Boston Consulting Group Consultant Interview

Interview Details – First round interview in Chicago. Second round interview in DC. The recruiting staff does a good job ensuring that the trips and office visits are pleasant and go smoothly.

5 interviews total between the 2 rounds. Each interview was 1 on 1 for about 45min and consisted of 10min of fit questions about leadership, teamwork, and interest in consulting followed by 30min of a business case and ending with time for me to ask questions. In each case interview the interviewers defaulted to having me pick which parts of my framework to investigate, but they intervened for the sake of time if I went too far off track or made serious math mistakes.

First round interviews consisted of 2 interviews by current Consultants. Both were friendly. One was open and easy to read, the other was not. Both cases were pretty straightforward, with a problem statement, a question about how to proceed, analysis of charts, some calculations, and recommendations. At the end they gave some good insights into the job and lifestyle when I asked.

Second round interviews consisted of 3 interviews by current Partners. The partners definitely came across as having high standards but were friendly, professional, and pretty easy to read. The business cases they used each seemed to be pet cases that were relevant to their own experience and that they'd used many times before. Two of these cases put extra emphasis on brainstorming and hypothesizing compared to the first round interviews. They very clearly appreciated creative and insightful answers and were clearly unimpressed by poor analysis and getting flustered by mistakes. The partners provided good insights into the company when I asked at the end.

Overall, the interviews were a positive experience. I like the case format's ability to convey analytical abilities, but it's tough to expand meaningfully on a resume in 10 minutes of fit questions.