Guidance Request : What is the interviewing format at Kearney?

Hi there, 

Based on my personal experience in SEA, they used candidate led case interview here. However, I would suggest not to be too worried about whether it is interviewer led or candidate led, as it is only the format that is slight different. How you crack a case is fundamentally similar. If you can do a candidate led case well, you should be able to do interviewer led also. Just be prepared that you might get cut off sometimes and asked to switch focus - it is just the format, nothing personally. 

Preliminary round is usually with HR, so mostly just about your background and motive. 

Hope it helps,

Emily

Dear anonymous,

Please forget about these myths. I had the interviews in all MBB and I can assure that it's not true that you will have an interviewer-led case in McKinsey or Exhibit-analysis in Bain. During your interview you could even find a former McKinsey (and it doesn't mean that you will have an interviewer-led case).

Prepare as you did for the other companies, the structure will be the same: Fit interview, Case resolution and Q&A. For the telephonic round fous on the fit part and PEI.

Hope it helps,
Luca

Hi!

The preliminary telephonic round should be just a chat w/ HR on fit with questions about yourself and motivation, nothing that you wouldn't be asked at any 'real' interview. You'll then have classic market sizing questions in R1 and then more detailed cases in R2, which shoudlnt be exhibit based. Note, interview structure can change by office so you want to inquire for the specific one you're to interview with.

Good luck!

Hi there,

Having worked at ATK and interviewed candidates for the same, I can safely say that there is no such fixed format. The only format that is quite standard is the sequence of rounds - telephonic, case interview with a Manager (includes Guesstiamte), case interview with a Principal and finally a one-on-one with a Partner.

Typically, ATK's cases are candidate led and slightly long, but I would not trust this blindly. The suggestion would be to continue your preparation as you have been doing so far. The telephonic round is usually an HR round, but this could change with geography. Be mentally prepared to solve a Guesstimate if required.

All the best!

Hi Anonymous,

there is no fixed format at Kearney, you may get both interviewer and interviewee led cases.

The phone round is usually just fit questions if conducted by HR - you can find some typical questions and tips at the link below:

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/behavioural-interviews-at-at-kearney-2010

The structure of the interview is the standard one: fit + case + your questions.

I helped several people in the process with Kearney and have 40+ real questions asked there, please feel free to PM me for more info.

Best,

Francesco

Hi Anonymous,

The interview format tends to be more candidate-led - but it's anyway a differentiation that most candidates understand in a wrong way and practically makes not a big difference in general case interview prep (although it does in the dynamics of the interview).

At the same time there is no special focus - it's just as any other MBB case interview (except McKinsey, which indeed is more standardized).

For the phone interview screening - apart from the content-wise prep which you need to do anyway, just focus on the communication which needs to be even more ultra-clear than in on--site interviews (be even more structured, take longer breaks, speak slightly slower, ..).

Hope that helps - if so, please give it a thumbs-up with the green upvote button below!

Robert

Hello!

This concepts of interviewer/interviewee led is a totally misleading concept, that only confuses people. 

Prepare as you would for any MBB: FIT + BC + Q&A and you will be fine. 

Hope it helps! 

Cheers, 

Clara

Hi,
there are 2 aspects of the application process you have to focus on:

• Personal Experience Interview: fit and CV questions to assess your personal impact, leadership skills, and entrepreneurial spirit. You should prepare impactful stories about your experiences that cover these 3 main pillars.
• Case Interview: typical business case to evaluate your structure in approaching problems, problem-solving skills, and business sense. This is the most time-demanding aspect to work on. I recommend reading Cosentino's Case in point to fix the theory. Then, what will be really important is practicing mock cases with other candidates here on Preplounge.

Hope it helps,
Antonello

Hi there,

Based on my experience going through the round at Kearney, the cases vary a lot. They are both interviewee and interviewer-led but don't think or focus on this. You will quickly be prompted in the right direction. Case-interviews in the ME also tend to test your knowledge of the region to be sure that you actually have an affinity and don't have the ME as a back-up plan.

The phone interview is a screening call with a consultant who will only test fit. This screening call is also used to understand that adjustment may need to be made to the evaluation if you are from a specific background (e.g. if you have military experience or no business background).    

Hi!

Didn't know that Estimations are often the case in McKinsey interviews. Where did you get that info? Is there any additional type of case common at McKinsey?