Are you preparing for an interview for a job in Management Consulting? Perhaps you will be applying for a general Management-track position at a company that uses Case Studies as part of its interview process? In either case, this training manual is for you.
Portfolio Pint has teamed up with industry experts in Management Consulting to bring you an in-depth Consulting Interview Training program. This is ideal for anyone who is interested in working in Management Consulting and needs to learn the ropes of navigating the recruiting process from start to finish. If you’re just starting to look for a job in Management Consulting, then the Consulting Interview Training guide is the best place for you to start. (Be sure to come back to this training guide when you are done!)
This guide, the Consulting Case Study Training guide, is broken out as a separate guide from the rest of Consulting Interview Training for a good reason—nowadays, Consulting-type Case Studies are appearing in interviews for many different industries. They are particularly gaining traction for positions in large corporations that involve Strategy, Business Development, and/or rigorous quantitative analysis. Thus if you are applying for a position like one of these, then this guide is for you as well.
We will teach you the skills and techniques you need to know in order to excel at the Case Study portion of these interviews, and we hope to help you secure your job offer.
Why Do I Need to Read This?
Portfolio Pint is sharing this guide with you to help you prepare for a very difficult and unique questioning format that all Management Consulting firms utilize—as well as some corporate recruiters, as we have discussed above. These Case Studies are truly unlike anything else you might have run across in your job search processes—they are difficult, and they require training and practice to perform well. In addition, while there is plenty of information online pertaining to Consulting Case Studies, most of it is devoted to sample cases without synthesis and real teaching. In other words, it’s easy to find sample cases, but it’s much more difficult to find proper training for how to truly improve at the Case Studies in preparation for your interview.
In this guide, we will give you six sample Full Business Cases, as well as examples of Guesstimate Cases and Brainteasers—all of which could occur in a Management Consulting interview. But just as importantly, we will also teach you the required theory behind Consulting Case Study questions, as well as step-by-step thought processes, observations, and analysis for each question. The combination of introductory theory and a step-by-step walkthrough of the cases is designed to help you learn how to think through Case Studies in an efficient, accurate way. We also provide guidance about how to interact with the interviewer as you respond to the cases.
Keep in mind throughout this training guide that, for Management Consulting, recruiting is very competitive—you will be up against tens if not hundreds of other applicants who are talented and well-qualified. Thus among this group, your performance in Case Study questions is going to be a major determinant of who gets an offer and who doesn’t. In fact, most who are familiar with the industry would argue that Case Studies are the most critical component of your interview process in Management Consulting.
Although this Portfolio Pint training guide will not give you all the answers and will not guarantee your success, Portfolio Pint believes that it will help you focus on the key areas you need to be aware of in approaching Case study questions, and will provide you with a strong foundation to go into your Case Study interview ready and confident. Good luck!
Consulting Case Study Interview: Overview→