How should I ask at the end of the interview where the interviewer asks you do you have any questions?
How should I ask at the end of the interview where the interviewer asks you do you have any questions?
Hi Macha,
relevant questions at the end are a great way to show your interest in the company and get additional points. Ideally, your questions should respect the following criteria:
In the first reply in the following thread, you can find some more information and some examples of questions:
https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/open-house-at-bcg-311
Best,
Francesco
Hello!
For me, success in this part of the interview is being able to personally connect with the interviewer. Precisely for this, I don´t think there is a good fixed/static list of questions you should ask.
Try to connect with them asking about their background, history in consulting, challenges and what they love most... and avoid any operational questions that you can ask HR.
Hope it helps!
Cheers,
Clara
Some helpful tips on what to ask interviewers
1. Questions related to the role - examples here include asking how staffing decisions are made, how much ownership you can expect to have on your workstreams, what it takes to succeed etc.
2. Questions related to their profssional journey - what excited them about the firm, what got them there, what are some interesting problems they are working on
3. Questions on culture - for example, how does the firm promote diversity, is there a formal mentorship program to help newcomers succeed, how does the firm ensure its values are upheld
4. Questions on projects that interest you and is relevant to the interviewer - for example if you read something interesting where the interviewer had a critical role to play, express your interest and ask meaningful questions
Questions to avoid
1. Anything personal
2. The usual no-nos (salary, benefits, hours worked etc.)
3. Anything you can answer yourself via google search
4. Questions that are overtly negative - such as negative press
Hey Macha,
Many candidates tend to forget about the importance of their own questions at the end of the interview and this is absolutely wrong!
Bear in mind the fact that the whole interview will be afterwards assessed by your interviewer.
Your questions at the end are equally important as the personal Fit and Case parts – so use this chance to differentiate yourself through precise and customized questions from other interviewees!
Things I always recommend my mentees to do in these situations:
I hope it helps.
I wish you best of luck for the upcoming interviews and drop a line if you need more tips and help ?
Best,
André
Hello Macha,
This is a key part of the interview that you don't have to overlook. Prepare some creative questions that can not be answered through an online research and try to leverage on the seniority and expertise of the person in front of you. Avoid questions that you can make to HR (e.g. when will I receive a feedback?).
You can ask questions about:
- Consulting trends (how have clients need evolve? / How OW/BCG/McK will become in 10 years?)
- The company (what distinguishes BCG from other firms?)
- The interviewer (which step of the consulting career did you like best?)
My favourite one was: "What don't you like about your job"?
Hope it helps,
Luca
HI,
In most of the cases, you'll have no chance to research in profile. From what I've seen only Bain shares interviewers names.
The main objective is to have a good conversation and highlight your intellectual capacity and curiosity. Thus:
It is ok to ask:
It's not ok to ask:
Be prepared and good luck!
Hi Macha, It's always good to ask something about interviewer's personal experience at the company – it gives you an opportunity to better connect to the person in my opinion
Hi Macha,
Questions about interviewer experience are always great, showing your curiosity in her motivation and expertise. If you have the chance to know before the name of the interviewer (you can ask it to HR the day before or discovering it in the waiting room), look at her LinkedIn profile to develope some tailored questions (e.g. about the MBA, the industry or practice specialization, etc.)
I also recommend you not to make questions about the firm that you can easily find online or through friends/other candidates (e.g. clients of the office, projects, typical workday, international opportunities, client exposure, your role, numbers of the office, ...).
Best,
Antonello
(edited)