BCG, McKinsey, Bain case interview: how do they present the case?
I was wondering, during a MBB case interview, would the interviewer just read out the case/prompt without actually showing you a hard copy of the case? Or do you have a copy to read and look at throughout the interview?
I would greatly appreciate any insights especially from those who had interviewed with MBB. Thank you so much.
What you're describing is closer to a "written case" which few firms do.
There might be random geographies / offices that do it differently, but you should just have the case prompt read out loud to you. This can be as simple as one or two sentences quickly describing your client and what problem they're facing.
Example: "Your client is a U.S. manufacturer of work boots. In recent years, EBITDA has fallen 15%. The firm is considering outsourcing production to Mexico to cut costs. Should they do it?"
You may sometimes get more details in the initial spiel.
In any case, this is why it's important you listen carefully, take accurate notes, and ask clarifying questions up front to ensure you understand the key details. You will look terrible if you forget an essential detail halfway through the case ("what country did they want to outsource to again?")
Any exhibits WILL be presented to you on paper of course. You'll get to see them in front of you and most of the time, they just hand it to you, so you're able to look back and refer to the charts, data, etc.
In a standard case interview (majority of interviews you would have) they will say the prompt out loud and you will have to write down key information (it will come across in a very non-rehearsed way so note it could have a different 'feel' to the one's you have to used to practice).
A written case study is a completely different animal where you get given a question and a bunch of material followed by time to prepare. Good luck with your applications!
Based solely on my interview experience with one of MBB,
They will present the case in a few different ways.
One of them is it could come naturally after the personal experience part, so they would just start with the case without them officially announcing it. You have to be alert to not miss it, but they won't have a problem repeating anything you might not be able to catch immediately when they start.
Other times they will tell you they are proceeding with the case and they will start reading or narrating the description. The reason they might describe it without reading it is either because they've done it already a lot of times or because it's one of the cases they have worked on.
Generally, cases come with graphs, tables and other data printed on paper which they will give you in the beginning or later in the case, and on occasion you might have to ask for those.
As a rule, case descriptions are not given to you in written form. You have to write down all of the important stuff using abbreviations and then look back as you move on with the case so that you won't miss the bigger picture.
MBB case interviews will generally follow the format you typically experience in your mock case interviews (assuming you've done one with a partner): Your interviewer will read the background, then you start driving the case along (ie: performing calculations, requesting data) until you reach your conclusion.
With that being said, firms have started to diversify their interviews; don't be surprised if you get one or two interviews slightly more unorthodox cases that zero in on a specific function (structuring, synthesizing data, math calculations, etc) during the process with the firms.
MBB wise, while others have mentioned paper cases (you get exhibits/background info at the start of the interview to look over before starting the case), I also once received a case where I had no exhibits at all, and had to structure arguments for both sides of a scenario, then adjust both arguments after being given new information.
Also, it's not like MBB are the only firms who have done this; other firms have ones where you have to solve brainteasers right before starting (I'm looking at you S&), brainstorming only cases, and cases where they give you a literal diagram and say "how do I improve this process"?
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