case interview abbreviated guide

S T R I C T L Y P R I V A T E A N D C O N F I D E N T I A L"

Yale Graduate Student Consulting Club (YGCC)

Interview Bootcamp

Alice Qinhua Zhou All rights reserved.

www.yale.edu/consulting

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Thank the following YGCC sponsors

GPSS!

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You need to pass a long journey before getting the offer

Interviews

One-on-one Presentation Group

Problem Solving Test (PST)

Resume and Cover letter

Ability

Ability Attitude

Communication Collaboration

Personal Brand Personal Network

Ability Attitude

Communication Collaboration

Communication

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Resume and cover letter presents proofs of your value

Value Proof Display

Ability

Attitude

Communication

Collaboration

Personal Brand

Personal Network

GPA, Honors, Awards

Resume presentation

Leadership Teamwork

Big school, firm

Reposition past

•  Result oriented •  Be specific •  Throw them the

bones

Professional format

•  Use template •  Bulleted text

Enrich experience

•  60min multiple choice written test

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McKinsey PST tests quantitative competence

Use promotional code: YGCCGURUS

30% discount on practice PST tests

Go to club website http://www.yale.edu/consulting/McKinsey_PST.html

Practice

Learn

Confidence

Realism

Doubt

Optimism

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The journey will be tough, but you will not be alone.

Time

Performance

Emotion Satisfaction

Interviews

YGCC will assist you throughout the journey

This Boot Camp brings

you here

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The funny video includes most of the basic elements of case interview, mimicking real-life associate level consulting work

Collect background info

MECE complete issue tree in the context

Identify key question

Prioritize

Hypothesize

Analyze

Right: dig deeper Wrong: navigate to paralleled items

…

Buy in / Deliver results Manage reaction

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Break down problem MECE Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive

What we can do with the price of a sandwich if we

still want to sell it?

Increase

Remain the same

Decrease

What we can do with the price of all the goods in

stop & shop?

Increase

Remain the same

Decrease

Change the mix

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Engagement structure




Prioritize

Hypothesize

Analyze


…


Step 2.1: Prioritize based on impact and difficulty

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Impact Financial

Difficulty

Non-financial High

Low Effort

Result

•  Don’t need to draw out the matrix, keep it in the back of your mind!

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Step 2.2: Develop specific and testable hypothesis

•  Good hypothesis: testable •  If hypothesis is right, dig deeper; •  If wrong, navigate to the parallel items in the structure; •  If all parallel items are wrong, your structure is not MECE •  Deeper in the tree, more info given, easier to hypothesize

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Prioritize

Hypothesize

Analyze


…


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Step 3: Analysis

Plan

Collect data

Interpret data

Present result

So what

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Prioritize

Hypothesize

Analyze


…


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Summarize

•  “The engagement manager come in ask for your update.” •  “You run into CEO in the elevator. “ •  “CFO requests to see your team in 15min.”

Purpose Buy in client during the analysis

•  Doubt on recommendation •  Resistance on the change

Deliver insights after major analysis Manage reaction proactively

•  Rationally address •  Synthesis after every major

analysis •  Keep the big picture in mind

•  Emotionally support •  Tailor your answer to the

audience

Format (RRRN) Recommendation

•  “To achieve XXX, I recommend XXX”

Reason •  Major bullet points

Risk •  Assumption •  Top three concerns: “I

understand that …” Next Step

•  Analysis in the row •  Implementation plan

Thank the following YGCC sponsors

Yale Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS)!

case interview abbreviated guide

Documents