Comments on: Reflections from the TeachStreet MBA Intern

By: neal777

neal777 — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 07:25:29 +0000

Hi,
I thought some interviewing tips might help your readers ace their management consulting interviews.
Thanks
Neal
5 Tips to Nailing the Management Consulting Interview
Most MBA students at some point or another entertain the idea of being a management consultant. The process is particularly difficult during harder economic times, here are a few tips to get you over the line during the recruitment season:
1. Look the part: Don’t show up to the interview in the suit you wore to your cousin’s Florida summer wedding, white suits with patent leather shoes hardly speaks to the buttoned down world of consulting. Try keeping it to darker tones, blue or grey is perfect and pinstripes can work. Borrow a briefcase or attaché from a friend, or invest in one for the long term (this is unlikely to be your last interview), there’s nothing like a nice set of accessories to add polish to your look.
2. Smile: most interviewees forget to smile at their interviewer, worse, some never look up from their sheet of paper. You want to convey the image of a positive person, someone that is engaging and easy to work with; many students don’t exhibit any personality during the interview and come across as dull or dry. Imagine how the interviewer feels when a ray of sunshine walks into his or her interview suite – be that person!
3. Be hypothesis driven: think about the problem at hand and come up with some reasonable inferences based on the situation being presented. Are mom and pop stores doomed because of big box retail? Is there seasonality in the ice cream or snowboard industry? You know the answer without knowing anything else about the business, integrate that knowledge into your line of questioning. This is far more effective that laying out an inflexible framework that is force fit to every problem.
4. Create a dialogue: involve the interviewer in the problem solving process, give him or her your hypothesis and allow the creativity to flow. This is so much better than the question and answer session that often emerges during case interviews. The same can be said of the fit interview, perhaps even more so than the case interview: try to make this a dialogue on shared interests, after all, you enjoy the problem solving and analytical challenges of the consulting field and so do they. You must have some natural points of intersection, once you spot one of these points keep pursuing that thread of conversation.
5. Enjoy yourself: interviewees typically are so wound up that they appear to an interviewer like an ironing board. Try to enjoy the interviewing process, you’ve prepared enough and enjoy cracking cases so it’s time to have a little fun. Your interviewer will see this enthusiasm and throw you a lifeline if you get stuck. Remember, it’s a boring day for them and you have the opportunity to be that ray of sunshine in the interview room. Have fun!
Neal Dodd is a former McKinsey consultant and has interviewed and prepared well over 100 potential candidates over the years.

By: neal777

neal777 — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 04:25:29 +0000

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:27:49 +0000

We miss you already, Julie — when are you bringing cookies by the office? And, remember, that someone likes donuts…