433: How to handle a "horrible" client (Strategy Skills classics)

Podcast: Day 0 with a tough candidate Early this year, we spent a week in Middle East helping a candidate prepare for his case interviews. The son of a former client, this series of podcasts outlines the difficulties of placing someone starting from a zero base of preparation. I mean zero. We have changed some details but all the insights and examples are real. We were brought in to spend an entire week taking this candidate through a crash course in case preparation. In this first podcast we clearly outline the challenges we would need to overcome.

15 Jul 201123min

Many candidates are confused between the different types of cases: interviewer led, interviewee led, brainstorming, market entry, market sizing etc. In this podcast we will discuss the different types of cases you will face and where you will likely encounter them.

9 Jul 201111min

McKinsey, BCG, Bain and Roland Berger use similar but not the same case styles. Within even one firm, styles may differ. Each firm uses a very different interview style. We discuss the different styles to expect and how to handle the questions you will encounter. We also rank the difficulty of the cases from each firm. Expect some counter-intuitive ordering.

3 Jul 201114min

How do you pick the firm to build your career: prestige, ranking, salary, feedback from friends or friendliness of the interviewer? Actually none of these will help you. In this podcast we explain how outstanding consultants build their careers and what you need to consider when choosing a firm.

27 Jun 201113min

We were forced to prepare this podcast after realizing how poorly candidates prepare for the arithmetic rigor they need to display. For some reason candidates believe practicing hundreds of math problems make them better at math. This is not how to learn math in cases. This podcast gives you proper guidance on learning arithmetic for cases, and how to communicate this competency.

21 Jun 201112min

On Monday this week, we had an early lunch at Crush restaurant at King West in Toronto. We wanted to advise a recently placed McKinsey associate who was struggling to make the transition. The challenges he faced provide an interesting perspective on what skills you will need as a consultant, and related to this, what you need to show in an interview.

15 Jun 201117min

We would say 90% of candidates with whom we speak do not understand what is confidence, how to build it and how to demonstrate it. We will talk about experiences we have had with candidates with weak confidence levels and what you need to consider when preparing for your own interviews.

9 Jun 201110min

MBA programs want you to believe that joining a school like Stanford, Harvard etc in the MBA program will dramatically improve your chances of success. It will not and that is a huge myth.

3 Jun 201112min