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CONTENTS

The Interview Process

Interviewer’s Perspective

Why We Use Case Studies and How to Prepare

Sample Case

Practice Advice and Logistics

Congratulations on being offered an interview with The Boston Consulting Group (BCG). To make it this far, you are already an outstanding candidate with the education, background and experience we value.

This document is designed to help you prepare for your upcoming interviews and to help answer some of the questions you may have at this stage.

About The Boston Consulting GroupBCG is a global management consulting firm and the world’s leading advisor on business strategy. We partner with clients in all sectors and regions to identify their highest-value opportunities, address their most critical challenges, and transform their businesses.

Our customised approach combines deep insight into the dynamics of companies and markets with close collabo-ration at all levels of the client organisation. This ensures that our clients achieve sustainable competitive advantage, build more capable organisations, and secure lasting results. Founded in 1963, BCG is a private company with more than 65 offices in over 35 countries and around 4,500 consultants worldwide

WELCOME TO BCG

Your first round will consist of two Interviews and one Online Case. Decision rounds will be organized in common agreement with your inviting office.

The Online CaseThis online case study will give you the opportunity to show how you would work by yourself on a real case.

The InterviewsEach interview will be conducted by a senior BCGconsultant and will last about 45 minutes:

◊ 10-25 mins: The personal interview – an open discussion on your prior experiences, accomplishments and motivations

◊ 20-25 mins: The case study – work through a typical business problem that you would confront at BCG

◊ 5-10 mins: Q&A – your chance to ask questions

How You Will be EvaluatedEach interviewer will try to develop a comprehensive understanding of your potential at BCG. They will try to answer questions along a broad set of criteria throughout the interview.

How Effective and Impactful are You?We are looking for self-motivated and tenacious individuals who can demonstrate being both a leader and team player. We will test that your answers have substance and that you can back up your claims. Do you actively pursue selfdevelopment and drive to deliver results?

Can You Solve Complex Problems and Generate Insight?Consulting requires you to structure problems and resolve ambiguity. You need to show business judgment and the ability to prioritise. You need to be rigorous, accurate and quantitatively sound. We are looking for individuals who are curious and creative, who go beyond the obvious. Finally you need to be able to synthesise and develop conclusions.

Do You Have the Communication Skills and Presence Needed for Consulting?Do you project self-assurance and credibility? You should communicate concisely and eff ectively. Remember to actively listen and show that you can build relationships and trust.

INTERVIEWPROCESS

Name: StephenRole: Principal, Head of University RecruitingEducation: MEng, Engineering, Birmingham University; MBA, INSEADPrior Experience: Design Engineer and Project Manager, Siemens (Germany, USA, China) BCG Experience: Stephen has worked in the Melbourne and London offices at BCG with a focus on consumer goods, retail and operations

INTERVIEWER’S PERSPECTIVE

While we evaluate candidates across various criteria, I am ultimately trying to answer two questions: Can I send you alone to the client? Would I like to have you on my case?

You don’t need to ‘crack the case’. Sometimes you won’t get to the answer to the case because you missed something small. This is not such a big deal so long as I can see that your approach was well structured, hypothesis driven, and that you exercised sound judgement and remained composed throughout.

Listen to your interviewer. If I offer advice on where to go with your analysis, take it.

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yourself (many other candidates will!). I spoke to my interviewer aer the first round regarding this point and made sure that I acted on the feedback given.

I did Teach First aer university and was worried that I might not be the type of person BCG was looking for. However, many people come from a diverse range of backgrounds (PhDs, medical students etc). Try to use this to your advantage. In particular think about how the skills you’ve acquired are transferable to consulting.

Whilst showing confidence and enthusiasm during the interview process, it is important to be yourself as much as possible. I also used the interview as a two-way process, to find out more about BCG and whether I would enjoy working with them.

Role: Junior ConsultantEducation: BA, Philosophy, Politics and Economics, Oxford University BCG Experience: Pella has worked on projects in media, IT, Pharma, HR and was invlolved in a pro-bono case for an educational charity

Dress professionally, preferably in a suit, and aim to get to the interview early. Ten to fieen minutes beforehand gives me enough time to relax and alleviate any stress. Pella, Junior Consultant

Present yourself in a confident and professional manner, speak slowly and clearly. Think about eye contact and body language and try not to fidget (you might even want to remove any distracting items). I always find that smiling and adopting a positive outlook throughout an interview creates a favourable impression.

During the interview, be enthusiastic about your personal experiences so that the interviewer can see your passion coming through. Remember, this is your chance to show that you have the drive and determination to succeed at BCG. Even if it feels a little unnatural, be sure to sell

GIVING A GOOD IMPRESSION

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The Personal InterviewThe personal interview is an open discussion on your prior experiences, accomplishments and motivations. While we recommend that you prepare for some of the more obvious questions, try to be yourself and let your own personality shine through. Be ready to think on your feet for any unexpected questions.

Some typical questions that you should be ready to answer include

◊ Why strategy consulting? Why BCG?◊ What attributes do you have which would make you a

valuable addition to BCG?◊ What is your greatest strength? Your greatest weakness?◊ When have you demonstrated leadership?

The interviewer will spend time talking to you about your application, so you should know it inside-out.

It might be helpful to prepare the following to ensure you communicate your ‘story’ effectively in one minute, two minute, five minute versions: What sort of things have you been involved in, how did you get involved, what did you learn, what impact did you have? What sets you apart? Be prepared to guide the conversation if appropriate.

The interviewer will also try to determine what you would be like to work with and whether you will fit in with the BCG culture which is open and collaborative. Keep it conversational and fun. Show energy and confidence – smile and engage the interviewer.

THE PERSONALINTERVIEW

Know your CV inside-out. You should be prepared to answer any questions related to your experiences and achievements. However, your interviewer will not know your CV bullet-by-bullet so make sure you highlight any relevant points which will reflect well on you.

Don’t be put off if an interviewer asks you a question you haven’t prepared for – be ready to think on your feet and just take a moment before responding. I had helped start a football league while at university; one of my interviewers was a football fan and asked me what three things I would do to raise the profile of women’s football in the UK. Of course I had not prepared for this question, but could come up with some sensible answers aer taking a few seconds to think and gather my thoughts. Just be natural and try not to panic!

Role: AssociateEducation: BSc, Philosophy & Economics,London School of EconomicsBCG Experience: Simon has worked on strategy, growth and organisational design cases for retail, media and financial services

Have a well-prepared answer for key questions, for example, “Why strategy consulting? Why BCG? What attributes do you have which would make you a valuable BCG consultant?” I made sure that I had strong and compelling answers to these questions.Simon, Associate

Think about questions regarding personal qualities and practise some example answers. Frequent questions in my interviews were similar to: What is your greatest strength? When have you demonstrated leadership? – but these did vary quite a bit. I found that it was important to listen to the question asked rather than just recite a rehearsed answer which might not always relate to what was specifically being asked. So be yourself and try to treat it like a conversation rather than an interview.

THE PERSONAL INTERVIEW

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Why We Use Case StudiesCase studies help us gain insight into how you might approach and analyse a typical business issue. We want to assess your problem-solving capabilities, analytics and business judgment. We find that case studies are the best way of evaluating this.

Case studies also give you a perspective of what consul-tants do. The case studies are representative of our work. Our interview cases are generally taken from real BCG case work.

Similar to a case study, as a consultant at BCG, you would be trusted to lead case team knowledge and thinking on a specific module. You would encounter complex problems and be expected to gather and synthesise data and find innovative solutions. Above all you are expected to think strategically and go beyond the obvious.

However, keep in mind that in the interview there are not always clear ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answers. To do well on the case, the interviewer is looking for you to

◊ Provide a clear structure for your analysis◊ Prioritise the components of the problem◊ Listen and use relevant information to develop

a clear recommendation

Case performance is not the only metric BCG uses to evaluate candidates; others include education, work and life experiences as well as interpersonal and communication skills.

WHY WE USECASE STUDIES

HOW TO PREPARE FOR THE CASE

How to Prepare for and Approach the CaseGenerally, the case interview will follow 5 broad stages. Below we have identified some typical areas that may be covered in each, but be aware that case studies are a discussion rather than of a set format.

IntroductionUnderstand the situation and question. Organise the facts and ensure they are current. Ask questions to clarify any details of which you are unsure.

ApproachTake some time to think and structure how you want to tackle the case. Use what makes sense to you - not necessarily a traditional framework. Develop some working hypotheses and prioritise!

AnalyticsInvestigate the case and focus on the question posed. Follow a fact-based approach. Ground any assumptions in logic. Summarise your thinking at regular intervals and outline explicitly the direction of your argument. Remember to sense check your results.

RecommendationSummarise your findings and drive to conclusions.

Next StepsIf appropriate, outline any gaps in the approach / analytics. What else should be considered?Some Tips for Practising Case StudiesWe recommend that when practising the case studies,

you make it as realistic as possible (eg timing, write down ideas/approach, talk out loud). If practising with friends, playing the interviewer role may help to see things from the “other side”.

Ask friends who have experience with case interviews for advice or for mock interviews.

For further problem solving practice, you could investigate◊ Publications such as Vault, Wet Feet ◊ Interview workshops and mock interviews◊ Student peers, current and former BCG-ers

Practising this approach through the example cases in this brochure and online at www.bcg.com, should help you familiarise yourself with case studies and perform to the best of your ability on the day.

Introduction Approach Analytics Recommendations Next Steps

• Pose problem to be solved

• Provide basic facts (will vary in detail)

• Provide guidance and steer discus-sion

• Ask questions to check logic and rationale

• Provide data and context

• Prompt for recom-mendation

• Test and validate recommendations

• May prompt with “is there anything else that should be considered?”

• Logical, structured thinking

• Accuracy and effici-ency of computations

• Able to translate into meaning

• Clarity and succinct-ness of recommenda-tions

• Creativity, broader thinking, ability to translate into actionable steps

• N/A

• Clarify details as necessary to make sure you under-stand the problem

• Take some time to develop an ap-proach

• Explain approach• State and prioriti-

se hypotheses• Identify which ana-

lyses you think you need and why

• Ask for relevant data; explain any assumptions

• Execute computa-tions

• Explain the impact

• Conclude analyses with actionable recommendations

• Tie back to initial hypotheses

• Identify next steps for investigation, assumptions to verify

• Possible imple-mentation steps

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price of a product, use commonsense to suggest a number – this is realistic and applauded. One of my case studies was on a retail company. I have never had any experience with the business side of retail, but I have been a shopper. So, I just made some assumptions and checked with the interviewer that they were logical. The interviewer later gave me positive feedback about being proactive, rather than just saying “I don’t know”.

Case studies will usually involve some numbers. Inter-viewers are looking to see if you have a good grasp of mental arithmetic. Use the pen and paper to help, and use reasonable simplification and rounding to make your calculations easier. A quick check at the end is good common practice – does it make sense?

Role: Junior ConsultantEducation: BSc, Neuroscience & Medicine, Bristol UniversityBCG Experience: Alexander has worked on a range of cases from healthcare to private equity, and has recently been focusing on organisational design within the energy industry

Practice case studies either with a friend, online or at the careers centre. Be sure to pretend it is a real interview – you won’t get much out of it if you keep looking at the answer!Alexander, Junior Consultant

Try not to speak too soon or jump to conclusions too quickly. Listen properly to a question and take time to think about what you’re being asked. When I interviewed, I asked for two minutes to get my thoughts together, which is completely acceptable. I then told the interviewers what I thought the case was asking to check that I was answering the right question.

Ask questions to clarify if any points are unclear and make sensible assumptions. You are only expected to have general knowledge, not expert knowledge! If you don’t have information on the size of a market or the

UNDERSTANDING THE CASE STUDY

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issues. Also remember to be flexible with the structure as interviewers may lead you to a different path.

Talk through the case with the interviewer, telling them what you are doing and why at every stage. Use them as a discussion partner. You and the interviewer can catch mistakes if they are made and so correct them quickly. Remember it is how you think, not the specific answer that the interviewer wants to know.

Interviewers want to see how you think through a problem, rather than reciting frameworks which you’ve learnt. Through practise, I had built very simple keyword diagrams such as Cost = Variable + Fixed Costs. I did use some of these in the case interviews, but no case ever stuck to these completely so don’t let yourself be limited by frameworks and don’t panic if the case goes in a different direction than you had prepared for.

Role: AssociateEducation: BA, Economics & Management, Oxford UniversityBCG Experience: Since joining, Ailbhe has worked on a strategy and implementation case for a European electrical goods retailer

Don’t expect to know all the answers! If you are unsure of the answer, explain an approach on how to get there. In one interview, I was asked a question about merging two companies. Ailbhe, Associate

Aer a while thinking “What do I do?”, I explained three key aspects you would need to look at. My interviewer then provided guidance and hints on how to expand further.

Structure, structure structure! It’s very easy to jump into a problem but structure allows you to break up the question and be more concise. I personally try to start by explicitly laying out the structure for example by saying “There are three important aspects: firstly,...” This has the added advantage that if one of the aspects is not essential, the interviewer can suggest you focus on only a subset of the

ANSWERING THE CASE STUDY

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CASE EXAMPLE

Our client is a leading UK mobile phone network operator with slowing revenue growth and falling profits. They want our help to increase the profitability of their core business (ie phone calls and SMS) in the UK. On which factors do you think they should focus?

Interviewee Question/ResponseAsk clarifying questions if necessary“Do we want to focus only on phone calls and SMS - is exploring new revenue streams part of the case?”

Interviewer’s Thoughts and ResponsesCandidate is ensuring he/she understands case and asking for clarification before answering question“Yes, that is a good point but the client only wants us to focus on phone and SMS revenues. Also consider that the case is UK specific.”

Interviewee Question/Response

Take some time to digest the information and come up with some quick hypotheses“Increasing profitability means increasing revenue and/ or decreasing costs. Some things I’d like to look into are: ◊ Growing the number of customers◊ Increasing the amount each customer spends◊ Reducing costs”

Interviewer’s Thoughts and ResponsesStructures the problem. A good start with some clear hypotheses but could go into a little more depth“OK. We have some basic market data in Exhibit 1. Have a look – does this change your thinking?”

Interviewee Question/Response“It seems the number of active users is flattening off, but only two thirds of the 60m people in the UK are active users. So the client could try to win non-users as customers or poach customers from other networks.”

Interviewer’s Thoughts and ResponsesShows creativity in thinking about the problem.Identifies two sources of new customers.“Good point. I can tell you that there’s little room to cut costs and winning non-users has proved tough. So let’s take this idea of poaching customers forward.”Interviewer is steering conversation towards one particular hypothesis. If this happens, go with it!“Where would you start with this idea?”

1217 20 23 24 25 25 25 26

2

9

15

26

3234 35 36 36 37 37 38

7

1998 1999

20

40

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

1114 14 12 12 12 12 12 1215

4

Subscribtion

Pre-paid

Active Users (M)

Exhibit 1: UK Mobile Phone Market

Interviewee Question/ResponseFeel free to take some time to think about this – you don’t need to jump in straight away!“The client could do a number of things including:◊ Reducing pricing to get more customers◊ Better marketing and advertising”

Interviewer’s Thoughts and Responses“That sounds logical and the client is keen to do both. Do you think there are differences between customers which need to be thought about?”

Interviewee Question/Response“The client should target the most profitable customers. One place to start might be looking at pre-paid vs subscription customers. Do we know anything about the profitability of these customers?”

Interviewer’s Thoughts and ResponsesShows business judgement. Excellent. Honed in on the key issue of profitability of different customer types“Great. Pre-paid customers are on the average less profitable than subscription customers. Have a look at Exhibit 2 which shows different subscription customer types for the client. We call these ‘segments’. Can you tell anything about the profitability of different types of customers here?”

Interviewee Question/ResponseTake a moment to look at this carefully“Yes – there’s a column with revenue contribution from the client segment and also segment share for client. That tells you how much revenue you get from a typical customer in each segment.”

Interviewer’s Thoughts and Responses“Good. So to get to profitability by customer type you’re assuming each customer type costs the same to serve, which is a fair assumption.”Candidate made this implicit assumption – a strong candidate would point this out“Can you rank how profitable these customer types are?”

Interviewee Question/Response“Yes, that’s the assumption. Give me a moment.”Divide revenue contribution by client customers by segment to get revenue per customer. Explain your answer (shown on next page).

Interviewer’s Thoughts and ResponsesDemonstrates rigour in analysis“Good. So you now know how profitable these customer types are. What should the client do then?”

Exhibit 2: Subscription Customer Segmentation

Customer Segments

Older Sleepers

Hyperactives

Incomers

Moderns

Careful

Young Movers

Total Customers

AverageAge in

Segment

50

35

45

35

40

22

39

–

MarketShare by

Segment in %

20

5

10

30

15

20

100

12M

ClientCustomers by Segment in %

25

10

10

30

15

10

100

4M

Revenue Contribution

by Segment in %

25

30

10

15

5

15

100

£1.5Bn

Customers Leaving Each

Year in %

20

20

20

30

30

50

28

CASE EXAMPLE

Interviewee Question/Response“Go aer the most profitable customers – Hyperactives and Young Movers are the top two.”

Interviewer’s Thoughts and ResponsesAble to digest the information to prioritise the customer segments. A strong candidate would also have proactively considered the differences in retention between customer segments.“This sounds fair. We had some information earlier in Exhibit 2. Can you use that to recommend what the client could do to go aer these customer segments?”

Interviewee Question/Response“The client’s doing well with Hyperactives with a higher than market share of these customers and below average percent leaving each year. On the contrary, the client has below average penetration with Young Movers with a very high percentage leaving each year. The client should assess

what it is doing well with Hyperactives and further consolidate these customers and also look more closely at what Young Movers want and address the high percentage leaving each year.”

Interviewer’s Thoughts and ResponsesSynthesises and able to develop conclusionAccurately described the issues with these two customer segments“Excellent. Now have a think of what could be done to improve the client’s share of Young Movers and how to retain these customers. And if the CEO of the client walks in and asks you for a 15 second summary of your latest thinking, what would you say?”Interviewer wants to close off the interview and push towards a concise recommendation

Interviewee Question/Response“I’d say, the client needs to focus on the highly profitable Hyperactives and Young Movers segments. Consolidate with Hyperactives and improve penetration and loyalty of Young Movers”.

Interviewer’s Thoughts and ResponsesConcise and to the point. A strong candidate would have also proactively described ways to improve loyalty of Young Movers, such as loyalty rewards and/or upgraded handsets.

Profitability of the Customer Segments

Customer Segments

Older Sleepers

Hyperactives

Incomers

Moderns

Careful

Young Movers

Client CustomerShare in %

25

10

10

30

15

10

Client RevenueContribution in %

25

30

10

15

5

15

Estimated Revenueper Customer in £

375

1,125

375

187.5

125

562.5

Estimated Profitability Rank

3rd

1st

3rd

5th

6th

2nd

CASE EXAMPLE

SOME FINAL TIPS

Practical Advice and LogisticsIf staying overnight before the interview, familiarise yourself with the route and time from your hotel to the office/interview location.

Aim to arrive ten to fieen minutes before the interview. You’ll be given short biographies of your interviewers when you arrive; in addition to presenting a good impression and allowing you time to relax, arriving early will give you a chance to familiarise yourself with your interviewers’ backgrounds.

BCG consultants may be in the interview waiting area and if so, are happy to discuss any aspect of BCG or the interview. Do let them know if you would prefer some peace and quiet however!

General Do’s ...◊ Listen to the interviewer and interact with him/her◊ Structure the problem by developing a customised

framework◊ Focus on issues where most impact can be brought◊ Explore a variety of options with creative thinking◊ Demonstrate business judgment◊ Make quick and accurate calculations◊ Synthesise your thoughts and conclude your analysis

... and Don’ts◊ Jump immediately into the analysis without

the proper level of understanding◊ Panic if the answer isn’t readily apparent◊ Defend your own solution at all cost◊ Internalise your thought process◊ Stick to an artificial framework (3 C’s, 4 P’s, ...)◊ Circulate cases or use advance knowledge

Finally – be confident in yourself. We are oen unable to offer excellent candidates an interview due to the very competitive process. Getting this far is already very impressive. We hope that together with the information presented here, you will be able to enjoy the experience and perform to the best of your ability.

Good luck, and we look forward to meeting you soon.

Any further questions?If you would like to find out more about BCG London, please visit our website www.bcg.com or contact the London recruiting team. Phone: +44 207 753 5353

BCG is an equal opportunity employer.© The Boston Consulting Group, Inc. 20 0. All rights reserved.