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Posts from the ‘Management Consulting’ Category

Dec 1

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Detailed Statistical Analysis of Client Profiles

Our placement rate for the Sep/Oct 2012 recruiting period was 68.3% ~ 68%. This number only includes candidates pursuing McKinsey, BCG & Bain. If we include firms like Roland Berger, Oliver Wyman, Booz, AT Kearney etc, the number moves up to 71.6% ~ 72%.

This post is a detailed analysis of this placement rate. Clients who worked with us know we ask for a lot of information throughout the interaction. We ask that every interaction be shared with us, and preferably a copy of any networking emails sent, be mailed to us as well. Basically, we want to know as much as the candidate. Read more

Nov 16

Firmsconsulting Mentors
3 Comments

Firmsconsulting Mentors

We founded Firmsconsulting on the belief that ex-principals of the top-three strategy firms would be best equipped at placing clients into McKinsey, Bain, BCG & Roland Berger. Simply put, we believe clients should be coached by the very people who made the final decision on hiring.

There are substantial insights that only partners have and our clients should have this competitive advantage.

We are going to extend our principal-only core philosophy by working with four of the most eminent former McKinsey directors and BCG senior partners who will now provide mentorship to clients excelling in our case coaching program and demonstrating strong potential for growth.

The Mentors

All mentors were former-senior partners/directors of only McKinsey, BCG or Bain, and former co-leaders/leaders of their respective global practices. We could not find more eminent leaders in the consulting field. Three mentors currently serve as executive officers of Fortune 500 companies, including a bank.

Each mentor specializes in one of four functions: strategy, corporate finance, business technology or operations. All have broad domain expertise across multiple sectors. Our mentors have both US and non-US experiences – Latin America, Asia and Europe – to help clients pursuing consulting careers outside the US.

For confidentiality reasons, biographies of mentors who are current executive officers of listed companies will not be made public. However, full resumes of the assigned mentor will be available to our clients, whom would have signed our extensive NDA agreement – a standard requirement to work with us.

  • Kevin is the former McKinsey & Co. worldwide strategy practice co-leader and CEO transitions practice co-leader. Kevin’s biography and interview for Firmsconsulting may be viewed here, and an extensive Firmsconsulting Quarterly cover story piece about Kevin’s leadership style is presented here.
  • The former regional financial institutions group practice co-leader who is an executive officer of a listed Fortune 500 company and served as a senior executive of a bulge-bracket investment bank after leaving management consulting.
  • The former regional business technology practice co-leader and special-counsel to the CEO of a listed US Fortune 500 company.
  • The former senior partner and regional operations practice leader and an executive officer of a listed Fortune 500 company.

We may use different mentors from those listed above when this is required to augment a client’s specific goals. For example, in Japan we are working with a media executive over 3 weeks to position him as an experienced-hire and will thereafter pair him with a former McKinsey director, head of an Asian hub-office and practice leader to round out his leadership profile.

All interaction with mentors, as with coaches, is bound by our NDA agreements and should be treated as confidential at all times. We value discretion.

Logistics

Mentors may only be assigned after a client receives their case training program mid-point feedback at session 6. This will allow clients approximately six sessions to incorporate feedback from their coach and mentor while possessing sufficient basic consulting skills to benefit from the mentoring. After session 6, selected clients will have two ex-partners guiding them – a mentor and a coach.

Discussions with mentors should focus on career planning and positioning. We believe that the case training provided by a client’s coach is best complemented by the career planning provided by the mentor.

Clients began receiving invites into the mentorship program since 20 October 2012 and will continue receiving invites on a rolling basis. There is no deadline and all clients of Firmsconsulting are automatically eligible.

We advise clients to only proceed with follow-up mentoring sessions when they are prepared. Your mentor and coach will decide if/when it would be the appropriate time to have the next session.

Please note that, rescheduling mentoring meetings will not be permitted once a date and time are mutually agreed with your mentor.

Clients who are appointed a mentor and reside in Atlanta, Boston, Seoul or London may, pending mutual availability, meet their mentor.

Guidelines for Selecting Clients into the Mentorship Program

All clients in our program are treated equal. We have a thorough screening process to find, invite and groom tomorrow’s consulting leaders. You are in the program because you have passed our rigorous screening process – which has a 15% acceptance rate – and have the attributes required to succeed in management consulting, irrespective of your background or perceived weaknesses.

Therefore, your educational background, ranking of your school, GMAT scores and GPA or resume strength will not influence your chances of being selected for mentoring once you have joined the program.

Case performance in the first six sessions, potential displayed in the coaching sessions and adherence to our value system will be the three sole criteria used.

Clients can improve their chances of being awarded a mentor by doing the following.

First, prepare well and perform well in the case coaching sessions. If you subscribe to the video libraries it is imperative you use them to come adequately prepared. It is not enough to merely watch them, you have to understand them and apply the underlying principles. Listen carefully to feedback, take notes and use these notes. Ensure you are available to be contacted by your coach on Skype, arrive on time and ensure your equipment is tested before the session. The administrative details matter.

Second, potential is measured in three ways. We initially look at your ability to extract the lessons from the videos, and use them in your lessons. We thereafter look at how much of the feedback we provide in the session is captured, and how much of it is used appropriately either immediately after the feedback is provided, or in the next session. For example, consistently repeating a mistake lowers your chances of being selected. Finally, communication is vital. You need to constantly demonstrate your intellect by holding a meaningful discussion with your coach.

Third, but certainly not the last, is adherence to our value system. We select only the best candidates and groom future consulting leaders. We expect candidates to be ethical, respectful and professional at all times, be it in their interactions with us or decisions they make during the course of the program.

That said, upon selection to this competitive program, clients should make the adequate preparation to engage their mentors. Researching mentors, having a clear agenda and confidence in one’s abilities will go a long way towards creating a strong impression, and developing a mutually-beneficial relationship. The best mentors are those who take a personal interest in a client’s development, and mentors will do so if the client comes prepared. Listen to our podcast on “Influencing the interviewer” to understand how to build a compelling profile to sustain the relationship.

***

Talented future consulting leaders do not always graduate from Ivy League schools, hang out in Harvard Business Review chat-groups or read Bloomberg. We hold the rare distinction of placing the first McKinsey and BCG hires from several countries in Africa, the Middle East and South-East-Asia.

We are proud of that record and understand the significance of the role we play in nurturing talented individuals and providing opportunities they may not have easily had by themselves.

We want to find such people who have the intellect to succeed in management consulting, but not the easiest path to get there. A good example of such a candidate was a young lady from a tiny, war wracked country in Greater Asia who once wrote to us and asked for help. She clearly did not expect a positive reply and we took some time in responding as we assessed her profile. She did not fit the image of a typical consultant and the firms did not have even have an office in her home country. She had no relationships into management consulting, came from a very poor background and barely had a working laptop to be coached.

Those were some difficult coaching sessions as her laptop regularly overheated, the Skype connection dropped repeatedly and we were unable to share screens. In fact, she borrowed money for her interview preparation and travelling expenses.

Yet, she secured an offer at McKinsey; the first person from her country to do so.

We are always looking for such outstanding hidden talent, and both coaches and mentors will work to ensure worthy clients have as many advantages as possible going into the interview.

Clients in all our programs may be paired with mentors. Aspiring consultants, as described above, will make up the majority of mentees. However, current consultants at McKinsey, BCG and Bain are also a part of this program and will comprise a substantial percentage of all mentees.

Sep 30

2 Comments

McKinsey resources or financial services sector?

“Dear Michael,

We have been in contact a few times in the past and you have always provided useful advice. I used the mining version of SAAMC and it helped me on my first few business development roles in a small mining company in Australia. I have an interest in mining and resources and want to consider joining McKinsey specializing in this work.

I have both a masters’ degree in business administration and undergraduate degree in finance from highly regarded Australian schools – I have attached my résumé. Could you please offer some guidance for me on this?

I want to know if this is a sector in which I should specialize, in which country I should focus, and what would be my exit options in about 5 to 10 years. I want to know if this is a sector I could do impactful work. The other option is to follow the advice of all my friends who insist I should make the jump now and move to banking where I have some experience interning at a bulge-bracket bank.

JK” Read more

Sep 9

7 Comments

120 Case interview PhD practice sessions and failed a McKinsey mock-interview

“Dear Michael,

I have a question about case interview preparation which I was hoping you could answer for me. I provided some context and I am sorry if the email is far too long. I listened to the Firmsconsulting podcasts and articles I like the honest views provided.

I am currently a PhD candidate at Princeton, with an undergraduate degree from South Korea. I started casing about 6 months ago and completed about 120 cases with casing partners in my consulting club and over the internet. I bought several books and other programs. I paid to have my resume edited with an online service.

The problem is that I cased with a friend of a friend recently and it did not go well. He is a McKinsey manager. It was very, very bad and he really did not like my resume. I was embarrassed to explain to him that I did so much work. I am now a little confused and frustrated. I do not know what I did badly or correctly, and not sure what to do. I feel all my efforts have been wasted and concerned that if I continue, I will keep wasting my time.

Should I quit pursuing management consulting or am I using the wrong services?

SK” Read more

Sep 6

3 Comments

Case Interview Video, new: Roland Berger case

Roland Berger MBA level cases – senior consultant – are unusual for the types of things they can test. Many MBA candidates are surprised by the additional skills needed. Here is an example of a typical case:

“A Russian bank wants to enter the Ukraine market. You need to explain to me how you will design, structure and manage the project as well as cost the entire engagement.”

This is an actual case our clients in Toronto, Lagos and Chicago receive. While this may look like a case testing merely softer skills, it is really very creative and elegant in its ability to test both analytical and planning skills with candidates. In fact, it goes one level further than the answer-first approach to see what you would do to test that answer on a project site.

So do not be fooled.

McKinsey et al are completely obsessed with image, confidence, poise and analytical skills in case interviews. They only discuss leadership and management skills in the fit section, but do not test it. That is one area where the principle of demonstrated competency is never applied.

This case fixes that problem. To be able to answer this case, the candidate must be able to have the skills to tackle a complete McKinsey or BCG case, and then go further. A candidate would need to;

  • Explain how they will convert the hypotheses to analyses for testing. This specifically means the graphs the candidate expects to draw, with the accompanying x and y axes descriptors – the interviewer could even ask for the storyboard from these graphs and we have seen that in some Roland Berger interviews.
  • Next, the candidate must explain the data needed to complete the graph.
  • Then the candidate must determine the number of consultants, their seniority and time requirements to capture the data and complete the analyses.
  • Finally, the candidate must build a project timeline; lay the analyses in the correct order, since some parts can only be done sequentially, and determine the overall man-hours usage.
  • The cost of the project can be easily generated from the man-hours per level and the cost per hour per level against the total project time.

This approach tests to see if a candidate actually can manage a project and really understand the issues of converting analyses into project management steps. It is an excellent way to test how project-ready a candidate is. This case does not have a high pass rate.

This video about Roland Berger cases is only available to our case candidates and can be found in session six of our online case solution video library.

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Aug 27

14 Comments

Case Interviews in BCG Istanbul & McKinsey Boston

“Dear Michael,

Thank you for the wonderful discussion about management consulting in Turkey. 

If you recall, I am very likely to interview with BCG Istanbul & McKinsey Boston. I worked for another major consulting firm in Dubai prior to pursuing my MBA. While I like my current firm and it is highly regarded, I am keen to go back to Turkey and join a larger firm.

It would be great if you could offer me any advice in making this decision.

Melike*” Read more

Aug 24

14 Comments

Case Interview Solution, new: Corporate Finance

Corporate Finance cases are complex. I do not think anyone will disagree with this point. We receive several general requests a week from clients and candidates to determine if they are possible fit for McKinsey or BCG’s corporate finance teams. That is a tough question to answer without conducting a full corporate finance case and assessing performance. To solve this problem, we have created a comprehensive corporate finance case interview video. The candidate may watch this video and assess their performance independently. This is an actual McKinsey case currently used in the New York office. The detailed solutions and animations are entirely our own. We typically only make our 60 Corporate Finance Videos available to those interviewing for this practice, but have made this one video available to all clients to allow them assess their own abilities before choosing to pursue this practice.

The key lesson is that without a granular understanding of the basics of corporate finance, a candidate will never succeed in the interview. To solve corporate finance cases, a candidate must be very, very strong in conceptual strategy and finance. This case does not test arcane finance concepts. In fact, the finance techniques tested are fairly basic. However, to solve the case, the candidate must demonstrate an exceptional understanding of these concepts from the first principles. In preparing candidates for corporate finance cases we fully expect them to see the linkages between the different areas of finance, explain the limitations of the techniques and explain the practical implications of those limitations.

“Draw the WACC curve for a start-up from angel investor funding, through an IPO all the way to reaching maturity and explain the financial needs and likely financial strategy requirements at each stage of the curve?” 

This is not an uncommon question in our screening for corporate finance candidates hoping to join our program.

Corporate finance cases cover a broad area from M&A due diligence, profit maximization, financial strategy, capital markets analyses, post-merger synergy analyses and capturing etc. A lot of skills are required to operate across all these sub-disciplines of finance. At this point Firmsconsulting does not support candidates interviewing for the McKinsey Corporate Performance Center, which is a data analyses center. We only coach general hires for the corporate finance practice. Candidates interviewing for the CPC may access our training material but are not eligible to be coached.

If you want to see a complete consulting study on corporate finance, see this post we did on a recent McKinsey micro-finance engagement or our complete book, and supporting material, on developing a micro-finance recapitalization strategy for an emerging markets bank. The book, analyses and excel models for this fictitious client were so prescient that we were recently invited to present our findings to the South African Department of Trade and Industry. If you feel you are dodging heavy excel modelling by avoiding the finance practice, read this piece about the excel skills needed by liberal arts majors on general consulting engagements.

This case video is animated. Selected screen shots of the video are presented below. Clients will find this video in Corporate Finance Section of the online case solution library. The video is only available to clients of our case coaching service.

Related articles

Aug 23

Case Interview Solution, new: Competition Case

 

Competition cases are a misnomer and misleading. If all cases should examine competitors and the competitive dynamic of an industry, how can there be isolated competition cases? There cannot be, and trying to prepare for competition is really a waste of time. So why do we teach this technique? We teach the competition strategy case technique not because we expect a candidate to receive cases using just this isolated competition logic, but rather to present a way to analyse competition issues within any case. That an entire session is dedicated to competition analysis should indicate just how important this technique is. Too many candidates apply the Porter’s Five Forces, thinking it is enough to analyse competitors. There are too many problems using the Porter approach. Primarily, we have yet to see a candidate apply this technique correctly, because the majority of candidates have a very high-level understanding of the theory and techniques behind this type of strategy analyses.

A deep and thorough understanding of competition analyses will provide most of the skills a candidate needs to solve any strategy case. So taking the time to understand our counter-intuitive way to solve these cases is important.

Moreover, competition frameworks are not intuitive and therefore not easy to apply in a case. It is important for candidates to first understand the logic of competition case before trying to apply frameworks. This video explains that logic.

This case video is animated. Selected screen shots of the video are presented below. Clients will find this video in session 8 of the online case solution library. The video is only available to clients of our case coaching service.

Related articles

 

Aug 23

8 Comments

Case Interview Solution, new: Acquisition Case

Acquisition case interviews can be very messy and overwhelming since they can test so many elements. Interviewers could test an understanding of corporate strategy, market entry analyses, customer analyses, operations due diligence, opportunity cost calculations and valuation techniques. Either individually or all at once. The technique we teach for acquisition cases is directly driven by our strategy case approach, which makes perfect sense since both are linked closely.

That said, the technique can seem overwhelming to the interviewer and slightly too clever unless it is presented well, which this video will teach the viewer how to do. Acquisition cases are very common at Bain & Company because of the strong private equity heritage of the firm. We have therefore made some adjustments to the approach which Bain will particularly like, yet which needs to be toned down when using the approach with McKinsey, BCG, Booz and Roland Berger. These adjustments are also explained in the video.

If you want to see a complete consulting study for an acquisition strategy, see this post we did on Abbey National and how their acquisition strategy led them astray, to bankruptcy and then acquisition. The complete consulting archives – 1500 slides – for the study, released via a freedom of information request, are hosted here.

This case video is animated. Selected screen shots of the video are presented below. Clients will find this video in session 7 of the online case solution library. The video is only available to clients of our case coaching service.

Aug 9

11 Comments

Is this the decline of BCG?

Murat* is a young, ambitious and disciplined Rotman MBA candidate. We met at Oliver & Bonacini’s on the corner of Yonge Street on an unusually warm recent Friday in mid-March. The son of an Egyptian store owner and the first in his family to graduate from college, he exhibits the qualities of someone who needs to protect his progress, for the sake of his family. He orders the smallest and cheapest item on the menu, and seemed a little surprised by the prices, even though it was our treat. Read more

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