Oftentimes, people lump all consulting interviews into the “case interview.” Although all consulting firms use the case method to some extent, each company has a distinctive style of conducting their interviews.

A few examples…

McKinsey

Command and control. Your structure up from doesn’t have to be that elaborate – after all, the case interviewer is going to be asking you all the questions. Be prepared for a lot of “Anything else?” McKinsey loves to see a ton of brainstorming and creativity.

(A side note: I heard McKinsey loves buzzwords. I didn’t hear this until after my interview and still got an offer, but it may be worth it to investigate this a bit more).

Bain

Bain generally has shorter interviews. You can almost always expect a market sizing question (or two!) in your first round. A lot of interviews are based off of the interviewer’s experiences, rather than a set interview materials.

BCG

You can always expect diagrams and slides to work off of. This means that there is always roughly a ‘right’ answer. This could be great or frustrating, depending on your personal preferences.

These are just a few brief tips on the Big 3. Spending a good 15 minutes or so to find out the style of each company you interview will really boost the productivity of your preparation. Good luck!

bain · bcg · Case Interview · case method · interview style · Market Sizing · mckinsey