Can the collective braintrust PLEASE give me some tips/advice/how to prepare for a case interview I have next week? It’s over the phone too, which I’m not thrilled about.
Excuse my ignorance but what is a case interview and how does it differ from an interview?
Essentially, they’re problem solving questions. For example, you asked to propose a recommendation to a CEO for the leading retailer of home goods in Canada, Company XYZ. He has asked for your assistance because the largest home goods retailer in the USA, Company ABC, has just purchased another home goods retailer in Canada.
It becomes a two way discussion between you and the analyst as they evaluate your logic and thought process amongst other things.
About to run into a meeting but some quick thoughts:
- Do not be afraid of brief silence on your part. Think about what it is that you want to ask before you ask questions, the theme is right answer, sure, but thought process.
- You said its over the phone, but if you have a followup in person, how you take notes and lay it out is a sign to the interviewer of how you organize things in your brain. (in person, diagrams are useful!)
- Explain your thougt process and dont be afraid to tactfully ask for feedback on your direction so that you can correct without wasting too much time.
- You didn’t really say what kind of firm this is, but make sure you know the basic frameworks down pat… whether its NPV, Porters, Value chains, or the king of all, Profit=Revenue-Costs (and breakdown from there)
- You said it already, but yes its a conversation, and often times the interviewer will leave out pieces of information, putting pressure on you to know what to ask for. I assume this is a consulting interview and often times knowing what data to look for is as important as knowing what to do with it. If its math based, first come up with your framework, break it down into its components, which drives what unknowns you will need and therefore what questions to ask.
- Quick math. You can have a calculator on the phone sure, but more impressive and necessary for in person, is quick math, and tied into #3. For example, if you know they make 12 pieces a shift for 2 shifts a day 5 days a week, you would verbalize getting from that to (and its more than ok to approximate within a certain margin), 25 per day or 125 a week → ~6000 per year. I cannot tell you how many people end up off either way by factors of 10.
- Finally, from a pacing perspective, get the problem, restate the problem in your words to show understanding, then go through your analysis process being mindful of not running over time! At the end, make sure to spend 90 seconds or so summarizing your findings/results and providing preliminary feedback as to what the next steps may be if applicable.
Hope this helps, let me know if there are other questions I would be happy to help… case interviews are not that bad and if you had time, I would tell you that practice is incredibly valuable.
It is a consulting firm. Life sciences. ClearView Healthcare Partners.
Who are you with in Philly? I think I will get around to PM’ing you, but probably not tonight.