Most of the cases presented cover a number of concepts that would range from market sizing and operations to economics. Case interview tips and resources boston university. Everyone in the consulting industry uses the profitability framework. The case interview guide the content of the consulting interview each consulting firm has its own style and format for the interview. Master list the case interview is the biggest challenge consulting candidates must overcome to receive an offer. Case interview frameworks are used to open a case and to solve a case. Our guide to business case frameworks will help you. Read case in point or case interview secrets for a general understanding of what a consulting interview is. Second round when you have successfully completed your firstround. Harvard business school management consulting club case interview guide harvard business school management consulting club case interview guide.
These materials provided on an as is basis with no warranty or guarantee expressed or implied. Case interview frameworks templates for drawing great. Fixed cost price variable cost debt ratio total debt total assets debttoequity ratio total debt total equity four cs marketing from a customers point of view. The complete guide to consulting, marketing, and management interviews. Case interviews test the interviewees ability to solve business problems in a structured and logical way, using business judgement to draw conclusions and offer recommendations when all the required information is not. You will be confronted with a reallife business case. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. Schedule an appointment with a career coach discuss interview strategies and conduct a mock interview. Use on your next startup, in an existing small business, or to ace the case interview business success book 7 kindle edition by oliver, peter, reads, concise.
In this chapter, we will outline some of the core frameworks and some additional consulting concepts that are important to grasp and will form part of many interviews. You are hired by the companys ceo to evaluate the current and future potential of the pipeline industry. During a case interview, an interviewer presents a situation or case. In case interviews, the mece principle is a valuable tool for creating management consulting firms that break down complicated problems into basic components you can evaluate and help you get to the root of the problem. Specifically, in this case interview framework, we break profit down into revenue and cost. A clarification on the profitloss framework used in management consulting case interviews. If youve done any research on case interview frameworks, youll find that my approach is a bit different than what you might see elsewhere other case interview prep resources often will give you dozens of frameworks to use in your preparation.
There must be a framework out there that fits this case. Case interview frameworks mckinsey consulting prep. Consulting interview questions interviewing question bank when preparing for an interview with a consulting company, you need to be prepared for both fit, brain teasers, and case study questions. Case interview example solving a case step by step. Given the high mental pressure and time pressure in a consulting case interview, it is extremely difficult even for the best candidates to come up with the right issues, and at the same time remaining structured in a mece way this is just another reason highlighting the advantage of knowing the most important business frameworks and. Introduction case interview course myconsultingcoach. This information is provided to you for free for noncommercial use. Its not a canned solution from the front page of the wall street journal or a business school textbook management consultants look for candidates who have a structured process for thinking through the key aspects of a business problem to find its. Graph and analysis for consulting and case interviews case interview questions for tech companies. You should place more emphasis on the ability to draw specific case interview frameworks to suit to each context. Its very important that you think of both of these, opening and solving the case. How to solve growth strategy consulting case studies. All business problems can be reduced to one of these case types and each type of case can be solved by using generic frameworks. Case interviews test the interviewees ability to solve business problems in a structured and logical way, using business judgement to draw conclusions and offer recommendations when all the required information is not available.
By doing this, you will be wellprepared for any cases that interviewers ask. In fact, business cases are the key part of the interview. Below are sample questions to start your preparation for consulting interviews. Pdf harvard business school management consulting club case. Thats why consulting firms put so much weight on the case question because it allows them to judge how logically and persuasively a potential consultant i. Hi, im interviewing with deloitte for a tech strategy role. South africa is an emerging market country in africa. Use a relevant framework to structure and prioritize ask clarification questions think out loud give examples. Ive had several requests to provide an example of a case involving the capacity change framework as described in my case interview frameworks article. Before we look at individual cases, it is important to begin by looking at analysis frameworks that commonly can be used to address case study questions. Sep 07, 2014 one of the core principles in management consulting problem solving and in case interview is to break down problems into smaller pieces. The issue tree framework can be used to break down the problems of a case to its components and significantly increase your speed during case interviews.
What are the most appropriate frameworks for pricing cases. Other case interview prep resources often will give you dozens of frameworks to use in your preparation. However, profitability cases are a bit of an exception. All of our exercises and tests are in the form of pdf ebooks.
Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading consulting frameworks. My fiancee is currently prepping for interviews, and im a graphic designer so i created it to help him study. Case interview frameworks templates for drawing great issue. You can find case examples in this booklet and on our web site. Bad experience with victor cheng case interview material.
It is basically a cheat cheat of the information found in the book case in point. Hey r consulting, if anyone has case interviews coming up, you might find this infographic useful. Case frameworks management consulting case interviews. Approaching a case in order to get into consulting, the case study is the most important element of the interview. Case interview frameworks how to structure your case.
Case interview topics several selfproclaimed consulting gurus have made fortunes out of creating notionally comprehensive lists of a dozen or so case types and then selling a readymade recipes for each apparently able to solve all instance of each case type. You need to be prepared for various types of business cases, and you should know the important frameworks, when to use them and how. It has visual process charts to illustrate the frameworks clearly. Standard frameworks you have learned at school or in preparing for your interview may appear relevant, but they may not hold up after closer consideration.
Profitability framework in general, we do not recommend using predefined frameworks in your case interviews because most interviewers will penalise you for doing this. Mece is a systematic problemsolving framework that helps to solve complex problems. Approach the case in five steps propose implementation you might skip this tie back to start list recommendations 30sec summary. During a case interview, an interviewer presents a situation or case and then asks the applicant to explore the. Indeed, its one of the core concepts in case interviews that every candidate should understand really well. Become familiar with business frameworks, which can help you structure your thought process. A surefire case interview method mastering the case interview. A formar mckinsey interviewer reveals how to get multiple job offers in consulting how to get into the top consulting firms. The frameworks are meant to be very practical, actionoriented, metricsdriven and clear as you walk through the the case process in your interview, giving you market sizing case questions.
In essence, a case interview is a roleplaying exercise. As mentioned, dont focus too much on the structures proposed in the books, as they are not good enough nowadays. In order to make suggestions, once again, you need to understand the clients business and the industry. In summary, we find that learning existing frameworks is useful to discover a range of ways to think about a company. Given that there is limited information available, the interviewer will ask you probing questions about your comments, hypotheses, or conclusions to test your. The case interview is employed primarily by consulting firms and hospitals hiring administrative fellows and other managementtype roles. How to prepare for a case interview mcgill university. We have shown you a list of ten important frameworks.
Case interviews with revenue growth cases can be tackled by influencing two major parameters that determine growth figures. We advise you to prepare by familiarizing yourself with case frameworks and the kind of analysis you will be asked to do in the interview. How to prepare for a case interview what is a case interview. Case interview marathon workshop victor chengs case interview core frameworks v1. It can help you eliminate confusion and focus on key data that points the way toward success. They will help you in by far most of the cases you will encounter.
Case interview frameworks in hd video masterthecase. Aug 04, 2014 case interview frameworks is one of the most searched phrases in consulting prep. You will learn the most important frameworks and how to use them. Framework for a mckinsey, bain, bcg acquisition case. Once the process really clicked for me, i have been able to crack every practice and actual interview case using his 2 frameworks. Pdf harvard business school management consulting club. How to build a case interview framework consulting. But in our experience, when it comes to consulting case prep, it is best to forget these predefined frameworks and focus instead on learning a stepbystep method to craft bespoke frameworks for each case if youve got any thoughts on frameworks or on this article, leave. If you want a detailed explanation of the frameworks, download our guide to consulting case interview frameworks. In our article on case study interview prep, we talked about what consulting interviewers look for in answers to case study interview questions. The case interview guide rotman school of management.
The idea behind this wellknown framework is to mathematically break down profit until you have gathered enough information to conclude, or to switch to a more qualitative framework. To overcome uncertainty, many recruits begin their analysis by using offtheshelf frameworks, like the 3 cs, the 4 ps, porters 5 forces, and so on. Clearview healthcare partners first round full time job interview. You will find cases on a variety of topics such as market sizing, pricing, profitability and growth strategy. Start to read mba consulting handbook you can find several for free online insead is a good one to start. Practice using our free case library myconsultingcoach. Case interview framework management consulting prep. All management consulting firms use business cases in the interview process. As structuring case interviews is such a big pain point for basically all candidates applying at major consulting firms, i put together a case interview frameworks book to cover all needtoknow frameworks for consulting case interviews, which is now already available in the 2nd edition after incorporating the feedback of many coaching. Practice using our free case library we developed our case library to give you the chance to practice on cases used in real case interviews. Health advances first round full time job interview. My approach is different in that i have found it easier to master just 34 key frameworks that apply to the vast majority of cases.
In order to nail a case interview, you need to know both how to prepare and how to perform. However, most of them follow a similar structure that has three main parts. Ive gone through victor chengs case interview videos but found the frameworks mentioned were more focused on management consulting. Many people wonder what the differences are between a behavioral interview and a case interview. Are frameworks by victor cheng or case in point good. The consulting case interview can be a daunting task, especially when it involves an unfamiliar industry or business problem. The case interview guide contents page part i introduction 2 about this guide 2 about the author 2 the content of the consulting interview 3 what are the firms looking for. The guide builds on our teams extensive, indepth experience within management consulting projects and recruiting. Simply put, case interview frameworks are like standard templates, used to structure and break down common business problems. Most aspiring consultants are coveting an offer from the likes of mckinsey, bain, bcg, and deloitte. One of the core principles in management consulting problem solving and in case interview is to break down problems into smaller pieces. Growth strategies can focus on a product, a division, or on the company as a whole. No case ever fits perfectly into a type, like marketing or strategy.