So Bain decided to give me an interview.
(Senior Monkey, 90
Points)
on 1/10/13 at 5:55pm
The interview is coming up in two weeks. I've never done any case practice before and am not sure how I should approach the situation. My goal is obviously to knock it out of the park and get an internship position. If you guys wouldn't mind, care to share your thoughts and experiences?
Also, I remember some time ago a user posted links to pdf guides about specific firms and each of their cultures/methods, done by a research firm.. Does anyone remember anything like this or maybe have a link to the thread?
Hope is not a strategy. my
Hope is not a strategy.
my .02
"A man generally has two reasons for doing anything. One that sounds good, and the real one." - J.P. Morgan
Skim case and point- I don't
Skim case and point- I don't think reading it cover to cover is necessary. Do some practice cases with friends so that you understand the general framework, how the case works as a conversation, and the general things to think about (which hold true for most cases). People blow case interview prep way out of proportion- with 2 weeks you should be fine to get prepared.
1: Look at the video case
1: Look at the video case tutorial they have on their website. That will give you an idea about the format.
2: Read "Case interview secrets". You need to apply the thinking described in this book in the interviews. I didn't find "Case in point" at all structured enough.
3: Look at the frameworks in Wharton 2010 Casebook and read through the cases and solutions in this casebook and Kellogg 2011.
4: Practice as many cases as you can over Skype. This is where you really learn. However, tell your case partners that you want "high probability" cases, such as P&L, market entry, cost cutting, growth or a mix. Don't waste time on some weird arbitrary cases that you will likely not get. And keep in mind that many interviews are interviewer-led and not interviewee-led. which most people practice.
Good luck :D
how do you have yours so
how do you have yours so early? non-target?
my target's interviews are
my target's interviews are scheduled for the first week of February, so doesn't seem particularly early
It's really about working out
It's really about working out how to tear apart a problem to figure out the drivers of the issue. So if it's a declining profitability problem (pray you get one of these) you'll need to break it into costs and revenue drivers, then guess if you think it's costs or revenue. If it's revenue, look at volume and margin etc etc until you find the thing that's driving the decline in profitability.
You really need to know a few basic frameworks (no more than 10) but to be honest they're not enough. You actually have to understand the thinking behind them to work out how to pull cases apart.
For my part, I found the business situation framework of costs, competitors, customers and product one of the most useful.
PM me if you want to ask something specific.
Fuck you kids chatting about
Fuck you kids chatting about targets and non-targets. I need some fuckin' interview advice! Thanks Black Jack, Santini, and Bismarck, I'm definitely going to be keeping these things in mind.
If anyone knows what pdfs I was referencing in my OP it would be greatly helpful. The ones talking in-depth about culture, types of deals, and other shit that you can't just get by googling. They had them for firms like McKinsey, GS, and a bunch of other ones too.