Consult Preparation

Consulting Preps: frameworks, cases and companies

Overview of Cases

1 A case is:

1.1 Description of a business situation

1.2 A problem

1.3 Based on a real situation

2 The purpose of a case is to judge problem-solving abilities, the basis of consulting.

3 What are consulting companies looking for in a candidate?

3.1 Problem solving skills

3.2 Personal impact

3.3 Leadership

3.4 Drive / Aspirations

4 What are consulting companies looking for in a case answer?

4.1 Ability to think through problems:

4.1.1 Clear, logical reasoning

4.1.2 Curious, probing mind ( candidate to engage in solving the problem

4.1.3 Ability to synthesize

4.1.4 Basic numerical agility

4.1.5 Intuitive business sense

4.1.6 Hypothesis generation ( use hypothesis to drive thinking and formulate questions

4.2 Ability to quickly build working relationships:

4.2.1 Effective communicator

4.2.2 Tolerance for ambiguity

4.3 There are two parts to a case:

4.3.1 Mechanics - how you structure the case and go through the analysis. This is akin to creating an outline before writing a paper.

4.3.2 Analysis - how you think and solve problems

4.4 Both are important.

5 A good approach:

5.1 Listen to introduction carefully

5.2 Carefully think through the problem at hand

5.3 Ask one or two clarifying questions, if necessary

5.4 Structure the problem, possibly with a logic tree - enables one to organize the data presented

5.5 Pick one branch to probe, develop hypotheses, ask for relevant facts, defend/refine hypotheses, probe further

5.6 Pick the second branch ...

5.7 Put it all together: try to answer the overall question

6 During the case, you want to communicate explicitly what you want to do with the case. Remember that you are trying to lead the interviewer...