Final round rejection - how to improve?

Hi there, 

Sorry to hear. They usually claim ‘coachability’ when they felt you didn't improve on the feedback they provided you with in the following rounds. 

The reality is that many people apply several times before getting in. This might be your story too. 

If you're committed to the process, you might want to consider getting a sort of mentor / expert / coach. Have a look at the ones of this platform as a starting point. 

The level of guidance you're going to get from a Q&A will not be sufficient to ensure you get an offer. And if that's your objective, then it's worth investing in the process. 

Best,
Cristian

Hi there,

Almost ironically, you can improve your coachability through coaching!

I'm not trying to push coaching on you, but you're not going to learn this from a book.

You need a mentor/trainer to show you how to truly listen, incorproate feedback, adjust, learn, ask the right questions, etc.

For the business sense, less of a need for coaching here :) Get reading! Read the financial times, the economist, robinhood snacks, BCG Insights, MCK Insights daily. Listen to The Prog G show, Money Talks, etc. This will come over time.

If you got past the 1st round you can get past the 2nd. I highly recommend investing in yourself, getting some coaching, and nailing this next time around!

Hi there,

Sorry to hear about the rejection. In terms of your questions:

1) So here I’m wondering what I can do to improve my chances in the future? And how can I approach coachablility?  

The first thing I would recommend to do is to understand why the interviewer felt you were lacking coachability. From what you shared, it could have been a communication issue (eg when you re-explained, the interviewer felt you were trying to be right and show he/she was wrong).

You might try to replicate the same scenario with a few people and get their feedback on that to understand what is the issue.

Once identified it, you can work on that area to improve. 

2) I’m wondering if there are books I can read on business in general and business sense?

I assume you were lacking knowledge of specific concepts/industries/topics (if the problem was on finding creative solutions or structuring, the answer would be different).

You could improve with the following.

1. Identify the most challenging concepts/industries for you. Chances are you find more challenging specific topics. Try to identify the main ones based on your current case practice.
2. Find some good consulting MBA casebooks. You can find several online for free (eg INSEAD).
3. Filter the casebook by the topic interesting to you (eg digital payments) and do/read the cases. Don’t focus on the structure (they are not particularly good in casebooks) but rather on the concepts present in the case. Track the terminology/concepts that are challenging for you.
4. Once identified concepts you don’t understand, look for more specific resources for that online. For example, if you find challenging to understand the value chain for an industrial goods company, look for information on that.

Best,

Francesco

Hello,

I too came from a non-business background and faced a similar issue with you in terms of business sense. A couple of tips on your quetions:

How do i improve business sense

• What worked for me was to expose myself and immerse myself in the business (but also non-business) world. This included:
  • Consuming (reading, watching, listening) reputable and renown publications that covered business and non-business topics (e.g. WSJ, Bloomberg, FT etc)
  • Having conversations with friends who were much more experienced/well-versed in ‘business’ vs me
  • Being more critical and ‘aware’ of things around me and trying to understand them more than I did before (e.g. if I was at a queue at a McDonalds and it was a looong queue, I would try and ask myself what they could do to make things better)
  • Reviewing old cases practiced to try and understand what logic I did not demonstrate and why i did not demonstrate that

How do I improve coachability

• On this point, it is harder to actually understand what the root issue is given its not something we witness first hand
• In my mind, it could be one (or a combination) of these 3 things
  1. It is a communication issue
     • You really did have the same point, but were not able to communicate it effectively and in a way that allowed the interviewer to understand what you were saying
  2. It is a comprehension issue
     • It could also be that what the interviewer was saying was not the same thing as you were trying to say
     • I raise this point because in my roles previously not only as an interviewer giving feedback, but also as a Project Leader/Principal - i've had this scenario happen rather often where the junior consultant thinks they are saying the same thing but they are really not saying the same thing
  3. It is an attitude issue 
     • It also could be that there genuinely was an issue but you are not acknowledging it
• However without having interacted with you / watched a recording of the interview, it is hard to figure out what the issue(s) are and therefore recommend what is the best thing to do
• My best tip would be to work on language since you already suspect its a barrier - as for the others, small things (e.g. the way you respond, your tone etc) could go a long way in giving the right impression

All the best!

Hello,

I'm sorry to hear that you got rejected. This sounds like a frustrating situation, but good on you for looking to take feedback on board to improve your performance in future interviews!

Your question is unfortunately quite hard to answer without having heard the interview myself. There are many different scenarios that could have occurred - it may have been a language barrier, you may have been unclear in your explanation, or perhaps the interviewer just misunderstood. So without knowing exactly what happened, it seems impractical to try to come up with a cure. However, in general for coachability, I would recommend making sure you present your re-explanation as a conversation with the interviewer. If you think they are pointing out the same thing as you just said, it's fine to point it out, but try to adopt more of a “I hear your point and I agree. It's actually exactly what I was trying to get at” stance, rather than a more confrontational stance, if that makes sense.

Regarding business acumen, I recommend reading and doing some research! Read publications from the firms you are applying to (e.g., McKinsey regularly publishes lots of articles about various industries), read business-focused publications like the Wall Street Journal. Before your interviews, be sure to look up the background of your interviewers, and do some research on the industry they work in.

Best of luck! 

Pardon me for taking the devils' advocate position here. I truly have no idea of what went on, but I've been in a lot of interviews and have seen many candidates.

When they pointed out what I should look at, it was the same thing as I was trying to say.

I've met candidates where something similar to this would happen. They thought we were saying about the same thing. They believed we were saying the same thing. Ultimately it could be that language barrier you were mentioning.

But, and this is a huge but, we were not saying the same thing! And they were not able to even understand that. In other words, I gave them feedback - and they were unable to even understand the fundamental differences between their views and mine. 

Now pause here. If you think about it, this is really foundational to coaching. If one is not listening and not grasping that someone is telling them something different (i.e. not understanding the nuances of what is being said) then are actually uncoachable. Because it is something even prior to being willing or not to work on the feedback they get. It's the inability itself to even receive feedback, as they don't understand what is being said. They are not LISTENING. 

Was this your case? I have no idea! But if you look from these lenses you will understand how HUGE this specific concern can be when hiring someone.