Preparing for Your Case Interview
Based on actual Monitor projects (disguised for confidentiality), our cases come in a written format of two to three pages of text and four to six exhibits. Candidates are asked to read the case and then address a series of questions. It is a highly interactive process; the interviewer (a Monitor consultant) and candidate work through the problems together.
During an interview, we test to see if you are:
- organizing the information effectively and developing a logical framework for analysis
- stating assumptions clearly and asking insightful and probing questions
- comfortable discussing the multifunctional aspects of the case and working with numbers
- thinking creatively
- displaying both business and common sense
- strong at both listening and communicating
- confident, poised, engaging and enthusiastic
We’ve asked our recruiting team, to provide some tips for preparing for a case interview.
- First, relax. That’s obviously easier said than done, but remaining focused and calm can go a long way towards being successful. Remember—we wouldn’t be interviewing you if we didn’t feel you had what it takes, and we want you to succeed.
- At the outset, make sure you understand the questions you’ve been asked to address as part of the exercise. For instance, if it’s a market sizing exercise, is the question asking for the size in dollars or people? This year or last year?
- Approach the problems in a structured fashion, and communicate that structure. Show your interviewer what you’re thinking, and why. We aren’t mind readers, so we can only evaluate you on the thinking and analysis you share with us. This means state your assumptions, walk us through your equations, and support your recommendations.
- Learning frameworks, such as the 5 Forces or the 4 Ps, can be helpful in structuring your thinking—but use them cautiously. Be sure to understand the types of problems that an individual framework can help you address. The 4 Ps won’t be particularly helpful when advising a client on a possible acquisition.
- Come prepared to perform quantitative analysis. Re-familiarize yourself with doing math in your head (though we typically provide a calculator), and during the case try to choose easy-to-use numbers whenever possible. When you get to an answer, be sure to ask yourself if it feels right.
- Come to conclusions. Answer all of the components of a question, using the data we provide you and your own judgment and experience.
- Looping back to the first point, we find it’s easier to relax when you’ve had a chance to practice. Case interviewing is a skill, and something you can improve on over time. There are plenty of books out there with practice cases, and for those in school your career services department can likely arrange for mock interviews. On this page, you’ll see we’ve provided a practice Monitor case for you to work through on your own.
Best of luck!