Expereinced hire - case interviews

Hi there,

It depends on what you mean by experienced hire. 

There is no difference in the interview structure for undergrad or MBAs – you will still have a structure as:

• Fit
• Case
• Your questions

There are different expectations though. If you have work experience, the interviewer will expect examples of leadership, impact, drive, etc., and possibly business acumen, reflecting your previous years of experience.

Interviews for experienced hires for manager levels and above are different, as:

• The process may involve questions on a specific sector and industry knowledge
• You may get questions on how to manage real projects and teams, as your responsibilities will involve that (initial data requested, number of people, allocation of people on workstreams, length of the different parts of the project).

Hope this helps,

Francesco

Not really, the evaluation criteria remains the same whether or not you are an experienced hire. So make sure your preparation is holistic with no gaps.

If you are very senior (Senior Manager/Director & above) then the case interview could be flexed to become more like a discussion/dialogue. But this will vary from firm to firm.

It depends. The case interview gets tougher if you are recruiting for a higher rank, but within the same rank, difficulty level is the same regardless of experience level. The only exception may be for entry level, as one would expect a candidate with relevant experience to bring a bit more experience to the table when answering.

The situation is different for FIT interviews. I expect higher maturity, better structured answers and more conviction for more experienced candidates.

 

Hi there,

All of the criteria are the same. That said, the higher up you are and the more experienced, the higher expectations are (especially when it comes to content/industry knowedge).

Additionally, if you're applying at Director/Principal and above, the interview is generally much more "brainstorm" focused, which can be quite tough.

Ultimately, no matter what level you're applying at, you should be striving for the follow "optimal candidate" state: 

"Someone who can approach a complicated problem and think + communicate in a structured way in the right context+objective of the case, while being personable, adaptable, and coachable, so that, ultimately, the interviewer can see themselves working with this individual and putting them in front of a client."

Hi, I confirm the criteria be the same, but more relevant performance in terms of communication, business sense and structured problem solving will be required.

Best,
Antonello

Hey there,

Usually depends on the firm and role. In general, however, there is no difference in the difficulty of cases and the evaluation criteria.

The main differences come from the personal fit part, where you are expected

• to show relevant domain experience for the role
• present more impactful leadership and impact stories compared to a recent graduates
• highlight a network of industry professionals (this is more important the higher up the ladder you go)

Cheers,

Florian