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

Hi Yehuda,

Unfortunately, PrepLounge is much more for the strategy consulting track. This is not the right place for data analyst interviews.

Ibrahim,

I'm currently working in the data analytics space, but not sure if you'r e asking for help thinking about a problem or partnering up? Can you clarify if you have a specific question?

Hi!

What do you mean by analytics? Is it data scientists / financial modeling experts?

Usually, it's the part of the research department or a dedicated data science team. McKinsey in the US and UK has a separate data science company in addition to in-house analytics

The selection process is similar (3-4 cases) + usually an additional data analytics exercise (can be solved in Excel / Tableau)

Best

I would suggest you to look into the industry focus, project types, and working approaches of these two companies.

When I interviewed at GAMMA I got both business case interviews and technical case interviews. Business case interviews are as usual. Technical case interviews have the same structure with fit and Q&A, but includes a more technical case. E.g. our client is a grocery store chain who would like our help developing personalized promotions in their loyalty program. Typically you would then discuss defining the problem, what data you want and have, which models you would use, and how you would validate and test your model. I prepared by imagining problems like this for different companies, as well as by looking at past Kaggle competitions.

Hi Patrick,

I have some colleagues working at advanced analytics at BCG. While it is a separate entity compared to Gamma, they may know the process a bit better. Just PM me for details.

Best,

Deniz

Not a direct answer to your question, but make sure you are very comfortable with the math. 10-15 minutes/day on caseinterviewmath.com for example, will go a long way; this website will rank you per accurracy and speet against all other applicants - and the good news is you improve very quickly, just a few days typically.

PrepLoung also has solid math material btw. Make sure also to differentiate well between "percent" and "percentage point"; mixing the two up will show you as lacking rigor and may cause you to get mixed up quickly.

As to the case piece itself, don't forget to quantify: why? when? how much? + trends of course.

Think of the behavioral interview as a standalone FIT interview. The preparation is just like for the FIT part of other consulting interviews. Go through the typical questions, prepare your stories and practice delivery infront of a mirror.

For the technical interview, I would suggest to reach out to your HR contact to ask them about specific guidance on how to prepare. Given that it's AAG (Advanced Analytics Group), you can probably expect much more technical questions around data science and it's application.

Hi, only basic tools in Excel will be needed. My recommendation is not overpreparing excel skills, you are quickly acquiring it on the job

Best,
Antonello

Hi there,

I helped a few people applying at BCG Gamma. You will have:

• A technical interview, usually related to databases, regressions, modeling and data science in general
• Traditional case interviews

If you need more information please feel free to PM me, I can help to simulate the traditional case part and share questions related to the technical part.

Best,

Francesco

if they provide you with the info how they value what, weighting those parameters by their value is definitely a very good approach to take.

Hello!

At the beggining in consulting, it´s normally recommended to go through a variety of engagements and industries, to become an "all road"

However, truth is that in McKinsey, for instace, some business analysts (hence, graduates) are hired form the beggining in the Digital or Banking practice -depends on the office-.

At this point, best would be to clarify with HR from your geography, since I see it feasible.

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara

Hello!

Bain´s AA goup is the homologue from McKinsey´s AA or BCG Gamma.

They have existed as a small and almost back-office cell for a while, and approx. 3-4 years ago grew crazily and are a key part of the company.

They are also consultants, but with a much more analytical background (mathematicians, engenieers, physics, etc.). Their job describtion is also much more analytical, and they work in both usual engagaments or exclusively AA engagements -where there are usually also some generalist consultants, as translators, for instance-.

Their interviews, in line with their job description, emcompass not only the ussual business case + FIT but also technical tasks (e.g., related to data management, coding, etc.)

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara

Hello!

There are different things! The equivalent to BCG Gamma is not Mck Digital, but McK Advance Analytics!

(Just fyi, Mckinsey Digital is constituted by general consultants focused on digital practice, involved in the "strategic part" and no particular coding or analytics).

Now talking about Advance Analytics, it does differ from a general consultant in many things: core job, skills needed, profiles recruited... however, the quality standars and competitiveness is the same -it´s the same firm with the same values, after all-.

Lifestyle can be different since they tend to travel less -and not even always- and have slightly better work-life balance.

Good thing is that they are growing massively now in Europe, and your profile could really fit.

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara

HI,

1- I would not say that... Several variables that are not under your control here (and that does not necessary link to your performance): office need, period of the year, specific HR plan for the office and for the year ...

2- Not at all. All the consulting firm are now introducing Data science roles that are proper consulting roles. The business need is changing and the clients require always more specific competences in digital, analytics ... Usually the DS consultants are worling with normal consultants in particular cases where the "digital" is much more relevant/ needed. More than a second class, I would say that it is the class of the future!

3- Im not super sure about this... but you cna probably check online. I believe they have a parallel track with a similar consulting career (similar seniority and pay)

4- Usually a DS consultant will take the interview... it can be related to the tool you can use (tableau, alterix ...) and the specific programming/ IT competences you have. I suggest you also to reach out some employees of that specific office... maybe they can help you understanding more deeply the office need and the type of cases they are currently doing. Clients from different geographies can have complete differnt levels of "digital need" and you want to make sure your competences are aligned with what they are looking for

Best Luck for the next steps!

Hi,

Not sure if I understood your question correctly, however the best source of cost structures will be:

1) Cases - you simply solve 50-70 cases and get a broad knowledge of different industries, common pitfalls and questions. The key here - find good partners who already had case interviews with MBB companies

2) Company reports, equity reports, IB roadshow docs - usually have a good overview of company and industries. The most useful sources to understand what's going on with the companies

3) HBS cases - quite useful, but not sure if lot's of them available publically. Probably worth buying

4) Books - one good book about airlines with numbers and industry analysis can give you all needed industry knowledge. Just use the Kindle search

5) News, Industry blogs

You may approach cost-related problems in the following way:

1) Operational math problems. (e.g. Should we increase the speed of the elevator or just buy a second one? How should we reduce the queues? How should we increase the output of a factory?).

Structuring:

• Usually, you have to look at the process. Even the most complicated systems have the inflows and outflows

The key concepts that you have to learn:

• Capacity and utilization (both machine and people)
• Cycle time, Throughput time, Little's Law
• How the does lowest cycle time influence the production? (Lead time = cycle time of the slowest process)
• How can we mitigate the bottlenecks with low cycle time? (Buffer, Parallel process, speeding up)

2) Cost cutting cases

Structuring:

• What is the cost composition and what are the biggest costs
• Benchmarking of the biggest costs to find the improvement potential
• Process improvements to meet the benchmarks
• Costs and benefits of the proposed initiatives

The key concepts that you have to learn:

• Internal / external benchmarking
• Idle time
• Core processes (usually are optimized) and the supporting processes (usually are cut)
• Math structures (Frequency of operations * time per operation)
• Other useful structures (e.g. people - process - technology)

3) Bottleneck cases (e.g. Huge write-offs in the meat store or bottleneck on the bridge)

Structuring:

You draw a value chain and go through it to find a bottleneck.

E.g. for the meat write-offs it will be:

• Supplier issues (packaging, meat quality, warehousing)
• Transportation (Length, fridges)
• Store (Refrigerators in the warehouse, in-store fridges, demand for the meet)

Feel free to reach me for further help with these cases.

Best

Hi Anonymous,

I would assume you are referring to the actual job at Bain. In general there is no statistical analysis that should be performed in a strategy-consulting job (unless you have a background in statistics and they specifically hired you for that reason). As for excel, you will be mainly required to use two functions, vlookup and pivot tables. Of course, if you know macros and advanced formulas, that would also help, but likely not be necessary.

Besides that, below you can find some other general tips useful for excel:

1. Review excel shortcuts – in the long run can save you a lot of time
2. Never use the Hide function for cells – rather use the Group function
3. Get used to do multiple backups in case anything goes wrong
4. Always double check formulas before delivering the file – most of the time at the beginning you will find mistakes that could hurt your credibility
5. Prepare drafts to show/ align with your supervisor before doing actual analysis – otherwise you may end doing very complicated things that will turn useless

Hope this helps,

Francesco