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Its time to enhance your knowledge on Consulting! 
Scroll down to grasp the concept, tips and tricks, which you must know before entering into the realm of Consulting!

WHAT IS CONSULTING?

Consulting is the business of providing expert advice to a specific group of people.

WHO IS A CONSULTANT?

  • A consultant is a person who provides professional or expert advice in a particular field of science or business to either an organisation or individual. 

 

  • For the consultant, taking an independent and unbiased stance on an issue is central to his/her role. 

QUALITIES OF A GOOD CONSULTANT

leadership

ability

Since consulting requires a lot of initiative

Motivation

In general, the more motivated people are, the more time they will dedicate to consulting projects

Public speaking ability

Since consulting teams will normally have to make presentations to clients

Good interpersonal skills

Since consultants will be interacting a lot with clients and other team members

Creativity

Whilst this is a difficult attribute to measure, consultants who are creative are able to think of innovative solutions to problems clients are facing

work experience

This is not essential, but is normally desirable

academic ability

Particularly problem solving and critical thinking skills

Time management

It is pointless to have very able people if they do not have the time to properly consult

CASE INTERVIEW PREPARATIONS

Case Interviews 

Case interviews are the core of the selection process right across McKinsey, Bain, BCG, the consulting wings of the Big Four, and any other high-end consultancies. To land a job at any of these firms, you will have to ace multiple case interviews. Preparing for case interviews does not have to be complicated. The case interview is a format in which you, the interviewee, are given a business problem. Cases have gotten quite the reputation for being intense, quant-heavy, and just downright scary. But they don’t have to be—not the scary part, at least. While case interviews were once exclusively the domain of aspiring consultants, they’re now popping up everywhere from tech companies to NGOs.

The format

Case interviews take very similar formats across the various consultancies where they are used. Before landing an offer at McKinsey, Bain, BCG, or any similar firm, you will have to complete between four and six case interviews, divided into two rounds, with each interview lasting approximately 50-60 minutes.
Here is the typical case interview timeline:

  • First 15-30 minutes: Fit Interview, assessing your motivation to be a consultant in that specific firm and your leadership and teamwork traits. 

  • Next 30-40 minutes: Case Interview

  • Last 5 minutes: Fit Interview, again. This time it’s about your questions for the interviewer

  • Both the Case and Fit interviews play crucial roles in the final hiring decision. 

Tips

Tip #1: Listen carefully and ask clarification questions

At the beginning of the case, your interviewer will layout the situation of the company you are trying to help (e.g.: Coca-cola's profits have decreased by 10% over the past 12 months). Your job in that part of the interview is to make sure that you understand the situation correctly by asking the right clarification questions (e.g.: in which countries have profits declined? And for which products?). Think of the case not as a test, but as a conversation through which you need to solve a problem. With this mindset, ask your interviewer for more information when you need it, explain your assumptions as you go, and talk him or her through your approach.

GUESSTIMATES

Theoretically, guesstimates are a style of question that interviewers use to try to unnerve the interviewee and test their analytical abilities. As the name suggests, they are estimates based on a mixture of guesswork and calculation.

However, it is here that you must realise that guesstimation is never about the answer. Guesstimate interview questions assess you according to the approach that you take in solving a certain question. This approach tells your prospective employer whether you are fit for the job you are applying for.

CASE STUDIES

Case studies are one of the best teaching tools for enhancing and testing the practical knowledge of students. It asks for a detailed analysis of a market situation or any organization or a similar group,
and the students are required to use their problem-solving skills to rectify the complications in it.

For example, talking specifically about management courses, their case studies could be related to any functional area of an organization, be it finance, operations, HR, or the IT department.

Furthermore, some case studies also take into account the whole workings of an organization and ask the participants to think and decide the best course of action as the managing directors.
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