How long should it take to present my Recommendation?

final recommendation
New answer on Oct 31, 2020
8 Answers
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Anonymous A asked on Sep 20, 2020

Usually, I take around 1 minute to think of a Rec and 2 to present it, however I heard that you should only take ~30 seconds to do so. This would take a lot away from the content of my recommendation, though I was curious if this is required.

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Clara
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replied on Sep 21, 2020
McKinsey | Awarded professor at Master in Management @ IE | MBA at MIT |+180 students coached | Integrated FIT Guide aut

Hello!

I totally disagree with having only 30 secs to present your recommedations. If you include all that you should include, it´s 1-2 minutes.

Important, the recommendation is not a summary! It´s not about walking the CEO through your steps until conclusion, but just communicating the latter.

As guidance, best is to do:

  1. Recommendation
  2. Potential risks
  3. Next steps

Hope it helps!

Best,

Clara

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Robert
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replied on Sep 20, 2020
McKinsey offers w/o final round interviews - 100% risk-free - 10+ years MBB coaching experience - Multiple book author

Hi Anonymous,

Most of the time you won't even get a 1 minute break from the interviewer to think about your recommendation, so don't plan and train for that specifically. If you get it - perfect and it usually helps to make the recommendation more structured and precise, but also be prepared to give your recommendation on the fly.

The main principle is structuring your recommendation top-down. In this case the actual length of your recommendation becomes even mostly irrelevant, since you can always easily react to your interviewers' implicit signals and stop anytime. With that top-down approach he still always gets the full picture (as opposed if you would build your answer bottom-up).

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

Robert

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Anonymous replied on Sep 20, 2020

Dear A,

I'm sure it's ok with timing. The most imprtant is to communicate you recommendation in a clear structure.

Wish you good luck

André

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Anonymous replied on Sep 20, 2020

Not sure where that 30 seconds suggestion come from. But that's for sure not enough to clearly articulate your recommendation.

Don't get too bogged down on the speed. The key is to make sure you articulate all the key points in a succinct way. 1 mins to think and 2 mins to present sounds totally okay to me.

Best,

Emily

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Ian
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replied on Sep 20, 2020
#1 BCG coach | MBB | Tier 2 | Digital, Tech, Platinion | 100% personal success rate (8/8) | 95% candidate success rate

No no no! You can definitelty take more time to deliver it than 30 seconds.

Most importantly: you need to articulate your key points clearly and concisely. So, length of time is different per case.

That being said, you should "Carry" your Rec with you throughout your case so that you do not need to spend much time thinking of the recommendation. Ultimately, it should only take you 15-30 seconds to prepare the rec.

Remember, you may ask to prepare and the interview responds "sorry, the CEO is calling right now, you don't have time", so be prepared throughout the case with a recommendation!

Recommendation

  • Lead with the rec and be "strong" about it
  • Use key supporting information to defend the recommendation

Risks

  • 2-3
  • Should relate to your recommendation and the general situation

Next Steps

  • 2-3
  • Should mitigate your risks
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Vlad
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replied on Sep 20, 2020
McKinsey / Accenture Alum / Got all BIG3 offers / Harvard Business School

Hi,

Don't worry about the time for the recommendation at all. Just follow those guidelines:

First of all, here are the general ways to provide the recommendation:

  1. Always take 30 seconds to structure your recommendation. Never give a recommendation without taking time for preparation
  2. After taking the time - check the objective. The worst thing you can do is answering the wrong question
  3. Spend 30 seconds on structuring the recommendation and collecting the numbers supporting your arguments from your case notes

The typical structure is the following:

  1. What was the objective
  2. Your recommendation
  3. Arguments why the recommendation is valid (2-4 arguments) with the supporting numbers
  4. Additional things you would like to explore. In the order of priority:
  • Things you still need to explore / data you need to get in order to provide a valid recommendation (Very typical for McKinsey cases where the interviewer guides you and interrupts in the middle of the case to provide a conclusion
  • Things you've slightly covered during the case but have not come to a particular measurable solution or were not the part of the original objective (e.g. alternative growth options or some questions on creativity)
  • Risks
  • Next steps

For example:

  1. Our objectives were to understand why the profit is declining by X and how to bring the profit back within one year (Don't forget that your objective should be measurable in terms of money / other metric and time)
  2. According to the analysis we've done so far, my recommendation is to shut down the division A and to concentrate on the divisions b/c if we want to increase the profit, and there is a number of reasons for that.. (Remember that your arguments should include numbers).
  3. You provide the arguments a) First of all, problems in Division A are the major driver of the decline in profits - 90% of the decline in profits refer to Division A. b) Secondly, the decline is driven by the contracting market size that is shrinking at xx percent and is not expected to improve in the near future. c) Finally....
  4. Additionally, I would like to check the following... (In the last bullet, you simply provide a list of other things you have discussed, but they were not the part of the original objective / the things you slightly discussed but haven't come to any conclusion, like the questions on creativity)

The problem is that In many cases, you can't provide a definite answer since you don't have enough information

Consultants may be testing several things:

  • Are you comfortable enough with providing preliminary recommendations based on limited data? (Imagine a CEO whom you met in the elevator and who wants to know the preliminary findings)
  • Will you make a mistake of providing a recommendation with a high level of certainty without having a proper supporting data?

Imagine a case when you have to make a decision whether a PE fund should acquire a company. You make a proper structure (Market, Competitors, Company, Feasibility of Exit) and in 25 min of a case, you've managed only to go through the Market and Competitors branches of the analysis. What will be your recommendation?

In this case, you have to provide a Soft Recommendation:

  1. You start with an objective ("Our objective was to understand whether we should buy this company")
  2. You provide a preliminary recommendation highlighting the uncertainty("According to the limited data we have so far, our preliminary recommendation is to buy this company and there are three reasons for that..." or "Purely based on the data we have about the market it looks like it's a good idea for a number of reasons..")
  3. You provide the reasons ("First of all the market is big at X and growing at Y, Secondly the competition is fragmented with the target company having x% of the market. Thirdly...")
  4. You Mention the pieces of data that you need to provide a full recommendation ("But to come up with a final recommendation I would like to look at the company financials, key capabilities and..." or "But to be 100% sure in our recommendation we need to check...)

Best,

Vlad

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Henning
Expert
replied on Oct 31, 2020
Bain | passed >15 MBB interviews as a candidate

I'd say 30 seconds to 1 minute top. Structure it by giving the conclusion first and then provide 2-3 supporting arguments plus additional, suggested analysis to substantiate.

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Gaurav
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replied on Oct 31, 2020
Ex-Mckinsey|Certified Career Coach |Placed 500+ candidates at MBB & other consultancies

Hi there,

You should not make it so short - 30 seconds are really not enough for a recommendation but that's what you should count on preparing it.

1 up to 2 minutes seems quite good to me. Most important that you present your answer in a structured and clear way: recommendation -> risks -> next steps.

Do you need any further help?

GB

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Clara gave the best answer

Clara

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McKinsey | Awarded professor at Master in Management @ IE | MBA at MIT |+180 students coached | Integrated FIT Guide aut
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