More important: Case Interview vs. Partner Interview

Recently interviewed and was struck by the interview dynamic for the first time. The structure, for simplicity's sake, was two resume interviews with the office MD's and a case interview with a VP/hiring manager. This was a final round, so I had previously done (and passed) a case to get to this point.

I never really thought about the hiring process, but which set of interviews ultimately is more important in the hiring decision?

One one hand you have the Partners who are gauging fit, culture, aptitude, and also potential- ultimately they are the ones that have to sign off on the hiring.

But on the other hand is the manager with whom you will be interacting with 75% of the time, and who is gauging quant and CR skills, as it applies to the position.

Ultimately all these interviews will get in a room and make a choice, but who's opinion actually matters most? The most immediate answer is the partner, but what if the partner loves a candidate who doesnt kill the case?

Food for thought...

3 Comments
 

Both are equally important. An MD is not gonna hire you because he likes you if the VP doesn't like you. I've even found at times that the MDs are so busy that they don't really care as much about summer interns. If it was for a FT then maybe he wud be more involved in the process.

I would make sure I get my quant and CR skills down so that the VP doesn't have any problems with my technical skills and make sure that the MD likes me as a person and sees me as a good fit

 

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