All questions tagged Final Round - Consulting Q&A - PrepLounge.com

Hi,

Here I've uploaded some written case samples here:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/zor4m49eyx5qxal/AABeUN6mtiGkWhEklRjszX2Oa?dl=0

Ask me for a password

The best way to prepare is the following:

1. Prepare for a regular case interview - it helps a lot. Basically, prep lounge website is about it
2. Practice reading cases fast and prioritizing the information. I found useful two sources:

• Written cases you'll be able to find in google or in case books. I've seen a couple in "Vault Guide to the Case Interview" and "Insead Business Admission Test"
• Harvard cases - either buy or try to find online. You can find a couple of MIT cases here for free: https://mitsloan.mit.edu/LearningEdge/Pages/Case-Studies.aspx Unfortunately free cases don't have the prep questions.

Check if the calculator is allowed. So far it was. If not - you have to train mental math. Basically, you need to develop 3 calculation skills:

1) Learn how to multiply double digit numbers (google fast math tips or The Veda math).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYrgjMubh-c

2) Learn how to work with zeros. Best way - always use 10^power instead of zeros

Example:

300x9000 = 3*10ˆ2 x 9*10ˆ3=3x9*10ˆ(2+3)=27*10ˆ5

Handwritten it looks not that complicated. If you get used to writing all the numbers that way, you will never loose zeros and all multiplications/divisions will be replaced with + or -.

3) learn the division table up to 1/11 (i.e. 5/6 = 83.3%). It will help you calculate any percentage problems

4) Use math tools (Mimir math for iOS, Math tool on Viktor Cheng website) to practice. Train, train, and train again

Good luck!

Hi Emad,

Without knowing anything else, I assume that the objective would be to allow shoppers to continue their purchases, i.e. minimize revenue loss due to the malfunction of the barcode scanners.

Hence, a meaningful follow-up question would be: “How indispensable are barcode scanners to make the billing? Is it possible to enter barcodes manually instead of scanning”?

Then a structure could look as follows:

1. Customers pay now
   1. Manual input of barcode (through number pad)
      • Thoughts: This would take longer than scanning, but could be a viable option. If we want to make sure not to lose revenues (customers leaving due to long queues), we might think about opening more counters, so we would need to activate “emergency cashiers” who would be available immediately. This of course would create more costs – which is irrelevant if your objective is to minimize revenue loss.
   2. Manual input of barcode not possible
      1. Purchase shall happen in this store
         • Repair bar code scanners
         • Rent new bar code scanners
         • Buy new bar code scanners
         • Work with accounting books, i.e. everything has to be written down manually
      2. Purchases can be outsourced to other stores
         • Establish a transport service to the next Carrefour store
2. Customers pay later
   • Let cashiers write down what customers purchased, their address etc., validate using customers’ identity cards, let customers sign (“written contract”) and make them pay later

Note how MECE that structure is. The objective of the exercise is that you have a structured thought process for which it helps to set up a MECE structure. This does not claim to be exhaustive but is a first starting point. Try to enrich it with further of your own ideas.

To get the most out of the exercise, I suggest you present your own thoughts first next time.

Hope this helps :)

Best regards

Hi,

I interviewed in the Strategy& New York Office 2 years ago, and at that time they stuck with the classic 2, 45 minute interviews starting with the behavioural interview and ending with a case. It is likely the same, though I cannot confirm - I recommend you reach out to HR or double-check any communications they have sent you.

That being said, are you applying generalist or in a specific knowledge area? I ask, because my "cases" were not classic cases given that I was interviewing for their Technology practice.

Keep this in mind depending on the role you're interviewing for!

Best,

Ian

Hi,

It may be both. Or maybe he hasn't noticed the mistake himself. So just relax and keep fingers crossed.

Best

Hi,

adding to the previous answer:

1. Read the newspaper
2. Do a little bit of morning sport (awakens you physically and mentally)

Best of luck!

Hi,

If your performance was poor - they would not schedule the 2nd interview, so good news - you have a chance

If you perform well at the 2nd interview - you'll get an offer. If you perform so so and there will be questions - they'll probably reach out to the first partner and make a joint decision based on 2 rounds

Best

For the fit questions part, you may want to be ready for answering the following questions:

Serhat

Cheers

1. Tell me about yourself
2. Why MBA at that point of career?
3. Why Your school?
4. Why consulting
5. Why Our Company?
6. What would you be doing as a consultant?
7. What is the most important consulting skill?
8. When did you demonstrate it?
9. When was the time when you demonstrated team skills or team work?
10. What was the most important thing you learnt in your earlier job? What skills did you gain in your earlier job which would prepare you for consulting?
11. When did you have to work with data? How are your data analysis skills?
12. Why should we hire you?
13. Have demonstrated all 4 skills that you look for (use examples above)
14. What is the most important thing I should know about you that I cannot learn from your resume?
15. How would a friend or professor / colleague who knows you well describe you?
16. What serves as your biggest motivation? What are the key metrics for measuring success?
17. When did you receive constructive feedback?
18. What are your weaknesses?
19. Which boss / mentor has had a clear influence on you? What do you admire about your previous boss?
20. Follow-up: Constructive feedback –
21. How do you work in a pressure situation / short on time / short on resources
22. What has been your biggest achievement?
23. Link this answer to leadership / problem solving
24. Tell me about a leadership experience
25. Tell me about a time when you had to analyse data
26. Tell me about a time when you had to analyse financial information
27. Tell me about a time when you had to face a challenge
28. Tell me about a time you have failed
29. What are your short term and long term goals?
30. Tell me about a time when you set a goal for yourself and what steps you take to achieve the goal?
31. Describe a situation when you were unable to reach a goal?
32. Tell me about a time when you overcame failure?
33. Have you ever had to change your priorities to meet another person’s expectations?
34. Tell me about the time you had to compromise
35. Tell me about a time when you didn’t meet a deadline
36. Tell me about a time when you had to multi task
37. Tell me about a time when you had to adjust to a project schedule because you did not have enough resources
38. Describe a situation in which you used different communication styles to influence stakeholders with differing perspectives 
39. Tell me about a time when you had to be assertive to get your point across
40. Difficult situation that required careful communication (Crisis Management)
41. Describe most rewarding customer experience
42. Tell me about a time when you had to accept an unreasonable request from a client
43. Dealt with a customer that tested your patience
44. Tell me about a time you took a difficult decision and had to explain it to others / Tell me about a time you took an unpopular decision
45. Tell me about a time you took a quick decision
46. Tell me about a time when you identified a problem and then solved it
47. Tell me about a time when you built a rapport with client / colleague
48. Tell me about a time you resolved a conflict in a team
49. Have you led a team where different members of the team do not work well together? How did you deal with this situation
50. Describe a time you gave constructive criticism to someone
51. Tell me how did you determine priorities / Handling multiple deadlines at the same time? How did you handle the situation
52. How did you deal with ethical dilemmas?
53. Team experience that you found rewarding / Tell me about you had to work in a team to accomplish your goal
54. Team experience that you found disappointing
55. Describe a situation when you were a member of a team (not leader) of a team and conflict arose. What did you do?
56. Team member not pulling his weight. What did you do?
57. What is important in a job environment?
58. Why do you think you can put up with long hours?
59. Tell me about your college experience
60. What else do you do at school apart from studies?
61. How do you manage stress in your life?
62. Favorite Class and grade you got in it
63. What do you read?
64. Fun fact
65. What do you hate the most?
66. Favorite website?
67. Tell me full names of people who interviewed you before
68. Do you have any questions?

Hi there,

Preplounge materials can be useful for you to do this quickly. Here is the link:
https://www.preplounge.com/en/bootcamp.php/business-concept-library

Best
Serhat

Hi,

Just relax and wait for some time. Call / e-mail them if they don't get back in a week

Best

Hi! Give them a call and ask. Don't make the world more complicated than it is. :)

Cheers, Sidi

Hi! To perform above average in this step, you need first to understand the principles of scoring and why this is different from a regular case study interview.

1. First difference guidance vs data availability. While you still have to match information to develop sensible recommendation, in this exercise you have no guidance in the process, including the filtering of the relevant information. Plus you will be likely to receive even more information vs normal interview (usually tables and charts). This means in the final presentation an outstanding candidate don’t just explains why he/she selected what is IN, but ideally you also have to explain the why and what is OUT. To fine tune this skills ,while you practise presenting conclusions, make sure you do include in/out rational for your solutions.
2. Second key difference is the number and depth of assumption you are allowed to build your conclusion on. While in a regular case interview the focus is normally to ‘validating’ your assumptions ‘as you go’ and then build recommendation on the refined info accordingly, here the focus is on the opposite process. You are entitled to more hypothesis and a broader scenario building – which you have to lock down to 1 in your final discussion. To make this practical in your training, use the ‘BA - Binary Approach’ to hyphotesis building a set of solutions (2+) on each.
3. Client-facing communication. Heavier focus is put here on that. Make sure you are ready to defend challenge / manage fictious ‘harsh beaviors’ of the interviews.
4. On-sell. Make sure you concude the interview with an agreement (on next steps or on the solution)

Feel free to reach for more tips on how to crack this step or to set your peformance apart from others in the process,

Best
Riccardo

Hi Serdar,

let me answer to the first part of the feedback. To be honest, this sounds like it hints to a very typical problem that candidates have who prepare using sources such as Victor Cheng's approach ("Business Situation Framework" ).

The problem with this way of approaching cases (--> Customer, Product, Company, Market oder any similar version of this) is that it does NOT show in any way how you are thinking about the problem and how you are going to answer the question! It is simply a structured list of buckets that you want to look into, in the vague hope of finding soething interesting that will allow you to solve the case. But in fact, this appraoch reveals a purely explorative mindset, which is the OPPOSITE of rigorous and hypothesis-driven thinking! Moreover, no matter what the areas are that you want to explore, it will always seem (and indeed be!) arbitrary - you do not provide any logic why and how exactly looking into these areas will lead to the answer to the case question! So the most important and fundamental element of solving a case is completely missing: making explicit the CRITERION according to which the case question can be answered, and outlining the rigorous LOGIC TREE to disaggregate each element of this criterion (or criteria) into its underlying drivers. ONLY THEN the discussion of the elements of a "Business Situation Framework" à la Cheng will make any sense (since now you can attach these elements to sub branches of the logic tree!).

Cheers, Sidi

Hi Anonymous,

the structure of the final round is the same as the first one (fit + case+ your questions); however, there is far more emphasis on communication and fit.

Specifically, the main difference you will find in a final round with partners is that at that stage they:

1. spend more time on fit questions and your alignment with the company
2. check more closely your communication (eg how you react to challenging questions)
3. may not have a “proper” structured case to present – during my final at BCG I had one interview which was made by two market sizing questions and a brainteaser, without any business case. That's because at the final they know you can structure and crack a case (you passed 1 or 2 rounds already) and are more interested in your logic, personality and fit with the company

So in order to prepare I would concentrate on:

• Review in details your fit stories – they will matter more than in the first round. In some finals I had almost exclusively behavioral questions
• Work on your communication (reaction under pressure, how to gain time when you do not have a structure ready, connect with the interviewer, etc). This is something you can test almost exclusively in p2p mocks with peers/experts.
• Prepare on cases as you did for the first round. More market sizing practice could be useful to think out of the box if you get unusual questions.

Cases may be different in terms of geography. My experience in Italy is that final rounds are often related to market sizing, profitability and M&A/Valuation questions. As for the feedback, sure, feel free to ask - as Guennael said, the worst that could happen is that it is not actionable.

Best,

Francesco

Hi Emine, as long as you did not receive a rejection email/call, you still have the same chance of getting an offer. Specifically waiting time of a week is absolutely normal. Having said that, there is nothing wrong with writing a reminder email to the Recruiting Team as sometimes the process takes longer time than usual due to operational reasons. Good luck!

Hi,

In general, the interviews at Accenture are not that structured:

• Pls double check - I believe you might still have a case
• No clear guidelines for cases, so the case depends on the interviewer
• 60% chance that it will be marketsizing
• 40% chance - profitability and general frameworks
• Interviewers are less demanding than at Big3. unless you meet an ex-big3 consultant as an interviewer
• For fit I would prepare: Story about yourself; Why consulting; Why Accenture; Leadership; Team work; Your questions to the interviewer

Best

Hi Neha,

it is indeed extremely important to carify the objective and verify the precise question of the client! Is it about whether to initiate the go-to-market, or is it about how to initiate the go-to-market? Assuming it is the second, here are a couple of considerations:

Go-to-Market Strategy is focused on how the organization will put offerings into the market to reach market penetration, revenue and profitability expectations. This impacts all functions within an organization with the goal of preparing the entire company for market success. Another key point to stress is that GTM Strategy is not an event, i.e., a product launch. GTM strategy is focused on the entire product lifecycle — from concept to grave!

A pragmatic set of key questions to adress looks as follows (this could be the pillars of your framework):

1. What are you selling?
2. Who are you selling it to?
3. How will you reach your target market?
4. Where will you promote your product?

WHAT? To begin to answer these questions, it’s very important that you have a strong value proposition as it will help you begin to identify your target market. Clearly outlining this value proposition constitutes the base of your GTM strategy.

WHO? In most cases you need to segment the market with easily identifiable criteria and outlines how to refine your target to fit with your value proposition.

HOW TO REACH? Once you know your target market, you must plan how you will reach them. What are the various potential channels to reach your customers and the factors to consider in the channel selection process? What do you need to keep in mind to build a high-performance sales team, for both direct and indirect channels?

WHERE TO PROMOTE? The final step is getting your message out with a strong promotion plan. This might include notions such as a positioning statement and working out options for efficient and effective marketing channels for your target audience.

Hope this helps!

Cheers, Sidi

OK, I might be in a minority here, but I would find it very weird to actually pause, say nothing and then come up with some ultra-structured approach.

If I were the interviewer, I would want to see whether the candidate can think on his / her feet and doesn't fall into "analysis paralysis" if a client throws you a curveball and asks an unexpected question.

So I would try to keep the conversation going, play for time a little bit and all the while trying to structure my thoughts. So applied to the specific question: "so what do you think is the impact of driverless cars?" my answer would be something like:

"Oh wow, that's a BIG question. Lots of places to start from." (Playing for time here but keeping the conversation going)

"I mean, there are the obvious 'first order effects' on the automotive value chain, the OEMs, the tier-1 and 2 suppliers, on urban transport, how people travel and commute. And then, of course, there will be completely new business models emerging, around transportation as a service for example." (showing that you have done your homework AND laying a trail of breadcrumbs for the interviewer to follow - you obviously only mention things you feel comfortable talking about)

"Beyond these first order effects there are a ton of less visible, but often very large, 'second order effects'. Take insurance, for example. Driver-less cars will have a lot fewer accidents, which in turn leads to much lower insurance premiums. So the car insurance industry will most likely contract" (show that you can structure and lay more bread crumbs)

"And then, if we look beyond the purely economic effects, we have a whole lot of ethical and societal questions to solve. I mean we've all heard these examples of the driver-less car needing to make choices between killing the driver or killing the pedestrian. And while these seem made-up and theoretical, it's just the law of large numbers that these things will happen at some point". (show that your horizon is broader than what business school taught you)

[PAUSE and wait for a queue on where to dive in. Pausing here will give the interviewer the chance to consider your answer and lead the conversation further. It will give you time to structure your thoughts, no matter what happens next.

RESIST the urge to keep talking to fill any silence that might occur. Really wait a few seconds, maybe 3-5. Many people, including partners in consulting firms, have a very hard time tolerating silence in a conversation for more than 1-2 seconds. Chances are, they are better at this game than you. if this happens and they wait it out, you can continue after a few seconds. In this case, you proceed from the top down.

But maybe, just maybe, your silence forces their hand and they give you a signal like "you mentioned insurance / urban transport / tier-1 suppliers. What do you see happening there?"

--> This is the breadcrumb trail at work. Go for that!

If they don't fall for that or just ask you to continue, you proceed from the top down, as mentioned.]

"As I mentioned, the automotive value will be impacted strongly by the move to driverless cars. For the OEMs, this means building entirely new capabilities, especially around software development and Machine-learning based technologies. They are obviously facing very different customer demands. Once we move to driver-less, transportation-as-a-service will really take off, like UBER on steroids. Once that happens, the demands of fleet operators operating fleets of driverless cars around maintenance, modularity etc. will be very relevant for OEMs, maybe even more relevant than end-user demands. And these changes will, of course, trickle down through the supplier value chain to the tier-1 and tier-2 suppliers,"

[And so on, and so on...]

I found that with this approach you can have a spirited, very convincing conversation with even only the most superficial grasp of what you're actually talking about. You can apply this approach to any industry where can do a bit more than spell its name. Try questions like

"What effect will AI have on the mining industry?"

"What do you think about over-the-top services like Netflix or youtube. How do they impact the entertainment value chain?"

And many more...

Hi,

I would not trust this. You'll definitely have the cases

In the final round, I would expect a more structured and demanding approach to the fit part. The partners in the last round are more experienced and they will challenge every single detail of your story. So make sure that you have a couple of backup stories. Thus:

1) Make sure that you've prepared everything: A story about yourself, motivational questions and the main FIT stories. Also, don't forget about your questions to the interviewer - you'd rather have an interesting conversation and score some point instead of a simple Q&A session

2) Then go through each story and think of the additional questions the interviewer may ask. It’s important since additional questions will take up to 50% of the interview. Try to remember the main details and facts and make sure that you know how to explain the key concepts quickly. Test your stories with your friends, ideally consultants, and ask for their feedback. There can be multiple groups of additional questions:

• The interviewer may be interested in details about the context
• He may want to check whether this was your effort or more sort of a team effort.
• “Have you faced any difficulties while implementing your solution?”- Typically an interviewer would like you to tell him how you’ve overcome those difficulties.
• Your interviewer will check how real your story is. You should be ready to provide even more granular actions, key milestones and a breakdown of potential effects.

3) Now work on 3-6 backup stories. During your interviews, you can then use these stories or adapt these stories to the additional questions your interviewer asks you.

Best!

Hi,

• Does anyone have advice regarding my preparation in between rounds? - try to relax between the rounds. Interviews themselves are very energy draining. Also, try to get some feedback. Further actions will depend on the feedback
• Should I mention to companies that I am also passing final rounds with other firms at all? And if so, how should I communicate that? - NO. All your companies are Tier 2 companies and it will not give you any benefits.

Best

Hi V,

congrats on making it through the first round.

To answer your questions:

1. These calls are usually short, half an hour max.
2. No, no proactive things to prepare except maybe some questions you want to ask.
3. the call is very much interviewer-led, giving you feedback. Of course, you may ask questions - and maybe they will ask you how your experience was. But for you, it's mostly about listening and following up to understand better.
4. Yes, you can and should take the opportunity to ask about the interview ahead.
5. the usual ones: Be polite, friendly, appreciative, humble and mindful of their time. Don't waste the opportunity of receiving feedback by talking 80% of the time. Don't start to justify or explain things. Take the points as they're given, ask follow-up questions for clarification, but don't try to "change" any of the feedback.

Good luck for the final round!

Cheers

Elias