First-round interview: 2 × 45-min sessions (fit + case each)
2
Second-round / final interview: 2–3 × 45-min sessions (fit + case, potentially with a partner)
3
Some firms add: written case or group case exercise at assessment centre stage
Note: Each round typically has two interviews back-to-back. Each interview includes both a fit component (15–20 min) and a case (25–30 min). The fit and case are scored separately. A strong case cannot fully compensate for a weak fit.
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About this role
Consulting interviews are famously rigorous and follow a distinctive format: a combination of fit/behavioural questions and case interviews. The case interview — where you're asked to solve a business problem live in the room — is the most important element at most firms and the one that most candidates under-prepare for. Top firms reject over 95% of applicants at the case stage.
What to expect in a Management Consultant interview
Consulting interviews are famously rigorous and follow a distinctive format: a combination of fit/behavioural questions and case interviews. The case interview — where you're asked to solve a business problem live in the room — is the most important element at most firms and the one that most candidates under-prepare for. Top firms reject over 95% of applicants at the case stage.
The case interview is testing structured thinking, hypothesis-driven problem-solving, comfort with numerical estimation, and communication under pressure — all simultaneously. Interviewers are not looking for the "right answer" (there often isn't one); they're evaluating whether your reasoning process is clear, your structure is mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive (MECE), and whether you ask for the right data rather than the most data.
Fit questions in consulting interviews go deeper than most industries. "Tell me about a time you demonstrated leadership" at McKinsey or BCG means: walk me through a situation where you influenced a complex stakeholder environment, dealt with ambiguity, and delivered something that wouldn't have happened without you. The bar is high and the examples need to be substantive.