All questions tagged behavioral interviews - Consulting Q&A - PrepLounge.com

I believe it might make sense to adopt the following strategy:

1. Concentrate on proper preparation with excellent case partners/experts

2. Make sure your written applications (CV, cover letters, referrals) are on point!

2. Once you feel really comfortable on fit, cases and your application, apply to all Tier2 firms

3. Continue practicing cases!

4. Schedule interview days with the Tier 2 firms

5. Once T2 interviews are scheduled, apply to MBB

6. Continue practicing cases!

7. Go through T2 interviews and get used to the setting (if you focused your preparation on MBB, you will realize that interview formats and cases might be a bit different at T2 firms, but don't get irritated by that fact). Try to get at least one offer (this is a great psychological help!)

8. Schedule interview days with the MBB firms that invited you

9. Continue practicing cases!

10. Nail interviews with MBB firms and celebrate your offer(s)!

All are feasible options and the way you choose for meeting depends on dialogue between you and the coach. In your case, I would recommend phone but if you choose a coach from another country, roaming fees WILL make you wish you invested in a much better WiFi. In some cases, overseas phone calls for an hour can cost more than coaching fee itself. Thus, be careful.

Hi,

I recommend buying some great books on leadership that have all the relevant frameworks and go through them trying to assess where on that scale you are now. For example:

• The positive leader - John Muhlfeit
• High output management - Grove
• HBS articles on leadership

Best

Hi,

“Tell me about yourself” or “walk me through your resume”- this is how Consultants usually begin the interview. It's an opportunity for them to learn about you and to pick some interesting facts. I recommend providing all the relevant experience (since most of the consultants don't really look at your resume before the interview) and skip only the irrelevant ones

Best,

Vlad

Hi,

"Why this company" is a more specific question and can include the following arguments:

• The general marketing story the company is trying to sell (e.g. Bain is a small "Family" company)
• Brand / positioning / market share in the region
• More clients / projects / expertise in the industry you are interested in
• More well-known stories of success in your city
• Your friends working there
• Your interactions with the other consultants before the interview
• Your prior experience of working with the Firm on a client side
• Office traditions
• Work experience with firm alumni
• etc

Best!

Hi,
Basically it's like introducing yourself but asked in different wording.
So as usual stay structured :

- Give overwiew of your profile and try to build a personal narrative

- talk about each experience at high level (what did you do, learn) and move to the next one

Best
Benjamin

Hi Anonymous,

indeed, there is a list of questions that tend to appear more frequently; the most likely fit questions and topics you will find are:

• Tell me about yourself (personal overview)
• Why consulting (motivational)
• Why ATK (motivational)
• Give me an example when you led a team (leadership)
• Tell me about a time when you had to convince someone not agreeing with you (impact)
• What has been your major achievement so far (drive)
• Why should we hire you (motivational)

Although the company that emphasize more the fit part is McKinsey, following a preparation including the key areas of leadership/teamwork, impact and drive will have you covered for the other consulting companies as well.

The best way to prepare is to complete the following check list:

1. Understand the difference between, leadership, impact and drive areas. You can find a link with their differences here: https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/mckinsey-pei-difference-drive-and-personal-impact-918#a1780
2. Identify good stories for each area. Ideally you want to have at least two stories for each area. Three would be even better.
3. Use a structure for your story. I would suggest to use the STARR model (Situation, Task, Action, Rational for Action, Results)
4. Identify for each story one sentence clarifying what the story is about and start with it. Think of it as the title of a journal article.
5. Practice live, collect feedback from people listening to you, reiterate until when you get fluent and convincing

Best,

Francesco

Hi,

Below criteria selection for fit and case interviews and ATKearney's Paris office

1. Fit interview

• Humility while showing presence
• Story telling: what brings you here, and explain clearly the rational behind your past choices
• sincery, don't hesitate to open up yourslef during interviews this will be appreciated
• Typycal questions can vary from: What brings you here / Tell me about a difficult situation and how you dealt with it / What motivates you in life

2. Case interview

• Cases are build by each interviewer and typically derived from their personnal experience as consultant
• For Analyst position interviewer will expect good structure when entering the case, and drive during case resolution

hope it helps. Don't hesitate to reach me directly I worked in Paris office.