Associate applicants have rated the interview process at Boston Consulting Group with 3.8 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 73% positive. To compare, the company-average is 65.8% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Associate roles take an average of 32 days to get hired, when considering 513 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Boston Consulting Group overall takes an average of 32 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Boston Consulting Group as a Associate according to 513 Glassdoor interviews include:
One on one interview: 39%
Skills test: 17%
Presentation: 9%
Personality test: 9%
Phone interview: 8%
IQ intelligence test: 6%
Background check: 5%
Other: 3%
Drug test: 2%
Group panel interview: 1%
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The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Boston Consulting Group in Oct 2011
Interview
Basic format (seems to be consistent with newer reviews):
First round: 2 interviews w/consultants, 30 minutes of case and 15 of experience/behavioral. This will take place either at your school (if it's targeted) or at the nearest office to your school (they don't reimbursed for travel expenses).
Second round: 3 interviews w/principals and/or partners, 20 minutes of case and 15 of experience/behavioral. This will take place at whatever office you would be a part of if offered (they pay expenses).
Decisions are communicated fairly quickly. First round decision during the following week; second round decision by the following Monday.
The cases are different than those from the others because they are very unstructured. After hearing the case and asking any questions, you'll construct a framework of issues that need to be considered. Then you'll be expected to guide yourself through the framework as much as possible. Generally you can tell if you're on the right track via the interviewer's verbal and visual feedback (though one of my interviewers was impossible to read). Keys to success: 1) Slow down and think things through. Don't hesitate to think out loud either. 2) Absolutely for sure think out loud with numbers. Don't be afraid that your approach might be wrong either. They don't care as long as you realize that it isn't quite right and are able to puzzle out how to do it correctly. 3) Don't accept the numbers blindly and don't waiver on your analysis (they might try to derail you). I wouldn't have gotten the offer if I hadn't essentially said, "forget the numbers, this won't work" and stuck with it. 4) Practice a lot, preferably with people who have done a real BCG interview before. Don't get me wrong, practicing a more structured case will also be helpful (since the data/numbers will be similar), but the BCG interview will be different, and you will bomb it if you don't make any adjustments (vice versa too of course).
The people I have encountered have consistently been very pleasant and down to earth (remarkable if you think about it). Both of the office I have been to were very nice and in some of the nicest buildings in the nicest/hippest parts of their respective cities.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Too far removed from it to remember specific questions, but there was nothing particularly ground breaking (obviously or I'd remember it).
I interviewed at Boston Consulting Group (Chicago, IL)
Interview
Round 0 had an assessment, round 1 had 1 case with a human then 1 case with a chatbot. The cases weren’t too complicated mostly revolving around profitability and break even pricing, but the subject matter was niche.
I interviewed at Boston Consulting Group (Jakarta)
Interview
- CV
- Online Casey
- First Round 2x interview with Principal
- Second Round 2-3x interview with Partners
Overall not very hard if you trained well, although i imagine
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Case interview standards, sometimes a bit abstract especially on partner level
3x case interviews, interviewee led, questions about experience and relevant background, always dig deeper to understand details eg on leadership experience. Cases vary all the time, need to ne ready for anything. Thinking js rewarded