Example of an excellent answer (score: 2)
GOAL CLARIFICATION
An excellent candidate would clarify the objective of the client i.e., how to rectify the issue of the lack of new music, addressing the cause as well as where to go about looking for solutions.
STRUCTURE
- Identification of the problem
- Understand which segment has the issue (What type of music is being affected? Is it a certain genre?)
- Understand the flow of the segment (the different parts of the music production value chain for production of new streaming music)
- Understand how much time/input is used in each stage of the process, then benchmark it to previous client data or competitor data
- Analyse the reasons behind the underlying issues
- Internal Reasons – Team, process or technology/capital inefficiency
- External Reasons – Customer, suppliers/distributors, competitors, regulation issue
- Solution to the problem - Based on the underlying internal and external reasons above e.g.
- Internal Solution- Depending on the issue (Eg: Initiate updated training schemes to update staff on the optimal method for producing new music)
- External Solution– Depending on the issue (Eg: Improve incentives for external agents provide new songs from current artist base)
- Risks and next steps
COMMUNICATION
An excellent candidate should present clearly the different areas in a structured way.
Moreover, the candidate should clearly present the rationale for why he/she wants to explore a particular point, connecting the answer to the objective of the client.
Suggested score
An excellent candidate should:
- Clarify the goal of the client
- Include the main elements as presented above in the structure
- Communicate the structure in a clear way
Provide extra credit if the candidate is able to hypothesize what the value chain for a music production company would look liked (e.g., content creation, production and editing, distribution, streaming platform optimization, etc.)
Recommended score calculation: starting from 2, decrease the score by 0.5 points down to 0 for any of the following:
- The candidate did not clarify the objective
- The candidate did not include the first 3 areas; risks and next steps is optional
- The candidate included multiple useless elements in the structure (known as ‘boiling the ocean’)
- The candidate communicated the structure in a disorganized way or without a clear connection to the goal
To keep a structured approach in assessing the performance of the candidate, it is recommended that the interviewer use a scoring system to evaluate the 6 parts of the case presented below. This will help the interviewee to understand their level of readiness for the actual interview.
A possible grading system for each part is the following:
A possible evaluation grid is the following:
You can adapt the grading system and the evaluation grid according to your needs.
The text presents the questions to ask, the proposed optimal answer and the suggestions to score a candidate's performance in each area.