Have you ever wondered why case interviews are no longer a preserve of a few elite management consulting firms?

All industries covet employees from elite management consulting firms, like McKinsey, for one particular reason. They are very efficient. But what do these firms get right that others don’t?

Well, for many years, recruiters have entirely disconnected job interviews from the reality of an employee’s day to day job. But their recruitments have continuously failed. It has produced the best candidates at the interview, but not those who perfectly fit for the job.

Consequently, other industries are now copying how the consultancy industry recruits.  For example, tech and finance, led by Google and Capital One, have embraced case interviews.

In this piece, we dig deeper into why case interviews have become so popular in recent years, and cover the basics. We also cover the three foundational guidelines that are the key to your success in these interviews.

What are case interviews, and how efficient are they?

Case interviews connect the recruitment process to the job position on offer. The panelists give candidates challenging business situations to analyse and sort out in a planned real-time environment.

This unique type of interview allows the company to directly evaluate your problem-solving skills and talent in a simulated job setting. How you perform here strongly correlates with your long-term job performance.

There is no right or wrong answer, as in reality, there are many equally valid answers to the problem at hand. The panel concentrates on how you answer the questions and pull insightful information from your case presentation.

On the interviewers’ priority list is your general problem-solving skills, highly valued in an ever-changing business environment. By simulating the job environment, the employer can quickly tell how you’ll fit in real in practice.

And since a job opening attracts candidates from different backgrounds, the recruiting firm can get useful insights from the interview to compare top candidates and accurately decide the perfect fit for the company.

3 Fundamental Guiding Principles of Case Interview Preparation

Most candidates underestimate the level of preparation one needs and just how long it takes to prepare adequately for a case interview.

A case interview is such an involved process and needs serious and detailed preparation. The trick is to start as early as when you get down to write your resume and cover letter for that position, and if possible, months ahead.

We can’t fully cover everything on the preparation down to the minute detail here. For that, we would need four more such articles.

However, we can set you on the right path with these three guiding preparation principles;

1. Master the Basics

Get the grip of the basics in your profession.

For example, if it is a management position, revise the fundamentals of accounting, finance, and economics.

A sharp mind can rapidly pick out the essential details to break down the case studies into rational, simple units that are easy to explain.

So, get your mental math up to speed. A trained mind can quickly and accurately interpret all the case study exhibits like data and graphs.

While case studies are complicated and equally intimidating, you want to break the problem into a series of small, relatable tasks, which your panel can follow without too many questions.

2. Learn How to Structure the Cases

While case studies are sophisticated and equally intimidating, you want to break the problem into a series of small, relatable tasks that your panel can follow without too many questions.

The best way to answer the case studies is to build strong stories that make you stand out among other candidates. For questions that invite you to tell a story, make sure you keep it relatively simple but memorable.

There’s a simple way to structure your stories:

●     Situation – explain the brief context of the story.

●     Issue – Identify the problem and task you and your team had to handle.

●     Solution – Elaborate on how you tackled the issue.

●     The result – Did you succeed or fail? Then quantify the impact this result had on solving the company.

●     Lessons – Always conclude the lessons you learnt from the situation and what you would do differently in the future.

3. Practice to Perfection

You need to do more than just knowing principles; you have to put them in practice. The more you practice, the more you get better in cracking case interviews. Plus, tackling as many situations as possible minimizes the chances of being caught off guard.

While practicing, you can do it yourself and, in some cases, involve a partner or seek professional support to simulate the real interview accurately.

NB: Help is Available

Whilst you don’t strictly need it to succeed, you should be aware that professional help is available for case interview preparation and that many candidates avail of such help in practice.

In such stiff competition for high-paying jobs, the calculation is that even a moderate increase in the chances of accessing a sizable consulting salary (as well as associated career opportunities) makes the investment worthwhile.

This is much the same calculation as you make in paying tuition fees to attend university in the hope of getting higher-paid jobs and greater opportunities later.

The resources available range from books and PDF guides right through to professional coaching with ex-consultants. For more information, you can start with: myconsultingcoach.com/case-interview-coaching.

In Brief

While not all companies practice case interviews, more and more firms integrate it in their recruiting processes.

Preparation is the key. Learn the three guidelines, but don’t forget that your success in case interviews all round down to communication. Your answer is only as good as you put it across.

Getting a professional to help you in your training enhances your chances of getting an offer from industry leaders like McKinsey, BCG, or Bain. After reviewing all these three fundamental guidelines, we conclude that practice is your best way to prepare.