Consulting 101 - Case Interviews (My experience)
Ah, the beauty of interviewing at consulting firms. The multiple rounds, the angst of waiting for a call-back after you finish: generally, the high-performers get a call within hours after you finish a round to schedule the next interview. The longer the time passes, the lower your chance of getting through the next round. If a whole day passes without a phone call, chances are, you’ll receive an email that begins with a “we regret to inform you…”.
As a side note, you can check the ‘About me’ page to check my credentials and career trajectory that has ultimately led me to a career in consulting.
I’ve counted, and it turns out that I’ve gone through around 40 actual case interviews, interviewing at multiple firms over the course of 3 years. I first tried, with limited success, right out of undergrad (when I was an overzealous junior student), and although I did receive offers from a Big 4 firm, I opted for a conglomerate in industry, and later decided to try once again for consulting.
Here is my brief history at case interviews, beginning from 2018 : 3 rounds at PwC (got offer), 5 rounds at Oliver Wyman (final, no offer), 2 rounds at McKinsey*, 5 interviews with BCG, (2 occasions, got offer on second try, accepted in ‘22), 5 with Bain (2 occasions: got to final one occasion, dropped process on a separate occasion), 8 with Deloitte (2 occasions, got offer on 1 occasion), 6 rounds with LEK (Final), 4 rounds with Kearney. (Got offer, Accepted in ‘20)
*Somehow, I just can’t seem to get past the screening at McKinsey after having first applied at ‘18. I still feel like their format and culture was most suited for me, but life had other plans…
Consulting Tiers according to Mconsultingprep.com (Largely agreed upon, mostly in the US/Europe Region). Rankings change across continents
Each interview leaves you with a lot of emotional duress, and the preparation required for each round is way greater than for non-consulting, industry companies. However, once you get the hang of case interviews, I feel like interviewing at any other type of company becomes a lot easier, as the whole structured, MECE, hypothesis-driven, answer first method of communication really appeals to companies anyway. (For example, I also have experience with some of the top IT companies: doing 7~8 interviews with Amazon, (Final, No Offer, 4 with Google (Final, No offer) and 4 with Microsoft (Final,No offer)
Having had gone through quite a bit of interviews with many firms, I’m real curious about the level of difficulty of cases throughout the world, but I have a feeling that Korea has got to be one of the most stringent, in regards to what they expect from their candidates. In my personal experience, of MBB, BCG and Bain had the most difficult interviews, followed by the 2nd Tier consulting firms, with McKinsey being a bit “easier” with the defined general format.
Most cases take the format of interviewer-led, and the interviewers tend to ask cases about their own recent curiosities or projects they’ve done, so it’s difficult to predict what type of case what come out during the interview. (However, of course, there are some partners who are infamous for using the same case every time)
The point is, there is never one correct approach to acing the case interview, and everyone has a different path in reaching the firm that you want. I had endured many setbacks, as my biggest hurdle was just getting passed the final round. However, I truly believe that anyone can always improve his/her case interview skills, and I’ve seen my approach to these interviews change over time. I aim to discuss some of the difficulties I’ve faced, and perhaps some tips to how I’ve approached the case interview, and hopefully be of some help to others, as I would never want to wish anyone to go through ~40 excruciating interviews.
As for me, in the end I was able to break through the hurdle, and ended up securing an offer from BCG. (making it a lateral move) when I believe I had the highest maturity in my own understanding of conducting case interviews.
Please feel free to ask any questions about the case!