20 Case Interview Tips To Get 2x Better Immediately

if you're looking to improve your case interview performance in a short period of time then this video is for you I'm going to be sharing with you 20 case interview tips that will help you avoid making over 90 of the most common case interview mistakes these 20 tips can collectively improve your casing of your performance by up to two times as we go over these tips keep track of how many you already follow if you get 16 or more you're likely in the top 10 percent of case interview candidates out of the hundreds of people I've interviewed as a former band manager and interviewer the 10th and 20th tip that I'll share with you are ones that I've only seen a few candidates use so make sure that you watch until the end tip number one make sure you understand the business problem and objective the quickest way to fail a case interview is to answer or address the wrong business problem when the interviewer starts the case by reading the case background information it is important that you identify what is the business problem and what is the primary question you're trying to answer you should always verify the objective of the case with the interviewer tip number two summarize the case background information and verify the objective articulately and confidently after the interviewer reads the case background information you'll be expected to summarize the case background information and verify the objective of the case this is the very first impression that you'll make on the interviewer therefore it is important that you articulately and confidently summarize the case and verify the objective this step of the case interview is not difficult making it an easy opportunity to make a great first impression tip number three ask clarifying questions if needed don't be afraid to ask clarifying questions you will not be penalized for this if there is a term that you are unfamiliar with ask for the definition if you don't understand the objective of the case ask questions to clarify this if there is important information that you are not able to write down ask the interviewer to repeat specific pieces of information all of these questions will help strengthen your understanding of the case situation and make it easier for you to solve the case tip number four ask for time to develop a framework don't be afraid to ask for a few minutes of silence so that you can organize your thoughts and ideas into a framework no interviewer expects you to instantly have the perfect framework after they finish reading the case background information to you developing a great framework takes time and interviewers know this tip number five be enthusiastic this tip is very underrated display enthusiasm this not only makes the interview more fun and interesting for the interviewer but it also demonstrates that you are passionate about Consulting and working at The Firm interviewers want to hire candidates that love their job and work hard displaying enthusiasm is a key indicator for these characteristics tip number six structure your approach before doing any math calculations before doing any math lay out an upfront structure or approach to walk the interviewer through what you're about to do developing a structure will help you avoid making unnecessary calculations or reaching a dead end if the interviewer approves of your approach the rest of the math problem is simple arithmetic tip number seven choose easy numbers to work with it's difficult to do case interview math quickly and accurately under high pressure situations so if you get the opportunity to make assumptions or estimates choose round numbers that are easy to work with why make the calculations more difficult for yourself using precise numbers neither makes your assumptions better nor makes your final answer more correct anyways tip number eight round when appropriate look for opportunities where it may be appropriate for you to round numbers to make the calculations easier for yourself for example if you are multiplying nineteen thousand nine hundred ninety nine by 201 ask the interviewer if you could round these numbers and multiply 20 000 by 200 instead you do not want to round numbers in every single step because that may indicate that you are uncomfortable with doing math however the occasional rounding is usually acceptable tip number nine use abbreviations for large numbers if you are working with large numbers in the thousands millions billions or trillions use letter abbreviations rather than writing out all of the zeros for example ten thousand can be expressed as 10K 200 million can be expressed as 200 M and 300 billion can be expressed as 300b this reduces the chances that you'll accidentally add or drop a zero in your numbers tip number 10 don't use memorized Frameworks the issue with memorized Frameworks is that they aren't tailored to the specific case that you are solving for many times some of the elements of your memorized framework will not be relevant or important to the case interviewers can also tell when you are regurgitating memorized information and not thinking critically instead of memorizing Frameworks memorize a list of 8 to 10 broad business areas such as the following Market competition company customer financials Alternatives and risks when given a case mentally run through this list and pick the three to four areas that are the most relevant to the case if the list does not give you enough framework areas brainstorm and add your own areas to the framework we are halfway through these 20 case interview tips how are you doing so far if you're finding this video helpful please take three seconds to give this video a like And subscribe to the channel so that you don't miss any of our new Consulting case interview content number 11 talk through your calculations out loud talking through your calculations out loud provides two benefits one it decreases the likelihood that you'll make a mistake and two it makes it easier for the interviewer to follow what you are doing if you happen to get stuck or make a mistake the interviewer can jump in to offer suggestions or Guidance the interviewer cannot do this if you're not communicating exactly what you are doing tip number 12 keep track of your calculations it is important to keep your calculations neat and organized to prevent making math mistakes and to prevent repeating calculations you have already done first do your calculations on a separate sheet of paper to give yourself more space second as you calculate different numbers Circle important numbers that you are likely to use over and over again third draw a box around your final calculated answer to make it easier to find later tip number 13 sense check your numbers accidentally missing zeros or adding extra zeros during your case interview calculations is the most common math mistake to avoid this you can do a quick sense check after each calculation to confirm that your answer is in the right order of magnitude for example if you're multiplying 115 Million by 22 you should expect that your answer to be in the billions because a hundred million times 20 equals 2 billion tip number 14 talk through the axes of charts and graphs when given charts or graphs to interpret the very first thing you should do is to look at the axes this is the most effective way to understand what the chart or graph is showing when you are given multiple charts or graphs this will help you understand how each chart or graph relates to each other tip number 15 answer so what after every question when the interviewer asks you a quantitative or qualitative question during a case interview don't just answer it and stop there after answering the question ask yourself so what how does your answer help you solve the overall business problem what implications does your answer have for your potential recommendation you should be tying each answer that you give back to the case objective tip number 16 ask for a time to develop a recommendation at the end of the case interview the interviewer will ask you for a recommendation don't be afraid to ask for a minute to gather and collect your thoughts before delivering your recommendation no interviewer expects you to instantly have the perfect recommendation when prompted for one developing a great recommendation takes time and interviewers know this tip number 17 have a firm recommendation you do not want to have a flimsy recommendation where you switch back and forth between two different recommendations instead have a recommendation that takes a Firm Stance remember there is no right or wrong answer as long as your recommendation is supported with data and evidence your recommendation is valid tip number 18 structure your recommendation your recommendation should be clear and easy to follow therefore use the following structure clearly State what your recommendation is provide two to three reasons that support your recommendation and propose potential next steps this is a simple but highly effective structure tip number 19 use a hypothesis driven approach during the case interview you should have a hypothesis of what the answer to the case is a hypothesis is simply an educated guess based on the knowledge that you have as you analyze data and gather more information make sure you are constantly changing and refining your hypothesis there are two benefits to using a hypothesis to drive the direction of the case one it ensures that you are focusing on the relevant areas that will help you solve or answer the case two by the time the interviewer asks you for a recommendation you will already have a refined hypothesis on what the answer or solution to the case should be tip number 20 structure your answers to qualitative questions during a case interview you may be asked to brainstorm ideas instead of listing the first few ideas that come to your mind use a simple two-part framework to answer the question in a more organized way this will help facilitate brainstorming and demonstrate that you are a logical structured thinker you can use a two-part framework such as the following internal external short-term long-term economic non-economic direct indirect benefits costs and upside downside now that you know these 20 case interview tips it's time to practice we've compiled over 700 free practice cases from 23 MBA Consulting case books watch our video Linked In the description below to see exactly where you can download them and how to use them last important message for you if you're looking for a step-by-step shortcut to learn case interviews quickly check out our comprehensive case interview course and books links are in the video description we teach the most robust effective case interview strategies in the least time-consuming way to save you hundreds of hours of prep time and help you land multiple consulting job offers

Channel: Hacking the Case Interview

Views: 5,300

Keywords: hacking the case interview, case interview tips, case interview, case interview math, case interview mental math, case interview math strategies, case interview math tips

Id: Imu9Nq7Eto4

Length: 10min 46sec (646 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 21 2023