Is it possible that someone can be great at doing cases as a candidate but bad at giving cases as an interviewer? I’ve noticed this even with junior ex consultants who I’d imagine would be better at giving cases. How can someone become better at giving cases?
Hey there,
Of course. I believe you can only be a good case giver if you have designed the case yourself / the case is based on your own personal experience. Only that way you will be able to
You can emulate that by thinking about these three points in-depth before you give the case to someone else. If its not your case
Cheers,
Florian
This is definitely possible, as solving cases and giving cases are two fundamentally different skillsets.
You are probably quite familiar with the skills you need to be good at solving cases - top-down structuring, outside-the-box thinking, analytical problem-solving, ability to synthesize, and so on. However, being good at giving cases requires knowing how best to guide a person through that case. Asking the case questions themselves may seem straightforward - but how can you help guide someone who's struggling without giving the case away? How do you encourage someone who is taking too long or going into too much detail on some aspect of the case? How can you best make the candidate comfortable and make the interview an interesting and enjoyable experience for you both? Those are the types of skills that make a good interviewer.
Consulting firms generally have pretty good interview trainings for consultants who are going to conduct interviews. If you don't have access to those trainings, I would say that as with most things, practice makes perfect. You get better at giving cases by practicing giving cases - and then asking your interviewee for feedback (if appropriate), reflecting on what went well and what went badly, and so on.
100%!
Furthermore, someone can be an amazing caser but not a good teacher.
To case well you need to be good at adjusting to the candidate. You need to know when to give them information versus when to make them ask better. You need to be flexible in what you give (give chart #3 before #1 and #2 if that's what they ask for!).
Throw in brainstorming questions to test them.
Put on different “hats”. As in, be an impatient/quick interviewer or “give nothing” in terms of responses.
Well, I'll stop there because now I'm giving away too many coaching “secrets” :P
Hi there,
Sure, that’s totally possible. The skills needed when you give or solve cases are pretty different.
A few things that can help to improve giving cases:
Hope this helps,
Francesco
Hi, it happens very often and I recommend practicing only with good case givers
Best,
Antonello
Absolutely! I believe its a matter of experience and familiarity with the case. Having coached new interviewers at McKinsey, how to give case interviews, there is definitely an “experience curve”.
Yes and this is often the case during the early days/years of interviewer training. With time and practice, an interviewer only becomes better to adapt and bring out the key dimensions that needs testing from the interviewee.
Sure that can happen - doing and giving cases require different skills. A good student may not necessarily be a good teacher.
Expert case by