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Consultant Interview Questions

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Consultant Interview Questions

While there's no set list, businesses are pretty clear about qualities they like to see demonstrated by their employees and applicants. Generally, a consultant interviewer is looking for evidence of confidence, communication skills, your ability to gain a client's trust, overall leadership skills, and knowledge of your subject matter to name a few. There are generally two types of consulting interview questions: fit — designed to find out about your personal experience, motivation, and soft skills, and case — designed to assess your analytical consulting skills.

Top Consultant Interview Questions & How To Answer

Question 1

Question #1: Why do you want to work for this firm?

How to answer
How to answer: This question is asked to reveal your motivation for choosing a specific organization and to test your knowledge of the industry. Research the firm you're interviewing with and make sure to highlight some of your key points of interest. Additionally, mention any ways in which the company's values align with your own.
Question 2

Question #2: Give an example of a time you lead a team.

How to answer
How to answer: To answer this question, choose an experience in which you made a meaningful impact while managing or working with others. Provide context regarding the situation and objective, describe your leadership role, what actions you took, the outcome of those actions, and what you learned about yourself during the process.
Question 3

Question #3: How would you help a local cafe recover from a sharp profitability decline?

How to answer
How to answer: Breaking down complex business problems is one of the hallmarks of consulting. For questions like this, there's no universal framework — you'll have to create your own. Ask questions, define the problem clearly, create Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive (MECE) categories, show how you would analyze each category, and define your next steps.

188,174 consultant interview questions shared by candidates

So, it’s time for another video challenge - we promise this is the last one! For this challenge, we are keen to see how clearly and succinctly you can explain one of our idea generation tools - Assumption Crusher. After you have read the description of Assumption Crusher below, please make a video of yourself explaining Assumption Crusher to someone who is not familiar with the concept. Like the previous video, we don’t care about quality, we just care about watching you and seeing how well you can explain a concept. We look forward to seeing your video! Please send it back to us within 48 hours. **ASSUMPTION CRUSHER** What is it? An idea generation tool. How to use it 1. Clearly articulate the challenge you want to solve. 2. Generate a list of assumptions that you hold around the given challenge. It can be helpful to consult with a couple of other people to draw out key assumptions (because assumptions by their very nature sit at the back of our minds). Assumptions can be both real (e.g. Our budget is $X) or perceived (e.g. Our staff aren’t engaged). Relevant assumptions may be about why it is a challenge, how it became a challenge, and assumptions around what may be the best ways to solve it. 3. Crush each of these assumptions. You can do this by asking: what if the opposite was true or what if something very different was true. 4. Use the crushed assumption as a springboard to generate new ideas from. Why use it? Whenever we have a problem to solve, we will have a set of assumptions that govern our thinking. Assumptions fence in our thinking and limit our ability to think creatively. By crushing these assumptions we are allowing peoples’ thinking to venture into new spaces/realities, increasing the possibility of breakthrough idea generation. When to use it? Use during ideation sessions, particularly when you believe participants are very ‘close’ to the challenge you are trying to solve (because if they are, they are likely to hold many assumptions which fence in their thinking). Assumption Crusher can also be used on an individual basis during idea generation and problem solving. An example Challenge: improve the experience of buying a pair of jeans. Assumption: I always have to take in 5+ pairs of jeans just to find the right size because sizing differs to much between brands. Crushed assumption: What if I only had to try on one pair of jeans because I know the sizing will be just right? Idea: A body scanning mobile app that scans your body and takes measurements, and recommends a pair of jeans that will fit you perfectly.

Innovation Consultant

Interviewed at Inventium

5★
Apr 16, 2017

So, it’s time for another video challenge - we promise this is the last one! For this challenge, we are keen to see how clearly and succinctly you can explain one of our idea generation tools - Assumption Crusher. After you have read the description of Assumption Crusher below, please make a video of yourself explaining Assumption Crusher to someone who is not familiar with the concept. Like the previous video, we don’t care about quality, we just care about watching you and seeing how well you can explain a concept. We look forward to seeing your video! Please send it back to us within 48 hours. **ASSUMPTION CRUSHER** What is it? An idea generation tool. How to use it 1. Clearly articulate the challenge you want to solve. 2. Generate a list of assumptions that you hold around the given challenge. It can be helpful to consult with a couple of other people to draw out key assumptions (because assumptions by their very nature sit at the back of our minds). Assumptions can be both real (e.g. Our budget is $X) or perceived (e.g. Our staff aren’t engaged). Relevant assumptions may be about why it is a challenge, how it became a challenge, and assumptions around what may be the best ways to solve it. 3. Crush each of these assumptions. You can do this by asking: what if the opposite was true or what if something very different was true. 4. Use the crushed assumption as a springboard to generate new ideas from. Why use it? Whenever we have a problem to solve, we will have a set of assumptions that govern our thinking. Assumptions fence in our thinking and limit our ability to think creatively. By crushing these assumptions we are allowing peoples’ thinking to venture into new spaces/realities, increasing the possibility of breakthrough idea generation. When to use it? Use during ideation sessions, particularly when you believe participants are very ‘close’ to the challenge you are trying to solve (because if they are, they are likely to hold many assumptions which fence in their thinking). Assumption Crusher can also be used on an individual basis during idea generation and problem solving. An example Challenge: improve the experience of buying a pair of jeans. Assumption: I always have to take in 5+ pairs of jeans just to find the right size because sizing differs to much between brands. Crushed assumption: What if I only had to try on one pair of jeans because I know the sizing will be just right? Idea: A body scanning mobile app that scans your body and takes measurements, and recommends a pair of jeans that will fit you perfectly.

What motivates me to get out of bed in the morning? What do I constitute as high standards? How can Westbourne help me achieve my life goals? What personal and professional traits would I bring into the Westbourne Partners business?
avatar

Senior Recruitment Consultant

Interviewed at Westbourne Partners

3.9★
Feb 16, 2017

What motivates me to get out of bed in the morning? What do I constitute as high standards? How can Westbourne help me achieve my life goals? What personal and professional traits would I bring into the Westbourne Partners business?

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