LEK Round 2 Interviews. What to expect?

Hi there, 

I'll break down the essentials below. Hope it helps:

What is a presentation case

Basically you're provided with a prompt and all the materials that you need. Then you are giving some thinking time to structure your thoughts and write down / create a presentation. After that you are expected to deliver this presentation in a similar way you would do to a client. 

What do they look for in the presentation case:

(many things, but I'll focus on the top 3)

1. Top-down communication (google ‘pyramid principle’ to learn more about it)
2. Prioritization - you should show that you have the ability to focus on the essential points since you have limited time for the discussion
3. Logical thinking and structuring  - you are able to effectively digest the data provided and break it down into more manageable mini-problems

How to prepare

• Individually - aim to do as many cases on your own where you have all the information at hand and then need to create a presentation. Basically try to recreate as much as possible the interview experience. 
• With peers - do the same as above but have somebody else to whom you present and who can then ask you follow-up questions and provide feedback (this is an essential step since it allows you to understand the developmental points you have and which you are ‘blind’ to)
• With coaches - a coach can significantly accelerate your trajectory, highlight your strengths and weaknesses and then develop a tailored growth plan for you. I've successfully supported candidates on ‘presentation type’ cases before so I'd be glad to help you, but there are also many other coaches on the platform to consider. 

Best of luck!

Hi there,

1) I have a second round LEK interview for their US offices for the Consultant position. What can I expect? 

I helped a candidate recently who had to go through quant, strategy and presentation parts.

Quant was a profitability case, strategy was a growth strategy case. The presentation part was related to analyzing 20 pages of data with 1 page as an outcome, delivered verbally.

2) How do I prepare for the presentation case and should I expect more tough case questions in the second round?

Second-round cases are not necessarily more difficult but the bar is higher. Here are some usual differences:

▶ First vs Final Round Interviews

In terms of how to prepare for the written/presentation case, you can find some tips here:

▶ How to Prepare for a Presentation Case 

3) I am not a consultant and don't have good presentation skills. How do I learn in 10 days? 

I would recommend this:

▶ How to Prepare for a Consulting Interview with Limited Time  

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If you need more help with the presentation case please drop me a message. I do a session where I can send you a few written cases in advance and we can then replicate the presentation part and all the possible improvements for it. 

I also know 15+ real LEK case questions they asked in the US that we can review together, please feel free to PM me in case they can be useful.

Best,

Francesco

Hi there,

#1 Fix your weaknesses

#2 Be prepared for anything (build your flexibility/adaptability)

Some reading for the case: https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/how-to-shift-your-mindset-to-ace-the-case

Some reading for fit: https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/tell-me-about-yourself-interview-question

Fit/Behavioral

You should be more prepared for a pretty in-depth fit interview. I highly recommend you expect "loose" or "random" questions and practice this scenario with a coach. They are less likely to just ask you 20 "tell me about a time" questions. They may have a bit more of a chat, ask you to brainstorm, ask things like "How would you setup x type of project", etc. etc. You need to prepare to be flexible here!

Broader topics/case variability

In terms of being MECE, try out a wide range of "unique" questions to test your MECE structure!

For example, if you were a farmer and had to pick between buying a cow, chicken, or pig, how would you think about which to buy?

Or, if you were a thief, which store between a, b, c would you rob?

Practice breaking these down into MECE structures so that the concept really hits home.

The presentation case likely involves you solving a case and presenting your findings (using powerpoint) to a panel of interviewers who will ask you questions.

There are a few elements here that you should consider:
- You still need to solve the case well and have a good structure and solution and be able to answer questions in a structured way. For this your usual case practice will help
- You might want to do a bit of work specifically on how to structure presentations. The pyramid principle by Barbara Minto is a good resource for this
- You will want to brush up on your powerpoint skills so that you can make compelling slides with decent formatting quickly. For this I would suggest learning the basics of powerpoint via either books or youtube (there would be tons of resources here) and also practicing using some basic shortcuts and understanding the functionality of powerpoint so you can create slides relatively quickly.

Hope this is useful and good luck for the interview.

Kind regards,
Kurt