Just had my first round in BCG and failed to complete both cases in time so it's game over for me. That said, I want to better prepare for my upcoming interviews with M & B.
Just had my first round in BCG and failed to complete both cases in time so it's game over for me. That said, I want to better prepare for my upcoming interviews with M & B.
Hi,
Indeed in many cases, the interviewer will interrupt you and ask for the recommendations. It does not necessarily mean something bad.
As a result, here are two problems that you may face:
Addressing the first problem you should:
For example:
As for the second problem - Indeed, in many cases, you can't provide a definite answer.
Imagine a case when you have to make a decision whether a PE fund should acquire a company. You make a proper structure (Market, Competitors, Company, Feasibility of Exit) and in 25 min of a case, you've managed only to go through the Market and Competitors branches of the analysis. What will be your recommendation?
In this case, you have to provide a Soft Recommendation:
Best,
Vlad
100% agree with Guennael's answer - give a recommendation, stress that it's interim, and suggest that you should further look at XYZ to increase confidence.
In fact, in many cases, even if you "complete" the case, the conclusion won't be 100% certain - and part of next steps can be "additional things to look at to be 100% sure / increase confidence".
Good luck for the rest of your interviews!
Give a recommendation based on what you have, but stress that it is only interim; in the next step, explain the various steps you still have to run the analysis through in order to be in a position to give a final recommendation.
PS: In every other instance, the "next steps" probably should be a version of "let me build it for you" (at least at MBB and other large international company who have a deep bench of operational guys)
I was told by multiple people that candidates often don’t finish cases due to a lack of time but that it’s less about finishing the case and more about them seeing your thought process that’s important...did you get any feedback? Did they say specifically you didn’t make it to the next round because you left the cases incomplete? From what I’ve heard the 20-30 min given in an interview isn’t always enough to finish anyway so I’m looking forward to insight from others.
What country are you applying in? Could you give any insight into the process? BCG is my top choice so any tips would be great!
Best of luck in your next interviews!