Akash Gupta

My interview preparation was primarily in two stages. Firstly, there was a methodical process that occurs on campus, which entails being put into case groups, learning frameworks, and practicing cases with peers and seniors. This helps to build a strong base of frameworks & understanding of kind of problems asked. And then secondly, the extra efforts you put in beyond this. In my case, I did 2 things differently:

1. Feedback incorporation –It is important as to how you break down the feedback received and incorporate it in your interviews. I always asked for tangible actions from the interviewer to work on the feedback. I then discussed my feedback with the next interviewer to ensure I am not making the same mistakes again.

2. Adapting the preparation strategy to a specific firm – I altered my preparation specific to McKinsey early on (even important in case multiple shortlists). This helped me in identifying a pattern in the kind of cases usually asked at McKinsey, doing quality cases with buddies from McKinsey, focusing on BQs (highly emphasised at McKinsey), and connecting my story with firm principles & practices.

At McKinsey, I had two rounds of interviews and both rounds had a guesstimate/case along with some behavioral questions. The 1^st round had a guesstimate & some BQs.

In my 2^nd round, the interviewer wanted to right off start with a case. The case was a complicated one in an industry I had not studied about before - airlines industry (cargo business). My approach:

a. Confirming the initial objective of the case and at multiple sub-stages in the case

b. Gaining understanding of different business processes from the interviewer since it was a new industry

The case was followed by a very unique BQ – ‘What if there are no constraints in your life of whatsoever type. You have all the money and things you want, what would you be doing in life?’

Another important part of the interview is the questions you have for the interviewer. While everyone asks questions, it is important to have questions which allows the interviewers to talk about their experiences. For eg. I asked a senior partner “As a consulting aspirant, a lot of us want to become a partner. For you how does it feel to be on the other side of the mountain?” As much as these firms are looking out for people who can solve problems, they also want people who can keep the client engaged during meetings.

While it is important to learn and practice cases from different frameworks, however, there is only a certain amount of learning one can drive from doing cases around standard frameworks. Additionally, while doing cases with seniors / peers one is usually told if it is a case/guesstimate and the framework/unconventional as well. However, this does not allow the candidate to be prepared for the element of surprise on the D-day. Hence one should practice cases without being told about the framework as well.

Another thing that I would have done differently was practice more business unconventional cases. Unconventional cases helps one think beyond standard frameworks and actually structure thoughts when one doesn’t know what the starting point is.