All questions tagged BCG - Consulting Q&A - PrepLounge.com

Hi there,

There are strong differences even within the same company for different offices.

In Italy for example some core sectors are:

• McKinsey: Financial institutions
• BCG: Industrial goods
• Bain: PE, Luxury goods

But again, this is office-specific. Plus, in some countries, some MBB are not that strong (eg Bain in Russia and the Middle East).

If you can share the office you are targeting and/or your target sectors, it will make it easier to provide suggestions.

Best,

Francesco

Hello!

It´s always going to benefit you, and there is no cost, so 100% go for it.

Cheers,

Clara

No one can tell you really.

It could be that interviewer was testing you or maybe not or maybe he was just having a bad day. Regardless, dont dwell on it and wait for feedback.

From your gut feel and performance, you should have a decent idea of what can you improve next time.

Good luck and fingers crossed for you.

Hi there,

Background checks are basically to confirm dates of employment and also whether there is any criminal record. I think it's illegal for an employer to share any ratings or reviews, with anybody else.

Also, since they only go through the trouble of doing a background check after they are ready to make an offer, meaning that you've done well in all the interviews, they'll never change their minds because of a bad rating at a previous employer, or even what your reason was for departing that employer. If they find out you lied, however, it may be a different story.

Bottom line, if you told the truth, and don't have a record, you have nothing to worry about.

Hope that helps,

Allen

This is a bit tricky to solve without HR. Reach out to whichever HR you are comfortable reaching out to, explain what has happened and ask for their input. Best to communicate with them directly to avoid any missteps on your end after the partner referral.

Best,

Udayan

Here are some really great answers on the question:

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/bcg-real-life-interview-37

And here: https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/tag-BCG+real+life+current+tasks

I think your approach is okay for people based in Dubai or Abu Dhabi, but you are missing out on a significant other portion that is relevant: 1) Visitors and 2) Travellers who are transiting in one of the two cities

Please reach out via DM if you want to discuss this case and/or other market sizing cases in more detail. It is important to get the general thinking right when you are dealing with market sizing cases and I think you have improvement potential here!

Hello!

Congrats! :)

This was the case of two colleages of mine when we finished out intership and McKinsey and we were extended an offer to come back.

They both came back to McK one year later to do their masters (this was the Madrid office) without issues. Talk about this with your mentor/DGL, this wouldbe the best person to guide you about how to navigate this inside BCG.

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara

Hi there,

First: Read the 25 tips in my consulting handbook here: https://www.spencertom.com/2018/01/14/consulting-survival-guide/

----------------------------------------------------------

Second: In terms of things you can learn/do to prepare beforehand:

1) Daily Reading

• The Economist, The Financial Times, BCG/Mskinsey Insights

2) Industry deep-dives

• Learn, in-depth, how the industries/companies your office advises, work. (PM me for an industry overview template)

3) Analytics tools

• Alteryx, Tableau, etc.

4) Excel

• Pivottables
• Working with data
• Key fuctions (vlookup, Index match, count and sum if/ifs, sumproduct, concat, etc.)
• Hotkeys (i.e. use keyboard more than your mouse)
• Financial modeling

5) Powerpoint

• Wireframing
• Lead-in titles
• Best practices/standards
• Different layouts
• Quickly editing/updating slides
• Thinking in PowerPoint

6) Presentation skills / sharp communication

• There are some online/virtual classes for this

​----------------------------------------------------------

Third: In terms of doing well in your role when you're there:

1) Understand the context/prompt (what role are you in, what company, who's watching, etc.)

2) Understand the objective (what, specifically, is expected from you...both day to day, and in your overall career progression)

3) Quickly process information, and focus on what's important - Take a lot of information and the unknown, find the most logical path, and focus on that.

4) Be comfortable with the unknown, and learn to brainstorm - think/speak like an expert without being one

In summary, there will always be a flood of information, expectations, competition etc. and not enough time. Find out which ones matter when. (i.e. be visibile and focus efforts on the things that people care about)

Some Excellent Q&As

What to expect in the first 90 days (and how to thrive) - https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/first-90-days-as-associate-business-analyst-consultant-7185

What to prepare/learn beforehand - https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/how-to-best-preppare-for-a-consulting-position-if-you-have-a-couple-of-months-of-free-time-7164

How to improve your ability to remember details - https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/how-to-improve-ability-to-remember-details-is-it-important-in-consulting-6998

How to be confident - https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/how-to-build-up-confidence-and-look-smart-and-sharp-in-a-consultant-role-6955

Notetaking effectively - https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/note-taking-7215

Hi Ukasha,

It's hard to help when it hurts my eyes to read! Kindly upload a clear image :)

Hi,

Thanks for sharing your cover letter. While I think your profile may be interesting for many consulting firms, I believe that you can improve this cover letter. For me this cover letter reads a bit like a CV, whereas recruiters look in a cover letter rather for motivation for the job and aspects that go beyond what is already written in the CV.

I recommend applying the following structure for a cover letter:

1. Intro

2. Why do I want to work in consulting / specific type of consulting? Or why change job (if applicable)?

3. Why do I want to work for specifically this company / role?

4. Why am I the right person for this job?

5. Closing

Each paragraph should focus on 3-5 key points, which can be supported with some of the points that you mentioned. Think from the recruiter point of view: Explain your value and "prove" this with aspects from your past, but don't just list what you have done in the past without clearly indicating why this is relevant for the job.

I hope this helps. Please let me know, if you have further questions or would like to discuss this in more detail.

Cheers, Florian

India would be the best place for you to start since you have the strongest bonds there.

Usually, the referrals are strongest in the local office of the referrer. Having said that is the Senior Partner has strong bonds globally (e.g. he is a practice leader or he holds some global positions) his referral can open doors anywhere.

As I spent 10 years in BCG and I know the organization pretty well if you want you can drop me the name of your referrer by private message, and with 100% discretion I will tell you whether I think his referral could work also in India.

Cheers,

Franco

Hi there,

The new BCG Online Case (also called Chatbot Interview) is a new 8 questions test BCG started to use in 2019 and now expanded globally. It is structured in 2 parts:

• 8 questions to be taken in 25 minutes
• 1 video interview question at the end, where you have to provide a recommendation

There are some variations in some countries, which is why sometimes you hear it is a 10-questions test in 30 minutes. The 8 question format is the most common though.

The main differences compared to the previous version (BCG Potential Test) are the following:

1. 8 questions instead of 23
2. 25 min instead of 45
3. No negative points
4. Calculators allowed
5. Presence of open questions
6. Video sum up at the end

The general logic though is similar to the old test.

I helped several candidates who did the chatbot test and succeeded in it. The main challenges based on their feedback are:

1. Time. Questions are not particularly difficult, however you will feel time constraints also due to the fact you don’t know how difficult could be the next questions - thus how much time they may require.
   • Implication --> Try to practice PST and/or BCG Potential Tests with a strict time constraint
2. Math. Candidates usually find the math challenging
   • Implication --> Many candidates said the old BCG Potential Test is the one resembling the most the math required
3. Chatbot interaction. Unlike a test like the McK PST, you cannot proceed “at your own pace”. You will have to follow the evolution of the test. In that sense, it is not dissimilar from the old BCG Potential Test, where information was revealed step-by-step
   • Implication --> Practice on PST/Potential Tests working questions by questions, without skipping any

BCG questions are indeed peculiar in Dubai and different from other offices. I helped several candidates for that office and I have a pack of 40+ real questions asked there. Please feel free to PM for more info.

Best,
Francesco

PS. Answering the Anon B comment. BCG was not supposed to be hiring much at this stage in Dubai and redirect people to Riyadh and Doha. However, I am helping right now a candidate who applied to Dubai as 1st choice and has been accepted to interview there. So apparently applications are not completely closed.

Yes, they see which offices you applied to.

No, it doesn't impact your application at all.

I've seen dozens of applications to multiple offices in BCG and interviewed many of the applicants. The interviewer may ask you why you decided to apply to those offices but your answer won't affect the rest of the interview at all.

Hope it helps,

Franco

Hi there,

I would recommend the following steps to maximize the likelihood of an offer:

1. Define a calendar for your preparation. Check if there are any deadlines for the applications. Then identify how many hours you have before that and allocate a time slot for preparation in your calendar for each day, working on the points below. Many people need 100+ hours to be ready before the interview so you can keep that as a benchmark. One month could be enough if you are willing to work hard
2. Read Case In Point or Case Interview Secrets for a general understanding of what a consulting interview is. Don’t focus on the structures proposed in the books, as they are not good enough nowadays.
3. Start reading good MBA Consulting Handbooks – you can find several for free online (Insead is a good one to start). Read the cases and try to apply your structure to solve them. Whenever you see there is something missing, upgrade your structure with the new insides. Try to read at least a new case per day – in this way you will absorb better the information with constant learning.
4. After the first 5-10 cases in books/handbooks and basic theory, start to practice live. PrepLounge can be helpful to connect with other candidates for that. There is a relevant part of the interview score that is based on your communication, which you cannot practice at all if you read cases only. Keep track of your mistakes and see if you repeat them. If so, try to identify the source of the mistake (feedback of experienced partners would be particularly useful for this). Be sure to focus on both the behavioural part and the case part. The case part should also cover market sizing, mental math and graph analysis.
5. Before your application, be sure to review your CV and Cover, so that they are in the required format for a consulting application
6. At least 3 weeks before the application deadline, start networking to find referrals for your target companies.
7. Before the interviews, be sure to prepare your questions for the interviewer –great way to show you prepared in advance and to connect with the interviewer for a good final impression.

It is very difficult to understand when you are ready as self-assessment. If you can’t hire a coach, your best bet is to find a current consultant that is willing to give you a case for free and provide some feedback. A peer assessment may not be very insightful.

If you have a premium account, you can access two cases for free where I wrote down how the interviewer can assess a candidate in detail – could be useful to give to your brother/partner in interviews. You can find them at the links below:

Case 1 – Smart Education: https://www.preplounge.com/en/management-consulting-cases/interviewer-led-mckinsey-style/advanced/mbb-final-round-case-smart-education-198

Case 2 – BlissOttica: https://www.preplounge.com/en/management-consulting-cases/candidate-led-usual-style/beginner/bain-1st-round-case-blissottica-235

If you need more help, please feel free to PM me.

Best,

Francesco

First of all congratulations on your job offer and, as a long-standing BCGer, I cannot help but sympathize with your choice of BCG over McK :-)

In general terms, I've seen plenty of candidates asking for a couple of additional weeks to make up their mind about whether or not to accept the job offer (and this also happens with candidates that show incredible enthusiasm and eagerness to start to work over the interviews).

If you made a very good impression during the interviews and you decided to take a couple of weeks to think about the job offer, most likely the recruiting team or a BCG partner will reach out to you asking if there is anything they can do to convince you to accept the offer (this happens especially if they risk losing talent over their direct competitor).

Believe me, consulting companies invest more than 10kUSD to recruit every single candidate and once they find a good one they would do "everything" to convince him/her to accept the offer. I don't see any chance why asking for a couple of extra weeks would backfire on you.

BCG has an office Abu Dhabi. When I left in 2018 the office was not as big as Dubai but still sizeable (I'd say c.a. 80 consultants) and my guess is that it grew a lot over the last couple of years.

In terms of staffing (i.e. mix of industries, type of client, etc), Dubai and Abu Dhabi were pretty much overlapping with a big portion of their consulting staff deployed in Saudi where BCG used to have (and still has) a good share of the business.

Hope it helps

Franco

I would definitely suggest you use the cover letter to explain why you are applying to those two locations and what value you could bring to those two offices.

• Not mentioning the two locations could be an option, but I actually don't see any advantage in doing so
• Mentioning only one destination and not the other would be awkward and would potentially backfire on you for the location you have not mentioned

Hope it helps,

Franco

Hi there,

You should have 2 rounds of interviews. In general, market sizing is pretty common at LEK.

I helped a good number of people for LEK including LEK SEA, if you need help please feel free to PM me.

Best,

Francesco