PA Consulting Interview Questions & Reviews

Interviewed Jan 2007 in New York, NY (took 4 days)

The process was very thorough and included:
1. 30 Minute quick-interview on College Campus - initial filter interview to review my qualifications and personality.

2. Interview day at company offices in New York - intense full day session that included breakfast and lunch, an introduction presentation to the company, and numerous interviews; interaction with fellow applicants was very interesting.
     a. Face-to-face interview with Manager-level - deeper questioning concerning qualifications, experience, and approach to challenges.
     b. Face-to-face case-study discussion with peer-level employee including direct case-study presentation - standard qualitative consulting case-study about new-product rollout and related strategies/approach.
     c. Group case-study exercise including group presentation - quantitative group-based case-study that required collaboration, calculation, division of labor, leadership, and a quick presentation; time-limit adds additional stress as does the fact that we were being monitored by a panel of current employees.
     d. Math-based and verbal-based skills tests - both were 45-minute tests; math focused on reading graphs, tables, and diagrams; verbal focused on clear communication and messaging.

3. Three final-stage interviews with Partner-level individuals at the company - each partner asked traditional experience-based questions and one brain-teaser/"how would you solve this" questions. One of the questions was: "What is more profitable for a New York City taxi: (1) to wander the streets of Manhattan picking up random passengers or (2) to only go between Manhattan and the local airports?"