How to improve my performance interview without coach?

Question

Dear Preplounge cases,

I am looking for advices, after having done more than 80+ cases, I am still struggling to get an offer (already had more than 20 consulting companies in interview across the world). Main struggle is structure and business sense (outside from my industry expertise).
I am an experienced hire with 6 years experience, I feel like the more senior we are the higher is the expectation of casing skills. But coming from a non consulting background, I am struggling. Any advices, without taking a coach, as it is really expensive !

best regards,

A

Answer 1

You seem to be very serious at getting this job. You spent countless hours both on preparing and on working to get interviews, on which you unfortunately failed but really wanted to get the job.

Your problem is not lack of preparation. It's actually the fact that you spend countless hours on “naive” practice, i.e., just putting more hours in the hope of getting better. That only works up to a point but never enough to get you to expert level.

To become an expert you need some purposeful practice or (ideally) deliberate practice. Both of them require you to know what to improve, and to spend time on a purposeful way, but the second means you will be guided by someone who can 1) tailor your practice to your specific needs and 2) knows how one can improve. I.e., it requires a coach. Just like you would have a coach if you wanted to become good at tenis, or at playing a guitar, or at many other skills.

I find it puzzling that you think that paying $150-250 for a single session with a good coach (make sure it's one that will give you coaching and not just a mock interview) is expensive. If you think about the hours you spend, the fact that you weren't still at your best for the job interviews… was your alternative cheaper or more valuable?

You have alternatives, of course. You can try to find someone who could be as good as a coach - someone with experience interviewing people that is able to tell you what exactly are you doing wrong, and how to improve it - and get him/her to do it for free. The downside is that unless you already have someone like that in your rolodex, you will have to spend several hours in that pursuit, and may not be successful at it.

The other option is to proceed alone, and resort to the ton of resources out there to help you improve (if you haven't yet). For example, you can go through the Bootcamp area at preplounge (https://www.preplounge.com/en/bootcamp.php) or watch the video tutorials (https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-frameworks). You may find useful stuff there. Just not sure how much different that is from what you are doing now, and how that can lead to a different result.

Sorry for the long “pitch” about coaching. I understand that coaching has a cost and it is not exactly cheap. And not everyone needs coaching to get the offer. But you already tried that route, wasting your own time and potential job offers. In your case, it really looks like it's time to take a different approach.

Answer 2

Hi there,

If you're struggling after 80+ cases and 20+ interviews, quite honestly you would be best served by a coach. If you have 6 years experience, you can probably afford one as well!

Now, I totally understand that you really don't want one (even if it's really what you need), but, here's the best advice I can giv ehere:

Quality over quantity - you're measuring 80+ cases etc. This isn't how to succeed! Look at what you can do to better yourself in a qualitative way. As in, instead of doing more cases, why don't you review your old ones?
Take a step back - pause. Zoom out. Reflect. What's missing?
Get a “free” expert - call up a friend in consulting, ask the companies you're interviewing with to pair you up with a current consultant, find an awesome caser on preplounge. Try and get all of the above to case you, and emphasize that you want genuine, honest feedback
Take a break - sometimes just letting thing ssettle is the best thing you can do. Stop, forget about casing for a few months, then come back. You'll see the dust has settled, formed a nice foundation, and you'll be ready to hit it again!

Good luck!

Answer 3

Hey,

If you are struggling after 80+ cases then clearly there are blind spots and/or bad habits which you are unable to break. If you are set on not using a coach (the investment pays off quickly once you land the job anyway!), please try and find a current consultant, peer or friend who is experienced in this space and can work out your gap areas. Go for quality and not quantity as you have practiced enough number of cases anyway.

Also, please dig out as much feedback (interviews and practice) and see if there is any clear trend, mistakes you are making and/or type of cases you are struggling with. The more specific the better.

And final tip, I have noticed some people struggle with keeping calm and managing interview anxiety in-spite of being well prepared. Check out this link for some tips on this:https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/dealing-with-nervousness-10452

All the best.

Answer 4

For the business sense part, you are struggling with, I recommend trying to think like a CEO. As someone with strong industry expertise, you might be too narrow in a specialist mindset. As a consultant, you will be required to communicate top-down and make sure you can articulate your recommendations (outcomes of your work (analyses, etc.)) in the context of the business overall as well.

When you do cases, take some time to understand the business itself and what it looks like from a CEO's perspective. What would your client be interested in in the overall business sense? How does your work help to solve the problem? etc.

Answer 5

Try rocketblocks!! You can do structure drilling.

Few sessions with coach seem good to build foundation despite you have done 80 cases. They may notice problem beyond structuring and can teach how to do hypothesis driven structuring properly. Even the easy case you thought you did very well may not be good enough in eyes of interviewer/coach