Comments on: Management consulting interviews: the best follow-up question you can ask, plus 4 more

By: Kslgj

Kslgj — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 10:30:00 +0000

Thanks for this. Funny, this is the exact opposite of what you are told to do in ibanking interviews. NEVER ask for feedback as it makes you seem weak, NEVER voice preferences re teams …

By: Taylor

Taylor — Tue, 03 May 2011 16:49:00 +0000

Great post, and can’t get enough of the site. Wish I had found it sooner. Had a first round interview with Bain the past fall for an internship position for the fast approaching summer. Didn’t receive second round opportunity. I asked the “what could i do better” (worded more nicely) in one of the first round interviews and the consultant loved it – saying I just needed more practice with cases. In fact when they notified those who did/didn’t make it, the guy called me to tell me and encouraged me to keep practicing and stay in touch for full-time. I know for a fact that of those who didn’t make it I was the only one to receive a call rather than an email.

My question is this: how much should I stay in contact with that person as full-time recruiting approaches this upcoming fall? I was going to ask “What can I do in my free time this summer to best prepare me for Bain aside from practicing cases?” with some obvious lines of reminders of what contact we had. Is it appropriate to ask to drop into their office and meet anyone? Doubtful but it would obviously set me apart if that would work. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Love the vault of resources available here, and can’t wait to read more. I’ve finished Cosentino and have The Consulting Bible next on my list. Look forward to scheduling interview prep before interviews with Bain/Deloitte this fall.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 01:47:55 +0000

To briefly answer your questions here:

Question 1 – most questions can be asked regardless of their seniority (for example, “can you tell me more about your background and your time at this company?”)

Question 2 – I would keep these emails short, mention one or two moments from the interview to jog their memory, and ask a followup question if appropriate.

By: Alberto

Alberto — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 12:14:42 +0000

Thank you very much for the blog. It is very informative and useful for applicants intending to start a career in management consulting (like me). I am going to be interviewed for McKinsey (1st round) quite soon. I have some experience in IB interviews but it seems some points not valued in IB (such as follow-up questions and thank you messages) are important to Management Consulting interviewers, so I need to know more about these.

Question 1: I heard that in the 1st round one meets with analysts and only in the 2nd round one meets with partners/principals. Should I change my follow-up questions accordingly? I mean, considering the statement “Never ask your consultant interviewer a question that can be answered by a recruiter”, I would suppose that one should also avoid asking a partner/principal a question that could easily be answered by the analyst in first place, for example.

Question 2: What is the outline of a “model-thank-you-message” recruiters expect to receive in their inbox after the interview? In IB, they usually do not care about it but if you still want to send something, a standard minimal message directed to each of the recruiters will suit (in fact, a too long message may be regarding as particularly annoying). In short, I am concerned with the detail level I should put in my follow-up e-mail messages.

I will be waiting for your advice. Thank you once again for the useful website!

By: Consultant99

Consultant99 — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 02:58:52 +0000

Kevin: that sounds reasonable. During the interview I typically give feedback on the case, such as why I ask the case and an interesting aspect that the candidate may have wanted to explore but wasn’t likely to come up with. So a follow-up on the case content is great because it shows that the candidate can extend the conversation. But in probably 100 interviews of undergrads and MBAs, I’ve only once been asked by the candidate “how did I do,” which was by a candidate whose biggest weakness is that she had zero self-confidence. I strongly encourage people to follow-up with me after the interviews and I’ll take a lot of time to dissect the interview with them… and far too few people take me up on this.