After successfully passing the written test, I was invited back to the 47th floor McKinsey office at Taipei 101 for an afternoon of case interview workshop.
There were lots of food available, which kind of made me regret having ate lunch prior to coming. Vincent (both Vincent Chou and Lee) are there. Actually, I don't know many of the other potential competitors? In any case, the workshop started with a powerpoint briefing, which talked about the theoretical side of McKinsey's unique 'Case Interview' Process. Here's what I learned:
The McKinsey Case Interview:
The consulting business places heavy emphasis on logical thinking and solving a client's problem. So McKinsey (and several other consulting firms) use case interviews to see if a potential candidate can think logically, use a framework, and come to a conclusion regarding a business strategy question.
In general, the entire interview process for a BA position or a summer BA position is the same. There will be 3 rounds of interviews, each with 1 or 2 full length cases plus a short session of experience interview.
If one interview is 45 minutes, approximately 10 minutes will be allocated to the more personal part. This is when you're asked about your resume, past leadership experience, character etc. The remaining 35 minutes or so revolves around a business case scenario, where the candidate must analyze and gather data through asking the right questions. In the end, sum up your findings to a make-believe client. The key point of the case interview was for the interviewer to see how the candidate thinks, how he/she breaks down the problem, analyze the data, and come up with a valid conclusion, and suggestion as to how the problem might be solved.
Here are the four steps McKinsey suggests in dealing with a case:
1. Clarify - don't dive in yet, ask questions to clarify the scope of your case.
2. Structure - it's hard to tackle a behemoth, break it down to pieces.
3. Analyze - gather and analyze data through questions and interaction!
4. Conclusion - sum up your findings in a 2 minute summary and suggestion!
After the powerpoint presentation, we were divided into groups of 4~5, each group led by a business analyst. Sitting around a table inside a small conference room, we began a round of mock interviews, to give us a feel at how the real deal will be like next week. When the BA in our group, Michael, asked who'd like to be the interviewee, I took the chance when everyone else is looking at everyone else and raised my hand. After all, being invited to the written test itself was a surprise, passing it was even more beyond my expectations. But now I'm here, and I have no previous case interview experience, the more practice, the better.
Michael started out by asking me what I like to do during my leisure time, and I told him sports, like volleyball. From there, he threw me my mock case question:
So, Danny, estimate for me how many volleyballs are sold in a year?
This is a market estimation question (guesstimation), and I've heard to classic examples in the past like:
a. Estimate the number of taxis in Taipei city
b. How many cups of coffee does one Starbucks store sell on a weekday?
Having no prior experience at all, I started hesitantly on the four suggested steps:
Clairfy - Does beach volleyball count? Are we looking at Taipei or Taiwan? ...etc
Structure - okay, let's break down Taiwan's population into age brackets.... etc
Analyze - So, let's say the there are xxx colleges, each with xxx department teams, ... etc
Conclusion - from the above assumptions, I think xxx volleyballs are sold a year.
The above steps may look simple, but the actual analysis is far from 'simple'. It involves assuming a lot of numbers, and explaining the rationale behind those assumptions. I also learned to keep my numbers simple, for the ease of calculation. I learned to interact with my interviewer, and that keeping silent at times is not a bad thing. Just make sure you're not silent for the majority of your interview!
After the mock session, I've had a pretty good idea what the case interview would be like. All the candidates are led back to the rest area, and Jerry, the associate principle gave closing remarks. He said in the past, if you didn't familiarize yourself with at least 20 cases, practicing with your friends, than don't even bother come back for the interview, you won't pass.
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT.
The workshop being over, me, Vincent Lee, Vincent Chou and Alex went to get some food. We sat and chatted as we ate the delicious fries. To be honest, out of the initial 600 applicants, only 80 or so are invited to the written test, and out of those 40 made it to today's case workshop. I've heard in the past how rigorous McKinsey's interview process is, how many either failed the initial interviews, or made it to the final stage but ultimately failed. Right now, having passed the written test, I am beginning to feel the wait of expectation falling upon me. My self expectation, and the desire to get this summer BA job. Yet it seem so close - just a couple of interviews away, and so far - just a couple of interviews away, at the same time.
Our group decided to use the week that we have until the interviews, and practice our asses off. Jerry made it clear, practice makes perfect. We are going to get together every night next week, and practice mock interviews. I have no idea how much help that would be for the actual thing, but what else can I do. I'd always envied working for McKinsey, I'd always wanted to be in that winner circle, and now given the chance, you bet I'm gonna fight for it with all that I've got.
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