Feedback to address from first round interview - Bain

Hi there,

It is not very easy to provide feedback just based on what they mentioned without seeing your live performance but I will try my best.

1) Need to dig deeper about specific consideration. Brainstorming for growth initiatives tend to be generic

It seems you are not personalizing the structures. There could be several reasons for that:

• You are not asking the right questions at the beginning to clarify the revenue model of the client
• You are not familiar with specific industries
• You are not personalizing the presentation of the structure, even if you don’t follow in the two points below

Solutions would be respectively to 

• Clarify the revenue model
• Do more cases for industries you are not familiar with
• Personalize the structure using the relevant information shared by the interviewer during the initial clarifying questions

The last is the most difficult to do on your own without coaching.

2) Qualitative area, not as strong as the quant, driving the qualitative insights from the exhibits are not holistic 

For graph analysis I would recommend the following. You should be able to practice it during the graph part in cases.

1. Read the graph

• Ask for 30 seconds to understand the graph
• Summarize the graph. Read in particular the graph title, the legend, and the footnote. Candidates quite often skip this part and then make mistakes

2. Analyze the graph and find the main insights

• Repeat the question. Many candidates don’t spend time clarifying the question; consequently, they answer the wrong question. Be sure to align with the interviewer on what you have to do
• Provide an analysis related to the question. Identify the key insights of the graph based on the question (this is the most difficult part of graph analysis, as it is different in every graph)

3. Propose the next steps

• State your hypothesis or suggestion on what to do next. Present what should be done next to help further the client
• Ask a question/propose an analysis related to what is needed to move forward. This will show you are able to drive the case

Best,

Francesco

Hi there,

The short honest answer is coaching. It's hard to achieve any major mindset shift in just a few days without teaching/training/support.

For #1 the main advice I would have would be daily reading (Robinhood Snacks, BCG Insights etc.). Unfortunately this takes months to build (which is why it's part of my preparation plan when candidates are first starting out).

For last-minute help, the best thing you can do is practice brainstorming and research some industries on your own (create your own industry deep dives).

For #2 you need to have an objective-driven mindset. This means everything you say and do relates to solving the objective. Instead of just saying why x number is different from y number, or solving for z number, you say why it's important and how it updates your view.

This one also requires some time to learn properly, but Rocketblocks may be able to help.

Good luck!

Hi there,

First of all, congratulations on passing the first round of Bain interviews!

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:

• To address the inaccuracy of your brainstormings, I would advise you to properly structure them before brainstorming initiatives. A lot of candidates have no or very superficial “mini structures” that do not really help in brainstorming, resulting in overtly generic proposals.
• To address your not fully developed exhibit analysis skills, I would advise you to simply practice exhibit analysis, either from case books or from Bain reports (since you are interviewing with Bain).

In case you want a more detailed discussion on how to best prepare for your final round interviews with Bain given your weak spots, please feel free to contact me directly.

I hope this helps,

Hagen

Without actually looking at your performance, it is impossible to give you targeted advice that will maximize your chances particularly if you only have a few days ahead of you to practice. 

Generic advice is useful, but usually is on things that take time to build or would require doing a significant ammount of cases and self-study. So one tip here is to read a lot of cases, focusing on the brainstorming questions, or to actually use some of the frameworks that are pervasive everywhere to the brainstorm questions (this is where they are actually helpful, not on the initial approach as many people mistakingly think)

Case practice is about building a muscle, it takes time, it is not about memorizing a handful of things. Having said that, one can help you maximize your performance with what you already have - but once again, that requires actually knowing your performance.

Hello!

Agree with Ian, since with only a couple of days and this “vague" insight not so many more options are available

Cheers, 

Clara