Potential case interviews & haven't done case prep

Question

Hey all!

I am a masters student in international business administration and have sent out some applications for an internship to more boutique sized firms, expecting to get rejected because I know that the internship and job market in general in my area are very limited and competitive, even for people with more management/strategy masters. I sent one out to a smaller consultancy and surprisingly got an invitation for an interview only one day later. Now I have the first screening in a few days, and if I should make it to the second stage, I do have to work on a case.

I actually have not done case prep because of exam phases and having to work overtime at my job. I have had some consulting cases in uni, but now I am completely overwhelmed, because yes I do know how to work through a problem and present it, but not in an interview setting. This makes me extremely nervous. Now I would like to know - what is the best tactic to prepare in the most time efficient way and what are the most crucial things that I should know to prepare?

Thanks a lot, I appreciate your answers! :)

Answer 1

Hi,

Congratulations on the interview invite, time to make the most of the time you have, before your interview.

Sharing my perspective, based on 7 years of experience at McKinsey (most recently as an Associate Partner) --> Purely from a conceptual point of view, here are the five killer skills to sharpen:

1. Top-down communication: Speak like a consultant, that means layout the approach first, before going into the details. Give me the executive message first, before getting lost in the details. Partners don't have time, clients don't have time. Answer first!

2. Analytical skills: Get your math right. Nothing more reassuring to an interviewer than a candidate you can land the correct math answer to the case problem. It validates you and reassures the interviewer that you could be a safe bet. "Can I trust this Associate enough to leave him unattended at a client site?" is the question they are hoping to answer. Right math builds credibility like nothing else! Wrong math is not the end of the world, but right math makes you shine brighter.

3. Structuring: Can you structure a problem nicely - ultimately, consulting is a about being able to add structure to chaos. Everyday on the job you will be bombarded with data, inputs, wish lists, hypothesis etc. Key question is can you distill all the inputs to filter out the noise and arrive at a synthesis. Structuring a problem into bit sized MECE chunks that can then be broken down into workstreams for team members is bread and butter at consulting. Ace it! Make it second nature!

4. Synthesis: Can you summarize key insights into an executive level message with an easy to follow storyline / narrative. This is a super skill that differentiates the good from the great candidates! Consulting is as much story telling as it is problem solving. You need to be able to tell an easy-to-explain story to take your clients along, while ensuring there is the right mix of details to substantiate the narrative!

5. Business judgement: You don't need to be a topic expert, but you sure need to have a good intrinsic business sense. Have an intuition, have a grounded opinion, have a perspective. Consulting is as much about people, empathy and judgement as it is about data, analytics and problem solving. Have an opinion and voice it when needed!

Hope that helps. Happy to connect over a session if you'd like to practice real McKinsey cases as preparation!

All the best.