All questions tagged pre-screening interview - Consulting Q&A - PrepLounge.com

Hi!

You are completely misunderstanding and misinterpreting the situation! YOU are the person who asked for a call, so YOU should be the one who brings thoughtful questions to the call! YOU have to make up your mind, what you would like to know from the principal. He is just willing to answer your questions and wants to get a personam impression of you, to check whether you could be an intersting candidate.

So please start preparing this call and think through, what relevant topics you would like to discuss.

Cheers, Sidi

Hi Anonymous,

pre-screening interview calls are usually fit-only calls, where you are judged on attitude, personality and communication. The usual questions are the same you would get in the fit part in the actual interview; the most common ones include:

• Tell me about yourself
• Why do you want to work for in our industry/company
• Tell me about a time when you failed
• What are your three top strengths and weaknesses
• Tell me about a time when your idea was criticized
• Which role do you play in a team
• Why should I hire you

Sometimes, in particular if you perform very well, you may also get a mini case (usually 10 minutes max). Given the limited amount of time and the fact that you are over the phone or on Skype, that usually is based on market sizing.

One thing many candidates neglect to do at this stage is to prepare their own questions. Relevant questions at the end are a great way to show your interest in the company and get additional points. In the first reply at the following post you can find some more information on the ideal type of questions to ask at the end of your call:

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/open-house-at-bcg-311

Hope this helps,

Francesco

Hi,

That will be just a standard conversation. Recommend you prepare the following:

• Tell me about yourself
• Why Consulting
• Why Bain
• Your questions to him

In "Tell me about yourself" you should be talking about your career path till now. You can finish this story with an argument about why consulting is the next logical career step.

I would recommend the following structure:

1. Start with a 1 sentence summary of your background, why you are relevant for McKinsey and what's your unique selling point
2. Talk about 3-4 of your roles (may be professional, education, extracurricular), 3 sentences each. The more experienced you are the more you should speak about professional roles. It can be also the distinct roles within the same organization. Typical structure: 1) What was the company 2) What you were responsible for 3) Greatest achievement in that role, that will stay in the memory of the interviewer (E.g. While working at Adidas supply chain I was personally responsible for the delivery of soccer balls to the Worldcup in Africa)
3. The main reason why consulting (or McKinsey if you were a consultant before) is the next logical career step for you

“Why consulting?”, “Why McKinsey” or “Why BCG” questions are used to assess your motivation to be a consultant in general and to work in that particular firm. They will check how you have done your homework and what you’ve learned about them. They also want to make sure that you have a clear intention to work in consulting.

• The answers to these questions are supposed to be short and take no more than 30 seconds each.
• For each question, you should provide three bullets points with different reasons.
• Make sure that you guide the interviewer through your reasoning. Words like “The first reason”, “Moreover”, “Finally” will help you.

When answering “Why consulting” questions, provide three reasons why you want to pursue a career in a consulting firm. A general rule is to find the reasons that are important for you and logically fit everything you have done before (e.g. you want to grow further in financial services and get exposure to these clients). You can always use some personal rationale like your experience of working with consultants on a client side.

"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,

I'm sorry but are you here to vent and gain sympathy or to inform others?

For those on this site recruiting, let's use the above as an example for how not to prepare for consulting :)

1) It sounds like you view yourself as the centre of the universe, which, if you want to work in a high-stakes place like McKinsey, is an attitude you need to drop!

2) You shouldn't be judging a company based on just one person (perhaps she is really bad, I wasn't there, but this one situation should not put you off from such a reputable company). This is anectodal...you need to look at the facts/the whole

3) You are not her top priority - she will be getting dozens of emails DAILY from candidates desperate to be invited in. You accomodate her, not the other way around. As you would have to do for Partners, Clients, etc.

4) Not sure you should complain about her typos given the text above (specialy, didnt, "I ended up on my nerves", whych)

5) I think it's a problem that her simply not including a time got on your nerves - I fear for your first client interaction

6) It sounds like you didn't do the research about what roles work for you before speaking to her. She's not there to baby walk you through the process

______________________________________________________________________

In summary, to thrive during recruiting, interviewing, and on the job:

1) Count yourself lucky to be there

2) Look at a problem based on the whole, not small anecdotes

3) Put others before yourself

4) Have attention to detail (typos on final slides will kill you)

5) Brush off the little (and the big) things - always keep your cool, especially with clients

6) Drive your own case/project forward and do your own research...you own your own module

Dear John,

You absolutely shouldn't be worried. This is standard practice in some consulting offices and at the Big 4. It is usually a preliminary step before the first round of interviews, and usually takes place right before or after a numerical test (or at least that's the case at OW and the Big4).

These kind of tests (Psychometric Tests) help prospective employers gain insight into your personality, background, and psychological thinking, which in turn helps them determine your suitability for a particular position. They might also be helpful to you in that they might allow you to identify your strengths, abilities, and weaknesses.
There is no right way to answer a psychometric test: you must strive to answer all questions honestly and in the required amount of time. My only advice (but it's rather obvious) is to avoid giving answers that are self-deprecating, and to emphasise your ability to interact with people. Someone who presents themselves in the test as a shy, anti-social person risks not making the cut.

I have never heard anyone being rejected after taking a psychometric test, so I really wouldn't be worried. Good luck on the next steps!