Case Interview Preparation & Management Consulting | Strategy | Critical Thinking

This general podcast describes some of the common misconceptions applicants and even practicing McKinsey/BCG consultants have about their own firms. It will be useful to anyone who wants to understand some of the broad themes and misunderstandings about the profession.

This podcast examines the 5 "hard" elements McKinsey looks for in a resume. Yet, the main value of this podcast is in discussing the things McKinsey looks for but is very hard to quantify and describe; what is the best bullet to write, what is an achievement oriented bullet, should education go to the top or bottom, should GMAT scores be included etc. These subtle inclusions all contribute to your resume profile and in our experience, we have never seen a resume that did not have to be substantially re-written.

Networking calls/coffee chats are tricky. You should not be following the advice found for general recruitment. We insist our clients network with partners so most of the advice we provide is for networking with McKinsey and BCG partners. The reality is that partners are best equipped, and most influential, to assess a unique profile and make a judgement call on the spot. The danger is that if you do not impress the partner, you are very unlikely to go anywhere with further networking. The more atypical your profile, though, the greater the need to network with a partner, and the benefits far outweigh the risks.

This podcast unpacks the typical lifestyle of a consultant. It touches on some elements for associates and business analysts, though delves more on the issues and challenges addressed by partners at BCG and McKinsey. Nonetheless, it is a good idea to understand how consulting lifestyle trends change one progresses further and further up the organization. This at the very least will help you decide if you want to stay all the way to partnership. This podcast is largely based on my own experiences as a partner.

It is a ridiculous myth to assume the world is fair and females have an even playing field with males. Females, especially in emerging markets, face unique and trying obstacles during the case interview process. Firmsconsulting has always been fairly direct in telling the truth as we see it to ensure female clients have the correct expectations, understand the hurdles they will face, and are armed with the correct training to handle their interviewers. This podcast explores this topic further.

Image management is crucial. A significant part of our approach is around teaching clients to manage, control really, the image they portray. This involves a wide area like dressing, networking, emailing, speaking, hand movements, body language etc. This podcast touches on these elements of image while exploring several in depth. This is one of several detailed podcasts exploring different areas of image management.

In our ongoing series of podcasts, we again introduce new advice about case interviews or sometimes view an old topic in a different manner. The objective of these podcasts is to explain concepts like MECE, 80/20, brainstorming, hypotheses etc in different ways so that as many listeners as possible will understand these concepts. We have seen some listeners obtain McKinsey offers merely by using the podcasts to prepare and we therefore want to increase the amount of material we generate - in the hope of helping more listeners.

In this podcast I examine my rapid progression up the ranks of the elite firms all the way from analyst to principal and then director. I offer anecdotes or my own experience and especially the mistakes I made, strategies I followed and the lessons I learned along the way. What you find is that analytic skill is very important early on, but being brilliant at analyses only gets you so far - and not very far at that. To push into the partnership ranks you need to have much more skills, especially the ability to influence others, take risks and build your peoples capabilities.

You cannot and will not improve your case skills from practicing case alone. "Case skills" refers to a variety of skills including body language, communication and especially business judgement. Business judgement effectively means your ability to make reasonable guesses/inferences in business situations. That largely comes from being well read. This podcast breaks down business judgement further and offers advice to improve this skill.ies.

An earlier podcast discussed a fairly labor-intensive case where we needed to literally roll-up our sleeves to find and extract data, and a corporate finance study. This engagement is somewhere in-between. It discusses a study I led to help a major corporation completely redesign their entire R&D strategy and restructure their R&D division, a behemoth of a unit with little direction. I do recall this being one of the friendliest clients I have ever encountered. PhD's usually are this way.