Ph.D. in life sciences. Applied online was contacted by recruiter for phone interview.
1St Round Phone with C3in Boston Office. Case on Asthma drug launch in Canada. Had to do some market sizing, think about competition, prices etc. and estimate total market size in dollar amount. After that think about drug launching, regulations, discounting and prices possible in various counties in Canada and come up with calculation for price that will maximize profits. Very quantitative case. Behavioral was, Why Consulting, Why SKP, Tell me about team experience, Tell about a market research experience and your startup experience. Heard about progression to next round in two days.
2nd Round Phone with Senior Consultant. Case on cardiovascular cholesterol lowering drug. The drug was blockbuster everywhere except Japan. Had to find out why and come up with strategies to turn it around. Everything else was same except the fact that patients were not asking doctor about this drug. Recommended marketing efforts to turn it around. Again very quant heavy case. Behavioral was tell me about your start up experience. Heard back the positive news in two days
3rd Round: Was invited to full day office round interview in Boston. Starting from 9:30AM had orientation with partner who introduced us to SKP business, growth , types of projects etc. Then had 1st interview with SC, mostly fit, with standard fit questions except, which other offers are you currently considering. Next one was with partner, who gave me WSJ article on AIDS drug facing pricing problem. He wanted me to read it in 10 mins , summarize it in one line and ask me for data that i will need to price drug, You need to know about supply - demand curves in order to answer this. I calculated price which will maximize profits using excel ( he allowed me to use excel). After that was lunch with two consultants, its not interviews, but mostly fit to see your interest in SKP, if you are nice person, can have intelligent conversations. This is time to know more about SKP. After that another interview with partner, case was on disposable asthma inhaler and drug and pricing, similar case to other partner case and very quant heavy, we also discussed standard fit questions. After that another interview with SC, with fit questions and case on blood thinner and market sizing, value positioning and price estimation. Final round was with Director in Med Tech practice and mostly fit interview.
AT end i was exhausted but i thoroughly enjoyed the process, i knew i had done well and was expecting an offer. Next day the partner called me and offered me the position.
Advice: Know stuff about pricing, market sizing, value proposition , brand messaging, it is helpful to read about drug pricing and supply/ demand curves. But i think fit trumps all you need to be genuine and know why you want to work at SKP and pricing.
People at SKP are very nice, helpful and genuine. It is growing at 19% and the work is very high impact and prestigious ( they priced 24 of 25 top blockbuster drugs)