All questions tagged PrepLounge: Personal Fit - Consulting Q&A - PrepLounge.com

1. Consulting job is extremely relevant to business school education. It is sort of waste not to apply the business acumen we honed in b-school into any other type of job;

2. Consulting enables people to handle various type of businesses. You'll never get bored easily with such a steep learning curve, or, should I say, learning curves;

3. Consulting offers unlimited career possibilities as a great launchboard, the analytical skills and sector insights might get updated one day, but the problem solving approach, once mastered, is highly transferrable.

i chose to pursue opportunities at bcg because of the new problem, new approach mindset. with my research background, i enjoy approaching problems that have never been seen before with a fresh and creative mindset, but bringing with me the tools and schools of thought that inform my thinking along the way. additionally, diversity and inclusion is important to me, and BCG continues to prove its commitment to these efforts, continuously winning LGBTQ inclusion awards and publishing articles on this content

Essentially, failure experience is regarded very positively by MBB: if you failed, you took risks, i.e. you have proven your entrepreneurial nature. So, do not be afraid to talk honestly about the times you failed.

However, an important thing to focus on in your answer to this question is what you have learnt from your failure. And I would try to turn these “lessons learnt” into something valuable for consulting. For example, you tried doing everything by yourself and after this failure you really started understanding the importance of team work and really improved on this front. Or, you tried doing everything perfectly and after that failure you understood that it’s important to have trade-offs and to compromise to achieve the results you want (80/20 or “better done than perfect“).

So, be honest, talk about your failures, but remember to highlight some lessons learnt to give your story an overall positive twist.

in my last consulting project, i was on a team of 4. three of us were very much self-directed and self-starters that took initiative to break down, assign, and complete tasks required for the project. one team member, however, was admitedly in need of constant direction. when our team broke down into partners, i was paired with the non-self-starter. i took this opportunity to be candid and open with him about what he needed from me to be successful, and worked with him to break down tasks, which i then assigned a portion of to him. while it felt a little strange stepping into the "boss" role with a peer of equal footing, we both realized that this is what he needed, and what the team needed, to be successful. In the end, our portion of the project was extremely well-received by the client, and my partner and i's (and entire team's) relationship remained positive throughout and after the project.

Hi!

The first thing to recognise is why interviewers ask this question. Ultimately, they want to know how aware you are of your development areas, how you feel about you "weaknesses", and whether those "weaknesses" are red flags :)

I advise my clients to:

1. Answer honestly & directly... but not too honestly (this is not a confessional :)). Interviewers can tell if you're being ingenuine and know when you're trying to cover up your weaknesses. For example, "I work too hard" is not a weakness so don't say that. And don't say something that will obviously be a complete deal-breaker.
2. Pick a "weakness" that is important for consultants to have. i.e. it should be relevant to the role. Saying you want to be a better investor is not relevant to the role. However, saying you could be better at managing your time is something that is relevant to being a consultant
3. Show that you have already worked on this "weakness" and have a plan to improve it even more. Interviewers want just want to see that you have "weaknesses" (they already know you do because we ALL have weaknesses). They want to see that you're the sort of person who is doing something about it to improve yourself because as a consultant, you have to be open to feedback and take steps to address that feedback.

Here's an example of what this might sound like (remember, this is just an example that demonstrates an example that is direct, honest, relevant, and improvement-focused. You will need to cater this to yourself:

• "A weakness of mine is my ability to present confidently in situations where I'm less familiar with the topic. This stems from a complete fear of presenting just a few years ago, which I worked on through the support of my colleagues and by putting myself in situations where I had no choice but to present, get feedback, and then refine and try again. So I feel like I've already come a long way. The work I'd done preparing myself for these interviews have helped me gain additional communication skills to improve how I feel presenting less familiar topics, but it is still an ongoing effort, which I continue to work on."

Hope this helps! Get in touch directly to get some specific practice in.

Best!

This question is usually asked in the very beginning of McKinsey interview and does NOT strictly constitute a part of personal fit questions (which are situation-based). In contrast to business cases and personal fit questions there is also no exact system for evaluating your answer to this question. The “tell me about yourself“ question during McKinsey interview serves just one purpose – to actually help you relax, let you talk about something you are familiar with and to help your interviewer to get to know you a bit better (sort of to put a face to whatever she read in your CV).

So, I would use it as a chance to make yourself memorable and to leave a positive impression. What do I mean by that? I mean, of course, do say a few words about your studies and work experience, but also say what you are passionate about and what you want to achieve in life. Are you passionate about swimming? Say it! Are you passionate about singing? Say it! Do you want to eventually build your own business? Say it! It’s important for an interviewer to understand what kind of person you are and for you to leave a memorable mark, so make sure you highlight those things which throw a bit of light on your personality.

1. Versatile experience, spanning from TMT unicorn to boutique M&A house;

2. Strong transferrable skills, from financial modeling to project management;

3. Get along well with C-suite people, chill, bold, fun-loving and bald.

Hi,

This is a tricky question. The safe response is that you say that you see yourself working as a project leader/principal at the office of your application. If you already have a specific interest, you can elaborate on which functional topics and industries you plan to specialize in the future.

Surely, in order to be honest with the interviewers, you can also say that you see their company as a platform to better understand how you want to shape your career. However, I would refrain from saying things such as "I see myself in working in the industry after working at your company for 2-3 years". With this question, they want to test your commitment, thus you need to further elaborate on that.

Best,

Deniz