What do people mean by ‘expect unusual cases’ for second rounds at Bain. Examples?

Hi Anna,

Literally anything!

1. Help plan the UK's covid vaccination rollout company
2. Help x company increase their output without affecting quality
3. X company has been facing tough supply chain issues - help them resolve
4. Advise x company on their pricing model for a newly released game - retail, subscription, or free to play
5. Help x country rebuild their education system

Most of the cases I've created are also unconventional, as I specialize in getting candidates ready for anything and everything that appears in their interview. Check them out here:

https://www.preplounge.com/en/management-consulting-cases/candidate-led-usual-style/intermediate/yodaphone-195

https://www.preplounge.com/en/management-consulting-cases/interviewer-led-mckinsey-style/advanced/mckinsey-digital-bcg-platinion-oil-gas-upstream-technology-196

https://www.preplounge.com/en/management-consulting-cases/brain-teaser/beginner/coronavirus-times-covid-19-brainteaser-194

https://www.preplounge.com/en/management-consulting-cases/candidate-led-usual-style/intermediate/cutting-carbs-divestiture-in-the-electrical-power-market-228

Expect unusual cases: Yes, but not always.

How to prepare:

• Mentally flexible
• Do not rely too rigidly on rigid frameworks
• Be fluid in your solutioning and approach
• Think creatively
• Make it a conversation instead of an exam
• Give the impression that you are client ready

There are 3 similar questions in recent past. Hopefully their answers shall be more than enough:

• https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/bain-2nd-round-interview-tips-11143
• https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/what-are-some-partner-level-interview-cases-11809
• https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/mck-final-round-11782

Hi!

Here's an example: You receive a dinosaur for your birthday, what do you do with it?

Unusual cases tend to be those situations where “standard” approaches (e.g. a market entry framework) do not really fit and you're structuring skills and comfort with ambiguity are put under stress.

Hope this helps.

Best,

Anto

This isn't more about being “structured” than about being "flexible". 

To prepare, please not this is not very different from good case practice - you need to understand the objective and context, and then come up with a structured approach that allows you to provide an answer. This can actually be great practice to develop the muscle to structure the “usual” cases.

Some examples:

• What is the market opportunity for teleportation devices? 
• How would you reduce seagull population in XYZ city (without disregarding animal welfare)?
• How would you price the moon?
• How would you improve the university educational system? (I got this one in a last round with a partner)

Hi Anna,

First of all, congratulations on (supposedly) passing the first round with Bain!

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:

• From my own experience, the ones of my coachees and my personal network, second round case studies tend to be less structured and occasionally odd, whether it is Bain or any other consulting company. The main reason for this is that it is mostly (Senior) Partners interviewing you who often times ask candidates their own current most pressing questions.
• As such, I would advise you to expect everything, from rather odd case study questions to pure conversations without any time to structure your thoughts.
• A real-life example I was given when I entered Bain was “Consider it's the year 2010 and you have two TMT players who are both going to offer Triple Play product bundles. The PE ratio is the same. What company would you invest in and why?”

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

I hope this helps,

Hagen

Hello!

It can be any type of question and case! In Google you would find millions, also if you look for brainteaser examples. 

They are super fun to solve, and in terms of prep, probably solving many is the only things that truly works!

Hope it helps!

Cheers, 

Clara