Hello all,
I have a question regarding what insightful questions to ask the interviewer at the end of an interview that make you stand out?
Thank you.
Hi!
There is a whole lot of great questions you can ask. My best advice is to really think through what interests you most about the job, the firm, or the industry! If you have a particular interest (industry sector, nonprofit area, social engagement, etc.) you can ask if there are touch points/adjacent areas in the firm you could explore. Also, make sure to relate your interests and questions to your background and/or career/life objectives.
That being said, here are a couple of example questions – but by no means exhaustive:
Cheers, Sidi
Hi Anonymous,
relevant questions at the end are a great way to show your interest in the company and get additional points. Ideally, your questions should respect the following criteria:
In the first reply in the following thread, you can find some more information and some examples of questions:
https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/open-house-at-bcg-311
Best,
Francesco
Hi,
The main objective is to have a good conversation and highlight your intellectual capacity and curiosity. Thus:
It is ok to ask:
It's not ok to ask:
Be prepared and good luck!
Ask about them
People love to talk about themselves. Just ask them what they've worked on recently or what their journey at BCG has been like. Importantly, do your research beforehand - find out what they've done and try and pick something from their past that looks interesting to you. Tailor your questions just like they tailor their FIT questions to your resume."So, how did you end up in the Industrial Goods sector?"
Ask insightful questions
Ideally, your questions should also show them that you're insightful, inquisitive, bright, thinking about current topics, etc. For example:
"I saw you worked on a big digital transformation for a financial services company - I experienced one myself and it seemed so hard to move such a big organisation. What did you see as the major challenges and breakthrough moments?"
"I know that x big trend is happening. I also know that y types of companies exhibit z traits. How do you reconcile this difference when ensuring y companies adopt x trends?
Summary: Ask about THEM and ask insightful questions!
(editiert)
Hi Anonymous,
This is the moment where you can confirm the good fit you had with the interviewer during the 1h itw.
I personnally suggest to avoid every question that can be asnwered by the firm's website, as well as other question related to firm that could be answered by a consultant you could contact from the outside (alumni from your school, personal network etc.)
Instead I will take this opportunity to really create a connexion with the interviewer as a person, and ask question about his own experience that can somehow relate to your own projection in the job. Therefore I would advise to
- Listen carefully the introduction of the interviewer : his profile, experience prior to consulting, and as a consultant. This will help for you to think about questions. You can even write down the question you have at this time for the end of the itw
- Ask questions related to his experience and personal appreciation / decision making : ex. if he joined consulting as experienced hire, ask about his previous job, the reason to move to consulting, and ultimately how he feels now in consulting compared to what he expected
- Ask questions about his consulting experience, especially if they are related to industries / topic that make sense for you : ex. more details about a job he has done in as FMCG industry if this make sense to you, and since this is an industry you are really interested in how strong is the firm in that industry and what are the perspectives at the moment for future business there / who is the partner, etc.
Hope this helps
Benjamin
A few options could be:
Hi,
questions about interviewer experience are always great, showing your curiosity in her motivation and expertise. If you have the chance to know before the name of the interviewer (you can ask it to HR the day before or discovering it in the waiting room), look at her LinkedIn profile to develope some tailored questions (e.g. about the MBA, the industry or practice specialization, etc.)
I also recommend you not to make questions about the firm that you can easily find online or through friends/other candidates (e.g. clients of the office, projects, typical workday, international opportunities, client exposure, your role, numbers of the office, ...).
Best,
Antonello
Hi Anonymous,
the last part of the interview is often used by interviewers to confirm the impression they got over the first part of the interview, which means:
Situation A: They trust in your abilities and are likely to vote for you during the discussion round following the round of interviews - they expect you to show genuine interest in what the firm and its consultants do in order to figure out whether this particular consultancy is the right place for you
Situation B: They do not trust in your abilities and are likely to vote against you during the subsequent discussion round - they expect you to ask some general questions, but will be positively surprised if this last part of the interview turns out to be more interesting than expected and that may even change their overall impression
What does this mean for you?
The key to any job interview is to be prepared - that includes not only cases and the personal fit part, but also the final Q&A part.
Good luck!
Dear A,
There might be questions that could show your intrinsic interest in the company, person, or both ideally.
So one of the greatest question could be for example the following:
"Now, look at your career XX long, what is the one project assignment, by looking back, makes you very proud of accomplishing smth great?"
Hope it helps,
André
Like Vai mentioned, there have been a lot of discussions on this in the past on this Q&A panel. Do take a look at those.
In short, it would never go wrong if you ask about: company culture, interviewer's experience in the firm, development opportunities (but don't ask very obvious questions that you can just google).
Best,
Emily
My suggestions:
Good luck!
A question I find interesting for people who stayed in same firm for more than 5 years is asking for what is making them stick around. Both in the industry, since it can be grueling in the long term with all the travel, but also in the specific company. Another question I think you can get a great perspective on is what characteristics they see in consultants (first level post-MBA) that stick around long term. Finally all questions about industry evolution (strategy shop expanding their solutions offerings, etc) are great.
In general this is the moment to ask things you are curious about but that are not “dangerous” - in the sense that they uncover unpleasant answers and might make question the partner on whether you did the proper due diligence about the job. This because at this point in time (well actually always) partners objective is to sell you on the job if they think you are a great addition to the company.
hope this helps,
andrea
Hey Andrés,
You don't find much information on how to structure the final questions to ask to the interviewer... because there's not supposed to be one at all.
Candidates are increasingly trying to approach that final part of the interview as an alternative opportunity to impress or ask very smart questions, but most of the consulting firms are clear on what they want with it: give an opportunity to candidates to ask about whatsoever is really important for them! So, the best questions are the ones about what you are really curious and interested to know and that you can't easily find online (through a 2min google search).
Best
Bruno
Hello,
Here's what I typically ask:
1) Something that is happening in the market right now connected to their industry or geography. Asking them thir thoughts on that shows that you are aware of what's going on in the consulting space now
2) Any genuine concerns, questions you have about working at the firm. Note that these questions need to be nuanced and not something generic which you are expected to know
3) Experience questions: Ask them about their favourite project, ask them when the firm's values really stood out to them, ask them what motivates them every single day
All the best!
Rushabh
Hello!
Try to use this time to connect better with the interviewer.
Hence, ask for their experience, the practice/industry they work for, etc.
Hope it helps!
Cheers,
Clara
Actually this question has already been discussed quite extensively in these forums. You can look for some suggestions here:
https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/best-questions-to-ask-at-the-end-of-interview-2035
Cheers,
Great response from Vlad.
I did want to clarify for the benefit of others: 100% of my first- and second-round interviews with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) were scheduled with disclosure of the interviewers' names complete with personal and professional biographies. It would appear then that Bain & Company is not alone in this practice.
These biographies in the case with BCG were always shared up to 48 hours in advance (sometimes longer), and I tailored all of my post-session questions for each to the information contained in their biographies, and to other information gleaned from third-party sources.
I will add that I never stated to my interviewers that I'd researched them. Personally, I feel this runs the risk of coming off as obsequious.
I had great experiences with the following variations on the theme:
- what was your fav case at <firm> so far and why?
- what was your most important learning exp so far?
- what did you discover about yourself as a consultant that you did not know before and was surprising to you
- looking back on your career, what do you want to tell yourself on your first day of job
You can ask some questions about their work - you will get info about their background and industries on the interview day. Another idea is trends of the industy, e.g. do they see more trend towards specialization early on? Do they think generalist consultants will survive? Do they see move to loval vs regional/global staffing?
Some helpful tips on what to ask interviewers - even the senior ones are as follows
1. Questions related to the role - examples here include asking how staffing decisions are made, how much ownership you can expect to have on your workstreams, what it takes to succeed etc.
2. Questions related to their profssional journey - what excited them about the firm, what got them there, what are some interesting problems they are working on
3. Questions on culture - for example, how does the firm promote diversity, is there a formal mentorship program to help newcomers succeed, how does the firm ensure its values are upheld
4. Questions on projects that interest you and is relevant to the interviewer - for example if you read something interesting where the interviewer had a critical role to play, express your interest and ask meaningful questions
Questions to avoid
1. Anything personal
2. The usual no-nos (salary, benefits, hours worked etc.)
3. Anything you can answer yourself via google search
4. Questions that are overtly negative - such as negative press
Hi,
Firstly, well done on reaching the partner round!
Partner round interviews are going to be more about how well you fit within the firm's work and social culture. To answer your question, you can be very flexible in deciding what to ask him of course - you don't want to sound like every other candidate by asking him roted questions. But keep in mind the following while framing the same:
1. How long has he been at the firm? This will help you understand if he has seen the firm evolve over time or even revolutionalise in the different market eras (eg. the current digital). You can then ask related questions.
2. Is he an operating or a selling partner? This can help you quickly understand his day-to-day activities. You can then ask questions regarding this.
3. Does he operate within a specific sector (retail, tourism, healthcare) or area (operations, marketing, procurement)? If any of this relates to your profile, good for you! Strike up a discussion.
4. Values of the firm are important and understanding how much a partner encourages their prevelance in the firm is even more. Ask a question that helps you understand the firm's work culture - what are the short term goals they are working towards? Is there a Vision 2020 they have? How does he think they're doing on it and what remains to be done?
Yes, as mentioned, please do not ask obvious questions which can be found on the firm website. Do your homework as the partner has to feel that you're genuinely interested in joining the firm. These are senior people with long years of client, business and interview experience. With them, it's all about making the interview hour a pleasant break from their busy schedule.
Little tip: Make the questions personal and not generic eg. his roles, his ideas, his experiences.
Good luck with your preparation and interview!
(editiert)
Hi There,
I reccomend to ask some questions that express your real interest in the company.Of course you can ask about the sectors/opportunities in the the specific country/market but I suggest to ask some personal questions.
For instance, if you are a sports guy, ask how some of his collegues deal with the consulting life, when they do sports. Or if you have kids ask how to strike a balance between having a kid and consulting.
I think that this kind of personal questions better show your ambition to be part of this work environment.
(editiert)
Also, I would assume that depends on the country/culture. So some questions may be ok in Germany, but less ok in the US, or vice versa.
So a bit of context may be helpful.
Also: You have to feel out the person across from you. If they are funny and laid-back, you might want to go with something more lighthearted than with someone who is a lot more formal. Same goes for you - if you feel uncomfortable with lighthearted small talk, try to stay clear. If talking about pro bono work is a good segway to a volunteer project you are passionate about, that's a good place to start.
Recommendation: Listen/read Tim Ferriss' blog posts and podcast episodes on "how to ask better questions".
I quite like to ask questions that give an opportunity for the interviewer to talk a little bit about themselves.. After probably 45mins of you talking, now is the chance to listen to the interviewer and get to know him/her better.
- do you specialise in a particular sector?
- best project so far?
- any favourite client?
- do you see yourself in consulting in the next few years?
Hi there,
I would say it depends on the profile of the interviewer, stage of interview, anything "interesting" that the interviewer may have said earlier, and of course what you are really interested in learning about.
When I was recruiting, the ultimate goal I had in mind was to give the impression that I am eager, curious and also someone who listens and can hold a conversation well.
As such, I would have a few buckets of prepared questions but try hard to tailor the question depending on some of the factors above. For example, I would usually try to start the question by linking it to something particular about the interviewer's background or something the interviewer said.
For example:
1. [For a partner / later round interview] I loved hearing about your consulting experience earlier - if I was also looking for long term success in this profession, what do you think were some of the key things that you think is important to being a successful consultant in the long term?
2. [For a more junior consultant / early round interview] As you know I am just starting out in my career, so learning and development is really important for me - how have you found the amount of learning and development you've had at Firm X? What do you think were some of the biggest learning areas?
Think about questions that others can't answer; some examples:
Hello there,
Some insightful and critical questions to ask:
Hope it helps.
Kind regards,
Nathan
I like to ask interviewers:
What criteria is the success (or lack of) of a consultant measured by?
In two years time - how will my performance be evaluated?
