MBB final rounds
Hi everyone, I've recently made it to finals at one of the MBB firms but didn't pass - noticed partners kept rushing through the discussion and it was hard to maintain being structured and keep up the pace - was wondering if anyone has experienced anything similar? Is it a pressure test of sorts that Partners use, and if so how would one pass it - by managing their pace down or would you have a better alternative?
It really depends on the partner.
In one of my MBB final round interviews I found that the partner really didn't want to take the case that seriously - he saw it as more of a formality than a true test. (I think this is a pretty common attitude for many partners). He was more interested in my demeanor, my personality, and if I seemed like I would succeed in a consulting setting. I personally think the best strategy is just to be clear, concise, and creative. Show that you're taking the case seriously but don't bore him/her by being structured and easy to understand. Also, having unique ideas that the Partner might not have considered before is impressive.
Another partner that same round really wanted to test my intellectual ability - We started off with a case, but he would grill me on my ideas and we would go on significant tangents. In that interview, he was trying to see how smart I was - and so I had to worry less about structure and drill deeper into concepts.
I had a final round interview last week at one of the MBB firms and had a similar experience. The partner wasn't interested in fluff and just wanted to drill down into the meat of the problem as quickly as possible. Whenever the partner signaled that he wasn't interested in something, I just tried to move to his preferred topic as quickly as possible. That said, I haven't heard back yet, so I don't know if it worked. I also don't know what I would have or could have done differently.
Partner-level interviews tend to be pretty skilled at sniffing out your weaknesses.
They also tend to make up their mind about you much more quickly - say, the first 5 minutes.
Final Round Consulting interview conundrum (Originally Posted: 03/01/2010)
So I have a final round with a southern office of MBB coming up but their behavior has been curious...They keep postponing the final round interviews with a variety of excuses (first that there were SA interviews to do and now the partners must go to a leadership meeting)...I had my second round (as an APD, there are three rounds total) at the end of January and this seems like an abnormally long wait given that the earliest their rescheduled interview would be the middle of March (assuming that it is not postponed once more)...
I am not the typical post MBA applicant (given the alternative degree, etc.) and so given this is not one of the biggest MBB offices, should I assume this behavior is indicative of a lack of interest in my application? Am I being paranoid/reading too much into scheduling difficulties? Obviously given the bad job market and my wish to work there, I will try my best regardless but I have to admit this is weirding me out to the extent that I am soliciting anonymous WSO feedback...
No, probably not a lack of interest, what usually happens is that the leadership has not decided on the number of spots available - or might be making a move that might affect offers - be glad they are waiting until their ducks are in a row, it would be worse if you got to the last round, got an offer and it was rescinded because of a change in the number of spots. It is possible that the communication from leadership down to HR has not been consistent, particularly in this economy. I have seen it many times. Try to be patient, its not your fault.
This happened to me for my first Wall Street offer. It was in munis, I showed up and they announced that the spot was taken away, so they marched me over to the mortgage desk and dumped me there. It is possible that an alum saved my offer. As I matured, I noticed this disconnect between leadership and HR many times, except at Goldman - one of the partners was in HR so she got immediate attention.
thanks flyingmonkey for the info...as a followup, i did end up getting the offer from the consulting firm and of course am leaning towards accepting it...
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