Transcript McKinsey EPRs - Georgetown University

Case Style Interviews
Ken Homa
Presentation is incomplete without extensive oral elaboration
© K.E. Homa 2000
Case Questions
• Looking for structured thought process
and core issue identification
• Any answer will be interrogated from a
devil’s advocate P.O.V.
• Better to take a strong, clear position
and be wrong than waver in the middle
• Unlikely to out-think the interviewer ...
© K.E. Homa 2000
Case Questions
Generic Attack
• What’s the business ?
• How do you make money ?
• Why do winners win ? Losers lose ?
• What are pressures & changes ?
• What are “degrees of freedom” ?
• How to conform ? Differentiate ?
© K.E. Homa 2000
Case Questions
Thought Provokers
• Patterns & discontinuities
…“What’s wrong with the picture ?”
• Analogies & best practices
…“Follow the leaders”
• 180 degree shift
… Do something radical
© K.E. Homa 2000
When in doubt, follow the $$$
Case Questions
Impact Answers
• Core issues, not “distractors”
• Manager’s perspective
• Conclusive and prescriptive
… not equivocal or descriptive
• Decisions & actions, not process
• Logically structured : “Pyramids of 3”
© K.E. Homa 2000
“Go for the jugular, not the capillaries”