I applied online. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Bain & Company
Interview
Application simple: CV and nothing else
Received invite for first round interview. Have to say preparation materials were wildly different to what I got. There are 3 rounds, 1 hour each. Round 1: case interview. This was very tricky for me. There's a lot of data and charts and they didn't give me a chance to ask clarifying question. The case was about a non-profit tutoring company that wanted to expand - was quite interesting but weird. Found it quite challenging.
Round 2: behavioural interview. No standard memorisation stuff. They want you to really think and answer. They will give you a situation and you must say how you would approach it - be specific and focused. Or they are keen to know certain experiences about failure, weakness or stuff like that.
Round 3: market sizing - nice and chill. I was about about the revenue of a gas station. No surprises here.
What would you do if a team comes to you saying they are struggling
A client is anxious about a project, what would you do
A time where you worked towards a goal that mattered to you. What were the challenges you faced
If you’re stuck on an analysis but your manager is away
A time when you received challenging feedback
You’re on a case well outside your comfort zone, what do you do
Very long process. I heard that they relied heavily on seeing if we were able to use our feedback to improve throughout the rounds however because one of my interviews was running late I was not able to get any feedback to improve.
It was fine. The partner round interviews were less structured and much more difficult. Majority of my interviewers were really nice which made the process better than what I had anticipated.
2 rounds of interviews, each round consisting of 3 interviews with cases. In the first round 2 case interviews and 1 with HR. In the 2nd round you have 3 interviews with more senior profiles like managers and partners.
Bain & Company interviews FAQs
Associate Consultant applicants have rated the interview process at Bain & Company with 3.6 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 74% positive. To compare, the company-average is 71.5% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Associate Consultant roles take an average of 23 days to get hired, when considering 840 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Bain & Company overall takes an average of 26 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Bain & Company as a Associate Consultant according to 840 Glassdoor interviews include:
One on one interview: 46%
Skills test: 13%
Presentation: 10%
Phone interview: 9%
IQ intelligence test: 6%
Personality test: 5%
Background check: 5%
Other: 3%
Drug test: 2%
Group panel interview: 2%
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