Dear community,
Does anyone have any idea about how interviewers choose cases for interviews? Do they just select a random case, or based on the candidates experience? And who exactly chooses the cases? The interviewers themselves or is it given to them?
If anyone knows about this, thatd be great.
Regards
Hi!
I think there is no exact right answer, though I had the following experiences:
1) BCG - an interviewer had a case he had been giving all the time. It was from his real case study.
2) BCG - an interviewer picked a topic from my resume and came up with a relevant case from his experience. That was a more "conversational" case.
3) McKinsey - an interviewer picked a case from an internal case book.
4) Strategy& - an interviewer gave a case relevant to the industrial practise (Consumer Goods) I applied to. It was from her recent engagement.
Hope it helps!
MBB interviews are asked to develop their own case so it should not be from any casebooks.
Usually cases are based on personal experience, meaning experiences with clients they had at the firm.
Sometimes cases are actual problem solvings of the current study they are engaged. They want to see how you think in the situation they are facing in their project.
As Alexandr said, there is probably no exact answer as it depends on the interviewer, but from someone of Roland Berger I have heard that they look at the profile of the candidate and try to find a case from their library with which they think a good discussion could evolve (for example if you have an engineering background, they might pick a case where this might help). However, all the cases should be solvable from every background.
I don't know if RB is on your agenda, but what surprised me is that they don’t necessarily pick a case of the competence center you are applying for. Apparently because on the job you will have to deal also with different kinds of cases.
In order to repeatedly demonstrate prerequisite skills under the pressure of a real case interview, you need to learn the basics and practice cases.
1 Q&AOur client is SmartBridge, a nonprofit educational institution offering face-to-face tutoring services. The client operates in the US. The mission of SmartBridge is to help as many students as possible to complete studies and prevent that they drop from the school system, in particular in disadvant ... Open whole case
Espresso Whatelse is an Italian company that produces coffee and espresso machines since 1908. It is the Italian market leader and has a strong presence overall in Europe. In 2019, Espresso Whatelse has increased its revenues but it has seen declining profit margin. Your client wants to understand ... Open whole case
[PLEASE NOTE: This is a technically difficult case and should only be completed by those coming in as a Technology specialist, i.e. recruiting for McKinsey Digital, BCG Platinion, etc.] Our client is a multinational oil and gas company. While they are vertically integrated and have upstream, midstr ... Open whole case
Problem definition: Our client is Korean Car Parts (KCP), a multi-national original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of car parts based in Korea. They've recently seen a decline in profits and have brought us in to understand how to address this falling profitability. Open whole case
Case in Point: The Perfect Preparation for the Case Interview in Consulting 
CoachingPlus 5 
