Vault Guide to the Case Interview

Vault Guide to the Case Interview is made possible through the generous support of the following sponsors: The media’s watching Vault! Here’s a sampling of our coverage. “Unflinching, fly-on-the-wall reports... No one gets past company propaganda to the nitty-gritty inside dope better than these guys.” — Knight-Ridder newspapers “Best way to scope out potential employers...Vault.com has sharp insight into corporate culture and hiring practices.” — Yahoo! Internet Life “Vault.com has become a de facto Internet outsourcer of the corporate grapevine.” — Fortune “For those hoping to climb the ladder of success, [Vault.com’s] insights are priceless.” — Money.com “Another killer app for the Internet.” — New York Times “If only the company profiles on the top sites would list the ‘real’ information... Sites such as Vault.com do this, featuring insights and commentary from employees and industry analysts.” — The Washington Post “A rich repository of information about the world of work.” — Houston Chronicle CASEVAULT GUIDE TO THE CASE INTERVINTERVIEW MARK ASHER, ERIC CHUNG GUIDEAND THE STAFF OF VAULT © 2005 Vault Inc. Copyright © 2005 by Vault Inc. All rights reserved. All information in this book is subject to change without notice. Vault makes no claims as to the accuracy and reliability of the information contained within and disclaims all warranties. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, for any purpose, without the express written permission of Vault Inc. Vault, the Vault logo, and “the most trusted name in career informationTM” are trademarks of Vault Inc. For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, contact Vault Inc., 150 W. 22nd St., 5th Floor, New York, NY 10011, (212) 366-4212. Library of Congress CIP Data is available. ISBN 1-58131-305-5 Printed in the United States of America ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Vault’s acknowledgments: We are extremely grateful to Vault’s entire staff for all their help in the editorial, production and marketing processes. Vault also would like to acknowledge the support of our investors, clients, employees, family, and friends. Thank you! Table of Contents INTRODUCTION 1 Why the Case . .1 Types of Case Interviews . .2 Skills Assessed in the Case Interview . .3 What Kind of Case Will I get? . .6 CASE STRATEGIES 7 Your Objective . .9 Don’t Fret . .9 Top 10 tips for answering business case questions successfully . .10 Common Problems and Troubleshooting . .14 Thinking About the Case . .15 The Case Checklist . .16 Specific Types of Business Cases . .17 CASE FRAMEWORKS 23 Basic Concepts and Frameworks . .26 Basic Overview of Financial Statements . .27 Advanced Concepts and Frameworks . .34 Net present value . .34 Visit the Vault Consulting Career Channel at www.vault.com/consulting — with C A R E E R insider firm profiles, message boards, the Vault Finance Job Board and more. L I B R A R Y ix Vault Guide to the Case Interview Table of Contents The Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) . .35 Porter’s Five Forces . .38 PIE: The next generation of Porter’s Five Forces . .40 SWOT Analysis . .42 The Seven S Framework . .43 Product life cycle curve . .44 Strategy tool/framework chart . .45 The Four Ps . .46 The Four Cs . .47 The Five Cs . .47 Value chain analysis . .49 Core competencies . .50 Benchmarking and “best practices” . .50 The 2x2 matrix . .51 The BCG matrix . .52 M&A cases: Value drivers framework . .53 M&A cases: Target and market assessment . .54 M&A cases: Data gathering and analysis . .56 BEING THERE 59 What It’s Like Being in a Case Interview . .61 The Case . .62 C A R E E R x L I B R A R Y © 2005 Vault Inc. Vault Guide to the Case Interview Table of Contents REAL LIFE INTERVIEWS 67 Boston Consulting Group . .69 McKinsey & Company . .70 Monitor Group . .71 A.T. Kearney . .71 L.E.K. Consulting . .72 BUSINESS CASES 73 Case Formats . .75 Practice Questions . .76 Thinking Strategically . .89 Using the Four Ps . .92 Sailing the Five Cs . .94 A Written Case . .100 The Financial Case Interview . .102 Additional Practice Questions . .105 And Try These for More Practice . .109 INTERACTIVE CASES 111 A Fit Interview in Disguise . .113 How to Use the Interactive Cases . .113 How to Run an Interactive Case Exercise . .114 Tips for the Case . .116 Visit the Vault Consulting Career Channel at www.vault.com/consulting — with C A R E E R insider firm profiles, message boards, the Vault Finance Job Board and more. L I B R A R Y xi Vault Guide to the Case Interview Table of Contents Sample Interactive Cases . .117 PRESENTATION CASES 137 General Tips and Tricks for All Presentation Cases . .141 Presentation Case Type 1 – Research Case . .142 Research Case Example: Pure Meats . .144 Presentation Case Type 2 – Complete the Presentation . .164 Complete the Presentation Example: Wells Incorporated . .164 Presentation Case Type 3 – Teach Me Something . .173 Difficult Situation Cases . .175 Consulting Interviews by Phone . .190 GUESSTIMATES 193 “Guesstimate” Case Interviews . .195 Acing Guesstimates . .196 Practice Guesstimate Questions . .199 More Guesstimates... .204 And Try These for More Practice . .207 BRAINTEASERS 209 Brainteasers . .211 Remember... .211 Practice Brainteasers... .212 C A R E E R xii L I B R A R Y © 2005 Vault Inc. Introduction Why the Case? Your impressive resume may get you an interview with a consulting firm, but it won’t get you the job. Consultants know that a resume, at its very best, is only a two-dimensional representation of a multi-faceted, dynamic person. And because consulting firms depend on employing those multi-faceted, dynamic people, the firms rely heavily on the case interview to screen candidates. The interview process is especially pertinent in the consulting industry, since consulting professionals spend the lion’s share of their business day interacting with clients and colleagues and must themselves constantly interview client employees and executives. Consultants must have a select set of personality and leadership traits in order to be successful. The consultant’s work environment is extremely turbulent. There are nonstop co-worker changes, hostile client environments, countless political machinations, and near-perpetual travel. These factors mandate that an individual be cool under pressure, be influential without being condescending, be highly analytical, have the ability to understand the smallest aspects of a problem (while simultaneously seeing the big picture), and have the ability to maintain a balance between the personal and professional. Consultants are often staffed in small groups in far-flung areas. As a result, the individual must be able to function, and function well, without many of the traditional workplace standards: a permanent working space, the ability to return home each night, easily accessed services such as administrative assistance, faxing, and photocopying, and the camaraderie that develops among co-workers assigned to the same business unit. All these factors necessitate a unique interview structure focused on assessing a candidate’s ability to manage these particular circumstances with professionalism.

Load more