Problem Definition
- Questions
- Tell me something about your background.
- Why should we hire you?
- Describe a difficult situation and how you handled it?
- What did your boss or colleagues criticize about you?
- Do you rather work in a team or independently?
Comments
Almost certainly, one of the top 5 questions will be used during the interview. While listening to the answers, keep in mind the two major criteria you have to evaluate:
Can I work with this candidate closely in a team every day?
Can I send the candidate to a client alone?
Make sure, the candidate follows the three basic rules for personal fit questions:
- Provision of a clear roadmap: The candidate has time to think of a structured answer.
- Using distinctive answers: Examples instead of generic answers help to remember a candidate.
- Using the answer to sell him/herself: The statements should still answer the question, but in a way that the candidate conveys useful skills.
Tell me something about your background. Why should we hire you?
DO:
- A sentence or two that sets the stage for further discussion.
- Setting apart from others and giving a unique selling proposition.
- Illustrating the biggest strength and the major benefit that a consulting company will derive from this strength.
DON’T:
- Providing a long story through the CV, repeating all the points.
- Giving a long list of skills and talents.
- Telling irrelevant stories about the past that a not related to consulting requirements, like where the candidate was born and raised.
Describe a difficult situation and how you handled it?
DO:
- Describing the situation you encountered in detail.
- Telling how the candidate used his/her skills to analyze the problem before he/she considered solutions.
- Explaining the solution that was selected and the approach – giving arguments why this particular solution was chosen.
- Providing points that were learned from that situation.
What did your boss or colleagues criticize about you?
DO:
- Providing points that the candidate has improved in and turned into a positive result.
- Giving steps that the candidate has done after the critics and what was learned.
DON’T:
- Bringing up essential skills necessary for consulting.
- Stating a strength covered as weakness.
Do you rather work in a team or independently?
DO:
- Highlighting positive of both work styles.
- Highlighting negative aspects of both types and how to prevent them.
- Providing examples.
DON’T:
- Focussing and preferring only one work style. Consulting needs both.
