One or two examples

Hi there, 

Wow, you might be overthinking this one :) 

If you are unsure about a question, ask for it to be clarified. Consulting interviews are not riddles. They are not testing for that and you also can't possibly expect yourself to answer correctly to a question you don't understand. 

I actually understand the question as you needing to provide an accomplishment that was the greatest both personally and professionally. I'm not sure everybody can even claim to have one. 

Best,
Cristian

Hi there,

Q: Is this application question asking for an example of each or just one or the other? “What is your greatest accomplishment, both personally and professionally?”

Indeed the question is not perfectly clear.

In an interview setting, I would clarify that with the interviewer.

If it is part of a written application, if you have an accomplishment showing both the personal and professional sides technically that could work. However most people won’t likely have a good example covering both.

If that’s the case, I would provide an example for each as it says “both” and not “either”. The reasons are:

• If you provide two examples and they wanted one, there is no disadvantage (you are just showing an extra example)
• If you provide one example and they wanted two, there is a disadvantage

Good luck!

Francesco

Hi there,

I would be happy to share my thoughts on it:

• First of all, I would highly advise you to clarify with the interviewer when in doubt. Since the question is not clear, you should not risk answering it without knowing what the interviewer wants to hear.
• Generally speaking, though, I would assume that the interviewer would want to hear you explaining your greatest professional accomplishment, and then elaborating on the personal impact it had.

If you would like a more detailed discussion on how to best prepare for your upcoming interviews, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Best,

Hagen

Hi there,

When in doubt….ask the interviewer!

It's ok to (confidently) say “Just to check, would you prefer I talk through 2 seperate accomplishments or one?”.

That said, if I heard this question I would assume “professionally”, but only in the sense that they're expecting me to have a big professional achievement that I also view to be a great personal achievement….after all, you're joining the consulting industry so work does come first!

What I mean is, I would not tell a story about leading a company turnaround and then tell a story about winning nationals with my soccer team. I would just tell about the company turnaround and say how that's my biggest accomplishment professionally and personally.

Hello,

Could you provide a bit more context - is this a written application or an interview question?

(I don't think there's necessarily a right answer, you could take it either way. Splitting it into two, one personal one professional, could work well in that you get to list more big accomplishments that way!)