All questions tagged first round interview - Consulting Q&A - PrepLounge.com

Hi there!

Most cases are "MBB" in the sense that practicing any prompt/situation will prepare you. That said, some of more realistic than others. If you're looking for the most realistic case/interview scenarios, the best route is to hire a coach....they are experts in what to expect!

Dear A,

My congratulations with referral. This is already a very important step in order to secure your interview.

The quick answer is yes. Referral from partner in the Boston office is still good and valuable for applying in HK, of course in case you partner is willing to submit your referral cross borders. Nevertheless, just bear in mind that the referral in HK office will not be as strong as it could in Boston office.

If you need any help to secure your Bain offer, feel free to reach out.
Good luck,

André

Hi Lilian,

I do not know in particular Dalberg Advisors cases examples but, generally speaking, 2h written cases are an extension of the typical case interviews, with the addition of 2 important skills to develope:

1. 80-20 prioritization: identify the most important data and topics to focus on during the resolution

2. final slides preparation: craft a mini deck of top down impactful pages to present at the end of the interview

here you can find some tips from Bain: https://www.bain.com/careers/interview-prep/written-interview/

Hope this helps

Antonello

Interviewers often have no incentive to give feedback beyond a soft request from their office recruiting team and the fuzzy idea that they'd like feedback if in their shoes. Life gets in the way, they are busy... and often will just let time pass then rationalize that "it's too late now"

I would follow up

Hi,

Sorry, but giving you the feedback just based on your subjective impressions is completely unproductive. You should just wait for the results.

"Anything else" question is very common at McK interviews. They want to check your creativity. When you have a question on creativity you should:

1. Take a minute to gather your thoughts
2. Make the buckets of ideas
3. Create ideas within each bucket
4. Present your findings

It's really hard to come up with a lot of creative ideas without taking time and structuring the groups of ideas.

Best

Hi,
I recommend to write/call HR, without worrying about bothering them: they are there to help

Best,
Antonello

They probably haven't had time to did the call with all the interviewers and decide to pass you or not.

I would strongly recommend to call HR and ask them directly, it's not a bad thing to do!

The PST is a battle against time but the favourable aspect of the test is that it is not negatively marked so it's a no-brainer to attempt every single question.

Bear in mind that it's very easy to get caught up in the moment with a question - you feel like you've invested a lot of time thinking about a particular one and so feel it's worth taking more time again to get it right. It's important to be ruthless. Imagine someone was looking over your shoulder and giving you objective advice about when to move on. Put yourself in that 'mode'. It's too easy to waste time.

Focus on areas where you are naturally good and try to get better. There might be some areas that you are naturally weaker - don't stress too much about these. Get yourself to a level where you feel competent. It's difficult to be top notch in all areas but easier to be fantastic in one and fine in another. There is only so much practice you can do and so it’s more about developing a strategy to ensure you don't lose against time.