Hi I'm Jenny Rae the Managing Director of Management Consulted, and we're back
today to bring you another installment of our case interview series. Today we're
talking about an often asked question – what is the difference between
interviewer led cases and interviewee led cases. And if you aren't exposed to
consulting, or haven't been for very long, you might even not know what I'm talking about.
So the first thing that I'm gonna do is just explain what I mean by the
two of those. Then I'm gonna talk about firms that use, in general, each of the
specific types. I'm going to talk about what's the same about each of them,
what's different, and also how across multiple rounds you may find, even within
the same firm, different variations of these types of methodologies.
Interviewee led cases are generally implying that you as the interviewee are developing
the structure, and then leading the interviewer through your structure.
Interviewer lead cases are generally implying that the interviewer has a
specific subset of questions that they want you to answer. So even if you start
with an initial structure, they may ask you to completely discard it as they
walk through their pre-decided questions as they're working through the case. Each of
these, like I said have some similarities, they also have some differences, and they
will work in different situations in each of the cases. So I thought it would
be helpful just to break them down for you, so you can understand where you're
more likely to see each of the types of cases as you go through the process.
The first thing that's important to understand is what's similar about these
two types of cases. And they're a couple of things that are similar, the first
thing that's similar are the openings. So case interviews that both are
interviewee led and interviewer led, are opened in exactly the same way. They give
you the background and you're responsible for doing the recap, walking
through each of the clarifying questions, making sure that you work through each
of the pieces, as you prepare to present your game plan and give them a game plan.
Regardless of the type of case and who's leading you will be leading that part at
the beginning. So make sure that you're prepared to open the case in a really
strong way. Nobody's going to tell you what they're looking for from you at
that part of the case. So you're responsible no matter what for leaving that.
The second piece is, as you're walking through the case, when you
walk through the anatomy of the case you're going to discover that all cases –
whether you lead them or whether they lead them – if they're done effectively,
have the same Anatomy. So you open up with the same five pieces all the way
through the game plan, then afterward you're going to go backward and forward
between quantitative questions and creative questions. As you go back and
forth between the two of these, whether you're leading or they're leading, you're
going to be solving the case using numbers and interpretation, using
interpretation, and backing it up with numbers. And the final piece of the case,
the case closing, comes no matter what type of leadership is happening.
So really, the anatomy that you move through in the case, from the opening to the
middle part, all the way at the end is exactly the same regardless of whether
the interviewee is leading or the interviewer is leading. Then in addition,
it's really important to understand that the traits that they're looking for are
actually completely the same in both of these situations. They're looking for
structure, they're looking for problem solving, they're looking for clear
communication. And your ability to demonstrate those will often be very
similar across multiple firms. Which is why especially in recent years we're
finding a lot of people are getting cross offers at BCG and at McKinsey.
Where in the past they were really different, and the skill sets that the
firm's were looking for actually felt different inside the interview.
Today, people are beginning to realize that they're looking for the same things.
So, make sure that you understand that there are a lot of similarities between these
two types of cases, but probably more important to understand is what's
different about them. Of course that's why you want to know about them, so you
can prepare mentally for how you should walk into a case. Well there are a couple
of key differences, and it's really helpful to understand what they are.
For interviewee led cases you are responsible for using your structure to
lead and solve the case. BCG is the most famous firm that uses this type of
planning, and what they're looking for is not only your ability to work through a
case if they spoon feed you, but they're looking for your ability to direct the
case like a consultant actually would. You have to have a higher level of
mastery of the concepts, you have to have a clearer sense of confidence, as you're
working through the process, you have to have a better handle on how to
effectively ask not just questions but the right questions when you're going
through the process. So BCG is the type of firm that tests this type of process.
And basically what it looks like is that as the interviewers, they sit back and
they say, "great what do you want to do next, oh that's interesting well I have
some data on that," but they're very passive. They really rely on you as the
interviewee to direct them through the case, and draw out from them what you
need in terms of data. On the other hand interviewer led cases. McKenzie cases are
not just there to make life easier for you, although that would be nice,
rather they're there to dive incredibly deep into specific areas that you would
likely not be able to cover if you were leading the case yourself. You wouldn't
know, for example, that this particular chart is something that you would have
had to put together – because it would be three levels down in terms of the
analysis that you would be doing in the actual case. So McKenzie uses the
interviewer lead model to drive into deep areas, that you might have touched
on briefly in your overall structure but wouldn't have known exactly what
direction to go. They also use it to present more complicated and often more
difficult data to calculate when they're actually inside the case. So Mackenzie
cases will feel more like you are proposing what to do, and then they tell
you what they'd like to do instead. It's not that you're wrong – it's just that
they have a pre prescribed notion of exactly how they want to move through
the case to get you to the answer. It is still important however for Mackenzie
cases for you to direct them in terms of what you think should happen next.
If you're really getting effective at cases, you'll find that what you want to
do next is exactly the same as what they want to do next, even though there's much
just go one level deeper. Now I said at the beginning of the interview video
that, for this particular situation, you might not just find differences between
firms – for example at BCG you might find a case that feels a little bit more
interviewer led, and at McKinsey you might come across a case that feels a
little bit more interviewee led. Don't be surprised by this. Let me break down when
most likely this happens. There are generally three rounds for all interviews.
In fact, most interviews to be fair, have just two rounds that are guaranteed,
but a third round – which I call round zero – is common for
experienced professional candidates. Let me walk through each one of these
rounds and talk about what you can expect from interviewee led versus
interviewer led processes in each one. The first case is a round zero case, and
round zero cases are ten to twenty minutes,
they're often by phone, and they're used for screening. This is if you're applying
outside of your core region – so let's say you're currently living in the United
States but want to work in the Middle East – oftentimes they'll do it a
screaming round interview. These can also be HR interviews, so there's somebody at
HR who's just testing to see generally how do you think through problems. These
types of cases can be open-ended, scenario cases, where I just say what
would you do in this situation. Market sizing cases, which ask one simple
problem, or just general high-level cases. These screaming rounds are by phone or
in person, often though they're by phone – and you can expect either type of
interview in these. Interviewer led or interviewee led, but most often even if
their interviewer led they're much more simple than a standard McKinsey
case would be. You just don't have as much time to cover the same amount of
ground, and they're really just looking for an initial read on how you're doing.
The second round which I call round one because it's the most common round, where
people start, especially when they're going through the on-campus interview
process, is twenty to thirty minutes for the entire interview, it's almost always
conducted in person, unless you're really far out of the region and not able to
travel. Usually you're given straightforward cases, and they're more
than likely interviewer led. Let me tell you why. Usually when you're in these
types of rounds across large groups of people, there are 60 or more people that
are interviewing in the same round. In order to create consistency across the
round, either a lot of people are given the same types of cases, or the cases are
pre-selected to be of an appropriate equal level of difficulty – so that
everyone is getting approximately the same test when they're going through the
case interview process. So even if you're working with Bain or sometimes even BCG,
you might find that in the first round you're getting cases that are similar to
your peers, they've been pre-selected, and they're more often interviewer led.
This round is the weed out round. They're trying to just determine who can do
cases from who can't. They're not trying to determine who can do cases
the best. They're just trying to determine who can do them and who cant
do them. So make sure that your adept for round zero and round one at practicing
both type of cases, but you definitely understand how to defer to the leader in
an interviewer type case. The final case type in round two is often much longer.
30 to 40 minutes is the actual case portion that you cover there. And in
these types of interviews you're going to do a deep dive into specific areas.
What I mean by that is that, the interviewer is often a more senior
person, and they're not that interested in covering all of the bases. They know
at this point that you can do cases, they want to understand how deep does your
understanding go. So in this case it's really particular that, to often find
interviewee lead cases, they're gonna try to figure out where you are interested
in going next and they're gonna probe you on those particular areas.
They're not as interested in covering all the bases, they're just interested in getting
a good read on you. So partners, because they're less adherent to the rules, and
less likely to actually have to report to anybody, outside of the other person
that you're interviewing with, in order to make a decision on you, are more
likely to give you interviewee lead cases in second rounds. The round two
case is the road to the offer, so you have to be flexible and prepared to
switch gears a little bit. You don't want to just wait for them to leave you, but
you also don't want to push too hard if they want to have more of a conversation
with you. So just be prepared to vary your approach and adjust it as needed.
Make sure that you're prepared for both types of processes – interviewee led and
interviewer lead. Regardless of which firms you're practicing for, make sure
that you practice both – and in particular if you're not sure where to start I
always recommend starting with interviewee lead cases. They help train
you to identify good structures that will really help you solve the problem,
and to identify at each step along the way what needs to come next to most
effectively get to the answer. If you've got questions about these differences in
the types of cases, feel free to get a copy of our consulting interview Bible,
or work with us one-on-one. We'd love to help test you on either an interviewee
led case, an interviewer led case, or even both. And if you have more questions
make sure to visit us on our website at managementconsulted.com