Is that OK to ask time for reading a chart and then drawing insights as well as taking a moment before brainstorming?
Is it considered negative in anyway or a reason for rejection?
Is that OK to ask time for reading a chart and then drawing insights as well as taking a moment before brainstorming?
Is it considered negative in anyway or a reason for rejection?
From my perspective, taking time to think and organize a response is essential in many situations. This applies to charts and other situations you'll encounter throughout case interviews. However, you can't always expect 2 min. Hence, this is what I would suggest with regards to the “time issue” for different stages:
Hi there,
You can definitely ask for time before brainstorming and graphs, there is no penalty. Most of the time the interviewer will expect this, as it is very difficult to structure a good answer / provide a good graph analysis without taking time.
It is totally fine to ask for time:
So, basically, whenever you need time to think, you can ask for it. The only situation where you cannot ask for time is if the interviewer explicitly says “Don’t take time, give me the answer right now”, but that’s very unusual.
Best,
Francesco
Hi there,
agree with the other coaches - it's perfectly fine to ask for time and think, when the situation requires. I can assure you it's typically not a reason for rejection.
Think about it this way: a (quite underestimated) skill that interviewers value is for a candidate to think before he/she speaks. Reasoning here is quite simple - as a project manager, if I can trust you are diligent with what you say, I'm much more comfortable putting you in front of a client. As simple as that.
Francesco already provided some good examples of situations in a case, where it's common to pause. Would take that even a step further and say, you can pause whenever you need to think, as long as you MANAGE the case process well, i.e. announce that you'd like to take a bit of time (and why), before you do.
Finally, in terms of how much time to think - it really depends on the complexity of the question / information to absorb. If you spend too much time, a bit of an awkward silence will kick-in / the interviewer gets distracted. Hence, make sure you spend the Minimum Time Necessary to give a robust answer. As a rule of thumb, for structuring up to 1.5-2min is ok, for other case parts, keep it shorter (30 sec will suffice mostly).
Hope this is helpful
Regards, Andi
Hi there,
Others will disagree, but I believe you can ALWAYS ask for AS MUCH TIME AS YOU NEED. Just like in real life, if you're not ready to answer, you don't.
Of course, it's better to answer quickly. Especially if the interviewer says, “The CEO just walked in and wants to know right away…”
But honestly it doesn't matter because being right is always better than being fast. A better answer is always preferred over a quicker answer.
Want proof? I've been part of many many McKinsey decision meetings following interviews and I've frequently heard, “Good answer, a little slow, but good answer. Pass" I have never heard, “Really fast. Not a great answer, but really fast. Pass.”
So practically speaking, spend more time learning to be right than being fast. After you've learned how to answer, then you practice learning how to answer quick.
Hope this helps!
Best,
Allen
Hi there,
I disagree with Allen. Just kidding!
I agree that, in principle, you can and should ask for time. There is really one key way to frame this:
If you need time, take it. If you don't need time, don't take it. How long can you take? The amount of time you need to give a good answer and no longer!
Your options are:
1) Give a fast, bad answer
2) Give a slower, good answer
Which to you think wins out? ;)