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ZS Associates Associate Consultant Interview Questions & Reviews

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Web: www.zsassociates.com | HQ: Evanston, IL

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Updated Mar 12, 2012 – Interview questions and reviews posted anonymously by interview candidates.

Difficulty Rating [?] Based on 6 ratings

3.8

“Difficult” Interview

Interview Experience [?] Based on 6 ratings

Positive	33%
Neutral	67%
Negative	0%

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1–6 of 6 ZS Associates Interviews

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5.0

Very Difficult Interview

Overall Neutral Experience

Interviewed and No Offer

Interviewed Feb 2012 (took a day)

Behavioral interview followed by a brutal case-interview.

Interview Questions

Plan the sales force of company x, given some data.

Answer Question

Other Details

The interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview.

Helpful Interview?

Yes | No

Inappropriate?

3.0

Average Interview

Overall Positive Experience

Interviewed and No Offer

Interviewed Feb 2012 (took a day)

one 30 minute behavioral with a manager, super nice and friendly
one 30 minute case interview with a consultant. the consultant was extremely patient throughout, and if you missed an aspect to mention, she would ask you about it to nudge you in the right direction. i think to be successful though you shouldn't need nudging. need to be able to do math quickly in your head.

Interview Questions

Tell me about a time you failed.

Answer Question

Other Details

I got the interview through a College or University and the interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview and a Skills Test.

Helpful Interview?

Yes | No

Inappropriate?

5.0

Very Difficult Interview

Overall Neutral Experience

Interviewed and No Offer

Interviewed Aug 2011 in San Mateo, CA (took 2 days)

My background: Completing a bio PhD at a top school
Had 2 interviews:
1st- Fit interview: Guy was semi-friendly. Didn't want to just "chat". he was very methodical with his questions. seemed more like a Q&A than an interview. He wasnt a native english speaker which made him hard to understand. He latched on to some phrasing that i used and didn't let it go. i.e. i said that i was unsuccessful at XYZ and he wouldnt let go of the word "unsuccessful". At the end of the conversation he said "thanks, good luck on your job search".

2nd - They sent me 4 unlabeled graphs. The interviewer appeared to have just a list of 20 questions she wanted to get through and didnt seem interested in actually listening to my analysis of the case. more just getting an answer. It was VERY quantitatve and analytical, related to sales force optimization. None of my case preparation prepared me for this kind of interview. The job appears to be very dry if this is the kind of stuff they do day-to-day. Know how to do derivatives and analyze graphs. I have no business background, so i had trouble understanding how to calculate marginal profits from a graph. Aske for feedback and she just said to brush up on business terminology and to think outloud when im working through a problem. sound advise.

This was all done over the phone making it an incredibly hard thing to do given the amount of calculations i had to go through.

I received an email a week later saying that they arent passing me to the next round. I responded asking for some specific feedback re my interview and didn't hear back from them.

Interview Questions

calculate derivative

Answer Question

Other Details

I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview.

Helpful Interview?

Yes | No

Inappropriate?

2.0

Easy Interview

Overall Positive Experience

Received and Accepted Offer

Interviewed May 2011 in Evanston, IL (took 6+ weeks)

First two rounds were phone call. One was behavioral type questions like "Tell me a about time when you felt caught between conflicting objectives", Go over Resume, Why ZS etc. The second one was data crunching. I was given a tables, charts with some information as asked questions on that. Brush up your calculating skills.

Final round was in the ZS office- 1 past project experience with a principal where I had explain my PhD thesis to him. Second was behavioral with a Principal. Finally they gave me a lot of material about a company and asked me to prepare a presentation with a group advising the company based on the information provided. The panel was fair and easy on me. It was a little intimidating in the begining, but just manage your time well and be organized in your approach.

-Very friendly people overall and pleasant experience

Interview Questions

Tell me a time when you had to work on a project with a tight deadline

Answer Question

Negotiation Details

Decent offer, not outstanding but very little to no negotitation

Other Details

The interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview, a Group/Panel Interview, a Presentation and a Personality Test.

Helpful Interview?

Yes | No

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Inappropriate?

3.0

Average Interview

Overall Neutral Experience

Interviewed and No Offer

Interviewed Apr 2011 (took 2 days)

very flexible wrt interview timing.

First round was one 1:1 interview, a bit of fit and a small OR-type case

Second round a few weeks later started with them asking for background info you would expect at the offer stage (very odd).
Then there was one session where an existing employee explained a project, followed by 3 interviews:
a written case with subsequent presentation in front of 2 interviewers, then two 1:1 with partners, one fit-focussed, one case-focussed.

Nice people overall, but make sure you click with the senior partner (i.e., hiring manager) ;-)

Interview Questions

For 1st round, make sure you know what sales force optimization is (hint, hint)

Answer Question

Other Details

The interview consisted of a 1:1 Interview, a Group/Panel Interview, a Presentation and a Background Check.

Helpful Interview?

Yes | No

Inappropriate?

5.0

Very Difficult Interview

Overall Neutral Experience

Interviewed and No Offer

Interviewed May 2010 in Chicago, IL (took a day)

Applied on-line, received e-mail about 3 weeks later offering a phone interview. First there was a 30 min fit interview, pretty much just walking through my resume. Then there was a 30 min case question. The night before they sent an e-mail with a bunch of unlabeled charts and graphs. The case revolved around those graphs and I was asked some pretty specific quantitative questions. Like, calculate the 2nd derivative of an equation...I was not prepared. Got a call back the next day (less than 24 hrs) saying thanks but no thanks.

I pretty much blew the quantitative part though so it was not a surprise.