Corporate strategy role interview - how "structured" should I be?

Hi there,

Q: Should I follow the typical case interview process to 1) ask for time and structure thoughts 2) ask clarification questions to narrow down the question scope?

If the question is comparable to the ones in case interviews, I don’t see any disadvantage in asking for time or clarification questions – this is not something that is specific to consulting but a general process to answer questions better.

For most candidates, the issue is not really that they are “too structured” but rather they are “robotic” with their communication – that is, they present something without any personalization or connection with the interviewer. 

If that’s the issue, I would work on personalizing the structure/improving the communication rather than not asking for time or clarification questions, which could lead to possible mistakes in your answer.

Hope this helps,

Francesco

Hello,

I think that being structured and being fluent are both important parts of a good interview performance! I know what you mean by drawing a distinction between the two, but there's a difference between presenting your answer in a clear, logical way that the interviewer can easily follow (which is structured, and which you should do), and memorizing template frameworks and trying to fit your answer within those (which you should not do). So my advice is to work on doing both - try to structure your answer clearly, but adapt the structure to the question at hand - use structures that don't sound mechanical or unnatural.

I would always recommend to ask clarification questions and ask for time to structure your thoughts - the former will ensure you understand the question correctly, while the latter will give you time to come up with a better answer, no matter what the question was.

Regardless of consulting or corp strat - you need to be structured.

AND

Regardless of consulting or corp strat - you need to be fluid.

So you need both. Being structured AND fluid. It is the ultimate combination. Most of the biggest orators and speakers are able to do that with ease. But it is challenging and requires extensive practice.

Keep recording and reviewing your practice sessions. Reviewing your own words and then trying to articulate them better will strengthen those neurons and start giving you both the skills together.

Most times, when candidates try to be fluid, they lose structure because they emphasize speaking too much and too quickly. Most orators speak with emphasis, pause, and weight. They manipulate their speaking flow to buy them time, as well as magnify their gravitas.

Happy to help you out with developing these skills - if you'd like. Feel free to drop me a message if you are interested.

Hi there,

Sharing my perspective having sat for a few corporate strategy interviews. 

Your concern is definitely a valid one - the case interview during a consulting interview is definitely a very defined and typically standard cadence or ‘dance’. In corp strat interviews - that may or may not be the case. Your interviewers will likely have been ex-consultants as well, but not necessarily so. 

When I approached these corp strat interviews, I kept the following line of thinking/guiding points:

1. Corp strat interviewers are looking for the same skills that you have built as a consultant, 
   • This was to remind myself that fundamentally, I have the skills they are looking for and just have to figure out the best way to demonstrate them
2. Interviewers may or may not expect you to follow a certain cadence - so its important to either clarify or if the interviewer is being abit vague (whether intentional or not), to ‘read’ the situation 
   • I have found that sometimes HR will not be able to give you alot of details about how the case interview will go, just only high level description
   • Sometimes there are hints that its meant to be more conversational (e.g. no pen/paper here; e.g. interviewer says “just tell me what you think”)
3. Regardless of point #2 above, it is always better to take more time to give a good answer, than rush a bad answer
   • I personally don't think it is wrong or bad to ask for some time to think or structure (whether or not you write something down or not)
   • As to how much data you need to ask for - this is something you need to gauge based on the interviewer. The bottom line for data is that:
     • Data is always asked because you need to do some analysis to answer a question
     • If you have presented the hypothesis/line of thinking, articulated the analysis clearly, and also discussed the key data that would help you get to an answer, that is more than half the battle won IMO
     • In situations above, you can request for data (with the intention of getting to a good answer) e.g. “Well to really answer this question I would need this data…” but leave it to the interviewer to give you the data - if he/she wanted you to calculate something OR use data to test your synthesis etc - they will do it

My experience has been that these corp interviews have been on the whole more informal and casual process/cadence wise, but the expectations on the fundamental skills were not any different in the specific times they were testing that. 

All the best!

Hi there,

Structure is NOT anthithecal to fluid.

Have you seem Obama speak?

He's structured AND fluid/personable.

In fact, the greater orators of all time are extremely structured.

Remember, just because you're organized doesn't mean you have to be robotic.

For behvaioral/fit questions, please don't ask for time (unless absolutely needed). Make sure you truly answer their question, and talk in a natural way (without rambling).

For case questions, if you need time, take time. If you don't need time, don't take time. Learn how to framework. As you build up this skill, it leads naturally into structure. Sometimes you'll need time, sometimes you won't. Sometimes clarifying questions are needed, sometimes they aren't.

In an interview how does Bill Gates answer a question? Or Jamie Dimon? Or Jerome Powell?

Watch these people talk and you'll see what I mean. If still in doubt, get a coach! This is literally what we do!

Hi there, 

That's a fair question. 

At the end of the day, it also comes down to common sense. If the question they are asking you is one that requires thinking in order to provide a good and structured answer, then take your time. If it's more of a casual question, then respond casually and directly. 

In general, it's better to err on the side of taking more time. They almost never reject candidates that are slow but they always reject candidates that are wrong or not deep enough with their analysis.

Best,
Cristian

There's nothing unnatural in trying to understand well the context and goals, and to asking for some time to structure an approach.

It's only unnatural if you are forcing those for the sake of “following a script". As such, if you have clarity don't ask questions. If you don't need time to structure, don't take it. 

So remember, the “unnatural” thing comes from force fitting, not from doing it when there is value to doing it.