Operational Management Consulting Interview Preparation Guide

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► Are we not too small for you?

► What experience do you have with our business area?
► What are the backgrounds of your consultants?

► Are you always successful in the projects you work on?

► How many of your customers reach their goals?

► Are you not too good for us?

► What are your payment terms?

► How can we integrate this in our existing structure?

► How much will you be around?
► Have you developed the model yourselves?
► How do you guarantee the results you talk about?
► What sets you apart from other consultants?
► Who do you work with within the organisation? - the entire organisation?
► Is it enough to work with only one area of operation?

► Shouldn't our managers already know this?

► Which firms are you interviewing with? How have you gone?
► If given an offer, how will you decide whether or not to accept it?
► What do you think are the differences between your current company and this firm?
► What do you think you'll add to this firm?

► Why do you want to work in consulting? And why this firm?
► What do you believe a consultant does? What would you consider to be the three most important qualities of a successful consultant?
► How is our practice different from other consulting firms?
► If I was to review your performance after six months, what do you think my evaluation of you would be?

► What is the most important thing that you have learned in the past year?
► What has been your biggest setback?
► What is it that you do?
► But what is it really that you do?
► How long does it take?

► Give me an example of a time when you had to make a split second decision?
► What is your typical way of dealing with conflict? Give me an example?
► Have you ever had to motivated others? Tell me about such an experience?
► Give me an example of a time when you used your fact-finding skills to solve a problem?
► Highlight your top achievements/ accomplishments?

► Describe a time when you were faced with a stressful situation that demonstrated your coping skills?
► Give me a specific example of a time when you used good judgment and logic in solving a problem?
► Tell me about a time when you had to use your speaking and presentation skills to influence a groups opinion?
► Explain a situation when you had to go above and beyond the call of duty in order to get a job done?
► Have you ever had too many things to do and you were required to prioritize your tasks?

► How would you go about advising a hypothetical client on commercializing a teleportation device that they have invented?
► Should I open Chick-Fil-A on Sunday?
► Should I put Wi-Fi on my airline?
► Our client is thinking of acquiring a company that makes a certain type of medical device; what do they need to consider in making their decision?
► Our client wants to enter the wine market; how should they go about doing so?

► Client X is deciding how best to enter a new market. They have a choice of buying an existing company, or developing the technology in-house. How would you think about advising them to make the best decision?
► How should a nuclear plant deal with waste products?(Hint: the same person who submitted this question told us that the answer involves heavy analytic calculation about the recycling of plutonium, various storage option with different cost structures, and recommendations taking into account various green initiatives and business risks)?
► An online brokerage is growing well but can't seem to reach their profitability goals; what could be going on?
► You're discussing a contemplated divestiture with the CFO of a large corporation. What are some of the points you'd want to make in considering how our firm can potentially assist him or her? What key themes would you want to hit on?
► Your client is a Fortune 50 aerospace and defense company interested in entering adjacent markets through organic or inorganic expansion. Which markets should she enter and how?

► How many airplanes leave from Boston's Logan Airport on Monday?
► How many light bulbs are there in Manhattan?
► What is the market size for a cancer diagnostic technology in the U.S.?
► How many passengers fly through LAX in a calendar year?

► Tell me about a project that didn't go well and why and what you would do differently next time?
► How do you quantify a lead?
► Can you describe your brand?
► How have you dealt with low team morale in the past? Provide an example of when you had to give a bad performance review?
► Describe a project which challenged you. Describe a client relationship which was challenging?

► Please describe your most important leadership experience and the impact that you had as a leader?
► Describe a problem that you would like to tackle at [this firm], why and how would you pursue it?
► If I were to speak to your colleagues from your most recent internship (or friends in school), what would they say about you? What are the strengths and weaknesses they would share?
► Describe a situation where you failed. What did you learn about yourself and how did you change as a result?
► Why our firm instead of your current firm? What do you know about us compared to your firm?

When in a tough spot, especially with your client (FYI client = king in Consulting), do not try to take him head on. Try to compromise, and if that doesn't work, get help from team members and/or your manager who will be more experienced to handle such issues. You may be a great mediator amongst your friends, but never try to resolve a client sensitive issue all on your own!

In that case, I would ask my team members if they can help me out. If the client's demands are too unreasonable, then I could perhaps talk to my manager to resolve this issue.

► I was given a lot of work during peak mid term season
► PhD student had his thesis deadline and had promised to end my life if I did not deliver
► I told him to give me 3 weeks & I would give him his results
► He threatened to tell the supervising professor because he thought I was slacking off
► I decided to talk to him in front of my professor. I agreed to allocate at least an hour everyday towards his research & update him every other day on my progress
► In return, the grad student agreed to be less overbearing and demanding. He was a lot more helpful once he realized that I am putting in the effort despite my hectic workload.
► In the end, everything worked out just fine!

Team friction happens often due to differing schedules, skill sets and mostly because of unequal motivation levels amongst members. Every group has the "know it all genius", "slacker", "person who talks a lot but brings nothing to the table"… Keep in mind one of the times when you had to deal with such a person in a group and elaborate on how you resolved the issue. Consulting firms are looking for leadership abilities as well, and they certainly wont hire someone who sits in a corner while other team members resolve issues.

Tells a personal story:
► Was set up in a team of four for a course project.
► Project was broken into 2 modules so we decided to split the team into 2.
► Nobody wanted to work with one of the team members because her programming skills were extremely weak.
► Team was on the verge of splitting up because of this.
► I realized that she had better writing skills than any of us & could help out majorly by writing out the report (was 20% of our grade)
► I decided to work with her on the simpler module and split the work so that I could program and she could test & debug it.
► Came to a compromise where everyone was happy!

The hardest part of leading a team is motivating people to work. Also, it is extremely difficult to inspire a bunch of volunteers who have little incentive to work. In this case, it is best to use subtle tactics - hand out responsibilities, reward people with appreciation and admiration when they get the work done. You also can't get mad at people who don't perform because you aren't running a firm where you can kick out a shoddy worker. You have to shake sluggish people into being more productive by giving them only as much as they can handle - and letting them know that you believe that they are the best for the job and that you trust them to get it done on time.

I was part of a team which had to organize an event to showcase Indian Culture. (For those not familiar with Indian work ethics, we pretty much jerk off till we get threatened) True to our stereotype, we were pretty disorganized, with lots of people contributing great ideas, but no one takes on the responsibility or the initiative to do anything about it. 10 days before the event, I overhear someone commenting that Indians were the most lethargic group that they had ever seen. With my national pride on the line, I decided to step up and get the show running.

Wow, that was pretty cheesy, filled with metaphors and idioms. I would also advise against excessive use of these, unless spewing philosophy comes to you naturally. Also note that most other interview experts would advise against using my example above as a weakness. It seemingly comes across as a strength portrayed as a weakness.
► My habit of spreading myself too thin. I have a variety of interests and love to take on additional responsibilities. This has often led me to lose focus and burning out prematurely. However, I am learning to eat one spoon at a time and not bite off more than I can chew. I have learned that it is not worthwhile to be a jack of all trades, yet master of none. Elaborate (again) with a story.

I would like to emphasize a strength that would differentiate me from the rest. Not that having no international exposure is a drawback. But I think one should set themselves apart by highlighting the 'cool factor' in their personality arsenal. I personally like the whole 'international outlook' thing and believe that this is especially important in today's world as businesses get more globally interlinked.
► Honestly my greatest strength would be the ability to adapt. Adapt to different philosophies, ideologies, cultures, atmospheres and be able to mingle with and relate to people from all over the world.

DO you know how hard it is to convince a group? And what are you supposed to say if your persuasion skills are worse than Sarah Palin's and you have failed to influence anyone in your life?
You sort of 'embellish the truth'. Maybe you influenced a small group (like maybe 2) to do something your way. It doesn't really matter. The point is, firms are looking at your approach. Are you dictatorial? Or do you just let brilliant ideas go by just because you are too timid to voice out your opinion? Consulting firms unfortunately want intellectual barbies - geniuses with high EQs and leadership abilities.

► Had a brilliant idea (could be anything from changing cafeteria food vendors to implementing a mentor ship or student counseling program)
► Governing body and other higher ups didn't like my idea because of stretched resources/no solid plans/plain pigheaded
► I came up with a detailed plan to implement my idea, using minimal resources and highlighting its benefits
► Gathered support of student body
► Was persistent
► Eventually Governing body saw my way and approved my idea after minor modifications

Honestly my greatest strength would be the ability to adapt. Adapt to different philosophies, ideologies, cultures, atmospheres and be able to mingle with and relate to people from all over the world.
My habit of spreading myself too thin. I have a variety of interests and love to take on additional responsibilities. This has often led me to lose focus and burning out prematurely. However, I am learning to eat one spoon at a time and not bite off more than I can chew. I have learned that it is not worthwhile to be a jack of all trades, yet master of none. Elaborate (again) with a story.

To me success is honestly when I feel like I have made an impact. Even the smallest of all impacts. In fact my favorite success story is one during my undergrad years. I was a Teaching Assistant for an Advanced Calculus class. Now I love math, especially calculus, and I put in a great deal of effort into my lectures, drawing and visualizing concepts so that other students could understand it as naturally as I could. At the end of one semester, a bunch of students came up to me and told me that I was the best TA they had ever had and that they got an 'A' in the class because of me. Despite the millions of dollars of savings that I have achieved for my clients, that has been the most rewarding experience of my life and I truly felt successful at that moment.