Walking in the world of consulting is the moment when you are going on a path where you need to learn for the rest of your life. The reason is this is one of the most versatile and diverse industries you will ever encounter. So, it should come as a surprise that the recruitment process is much more thorough and complex, which is different from the vast majority of other industries.
Some of the candidates can find it very difficult due to the recruiters who need to be extra careful when choosing a new employee. As you can presume, every candidate needs to have exceptional academic credentials. Otherwise, all of the work in an interview can be for nothing. Also, we can see that many companies started developing their own strategies when it comes to recruiting new people who can help the company in the future.
One of these principles is called MECE, which stands for Mutually Exclusive Collectively Exhaustive. If you are interested in this concept take a look at it here. This is a method that consists of breaking down the problem in a couple of different segments. After it, all the candidates are awarded a particular task, which can be used for resolving the core problem. This method proved itself pretty useful in the last couple of years.
Plus, recruiters are going to do everything in their power to put candidates in as unconventional and strange situations, in order to see their ability to handle themselves under pressure. So, as you can see, having a consulting interview can be a pretty hard thing for someone who didn’t have some similar experiences. Thankfully, there is something you can do about that. Prepare, because we are going to provide you with a list of tips you can use for preparing yourself for the first consulting interview.
1. Ask Relevant Question
The first thing you will encounter when having a consulting interview is that you are going to be provided with the most important information about the case you will get. It goes without saying that you should pay attention to what is said and take notes, which will be crucial for your success down the road, believe us. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have any questions about the case.
However, you need to pay attention to all the crucial information and you should have questions that will provide you with more thoroughly-detailed information about the case itself. You can be sure that, if you have some relevant questions, this will not go unnoticed by the recruitment team. Surely, you will highlight some of your skills and your ability to think clearly.
2. Engage with Your Recruiter
After you’ve thought about the questions in a proper manner, you should consider trying to engage the recruiter in a conversation. You should think about this as some kind of conversation you can use to find the perfect solution, instead of being a basic test. After you’ve set your head in this direction, you can have much more crucial information about your case from the recruiter. This will be of much help, believe us.
Since this type of conversation is bound to be productive, if you have smart questions, of course, you can be sure you will be able to reap some benefits from these conversations. Naturally, it can happen that you don’t have a positive response in some of these occasions, therefore, we would then recommend you to focus on the problem in hand heavily, without having interactions with anyone who can disturb you. Have conversations, but only relevant ones.
3. Problem-solving Approach
When you overcome the first couple of things at the beginning of the interview, you will notice that there is a problem you need to resolve in the best possible manner. How you will do that exactly, is entirely up to you. At the same time, you can be sure that there isn’t only one way you can resolve it. However, you will not be able to resolve it without having a problem-solving approach. You should have some time to establish this mindset.
You need to learn how to use hypothesis trees and issue trees. The quicker you establish these, the faster this process will actually be. We’ve mentioned the interviewing method called MECE. Well, you should spend some time researching this method before you go to the interview. That way you will be sure that you’ve gone prepared. But, in case you want to be an outstanding candidate, you need to take a look at some credible sources before you can be absolutely confident in your skills and knowledge.
4. Provide Some Examples
What many people don’t expect from this kind of interview is that they will be asked to provide some examples. This is a step where many people fail these interviews. Surely, you need to prepare these before the interview starts. There is a chance that you will get some examples, that were already given to some person you may know.
So, do your research and come prepared. Having a plan about these is surely going to help you avoid the situation where you will need to pick some examples directly from your memory the same moment you are asked to provide them. You should avoid this since it can make you look uncertain and anxious. You should avoid this at all costs.
5. Don’t Talk Too Much Without a Reason
We are absolutely sure that you’ve found yourself in a situation where you are talking about a topic, and your monologue spans to a couple of minutes. This is an absolute no-no when it comes to job interviews. Also, it is especially important to completely avoid this when you are looking at a consulting interview.
Surely, you will have some space for explaining things further, but don’t make it too long. You should have a long day of thinking about how to explain everything you need in a couple of sentences. Surely, you don’t like someone talking too much about a particular topic. This usually doesn’t end well.
