What makes a good case interviewer?

Hi Zach,

Beyound the obvious, an experienced (=good) interviewer has the following skills:

• Have the case running in any direction, without sticking to a pre-defined solution, depending on how the candidate sets up the structure and thinks about the question (it's not always right or wrong in a case interview - oftenly it depends on how you interpret some data, and I don't like to redirect candidates if they have solid argumentation into a specific direction).
• Challenging candidates' thought process and decision-making rationale, even if it's going into the right dimension. By that also making sure that it wasn't a lucky punch, but a clear solid thinking which led the candidate to some conclusion.
• Differentiating between not being comfortable with numbers and making a simple math calculation mistake. The big picture counts, obviously it's not good to make math mistakes, but I don't care if I see that you are doing well with numbers and have made somewhere a small mistake in a calculation (this topic is way to over-hyped..).
• Building high-pressure situations within the interview without being offensive towards the candidate. Yes, it's part of real-life situations that's why it's absolutely legitimate to test a candidate under pressure - but there is no point in being personally offensive towards a candidates.

Hope this helps - if so, please be so kind to give it a thumbs-up with the green upvote button below!

Robert

1. Knowing your case
2. Being able to answer clarifying questions
3. Being able to "make up" reasonable answers where none are written
4. Being able to follow the candidate's math, and challenge where needed
5. Being flexible in the case flow (based on what they ask in what order)
6. Challenge their thinking
7. "Guide" but don't lead
8. Change the case to test aspects where needed
9. Make the case "harder" when/where needed
10. Providing thorough feedback at the end (by "section" of the case AND judgement criteria)