What are your experiences and tips on how to see the free 'training session' offered by MBB before an interview?

BCG
New answer on Jun 27, 2021
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Anonymous A asked on Jun 17, 2021

Hello there!

What tips, besides preparing for the case part itself, would you give me for the free live training session offered by BCG BEFORE my real first interview round?

Experiences & tips are welcome!

Second Q: How does HR use the info they gather about 'where you are at' during such a live training session with a colleague?

Thank you!

(edited)

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Ian
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replied on Jun 17, 2021
#1 BCG coach | MBB | Tier 2 | Digital, Tech, Platinion | 100% personal success rate (8/8) | 95% candidate success rate

Hi there,

I highly recommend that you be at the 80% mark or above for the case buddy session. You want to make a good impression (even if it is not evaluate) AND you want to make the best use of thier feedback.

If you're a beginner/intermediate, their advice is going to be obvious/generic. If you're more advanced, their advance is going to be a lot more valuable (i.e. generally things other PrepLoungers may not have noticed).

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Florian
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replied on Jun 18, 2021
Highest-rated McKinsey coach (ratings, offers, sessions) | 500+ offers | Author of The 1% & Consulting Career Secrets

Hey there,

Agree with Ian. You need to have a certain level of casing skill to benefit fully from such sessions. While in general, their feedback will always be somewhat generic (''work on your structuring, generate more tangible insights, etc.''), since they cannot spill the secret sauce + are usually not trained as interviewers, their feedback will be more targeted if you give them a better performance to work with. To get the secret sauce, you need to work with a former consultant as a coach who can do that...

Generally, your performance in these interviews is never communicated to HR or anyone else in the recruiting process. It is really just a nice offer to help you prepare and point you in the right direction. Also for McKinsey, consultants who conduct these coaching calls are usually also not part of the actual interviewer group. Not sure about BCG but might be similar.

Cheers,

Florian

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Henning
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replied on Jun 27, 2021
Bain | passed >15 MBB interviews as a candidate

You should be quite proficient when taking these. For two reasons:

  • In case the data from these sessions makes it into the process (however formalized or unformalized that may be), you want to leave a strong impression
  • At the beginning of your preparation you'll learn from anybody. The further you get the more you need qualified feedback to further improve. Scheduling this session at the beginning is a waste of a good resource.
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Udayan
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replied on Jun 21, 2021
Top rated Case & PEI coach/Multiple real offers/McKinsey EM in New York /6 years McKinsey recruiting experience

First and foremost - definitely take advantage of this session! It is very helpful to get even minor feedback from this process as it helps familiarize you with interviewing with someone currently at BCG. 

In order to get the most out of this session, practice 10-20 cases before so you are familiar with how to case, how to drive a case forward and are a reasonably strong candidate. This is NOT because it is evaluative but because it will help the interviewer give you more actionable feedback (e.g., you need to go one level deeper in your structure) vs more generic feedbacl (e.g., work on your structuring)

These sessions are helpful to familiarize yourself with what it is like to interview at BCG but are not a great substitute for coaching as you will not get as detailed and relevant feedback due to multiple reasons including the fact that the consultants are often rushed (they typically do this when they have free time which is very limited as you can imagine) and may not be interview trained either.

Udayan

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Ian gave the best answer

Ian

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