Mastering the Case InterviewMASTERING THE CASE INTERVIEW Table 5.1 Common Open-Haded Interview Questions ‘What sre your greaex strengtha? Wesknoner? Why should tite you? Tell me about youre. Who ate you? How do you like your school? ‘What i your favorite book and why? ‘What are your three greatest achievements? ‘What are your three greatest failures? ‘What three things must you doin your lie? ‘What are your dress? ‘Where do you sce yourself in five years? Ten year? - What kind of people do you like? Dstike? ‘What would you like me to know thi is not already in your resume? How do you spend your fre time? Why are you here? How would you describe your ideal job? Which other companies are you interviewing with? Why? ‘What do you know sbout our firm? ‘How will sn experience with us belp your career? | Why did you choose to go to school A? Why not schoo! B? + | Why did you leeve your last job? ‘Which courses have you liked the moat? The least? | \ Do you le to travel? {What do you think of the stock market's performance? i ‘over the last few year? ‘What have you done with your it Your greatest weakness?” you should think of a weakness that could also be considered a strength, such as paying meticulous attention to detail, Naturally, you can not anticipate and practice all the open. cnded questions that you may get. But with some practice, you can avdid becoming flustered, and learn to deal with the tough questions by falling back on your commercial PART Ill. THE CASE QUESTION We finally come to the case question. You have had your chance to de- velbp a rapport with the interviewer in the firs few minutes, and ex. plain why you possess the skills required to be a consultant in the 140 PaRT Ill. THE CASE QUESTION Subsequent 5 to 10 minutes. Over the next 20 to 30 ‘minutes, you will have to prove that you can think “on-the-fly” and actually behave like the consultant you promise to be, As mentioned, case questions are intentionally. abstract, usually ob- teat 2nd puzzling, and often technical. Their primary Pe test a candidate's ability to thi monly (revit, or astumptions you must make based on othes wae monly known information. Even if you have no background to help requiring intense quantitative analysis to demanding purely abstract Tha £34 questions can be grouped into 10 brosd types. THble 5.2 illutrates these types with a sample case question for each, ‘You will find a set of 100 case questions in You tell me about something that dida’t work well at the benke od how you would have improved it?” This question may actually be a