Hi, I'm Jenny Rae, the Managing Director of Management Consulted, and I'm here today
to talk about another key question that is almost always asked in consulting
interviews, not once but in almost every interview, and it's "Why the firm?"
So why Bain? Why Deloitte? Why Booz? They're gonna ask these questions as you
go through the process to make sure that it's critical that they understand where
you're coming from, and also that you understand what it's like to be an
insider in the firm. So today I'm going to talk about why this question is
important, and also how you should respond to it. In terms of why it's
important, there are a couple of key reasons - the first is that when you talk
about "why the firm," they don't want to talk about it in an aspirational way.
They don't want you to sound like you're worshiping the firm. They want you to
demonstrate that you have insider knowledge and insider understanding for
what it's like to work at the firm. They want to understand that you've talked to
people at the firm, that you've been to their information sessions, you have some
credible reasons behind why their firm in particular is of interest to you.
It's really important that as you're going through the process, you make sure that
you understand exactly why the firm is right for you as well as the other way around.
The second thing that's important is
that you want to be focused on people. So in general they're not just looking
for the type of work that you're going to do or the impressive accolades that
the firm has, they want to know that you had discussions with people, that you've
liked them, and that you think you're going to fit in inside the firm. So this
is an opportunity for them to assess how good you are with other people.
In addition, they're interested in seeing how well you can tell a story. They don't
want just facts, they want to see somebody who's a good storyteller -
they want you to tell a compelling story about how you became knowledgeable about
the firm, how you became interested in them, and in fact, maybe even how you became the
most interested in the firm out of all of your options. It's really
important, finally, that you make sure that you convey the answer to the
question that they're really asking. The question that they're really asking
here isn't "why are you interested in the firm?" The question that they're asking is
"Why would you be a good fit with our firm?" They're trying to understand, again,
your understanding as well as an assessment of how well you would
possibly fit inside the firm. So there are a couple of things that are helpful
to understand as you're building your responses to this question. The first is
that there are four different categories, and I'm going to lay those out for you.
I'm gonna lay out terrible, lame, good, and great. If you've watched our other video
which was on "why consulting" you're gonna see similar parallels to what we talk
about here. In addition I'm also going to highlight some key things that you have
to make sure to do and not to do. So first I'm gonna walk through those four
key types. A terrible answer to "why the firm" is when you say it's all about me.
I'm interested in coming to work for your firm because you're going to train
me, you're going to give me access to opportunities, you're going to give me
something that I don't have otherwise. So it's really important to make
sure that you're going through the process to understand that. So a
terrible answer is very selfish, and it's very focused on what you're going to
take away from the firm, and that identifies you as a flight risk - somebody
who's not likely to stay for a long time. The second part is that they're
interested in understanding a lame response - I have one simple reason.
So here's "one simple reason" - I met some people at the firm and I liked them, but
it's not compelling, it's not well thought out, it's not well founded, it
doesn't have everything underneath it that you might possibly need.
A good response is a response that gives a
couple of reasons. So it says, hey there a couple reasons why your firm is
impressive to me. These reasons aren't going to be abstract - they're not
"well I read at your website..." or "I understand this..." It's going to be "here's some things that
I know about your firm..." Hopefully you know them from talking to people or from
attending an information session - something more personal than just
reading them on the website. Finally, a great answer is a story. If you can
tell a story about the time that somebody impressed you with something
about the firm. It's really helpful to explain that so that they're able to
understand why are so compelled to come and work
for their company. This question can be the difference in selling you to the
firm and not, it can be the difference between an offer and not. So that's
why it's so important. When you come to the end of the process, the firm doesn't
necessarily need to hear "you are my favorite firm" - but if that's true you
should introduce it in this question - you should make sure that you say that - but
the firm does need to know is that you are important to them, that you're giving
them your full attention, and you're not sitting there comparing them with other
firms. Even though subliminally you might be doing this while you're in the
interview, you need to be all on and totally excited about the firm. Later on
you're going to have an opportunity to ask some key questions in the fit
interview - you're going to be able to ask "tell me a little bit about what a day in
the life of your firm is like" or "why did you decide to join the firm?" You're going
to be able to ask questions like that that will put this type of question back
on them, but for now, they need to feel the love. So you have to make
sure that as you're going through the process, you either tell them "you're my
favorite" or you let them know you're one of my favorites. So as you go through the
process of preparing for the "why the firm" question, make sure that you keep
all of these things in mind. If you need more assistance on this,
make sure that you visit our website at managementconsulted.com.