We are repeatedly asked the same questions: 1) What should I do on a case study interview?; 2) What is your main case interview advice?; 3) How can I consistently show high performance during my McKinsey, BCG, Bain interviews? Probably there are not enough material on the topic as these questions come up way to often. So we decided to write down our experience & insights in the form of a Tips & Tricks article.
Take the lead
Interviewers are looking for candidates with strong leadership skills. They are thinking about having you in their team, therefore, they want to see that you would be able to drive initiatives. Even if it is a McKinsey style interview, you should demonstrate your potential
Listen to the interviewers
Interviewers are there to 1) test your skills and to 2) guide you through the case. Be ready to answer further interviewer requests as you go into the details of the case (e.g. brainstorm, go through guesstimations). Also, be open minded and listen carefully to what the interviewer says / asks. If you hear something like "are you certain?", you probably want to double check your calculations
Communicate with your interviewer
Always remember that interviewers are testing the way you are thinking. They are not psychics and have no crystal balls, so describe aloud what you are thinking of. Walk them through how you arrived at a certain conclusion. This tip is critical during calculations. It is better walking them through your approach first and do the calculations second, offering an opportunity to spot your mistakes and avoid wasting time
Make your interviewers comfortable
Do not be afraid of asking your interviewers for feedback during the case. Your ultimate goal is to make them happy. They will not let you know the solution, or the right approach for sure! But you can still ask after sharing your framework "Does this make sense for you?" or "Do you agree with my approach?" or "Was I followable / Was this digestible?". You might ask questions before doing calculations. In same cases it is worth asking if you can round numbers, or your interviewers want to see decimals
Ask questions
Many students are afraid of asking questions because they think they would look dumb. In fact, you look dumb if you do not understand the business challenge and you create a framework totally irrelevant to the problem at hand. It can get super nasty. Trust us, has happened to us many times. You should feel free to spend 4-5 minutes on clarifying the case. However, you should avoid asking questions for the sake of asking something. You might get the "Why do you need that?" answer, which will require further explanation, which will result in wasted time
Take notes
Just write things down. Ask for pen and paper (or get it yourself if you are interviewing online) and record every bit of important information in a structured way. Nothing is more awkward than forgetting the goal of the client, or the calculated results. Super crucial during the entire case, especially in the recommendation section
Contextualize
Do not forget to refer back to the initial business problem and put your results into context. For example, you might find an investment with over 10Bn NPV, but what if your client wanted to generate 100? Or you might get a chart on the potential market size across Europe, and you should recall that your client is not interested in the western region at all. Putting everything into context will help you in arriving at a solid recommendation relatively quickly
Use common sense
You most likely will not have meaningful work experience and business insight if you apply for an entry level position. Which is totally fine, but you should expect a business case in a field that you are not so familiar with. You should try to use any perspectives that you acquired during solving cases, listening to university lectures, or simply using similar services in real life
If you are interested in further readings, our team has an increasing number of materials on preparing for these interviews. We previously summarized the most important case study interview skills. Connected to this, we also published on 4 easy ways to improve these skills and collected 5 mistakes you must avoid to secure an offer.