Case Interview WorkshopOctober 12th, 1999

Today’s Agenda

What is a Case Interview?

Purpose Approach Preparation Advice Logistics and Ground

Rules for This Afternoon Questions & Answers

Focus on explicit logic and structure - it needs to be clear what you are doing…

Strive for the creative use of new and existing frameworks - whatever is appropriate!!!

Practice a lot and practice a wide variety of cases...

Before We Begin - 3 Things to Remember

What is a Case Interview?

It is a way to see HOW you think and analyze problems, situations, and/or questions

Oftentimes, it is prefaced with a brief fit interview. If not, fit is concurrent with the case...

Typical rolesInterviewers provide background,

answer questions, and guide the discussion (if they’re nice)

Interviewees listen carefully, think through approach before starting down one track, and then verbalize the approach, analysis, etc...

Simply put, a question and answer session on a business situation.

What is a Case Interview?

Highly interactive… They typically look like this:

2-5 minutes: Quick Fit - “chit-chat”

5 minutes: Case Data Presented, Clarification Questions

3-5 minutes: Framework Development & Communication

15-25 minutes: Analysis, Question and Answer

2-5 minutes: Summary, Recommendations, Next Steps, etc.

Bye-bye

Total Time = approx.. 30-45 minutes per interview...

Purpose of the Case Interview

Can the candidate think on his/her feet?

How well does the candidate organize the information?

Does the candidate develop and utilize an appropriate framework for the business situation?

Is the candidate comfortable discussing strategy, operations, organization, people, and technology?

Is the candidate a good problem solver?

Is the candidate insightful?

Is the candidate creative?

Test beyond your knowledge of canned frameworks, work/life experience, resume, and the latest b-school rankings...

Will the candidate establish trust and build confidence with colleagues and clients?

Is the candidate open minded and flexible?

Does the candidate form reasonable hypotheses and answer questions thoroughly?

Does the candidate unafraid to tackle tough questions?

Is the candidate a good listener?

Is the candidate relaxed and confident?

Does the candidate actively engage?

Purpose of the Case Interview

Gauge candidate’s performance on a client engagement.

Approach to the Case Interview

Listen to the problem Clarify the problem

Ask questions to identify and clarify the issues Restate the problem in your own words

Develop a hypothesis - this may or may not be vocalized... Establish suitable analytical framework to analyze

problem Collect information and assess the problem Structure, refine and build hypothesis; synthesize

findings Make recommendations; plan next steps

All of your effort should focus on logical and structured progress.

Approach to the Case Interview

• The dreaded case…. Just break it down

Listen to the

Problem

Clarify the

Problem

Develop Hypothesis

Establish Framework

Gather Data

Synthesize Findings

Make Recs/ Next Steps

• Backtrack if needed

• Stay organized and calm

• Provide a clear path till the end

Approach to the Case Interview

Frameworks… What’s up with Frameworks?

Avoid using a canned framework out of your bag of business school tricks (unless it’s really obvious there’s only one

framework that is relevant) Be creative in combining elements of canned frameworks and, most importantly, your own thought processes Frameworks will help make sure you’ve covered most of your bases and are great backups if you draw a blank

Use our Strategy Analysis Tools to make sense of all the

frameworks….

Preparation Advice

Practice, Practice, Practice! Variety, Variety, Variety!

Practice a lot, with a variety of people, and a variety of types of cases don’t just focus on high level strategy cases, PwC consultants do much more than strategy

Work on cases that would originate from a variety of sources, such as departments or divisional areas within a company (I.e. marketing, hi-tech products ) levels within the organization (I.e. The Board, middle management) consultant project team, project managers, etc.

Leverage your own experiences to create cases that make sense to you, where you know the content really well

past work experience (types of cases might include firm strategy or product development) extracurricular activities (building a team, managing a project) school (leading organizations, change management) life in general (conflict resolution)

When practicing, ALWAYS state assumptions along the way. WHY did you say/do/recommend what you did?

Memory Test & Gift Giveaway

What were the 3 Things to Remember?

Logistics and Ground Rules

30 minute interviews (including a quick fit & a case) MCA has the schedule of who is in what room at what time All interviews in the CMC Timeframe: 25 minute interview + 5 minute evaluation

Logistics

Ground Rules

Be present and on time, just like the real thing! Don’t stress - we’ll throw our notes away when we’re done Have fun!

Questions & Answers

Questions???