces / pushes you in an assertive way not to take time (e.g. he/she is testing you under pressure) you should calm the nerves / tame the “monkey brain” by

a) Re-stating the question the interview asked with different terms (this will buy you 7-10 sec to calm down / organize thoughts) - “just to make sure I understood correctly, we need to …..”

b) Start your thought out loud with a “structuring sentence” that will buy you some time e.g. “I think there are 3 main angles from which I would analyze the levers to reduce R&D costs”: via this strategy you are giving yourself 7-10 sec to come up with three convincing MECE titles + the additional time to “perfect them” in the flow (e.g. while you guide interviewer through “angle” #1 you structure #2 and so on)

Hope this helps.

P.

Hi there,

Absolutely it's ok! You have 2 options when this happens:

1) Ask for a moment to gather your thoughts and think about your approach

2) Recap the case, starting with the objective. This buys you time and helps you jog your thinking.

Also, remember that this is not a big deal! I know why you get in your own head but I promise there's no need to :) It's normal to have to reset and come up with a new plan mid-case.

Hi there,

This is what I would suggest if you get stuck:

1. Do a recap of your findings so far in the case
2. Repeat the question you have to answer
3. Ask for one minute to think
4. If you still cannot find an answer: state the reasons why you cannot see a connection between the information received and the objective. This should lead the interviewer to help you

Hope this helps,

Francesco

Hi there,

First of all, it is great to see you try to prepare for every possible situation!

This is indeed an interesting question which is probably relevant for quite a lot of users, so I am happy to provide my perspective on it:

• Generally speaking, and contradictory to what other coaches said, I would highly advise you not to stall on purpose in order to gather some time to calm down for the simple reasons:
  • It will most probably not truly help you calm down and
  • the interviewer will most probably misjudge your attempt to stall as low levels of case leadership.
• Instead, I would advise you to be honest about your situation with the interviewer and ask for some time to calm down (if the interviewer will not have proposed this either way). While in general, it would obviously be better not to be that nervous - as you might still get a discount on communications or professionalism criteria - it is still a better option to stalling.

In case you want a more detailed discussion on how to best mentally prepare for your upcoming interviews, please feel free to contact me directly.

I hope this helps,

Hagen

Yes, totally fine to take a break to gather your thoughts and get back on track. 

Have a look at this article for some tips and guidance on managing general interview nerves/anxiety-https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/job-interview-stress