Careers

The practice interview requires you to develop a recommendation based on the challenge described. You will receive key questions, case data and some time to prepare before meeting with your interviewer.

Your job is to review your client’s situation, present a persuasive recommendation that considers the tradeoffs of each possible action or choice, and then engage in a rich discussion with your interviewer to determine how your client could achieve better outcomes. It is important to remember that there may be more than one action the client could successfully take.

Lead Beyond Business will provide you with 20-30 PowerPoint slides that describe a client’s situation.

You will have about 55 minutes to review the slides, identify key ideas and hand-write a brief recommendation(s) before the interview begins.

You will then have about 40 minutes to present and discuss your recommendation(s) with your interviewer, who may question your assumptions or interpretation of the facts to see how he or she might handle a client’s actual situation.

Some tips for a successful interview

Trust your instincts. There is no “right” answer. The goal is to present a persuasive recommendation and engage in a rich discussion about how to achieve results for your client.

Prioritize. Preparation time goes by fast, so set aside case slides that seem less important.

Be concise. Have your key messages outlined in your summary. Save the details for your discussion.

Do the math. Figure out what analyses are necessary for your recommendation and gather the necessary data from the slides.

Be pragmatic. Craft a recommendation that can actually be implemented by the customer.

Consider both sides. Strengthen the rationale for your recommendation by analyzing the strongest arguments against it.