Good evening,
What are the most common business terms that I ( a non-business background applicant ) need to be aware of for the case interview?
Good evening,
What are the most common business terms that I ( a non-business background applicant ) need to be aware of for the case interview?
Case interviews can be challenging, especially for candidates without a business background. However, by familiarizing yourself with key business terms, you can improve your chances of success. What's more important is understanding how the terms work together and what the formulas behind them are, especially in what contexts they should be used. Here are some of the most common business terms you should be aware of for a case interview:
To further enhance your understanding of these business terms, I recommend exploring the following resources:
In addition to familiarizing yourself with these business terms, it's crucial to practice solving case interview questions. Mock interviews with peers or joining case interview practice groups can greatly enhance your skills and confidence.
Remember, while a non-business background may present some initial challenges, demonstrating a strong understanding of these business terms and their application can set you apart as a candidate. Good luck with your case interview preparation!
Hi there,
I would recommend that you try not to learn them by heart and outside of a case context.
What I tell candidates to do is to expose themselves to as many cases as possible as whenever they come across a new term, to look it up. This way you'll realise that after doing a few dozen cases, 90% of these terms repeat themselves. That's when you achieved critical mass and basically know everything that you'd need for the actual interview.
Best,
Cristian
Hi Mana,
This might sound like odd advice, but I recommend you actually organically build these up over time instead of trying to memorize from a list.
How?
At the end of it all, then go through a list (Preplounge, investopedia etc).
Now, in terms of formulas, the most important are:
Dear candidate,
The most common business terms would be included as an example in preplounge materials or under topics such as general management, MBA, finance, economics, organisational/HR, operations. Common business cases are market entry, company profit or performance improvements, marketing, new ventures, investments, for example. Best regards
I’ve seen some great answers here already but one point to add is that you CAN solve and answer case questions without being extensively familiar with a lot of jargons. A lot of it involves ability to showcase structured thought process, it is unlikely you can impress the interviewer much by simply using commonly used business terms.
Having said that, the interviewer themselves may use a lot of these terms, jargons and concept throughout the case (especially interviewer-led ones). So you want to familiarize enough that you can understand and follow the explanation without getting flustered.
Good luck!
Hello,
there is a whole blog article about common terms of business, published by PrepLounge.
You'll find them here.
Here at Preplounge, go to the resources section → case interview basics → business concepts.
This section should have 80% of what you need to know. The rest will come from case practice. But if you don't know something you can ask the interviewer.