Hi I'm Jenny Rae, the managing director of management consulted and I'm back today to
bring some light to one of my favorite topics on advanced case interviews.
In particular, we are talking about Bain today baby!
One of my favorite things to talk about in general.
And Bain is a really special place.
We are going to highlight how it is different to go through a Bain case interview versus
BCG and McKinsey.
Bain is a little bit of a Wild West kind of place, a little bit of anything goes, a little
cut and dry, a little bit party, a little bit business.
So, it is really important to make sure that you understand, when you are going through
the interview, not only the style of the interview, but also the math, and also how to win at
Bain interviews.
Something different from the other two firms, so make sure you pay close attention.
The first thing I am going to talk about is the style of a Bain interview.
Now I would love to tell you that all Bain interviews are interviewer led, or interviewee
led – but the reality is, it is really up to the interviewer often times to decide.
So you have no idea what you are going to get.
And, in general, Bain prides itself on having a black box in the interview process.
They are not predictable, its not super easy to prepare for them.
The reason is that they are trying to keep your brain on.
They want to see you think as you are going in the interview.
They want to catch you off guard, twist you a little bit, turn you this way.
Make sure they see who the real you is.
Bain is probably the top firm in terms of uncovering the real you – they are not looking
for somebody who fits into a mold, they are looking for somebody who is authentically
themselves.
So, that is really important to know when you are thinking about interviewee led or
interviewer led – practice both because you could get either at Bain.
The next thing that is really helpful to understand is that Bain interviews are often very brusque
and high level.
What I mean by this is that if a Bain interviewer has seen all that they need to see, they won't
finish the case.
Positively, or negatively.
They will spend five minutes on the case, they'll see you open it, they'll see you ask
a question – if you totally nail it, they will be like, "great, I saw that, lets talk
about other things."
But, at the same time, if you are doing poorly, they might say, "oh, saw everything I need,
super sweet, thanks so much, lets talk later."
But they do not really mean it.
So, make sure that, as you are going through the process with Bain, you recognize that
when they are being brusque and high level with you, they are trying to get you to focus
on the key issues and show them something right away.
You cannot warm up into a Bain interview, you have got to come ready to play.
The third thing that is important to know about Bain interviews is that they care more
about the "Why" than the "right" way.
They are less about process, and more about how you think.
So they are more interested in why you are saying what you are saying.
As opposed to going through the standard process politely.
Bain people will interview you, and interrupt you as you go.
So it will not feel like a normal interviewer, or interviewee led case.
Because you will be interrupted in the middle, and they may even switch partners as you go.
You may be in charge one minute, they may be in charge the next.
You have to be flexible, you have to be ready to always explain why you are saying what
you are saying.
They are not looking for you to be super sweet, and talk about how what you just said was
so amazing.
They are not looking for you to go all lacking confidence on them either, they are not ready
for you to just go back on what you said.
And they are not ready for you to fight, they are ready for you to just clearly justify
why you think what you think.
The fourth thing that is important to know about these interviews at Bain, and their
style is – they are often highly informal.
While McKinsey interviews are very formal, BCG interviews are pretty conversational,
Bain interviews are informal.
So they may feel a little jerky, you may go back and forth between FIT and case – it
may not feel like a seamless normal interview.
But, in general, they are just trying to test what you are going through in the process.
The FIT interview in Bain is a really key part of the interview, in fact.
They may ask just one question, but they have generally made their decision by the end of
that question.
So just be prepared to really come to the part ready.
But you do not want to be too formal, or too poised in the main interview, because then
you are not going to be ready to go quickly to where they need you to go.
The next thing that is helpful to understand is about Bain math.
And Bain math is kind of a special case scenario as well.
The good news is that Bain math usually focuses on simple algebra.
They are not looking to data dump you a whole bunch of information, and they are not trying
to twist and turn and test you.
Bain isn't about hiding information from you, they are not about holding information back,
they are not about watching you gather the appropriate data.
They are about understanding what you are looking for and why – and then what you
are planning to do with it.
So, they are very focused on just the clear and direct answer.
Bain people are very answer driven, so make sure that you are assimilating that when you
go through the math part.
Beyond just making sure that you are using simple algebra, you can expect for Bain Market
Sizing, Chart Interpretation, and Segmentation.
Similar to McKinsey.
They are going to test a lot of the similar options, but you might want to review a few
Bain slides before you go into the interview.
Because often times, Bain will share slides from actual cases with you.
Sometimes they are simplified, or they are actually sterilized a bit, but for the most
part they are very similar to the ones you would find, for example, on a site like slide
share.
So, make sure you review some Bain style charts so that you are ready and prepared for it.
Like I said, Bain people rarely leave data out, but they do often require you to make
assumptions.
So as you are going through the process, make sure that you are not looking for hidden data,
but that you are simplifying the data that you've got.
If you need to make some interpretations of data, make sure that the assumptions that
you are making are very clearly demarcated.
And finally, one thing that is important about Bain case, even more than McKinsey cases or
BCG cases, is that math questions can lead for Bain to inconclusive next steps.
You might have, for example, two segments of the market that look attractive.
Or two plans of action that both look like possibilities.
For Bain they are generally looking for the higher risk, higher reward statement, and
they are also looking for you to make a judgement call.
There may not be a right or a wrong answer in Bain cases.
There may just be some different channels that you can go down.
So again, focus on the why, be prepared to make a statement, but also defend why it is
that you want to do what you are planning to do.
For Bain math across the board you can't expect something that is super complicated, but you
can expect the simple algebra, the use of some big numbers, and general interpretation.
So, what you are probably wondering and hopefully interested in understanding, is how you win
at Bain cases.
Well, one of the first things that you need to note is that you need to focus on speed
to the answer, not thorough process.
This doesn't mean that you leave your process entirely behind.
Rather, in a case, you focus on the process, but you do whatever it takes to get to the
answer.
So, reorganize your process, go to the most important piece, skip around a little bit.
Keep your process in mind, but don't go methodically step by step through it, if what you need
to do is just focus on the key issue.
The second thing that is important to do is, do not talk for too long in Bain interviews.
They don't wait until the end of the interview to asses you.
So you do not want to be rambling on and on and explaining yourself early on in the interview
because that part of the interview.
Usually the first ten to fifteen minutes is where the decision is made.
Often as early as the first five minutes.
So don't take too long to expand on your reasons and don't talk for too long at any one given
time in a Bain interview.
The next thing that is helpful, is that its good because Bain cases are not as heavily
quantitative driven as McKinsey cases.
To use numbers to show how you are data driven.
What I mean by this is that, it is helpful, if you are interested in doing a piece of
analysis, to offer two scenarios.
To say, "Well if, for example, the market came out to 100 million dollars, that would
be really attractive, but if it only came out to two million that wouldn't be attractive
– lets go look at the size fo the market."
So for Bain, often times they are simply quantifying things without actually going through the
whole process, but that shows that you are data driven and that you can use numbers with
fluidity throughout the case.
The next thing, the fourth thing that is important to know for Bain is that Hypotheses are not
the most important Bain approach.
They're not that interested in what you think is the answer, they're interested in what
you think the core issue is.
They are interested in making sure that you understand how to get to the root of the problem.
There, hopefully you will find what the answer is.
But make sure, again, that you are focussing on the most important issues, and going straight
to them.
Spending a ton of time explaining your hypotheses, and why you think that is the right hypothesis,
in a Bain case, could just make you look dumb.
Because, as you are going through the process, they're really interested in understanding,
you know, the process of how you do things – but also, again, your level of priority.
So make sure that you're not just focused on the hypothesis, because it could lead you
to myopically miss something that they're asking you to look for.
The final thing that is important to know about Bain case interviews is that, at the
end of the case, when you're concluding, at junior levels, you need to use answer last
conclusions.
So, quickly you want to walk the interviewer through the different steps of the case and
make sure that they understand what you did, and then you follow it with your conclusion.
Again, the data may be inconclusive.
So, you're still going to have to decide.
But, at senior levels, because they are quick to the answer, and interested in you understanding
what the key issues should be – you should start out with an answer first approach.
So, Bain includes a lot of nuance.
You have to really think about the way that they use data, the way that the style works,
and the way that you adjust your style in order to be prepared to come to the party,
and rock an interview with Bain.
If you've got more questions about this, we've got tons of great resources on our website,
including our Consulting Interview Bible, 1-on-1 session with us, and also lots of great
free articles on the web at managementconsulted.com