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

It's definitely hard! And it's hard in so many ways

I know someon who got interviews to everywhere they applied (every major consultancy...around 12 interviews) BUT failed their first 11 interviews!

I also know someone who sat by and watched as everyone received interview invitations, only to receive a single interview invite with one of the final notifiers (a top-ranked tier 2). They nailed the only interview they got!

Keep pushing, keep hustling, learn from your mistakes and take everything in stride. The greatest accomplishments come from temporary defeat :)

Hi there,

So reaching fluency in an “easy” language like French requires around 1000 hours starting from zero. You have to consider if you really have the time to reach that level.

If by a few months you mean 3-4, this means 8-11 hours per day every day, which doesn’t sound very realistic.

B2 would not be enough as you should target a C level to be able to work in French.

Alternatively, you could consider the UK, the Netherlands (for Bain) and the Nordics, where local language if different from English is not required.

Hope this helps,

Francesco

Hi,

1) First of all, I would check what are the reasons for failure. Since your CV is already being modified I hope you'll be able to reshuffle it in a right way. Also, I recommend reflecting on what you've done in the last to years since the previous rejection. These 2 years should add up to your resume and be a good reason to hire you. Consulting firms should see the progress from your previous application (career progress, new knowledge, etc.

2) I would not make too many bets on a coffee chat. Here are some ideas re coffee chats:

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/how-to-request-for-the-second-coffee-chat-1286#a2694

3) Your ideal scenario is if the person decides to make you a referral. More on the referral here:

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/what-is-a-referral-really-1103#a2129

4) Then try not to put all the eggs in one basket. Continue talking with all the big3 companies, so that you could multiply your chances

5) Start your preparation for the tests (if it is relevant for the role and company you are applying to) More info here:

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/bcg-online-test-936#a1829

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/i-have-my-mckinsey-pst-in-another-3-days-i-have-a-basic-idea-of-the-test-please-anyone-help-me-how-to-crack-it-with-only-3-days-preparation-609#a1226

6) In parallel start your preparation for the cases. It is a very broad topic, but I will give you some advice:

• Time is the King. You'll need at least a month if you can prepare full-time. 3-4 months if you can't work on it systematically
• Feedback and coaching will save you time. Work with an expert here. An expert will give you the right knowledge.
• Practice cases with the other candidates to get the skill. Try to find the candidates with at least one real MBB consulting interview experience and 50+ cases solved. Ask for the cases from the real case interviews. Unfortunately, in the beginning, you'll have to solve the "Chicken and egg" problem in finding the experienced partners

7) 2-3 weeks before your interview start crafting your FIT stories. More details here:

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/aprroach-to-practice-pei-fit-part-930#a1822

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/mckinsey-pei-answers-how-long-should-i-speak-974#a1895

Best of luck!

Hi,

This is a very typical case, which could be solved via table structure.

Let’s say you know, that your client sells 1000 cups of coffee for takeaway at the price of 1 GBP each. And there are 4 market segments (by income) in this town: mass, mass affluent, affluent, HNWI.

Now lets draw a table with the following structure:

• Columns: market segment, segment revenue pool, segment price sensitivity, segment coffee quality sensitivity, segment geo location sensitivity, your offering, competitors offering

• Lines: mass, mass affluent, affluent, HNWI

The next step is to fill this structure:

• Market segment column - names of segments

• Segment revenue pools

• Mass - 100 pounds
• Mass affluent - 400 pounds
• Affluent - 450 pounds
• HNWI - 50 pounds

• Segment price sensitivity

• Mass - High
• Mass affluent - Low
• Affluent - Low
• HNWI - Low

• Segment coffee quality sensitivity

• Mass - Low
• Mass affluent - High
• Affluent - High
• HNWI - High

• Segment geo location sensitivity

• Mass - Low
• Mass affluent - Low
• Affluent - Low
• HNWI - Low

• Your offering

• Same for all lines: 1 GPB per cup, high quality, center location

• Competitor’s offering

• Same for all lines: 0,5 GPB per cup, medium quality, center location

Now we can see that your competitor offers a cheaper product with lower quality. This might only affect the mass clients as they have higher price sensitivity and care less about the quality.

What does it mean in terms of market share?

You might loss is 100 GPB revenue pool, which is equal to 10% market share (10% share in current market terms, but you have to take into account, that the whole market will be 950 GBP).

I used random assumptions in this solution to illustrate the approach.

I have a few ideas how to add sophistication for this case and draw a more detailed table. However, I can't attach it here. Message me and I will send it to you.

Good luck with your preparation!

Anton

Hi,

You can enter the consulting company at any stage. There might be many factors that might have influenced the decision when you were a graduate:

1. University brand
2. Internships you had before
3. The office you are applying to (Competition, Languages, work permit, etc)
4. Extracurricular activities:

• Launching your own venture and entrepreneurial activities (even failing them is fine)
• Grants / scholarships - even better if related to some research or entrepreneurial projects
• Projects for companies - you may consider doing a free project for the company or a startup or writing a case that future grads will use
• Volunteer / social activities. I would aim at the activities where you can have a leadership role. Organizing some club may work as well.
• Case Competitions-especially the ones organized by your target company
• Researches / articles published in well-known sources

Now, as far as I understand you still don't have that much of work experience so you will be assessed both by your graduate activities and by your career moves so far:

• Brand of the company
• Career growth and achievements
• Postgraduate extracurricular activities

It is hard to asses in detail without seeing your resume.

Best,

Hi,

Unfortunately, this happens and you can not completely trust the HR CRM. Also, we don't know if they've hired anyone for this position or just closed it.

I think there is a good lesson learned for you as well. If you are really interested in a role - you should be the one to push the process. Thus don't hesitate to call / write an e-mail asap if there is a delay.

Best!