Reason #1 is etc." You need to do the same in your cases. Even if they are halfway through the project, consultants avoid telling their clients: "We don't know." What they say instead is: "Based on what we have seen so far, our current hypothesis is that the profit decline you are experiencing is mainly driven by the Chinese market. One of the things clients hate is to pay a large sum of money and not get a clear answer or opinion about the problem they are trying to solve. Trust us, it's really worth it!Ĭonsultants get paid for making recommendations. We really encourage you to take the time to do this. You should take the time to refresh your memory and be 100% comfortable doing basic additions, subtractions, divisions, multiplications and growth rate calculations mentally. But in our experience successful candidates take some time to brush up when they start practicing. Having rusty maths at the beginning of your preparation is normal. Virtually all case interviews involve doing maths computations without a calculator.
This is one of the things we teach in our McKinsey and BCG & Bain case interview training programmes. This might sound difficult but it actually isn't if you take the right approach. Each case is unique, and you should therefore create a custom framework for every case you do. As we explain in our case frameworks guide, interviewers will immediately notice if you do this and you will get penalised. One trap many candidates fall into is to reuse pre-existing frameworks in their interviews. And you should therefore follow a similar approach in your cases. They do this because it's impossible to solve a business problem you don't understand in details. They sit down with them, listen carefully to the problem they have, and ask clarification questions before trying to solve the problem. This is what partners at McKinsey and other firms do with clients. Your job in that part of the interview is to make sure that you understand the situation correctly by asking the right clarification questions (e.g.: in which countries have profits declined? And for which products?). McKinsey live case interview extract (by IGotAnOffer) - See belowĪt the beginning of the case, your interviewer will layout the situation of the company you are trying to help (e.g.: Coca-Cola's profits have decreased by 10% over the past 12 months).McKinsey case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer).National Education case interview (McKinsey website).GlobaPharm case interview (McKinsey website).Electro-light case interview (McKinsey website).Diconsa case interview (McKinsey website).Here are some for McKinsey, BCG and Bain to get you started. We have created a comprehensive list of case interview examples in the past. What are the different elements you would consider to make a recommendation?" "Your client is the UK Department of Foreign Affairs who is seeking to restructure its organisation.
How would you go about advising the CEO what new product to launch?"