“Tell me a time where you…”
Inevitably in any job, internship, or graduate school interview, you will hear these words. You are sitting in a chair facing a recruiter, manager, or professor asking you to share an experience where you displayed a particular emotion, dealt with a problem, or overcame a challenge. Consequently, these types of questions are referred to as “Experiential Questions”. Example questions might include:
- Tell me a time when you handled a crisis.
- Tell me about a time you took the initiative to start something.
- Tell me a about a time when you were overwhelmed. How did you resolve the situation?
While these questions might seem easier compared to that of business case study questions, correctly preparing for them requires just as much preparation. If answered incorrectly, the firm might deem you a poor fit, regardless of your case interview performance. These questions help them to gauge how you would perform in front of a client and most importantly, how you would represent the firm itself.
Considering that there are no frameworks to memorize or mathematics skills to brush up on, how do you prepare for these types of questions?
Preparing for this type of interview is like building up a library. First, you collect books, then you organize them in a filing system; except that these “books” are really life experiences. Depending on the question, you know exactly which book to pull from your library. When one book is used, set it aside and use other books in your library.
Thus, the first step in the process is to collect as many “books” as possible. This means gaining a diverse range of experiences by participating in organizations, enrolling in courses, and working on multiple projects. You are never going to be able to answer a question about a time you failed if you do not get out there and fail. The same can be said about teamwork questions, or the time you invented something. Thus, you need to get out of your comfort zone and join a team, start a project, pick up a hobby, and collect those “books”.
As you begin to gain experiences, you can also start to prepare for interviews. There are an infinite number of questions that can be asked. Some of the most common ones can be found in case interview preparation books, online forums, and by asking recruiters and consulting alumni. To take it a step further, you could put yourself in a recruiters’ shoes and invent new questions that you would ask a consulting candidate. Gather these questions all together into one document and read through them. Does a story from your collection ring a bell for each question? Identify gaps or holes in your answers. At this stage you might still need to gain an experience or two to provide a story for some of the remaining commonly asked questions.
When sufficient experiences are collected in your library, the filing can begin. For each sample interview question, provide at least three experiential stories. Start with just a sentence description for each. Once you have answered each bullet point, go back and expand upon each story. Provide nearly a paragraph of details introducing the story, events that transpired, and lessons learned.
Once you have a few stories for each question, work on your answers to improve their conciseness and clarity. Inevitably, some of the stories are repeated. The lessons you learned from a failed project might also fit for a teamwork question. You should identify stories that appear too many times and replace them with other experiences when possible. Try to strike a balance between your “books”, so that when one is used to answer a question, you will not have to pull that same book out for ten other questions.
Finally, when you have perfected at least three answers per question, it is time to verbally practice for the interview. This can be done by using flashcards or by reciting answers out loud to memorize the delivery and improve the flow of your responses. Recording your answers using your phone or by videoing yourself using your computer are two great ways to perform this process. However, the best way to prepare is through a mock interview with a partner. Candidates that are perfect for mock interviews include:
- Fellow consulting applicants or consulting club members
- Former or current consultants
- Career center staff members or university faculty
Realistically, anyone who can read you the questions can help you with a mock interview, although those listed above will provide you the best advice and critiques to your answers. In addition, working with fellow interviewees and applicants might allow you the opportunity to also serve as the interviewer. Not only will you get some ideas from listening to their stories but serving as the questioner puts you in the interviewers’ shoes. Hearing the good and the bad answers will provide you with insight into what is good and bad about your own answers. Keep practicing until your answers are second nature, you feel confident in answering to as many questions as possible, and your speech becomes fluid and natural.
You are ready to interview, but there is one final problem. You have three answers to each possible question. You might cross some out as you use them, but if left with two options, which should you choose? There are two things to consider. First, if one story is considerably stronger than the other, choose this story. Maybe the lesson learned is more important. Whatever the case, always choose your strongest story. Second, choose a story that might appeal to your interviewer. This skill involves paying attending to the office you are in, previous conversation topics, or knowing your interviewer ahead of time. For example, if you notice your interviewer likes to travel around the world based on pictures in their office, you might want to use a story about your study abroad, gap year volunteering project in another country, or service project benefiting the third world. Alternatively, if your interviewer hints that they do not own any pets, using a story about animals might not resonate with them.
Be smart, be confident, and choose your “books” carefully.
Ricky Hollenbach is a third year Ph.D. student at Duke University in Mechanical Engineering, studying unsteady aerodynamics and mechanical vibrations in jet engines and turbomachinery. He aspires to become a management consultant in the aerospace and defense fields.
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