Whenever interview season comes along, it seems like there are always a group of people who weren't too serious about getting a consulting job until they got a "surprising" invitation to interview with a firm.
For a lot of these people, doing cases isn't really something that they are familiar with and they need to get ramped up pretty quickly. I think the following website is a great resource for those kinds of candidates. I kind of hesitate posting too much help as I am actively competing for spots with all of you, but my poor judgment and personal avidity towards being helpful says to proceed.
Anyway, I think the site: http://www.caseinterview.com/ is pretty helpful for getting a broad overview of how to approach cases. There are 6+ hours of free video tutorial and a very helpful FAQs section to help answer all of the standard questions about consulting and the interview process.
I think this site is also a great resource for those of us that have been thinking about consulting for a while. It is always good to learn as much as you can and the guy that put this site together used to be an associate at McKinsey and conducted interviews there himself....his suggestions are probably pretty great and worth checking out no matter what stage you are at in your preparation.
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Dear Considering,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the link and the resources you put on your blog. I am a PhD (biophysics) from top UK university trying to get a consulting job. I totally tanked my case interviews last year even though I managed to go to two final rounds (I attributed this more to luck than ability). It has been very encouraging to read your experience. All the best with your interviews, you deserve to get a great job.
Y
Thanks, Y! I think you make a good point in that luck always plays a role in these kinds of things...no matter how prepared you are. I'm glad to help and hope that some of the firms agree with you "that I deserve to get a great job!"
ReplyDeleteI have found this site quite useful as well.
ReplyDeleteBTW, do you know of anyone that has heard back yet?
I don't...I haven't been asking around much though. If anyone hears, be sure to let the rest of us know!
ReplyDeleteAlthough, as they say...no news is good news. I'd rather hear nothing at all than hear something bad!
ReplyDeleteYep, I agree.
ReplyDeleteI heard back from McK this morning, and they told me I passed to the third round. By the way, I find this blog very interesting and useful.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous that got to the third round:
ReplyDeleteCongratulations!
How would you say you did in the three case+exp interviews? Have they scheduled your third round yet?
Hmmm...I haven't heard either way...when and where did you interview for 2nd rounds? Did they tell you what office you were going to interview with when they called?
ReplyDeleteThe reason I ask is because I have hear that some offices move much faster than others with extending and scheduling interviews. i.e. I have heard the NY office is very fast whereas the NJ office is much slower.
ReplyDeleteI also heard back early this afternoon with good news...I will moving on to the 3rd round of interviews too!!! I'm soooo excited. I think they might be waiting to call everyone that didn't get offers until a little later :(
ReplyDeleteIf that's the case than it doesn't look good for me :( Anyone else care to comment?
ReplyDeleteHi All,
ReplyDeleteI am the one that posted a comment at 3.33 pm. So:
1) They already scheduled my third round interview for the 20th of November.
2) My 2nd round was this Wednesday in Boston. First interview was good, second one was really good, third one was decent. First behavioral interview was very good, second one was pretty bad (although when they gave me feedback they said both of them went well). In the end, I would grade my performance with B+/A-.
Anonymous:
ReplyDeleteCongrats. Do you mind sharing when/where your interview is?
Considering:
Don't despair. Your particular consultant may just be backlogged and may not get to calling (with good news hopefully) you until Monday.
I am in the same boat as you and am just trying to stay positive.
Haha...I wouldn't say despair is the right word. Either way I think my emotions will be pretty even keel...What office are you going to (3:33pm post)?
ReplyDeleteI think it makes sense to contact the candidates that will move on ASAP, as they need to get interviews scheduled...it probably makes sense to contact the folks that won't be moving on at a later date. That's probably where the 2-week contact deadline comes in...these people have a system in place when it comes to this sort of stuff.
Considering:
ReplyDeleteDespair is indeed too strong. Blame it on my ESL skills :)
What you say makes sense. However, I did interview with McKinsey a couple of years ago and when I moved on to the final round, I heard AFTER some of my friends who didn't. So there is hope :)
Good to know...again, it may depend on the office selection somewhat. Scheduling an interview with a particular office requires them to actually schedule a date and time for you to be there and meet with the required individuals. It sounds like they won't get back to you until they have a tentative date and time scheduled....which may vary depending on the individuals office's ability to coordinate something like that.
ReplyDeleteConsidering:
ReplyDeleteIf you ended up sending TY notes after your interviews, did you hear back from any one? I don't think its an indicator either way, but here I am trying to find some straws to clutch on to :):)
Heard back from 2 out of the 3 I sent notes to...both responses were pretty generic. 1) pleasure to meet you. Regards, x 2) Great to meet you. Glad you enjoyed the experience. Good luck with the rest of the interview process. Best, x
ReplyDeleteYou are one up on me. I heard back from only one and it was quite generic :)
ReplyDeleteHi All,
ReplyDeleteAgain I am the one that posted a comment at 3.33pm. I am interviewing with the Chicago office. For Considering: I think you are speculating too much, I actually got the good news AFTER a friend of mine got bad news.
Perhaps. You are right in that the best approach is not to speculate and just wait for the data to roll in. What kind of feedback did you get to help you during the next round?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous (3:33PM),
ReplyDeleteTo aid in developing my unscientific response-rejection theory, could you let us know how many responses you received to your thank you notes? :)
This is Anonymous(3.33PM). I did not receive much feedback, they just told me that I had a strong performance, but that I should be more coincise in the next round. I only received one response to my thank you notes.
ReplyDeleteThere goes your theory!
ReplyDeleteI received no responses to the thank you notes I gave my three interviewers and the recruiter, and I haven't heard about third round yet one way or the other - I interviewed a week ago today. They were very nice in person and I felt I did pretty well, so I haven't given up hope, but I expected to hear sooner either way.
ReplyDeleteSimply want to say a big thank you for sharing all the insight and advices, beyond your personal interest. This is not so common, especially in the consulting world. This blog is a real gold mine for getting first hand experience on how to apply for the big firms. Keep up the good work ;)
ReplyDeleteI have been using both LOMS (www.caseinterview.com) by Victor Cheng, and Case Interview Success (www.aceyourcase.com) by Tom ROchtus, and to some extent Vault (though it isnt as good) and I got multiple offers from leading consulting firms! A real recommendation, definitely LOMS by Victor Cheng (who is an ex-mckinsey)
ReplyDeleteVery great post. I simply stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed browsing your weblog posts. After all I’ll be subscribing on your feed and I am hoping you write again very soon!
ReplyDelete