Hi everyone, I am interviewing with a boutique consulting firm focusing on supply chain and procurement. I had prior exposure into these areas but those aren't topics I am very familiar about. However, I do want to give this role a try and the majority of the interviews will be fit-focused. My question is, outside of usual fit interview tips, is there anything I can do for me to quickly connect with the interviewers about their company? They seem to put a lot of emphasis on stakeholder management, can anyone give me a better idea on what it really is?
Schedule mock interviews on the Meeting Board, join the latest community discussions in our Consulting Q&A and find like-minded Case Partners to connect and practice with!
Fit Interview for Boutique Consulting
Overview of answers
Upvotes
Best answer
Hi there,
Congrats on the interview! :-)
Let's break it down.
Fit interview
You need to prepare for 4 types of questions
- Resume-based questions (introduction of your background, questions about specific experiences)
- Simple fit questions (why you, why consulting, why our firm, what can you bring to the table?)
- Domain questions (in your case this would be supply chain, procurement)
- Story questions (show traits important in consulting such as leadership, stakeholder management, persuasion, and impact in longer stories, not just brief answers)
Stakeholder management
As a consultant, you will always need to manage several groups of people (internally in your team and firm and externally the client, industry experts,…).
Stakeholder management involves identifying, analyzing, and engaging with individuals or groups who have an interest or influence in a project's outcome. The core skills here are effective communication, negotiation, and sometimes conflict resolution to ensure stakeholders' needs and expectations are met in the project context.
For the interview, discuss specific examples where you successfully managed diverse stakeholders, detailing
- strategies you used to build and maintain relationships.
- your ability to balance competing interests and facilitate collaboration among stakeholders with differing viewpoints
- your proactive approach to identifying potential issues and resolving them before they escalate, showcasing your commitment to fostering positive stakeholder relationships.
If you want a deep dive, check out my book The 1%: Conquer Your Consulting Case Interviews where I have a deep dive section on all these topics with sample questions/answers.
Cheers,
Florian
Was this answer helpful?
I'd recommend you actually reach out to a couple of new joiners from the firm and speak with them about their recruitment process.
Show curiosity about their current role, their journey and the preparation process that helped them land an offer.
These conversations will be priceless since you'll get an actual roadmap of how they succeeded and knowledge of what you should be focusing on.
You might find this guide helpful in terms of how to lead these convos:
And specifically for the fit component, I developed a comprehensive course that you might want to check out here:
Best,
Cristian
Was this answer helpful?
The biggest issue with procurement and supply chain is that it is really about managing trade-offs.
For example, if you decide to work with a foreign supplier, you'll become less responsive and start having longer lead times. This will impact sales teams. If you decide to concentrate volumes in a single supplier, you may lower cost, but increase risk. And you may need higher inventory… that will impact production. Or it may impact product quality…
In other words, every decision has winners and losers; you will have to be very good at managing opposing interests from multiple teams, and aligning everyone.
Was this answer helpful?
A few all-round thoughts here from my side:
- The “fit-focused” - may not be just the behavioral questions - but also expertise-fit - in this case supply-chain/procurement. So be prepared for technical fit questions as well - expertise, capabilities, skills etc.
- My view is that the “stakeholder management” you are referring to is simply client-relationship management - and ensuring that the needs of all the players in supply-chain and procurement are met - through the consulting advice you provide.
- As a consulting firm - that makes sense - because that is usually the most important thing you do on a day-to-day basis.
- I believe that your best preparation would be to keep all your stories and experience instances ready where you can exhibit varying degrees of stakeholder management - either around relationships and/or around the impact of your work.
Happy to provide more clarifications if needed!
Was this answer helpful?
Hi there,
Stakeholder management is the ability to align and manage different individuals or groups involved in a project towards the same goal. They might include sponsors, managers, working teams, suppliers, public opinion, government, etc.
Prepare some stories where you solve a challenge managing different stakeholders, either difficult ones or with opposing opinions.
Best,
Alberto
Was this answer helpful?
Sign up for free to read all answers.
Sign up for free to read all answers.
Related Cases
Expert case by Francesco
Style:
Our client today is AirService – a service provider for a number of airlines and airports. Their management recently realized a decrease in profits that is linked to increasing costs.Accordingly, they have engaged our firm to help address this issue. How would you approach this problem?
Our client today is AirService – a service provider for a number of airlines and airports. Their management recently realized a decrease in profits that is linked to increasing costs.Accordingly, they have engaged our firm to help address this issue. How would you approach this problem?
(Open whole case)
7.8k
Times solved
Intermediate
Difficulty
Expert case by Francesco
Style:
Our client is an Italian multinational manufacturer of branded chocolate and confectionery products. One of their most popular products is Hazella, a hazelnut spread.Despite its worldwide popularity, Hazella is considered to be high in calories by some customers. For this reason, our client has deve
...
Our client is an Italian multinational manufacturer of branded chocolate and confectionery products. One of their most popular products is Hazella, a hazelnut spread.Despite its worldwide po
...
(Open whole case)
5.0k
Times solved
Advanced
Difficulty
Expert case by Francesco
Our client is Party Burger, a restaurant chain in the US serving premium burgers and salads for lunch. They rely on the quality of their products to attract customers, and they are usually fully booked. However, reviews have pointed out that the service offered could be improved. Our client is conce
...
Our client is Party Burger, a restaurant chain in the US serving premium burgers and salads for lunch. They rely on the quality of their products to attract customers, and they are usually f
...
(Open whole case)
4.9k
Times solved
Intermediate
Difficulty
Expert case by Ian
Style:
Our client is Hunger Warriors, a non-profit with ambitions to solve world hunger. While approximately one tenth of the human population goes to bed hungry, Hunger Warriors aims to bring this number to zero. One of their primary initiatives is to reduce food waste, which represents $1.5 Trillion in l
...
Our client is Hunger Warriors, a non-profit with ambitions to solve world hunger. While approximately one tenth of the human population goes to bed hungry, Hunger Warriors aims to bring this
...
(Open whole case)
3.2k
Times solved
Intermediate
Difficulty
Expert case by Agrim
Style:
Our client is a pharmacy in Dubai - called NewWave Pharmacy. This pharmacy wants to start a new & unique delivery service and want to understand if it is a good idea or not? If yes, then how should they price it? And how should they start it?
Our client is a pharmacy in Dubai - called NewWave Pharmacy. This pharmacy wants to start a new & unique delivery service and want to understand if it is a good idea or not? If yes, then how should they price it? And how should they start it?
(Open whole case)
1.3k
Times solved
Advanced
Difficulty
