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First off, huge congratulations on your upcoming interview! To answer your question directly: accuracy trumps speed: I've never said “no” to a candidate who ticked off all other boxes, but was slow with maths. But I have said no to a candidate who had a great case but made so many mistakes with planning and …

A few remarks on this from my point of view (there is no wrong or right here). 1) Comparing the client/target with competitors should not fall under market. The only competition related issue that should be looked at in market is competitive intensity, i.e. how strong is competition between the different players. 2) …

Guennael and Sidi both raise great points, but there's an observation to be had in the way that they presented these points. Both of them segmented their responses into 3-4 key items. Think about doing this in your verbal communications! That means: 1. Pause before speaking to gather your thoughts. The ...

I was an experienced hire as well, so can definitely relate. The hardest part for your will likely be to get an interview. McK is probably most open, assuming you have a specific expertise set that they need; BCG does also hire some experienced hires but that's rare; as for Bain... to my knowledge, they pretty much don't …

Working hours depend on the geography. In Dubai, Singapore and Southern Europe hours are usually longer (my experience in Italy was 9am-11pm Mon-Thu, 9am-8pm Fri and 70-80% of weekends with some working activities). Hours also depend on the type of project (on average, the shorter the …

Thanks for reaching out. According to my personal experience and the feedback I had from other interviewers in MBB/non MBB, the difference between interviewer and interviewee led is as follows: In an interviewee-led case, you will have to get the lead (ask the right question, go deeper in your analysis and make an ...

Hi, Good question! I have worked for 5+ years as Project Leader at BCG. My advice would be: #1. Gain trust quickly. When you start, the most important thing is to gain people’s trust. No one expects miracles from you. Just do the basics right. Work hard, be focused, read your stuff twice...

It depends very much on the industry. In some cases (Growth strategy), I will use a broad structure, in others (e.g. “how to increase the excessive luggage revenues for an Airline”), I will use P, Q and the Process. Here is the broad structure that you can adapt to your industry: Analyze the market. 1) Size and ...

I can't share any cover letter, but can surely help with the structure. An excellent cover letter for consulting roles should include the following: 1) Intro (name, current role in the current company, which role you are applying for and which company) - no more than 2 lines. 2) Why I want to be a consultant (this could …

I will try to give you a small checklist, but there could be numeruous reasons why your CV did not make the cut, and we can only guess. 1) Make sure you are well rounded (GPA, schools, extracuriculars, sport) BUT you need to have a SPIKE - you need to stand out, especially for MBB 2) CV - 1 page per decade of...

That is correct, the traditional track at McKinsey from bottom to top is Analyst > Associate > Engagement Manager > Associate Partner > Partner. Moving from one position to the next normally takes 1 to 3 years. Each one of the previous role develops from Junior to Senior (e.g. from Junior analyst to Senior analyst). Many …

This is definitely an underrated (but important) skill to develop when working on cases. Usually, the people I've worked with have adopted the same format you currently have with some minor tweaks: 1. Position of paper is horizontal (adds more space for the issue tree going from left to right) ...

In my view you can answer the question from two angles. The first angle is about working hours. Here I fully agree with Vlad, the key points would be about 1) Capability and willingness to work long-hours 2) Ability to stay steady and focused for long time and motivate team to do the …

You often hear in conversations about structuing case interviews that you should not use standard business frameworks and concepts because they are too simple, and because every interviewer knows them anyway. It is most definitely true that you can't crack a realistic interview case...

Great to see you guys leveraging this platform (apart from your b-school consulting clubs) to find partners and crack cases. While you get into the intense prep, do take care of the following: 1. Get your basics/knowledge base right. Core subjects in grad school/MBA need to be thoroughly understood...

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 …

I have known several people who joined BCG Paris after having work for a few years in other consulting firms (either top 20 or boutique/specialized). Evaluation criteria during cases interviews will remain roughly the same. Of course they will expect more maturity. They also keep track of previous interviews so they will …

I have to say that I found your experiences very interesting. In general, any experience can be successfully brought up during an interview as long as it as a learning side. In both of your examples I see many hints: Team-working, Analytical skills, Creativity, Sense of adventure and curiosity. These are all ...

I started my consulting career at BCG in Germany, got promoted to Senior Consultant, and later switched to McKinsey to do work in several emerging markets. I have a combined 7.5 years experience in both firms and hence can give a good comparison from the inside: 1. Reputation & (perceived) ...

As mentioned earlier, there are many different ways one can approach this problem. I typically approach this following way: 1) What is the total demand for gas stations? 2) What is the demand for one gas station? 3) Find the total number of gas stations. To start with number 1, while I have no idea about the real ...