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

1. He's looking for the exact same things that a case is setup to test - he just wants to do it in a quicker/different way. You want to stay structured, clearly articulate your thinking, and drive to a clear answer.

2. Sounds positive, but you never know. Just focus on everything else in your life and don't think about it too much.

ah thats so close! Frustrating I can imagine and sorry to hear this. But every rejection gets you closer to success.

Stronger application next time, more practice and becoming sharper in solving cases is the only way I am afraid. Read more - FT/Economist, CNBC, TED etc etc

Why are you so disappointed? Yes, I know this job meant a lot to you, but you are okay- safe, healthy, well educated etc etc. So much to be grateful about. Life always doesnt work out the way you want and thats okay. Its all for good reasons. This will make sense in future when you look back- the dots will connect.

Try again, don't give up and keep moving forward!

Generally it will be the same interviewer-led but your final round interviewer will expect you to take more case leadership. Occassionally, you may come across a case that is more abstract (e.g., how would you price a COVID-19 drug?) where you will be expected to drive the case but engaging your interviewer appropriately. Overall, the same problem solving skills are being tested and so I personally recommend continuing to refine what you have been practicing so far as well as working on your first round feedback.

Typically, such rounds will have 2 aspects -

1. Behavioral / FIt questions
2. You asking them questions about the firm

You need to be prepared for both. I think you have #2 above covered, but i would suggest you cover #1 as well. I am sharing below a list of most common fit questions i have observed across multiple interviews candidates i have coached have had at tier 2 consulting firms. This is not comprehensive, but is a minimum list of must prepare questions. You should leverage the STAR framework (publicly available) to prepare relevant stories for these questions.

• Tell me about yourself/ Walk me through your resume
• Why tier-2 consulting firm over MBBs
• Tell me about a time you led a team (without authority)
• Tell me about a time you led a team through adversity
• Tell me about a time you handled conflict at work
• Tell me about a time when there was a difficult personality on a team you led
• Tell me about a time you had to convince someone senior in the organization.
• Share your previous experience of working in an unstructured environment and how did you manage to work?
• What achievement are you most proud of
• What would your friends and colleagues say about your strengths and weaknesses?
• Tell me about a time you failed

Was this helpful?

I did a math mistake with McK in my 4th interview and was rejected ... I think the probability is more defined by your performance and also what you get for a final case (what they decided to test in the final round - for some candidates, more qualitive and creative elements, for other it can be more on calculations)

Hi there,

There's definitely a big cull from R1 to R2. In R2 they're more "hoping you make it".

It's obviously impossible to say, but it's larger than 10% and less than 50%.

However, this depends on the company, office, recruiting channel, and time period. For example, in the boom years and coming from an MBA + going to a low demand office, all 3 guys I met on my interview day got offers alongside me.

Hi Alex,

First of all, let me take this chance to wish you good luck with your final round!

Secondly, for a final round interview, the most important points to pay particular attention to is the following:

1. Structure
2. Selling for the future: Since you will be having case discussions with a Partner or a Managing Director, their primary focus is on selling future services to their clients, to keep the pipeline running. If you can show this skill by advising for further analysis at the end of your recommendation, they would love you already!

Best wishes,

Gammal

Don't worry yet. I was almost exactly in your shoes (industry hire, 6 years post-MBA experience in Power industry). After my 2nd round, it took BCG a month to get back to me... and they told me "we love you, we don't have a spot right now, can you wait a year?".

You are an experienced hire, so things are a little different. I would trust the HR manager gave you the truthful answer - and it has nothing to do with you actual performance. Just be patient now.

Good luck, let me know what happens.

Best,

Guennael -

ex-BCG

Hi Anonymous,

While first round interviews are much more predictable and standard, final rounds can be the same but can be completely different.

Partners are smart and do whatever they think brings the most value at any given moment. Just be prepared to handle anything.

For preparation though, do the same from 1st rounds and focus in general more on personal fit prep and specifically on those areas which might not have been fully convincing in first-round interviews.

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

Robert

Hi!

There is a whole lot of great questions you can ask. My best advice is to really think through what interests you most about the job, the firm, or the industry! If you have a particular interest (industry sector, nonprofit area, social engagement, etc.) you can ask if there are touch points/adjacent areas in the firm you could explore. Also, make sure to relate your interests and questions to your background and/or career/life objectives.

That being said, here are a couple of example questions – but by no means exhaustive:

1. "Can you tell me about your background, and in particular how you ended up as a [company name] consultant?" (if the interviewer has a rather exotic professional/educational background)
2. "I’d be interested to hear what your most challenging case has been thus far in your career?"
3. "What do you think are the biggest misperceptions that applicants have about consulting?"
4. "I’m really interested in [particular interest, such as public sector consulting or renewable energy]. I’d be interested to hear what you know about that area at [company name]"
5. "I’ve heard from various people who say your firm is [something good about the company] but also that [something bad about the company]. To what extent is this impression accurate?"
6. "If the interviewer has enough tenure: From your position, how do you think the economic cycles have affected the consulting business over the years?"
7. "What was your perspective on [company name] before you came in, and how was that changed in your time there?"
8. "If you could recommend 2 books that all prospective management consultants should read, what would those be?"
9. "When you think back to your university days, what would be the 2 or 3 things that you wish you’d learned that would have better prepared you for the job today?"

Cheers, Sidi

In the words of my mentor "an offer is valid until you consider it". Now, do not take that to an extreme but I would say that 3-4 weeks is perfectly normal time to have to consider an offer.

Before extending the time, if you feel prepared, I would ask other firms to shorten their interview time because you have another offer.

Techniques to extend time:

• Be honest: tell them you have other interviews and since you already made plans you would like to complete them to be fair
• Negotiate terms of offer: you can negotiate sign-on bonus, tenure (if applicable), start date
• Personal reasons (if applicable): e.g. need to discuss with SO to make sure is right decision

Hope it helps,

Andrea

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

Cheers, Sidi

Hi!

I wrote this just a couple of hours ago, but let me repeat it, because it is so important (one of the many untrue myths where many people will tell you nonsense!):

Whether the partners are in O&G or not is practically irrelevant for your chances of success! If you are targeting MBB, then please make sure you are not wasting your time on building up a lot of industry knowledge! On the normal consulting track, MBBs are NOT hiring for kowledge! This is one of the most fundamental principles of how McKinsey, BCG, and Bain have built their entire assessment methodology!

The reason is that MBB firms are only interested in your principle skills (such as problem solving skills, communication skills, capacity to influence, maturity etc.). If these principle skills are given, then all relevant sector or functional knowledge will be absorbed on the job and via structured training curriculums at the firms! When I recruitied for McKinsey and BCG, my guiding principle was: "I need to hire the right brains and personalities. I am not interested in their business knowlege, since if they have the right capabilities, they will be able to quickly absorb the relevant knowledge anyway". This is the reason why MBB firms insist on the point that your major doesn't play a role in whether you can get an offer or not.

Again: On the normal consulting track, MBBs are NOT hiring for kowledge! They are hiring for skills!

Cheers, Sidi

There are so many variables that go into this, that it is hard to predict.

However, I firmly believe that if you cracked the rest of the case and you nailed it at the personal part, meaning the partner loved you and feels totally comfortable in putting you infront of a client tomorrow, she/he might have even forgot about your mistake after the interview.

We are humans, we all make mistakes, partners make mistakes too, all the time. What really matters is acknowleding that mistake, and taking the necessary actions to limit its negative effects on you, your firm and clients. If you were able to portray that you can do some of those after your interview, which if I understand correctly you did by acknowledging your mistake and taking the necessary steps, it might have even looked more positive on you.

Good luck with the wait, it is usually the most painful part.

Cheers

Hi,

I have uploaded the samples of Bain and BCG written cases here, enjoy:

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

Best,

Hi,
I would not worry about repeating the same question: if interviewers have the chance to talk each other about you they will not touch for sure your final question.

Questions about interviewer experience are always great, showing your curiosity in her motivation and expertise. If you have the chance to know before the name of the interviewer (you can ask it to HR the day before or discovering it in the waiting room), look at her LinkedIn profile to develope some tailored questions (e.g. about the MBA, the industry or practice specialization, etc.)

I also recommend you not to make questions about the firm that you can easily find online or through friends/other candidates (e.g. clients of the office, projects, typical workday, international opportunities, client exposure, your role, numbers of the office, ...).


Best,
Antonello

Hi Anonymous,

this is definitely not usual. Since HR mentioned your will discuss your background, I would still properly prepare for that – until you receive an offer all the interactions can be used for your evaluation, whether formally part of the process or not.

Best,

Francesco

Hi Anonymous,

there are several sources to develop a deeper knowledge of business concepts (economics books, industry reports, blogs). However, given you have limited time available, I would focus on the following:

1. identify which are the most challenging concepts/industries for you. Chances are you find more challenging specific industries/topics. Try to identify the main ones based on your current case practice.
2. find some good consulting MBA handbooks. You can easily find several good ones online for free (eg Insead)
3. filter the handbooks by the topic interesting for you and do/read the cases. Don’t focus on the structure (usually they are not particular good in these handbooks) but rather on the concepts present in the case. Track all the terminology/concepts that are challenging for you.
4. once identified concepts you don’t understand, look for more specific resources on that online. If for example you identify it is challenging for you to understand how the typical value chain for an industrial goods company is structured, you can easily find a good structure for it in a 10-minute online search. If you start from reading a book on industrial goods companies, you will of course cover that as well, but also tens of other topics that are not of interest, and spend 4-5 hours instead of 10 mins. This will allow thus to pinpoint the exact areas you have to improve in terms of brainstorming in the case.

Hope this helps,

Francesco

Hi,

- It's exactly the same, but you'll have three interviews instead of one (usual procedure) and the interviewer would be an Associate Partner / Partner / Senior Partner instead of an Engagement Manager / Associate Partner. The difficulty is the same

- Calm down because even if the interviewer is more senior, it doesn't mean the interview is going to be harder. It could also happen that an interviewer plays the "bad guy" part, but, again, it's only a stress test

Finger crossed and good luck!

Hi David,

I replied below to your questions:

1. You will be evaluated in terms of the final. Interviewers may refer to the partners of the first round for specific questions, but if you perform well in the final you will receive an offer, independently by the possible mistakes in the first round
2. The final will be similar to the first round in your case. Potentially there may be more focus on your fit and communication at this second stage
3. It is difficult to assess your math performance without more details but in general would be important that you exercise on a not-too-complicated approach. Straightforward (and correct) math can be a plus versus excessively complicated math
4. Here is a link to some tips for the conclusion: https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/at-the-end-of-the-case-interview-what-should-we-do-as-a-closing-conclusion-how-would-you-structure-a-synthesis-3832
5. I would suggest to look for experience candidates or experts for a final review of your prep, in particular if you feel you have reached a cap in your prep

Hope this helps,

Francesco