Consulting 101 — Part 5

A series of articles on landing a consulting job after an undergraduate degree

If you haven’t read Part 1 of this article which gives an introduction to consulting, drop by there first! In this article and final part of the series, I will talk about the other side of the coin, i.e., how to go about giving feedback to your peers and/or juniors while case solving.

Mentoring; a crucial aspect to preparation

Contents

1. Why should you take cases?
2. How to go about giving feedback?
3. Shoutouts and final thoughts

Why should you take cases?

The main reasons I did cases with my peers and juniors and will continue doing so —

• You learn something new from each case you do, either from the person you’re doing it with or by yourself when you are analysing the case
• It keeps your mind sharp and hones your skills gained when you did case prep
• It provides new perspectives and different ways to solve the same case which improves your problem solving skills
• It improves your own ability to listen, identify, and convey shortcomings in others’ methodologies in a constructive manner, which is an essential skill as you go up the corporate ladder
• Finally, my seniors and peers spent hours together preparing me for my case interviews, gave me honest and actionable feedback, without which I wouldn’t have cracked my interviews at BCG. I would love to further this senior fuelled and supportive culture at IIT Kharagpur.

How to go about giving feedback?

Giving feedback is a case in itself. I write down every main point discussed by the candidate and the order they follow, and problems in their approach as the case progresses. The main things I note down are —

1. The total time taken for a case — if the candidate is not able to either solve the problem or impress the interviewer through their skills within 15–20 mins at the latest, then the interviewer will lose interest and this will reduce the chances of making it to the next round
2. A case can be broken down into the following components —
   a) Preliminary questions — structure, order, language, precision
   b) Overall structure — MECE framework, covering all bases before moving down the tree, summarising at every juncture
   c) Drilling down — asking the right questions at each step, eliminating all possibilities, not stopping till they isolate the main problem
   d) Mathematical speed — precise and quick calculations with no scope of error, mentioning any rounding assumptions taken into consideration
   e) Business acumen — making logical assumptions and mentioning the same, using general knowledge and fundamentals to extrapolate
   f) Recommendations — feasibility vs impact and long vs short term recommendations, creativity in solutions
   g) Summary — a bottom-up summary of the entire case starting with the problem, how they arrived at it, and finishing off with recommendations in a clear, crisp manner
3. Overall presentation skills of the candidate, their introduction, body language, regular communication with the interviewer, eye contact, confidence, writing structure and clarity on paper, ability to summarise and be quick, interest and initiative shown
4. Brownie points can be awarded for any unique insight observed by the candidate, a nuance that they mention, or an excellent recommendation provided. A candidate with a brownie point has more chances of impressing his interviewer and progressing onto the next round

Once I have noted down these points, I discuss them with the candidate focusing on how I might have gone about it, a better framework to solve the case, and things they might have missed. For beginners, you can nudge them in the right direction so as to boost their confidence in the initial days before they can grasp the knack of solving cases.

Shoutouts and final thoughts

I would like to give a big big thank you to all my seniors and peers who spent hours meticulously and religiously doing cases with me and enabling me to improve my frameworks and case solving skills. I owe you guys everything —

• Ayush Anand — a senior and consultant at Arthur D. Little
• Divyam Sharma — a senior working at BCG
• Abhishek Singh — my manager at Riverwalk Holdings
• Vasanta Majety, Eknoor Malhotra — seniors working at McKinsey and Co.
• Parth Lohomi — a senior working at L.E.K Consulting
• Astha Jakher, Suraj Kumar— my buddies at BCG

And a ton of other other seniors who reviewed my resume and my frameworks, a huge thanks :)

I hope this series helps anyone looking to get into consulting without any idea how to start. This series is just a compilation of my own thoughts, and while it can act as a starting point, you will have to find a timeline and set of resources that work for you. Here is the drive folder with the resources I followed during my prep journey. I wish you the best of luck for your upcoming interviews, and feel free to ping me on LinkedIn if you have any further doubts. Cheers!