Praise for !e Consulting Interview Bible: I bought !e Consulting Interview Bible in a frantic, last-minute attempt to prepare for interviews. Am I glad I bought it!! I almost laughed out loud—so many !t questions were pulled straight from your course. "e way you broke down each case answer and the right components for the answer were spot-on. "anks again. I will be telling everyone that I know. ~ David K., University student who got 2 consulting o#ers You convinced me to buy !e Consulting Interview Bible. I went through all the questions and focused on the sizing questions because I’m never con!dent in my assumptions. "anks again—with your methods and guidance, I nailed the interview. ~ Shirley S., MBA who broke into BCG Dubai "ank you for creating !e Consulting Interview Bible—the best $$ I’ve ever spent. Although the questions weren’t exactly the same, my prepared hero stories and answers to the questions meant I was able to handle every behavioral question that came up during the entire interview process. ~ Ronjon, Experienced Hire who received an o#er from Bain Australia THE CONSULTING INTERVIEW BIBLE The Ultimate Prep Guide For Consulting Interviews 3rd Edition 2014 www.managementconsulted.com Copyright 2014 Management Consulted. All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher, except in case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. ISBN: 978-0-9903653-0-3 "ird Edition Published by Jungle Guides, Inc. (650) 479-5850 [email protected] www.managementconsulted.com Book and cover design by Robin Wrighton Other Publications by Management Consulted: Consulting Roadmap !e Consultant’s Networking Bible !e Consulting Resume & Cover Letter Bible 3-Month Mastery For information or bulk purchase of this or other books by Management Consulted, contact: [email protected] !is book was made possible by the consultants who convinced us to train hard for consulting interviews, our mentors at Bain and McKinsey, and the fantastic team at Management Consulted. May the lessons you taught us be shared with thousands of others around the world! ~ Jenny Rae Le Roux & Kevin Gao Table of Contents Preface . 10 Why "e Consulting Interview Bible? . 11 What’s New in the 3rd Edition . 14 How To Get "e Most Out Of "is Guide . 15 Interview Process And Expectations . 16 General Interview Tips . 18 Interview Styles . 21 Interview Practice Plan . 23 PST . 25 8 Keys for PST Success . 27 Ultimate PST Prep Plan . 28 Fit And Experiential Interview Questions . 30 Introduction . 30 Resume . 32 Education and School . 37 MBA-Speci!c Education and School . 44 Post-Consulting and Your Future . 47 Personality and Curve-Ball . 50 Strengths and Weaknesses . 55 Teamwork, Leadership, and People Management . 58 Industry/Firm Interest and Knowledge . 68 International O$ces and Overseas Applicants . 77 Experienced Hires and Career Changers . 80 6 General Business and Current Events . 86 Recruiting and Process-Related . 93 Ethics and Integrity . 96 Hero/Challenge Stories . 98 Ultimate Fit Prep Plan . 100 Case Interview Guidelines . 103 Core Principles . 103 Expert Tactics During Case Studies . 104 Case Anatomy and Style . 106 Secrets of the Case Scoring System Revealed . 112 4 Practical Frameworks to Get You Started . 126 Case Cheat Sheet . 145 10 Case Practice Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make . 149 Building Castles in the Sky: Keys to Case Structure . 151 Making Structure Natural . 158 10 Bad Habits to Avoid . 159 Case Studies And Exhibits . 161 What to Expect . 161 Brain Teasers . 164 Case 1. How many personal computers are used in the U.S. today? . 169 Case 2. How many rounds of golf are played annually in the U.S.? . 172 Case 3. How many basketballs would !t into the Empire State Building? . 175 7 Case 4. How many liters of house paint are sold in the UK annually? . 178 Case 5. How much do Koreans spend on daily newspapers in a given year? . 181 Case 6. How much would Starbucks make by adding breakfast? . 183 Case 7. How many %ights take o# from Charles de Gaulle each year? . 186 Case 8. What is the value of the smartphone market in the U.S.? . 188 Case 9. Rojam Media Case Study . 191 Case 10. Pegasus International Case Study . 204 Case 11. Propaganda Cookies . 216 Case 12. U.S. Convenience . 223 Case 13. Kiwi Prepaid Phone Service . 231 Case 14. Canadian Mobile Banking . 246 Case 15. Laptop Insurance . 258 Case 16. Heathrow Airport Automated Parking . 275 Additional Self-Guided Mini Cases . 290 Ultimate Case Prep Plan . 291 Additional Insights . 293 10 Great Follow-Up Questions for Interviews . 293 Interview Trends . 294 Group Cases . 295 Case Presentations . 295 Data Interpretation . 296 Recommended Reading List . 296 MC Resources . 298 8 Note To The Reader . 299 From Jenny Rae, MC Managing Director Anything Is Possible: Going From Zero To 60 . 299 Conclusion . 330 Appendix A . 332 Appendix B . 337 9 Preface If you’ve searched for good consulting resources on the Internet, you probably didn’t have much success. "e ones that do exist (like Vault or Wetfeet) are simply unhelpful because: 1. "ey provide generic recruiting advice, instead of a focus on the consulting industry. 2. Case study guides are too theoretical. As interesting as Porter’s Five Forces is, the threat of substitutes won’t be very helpful if you don’t understand when and how to apply the concept. 3. Much of the information is out-of-date. Company pro!les feature outdated quotes, salary levels are from several years ago, etc. 4. No example answers are provided, which makes it tough to know whether you’ve structured an appropriate response. 5. "e information is composed by industry outsiders who quote insider sources or conduct surveys to gather the information. "is guide addresses all of those problems. In here, you’ll !nd: 1. More than 60 in-depth !t and personality questions that came directly from real interviews. Some are as fresh as this year’s fulltime recruiting cycle. Mastering these 60 will give you the content, preparation, and %exibility to answer any !t question. 2. 8 mini cases (or sizing questions) with multiple solutions, including secrets on how you can conquer any sizing question regardless of complexity or ambiguity. 3. 8 extensive case studies, created from scratch to test you on the 5 case study principles that all top candidates instinctively master. Once you’ve absorbed the lessons from this book, you’ll know how to answer any question in any interview. "at’s the MC guarantee. 10 Preface WHY THE CONSULTING INTERVIEW BIBLE? If you’ve spent an hour thinking about consulting cases and aren’t sweating yet, you’re not normal. Sure, you can say that “doing cases seems fun,” and.