Fit Interview Prep

Fit interviews are extremely important in the consulting interview process. In fact, they make up more than 50% of the final determination on whether a firm will extend an offer to you. Watch Jenny Rae break down the 3 categories of fit interview prep questions and how to prepare for each one.

Fit Interview Prep YouTube Transcription

How you ever wondered how to prep for the fit interview portion of a consulting interview? Well, I've got some great insight for you today. We've have three main types of fit questions that we'll walk you through. So that you can be ultimately prepared for what seems like the sneaky piece of the consulting interview.

I'm Jenny Rae La Roux, the Managing Director of Management Consulted. And the case interview always gets the most focus in the prep process. Because, it's terrifying. You have no idea what they're going to ask, you have no idea where to start, there's math, etc. But the sneaky part of every interview, and ultimately the deciding factor for your offer becomes, the fit interview. So for fit interview questions, how do you prepare?

Three Main Type Of Fit Interview Questions

There are three main types of questions for fit interview prep.

1. The first type, are direct questions.

2. The second type, story questions.

3. And the third type, tricky questions.

Let me go through each one of those in turn.

Direct Fit Interview Questions

First of all, direct questions. These are the questions that someone is expecting you, if you're a top candidate, to slam dunk. These are questions like,

• "Walk me through your resume?"
• "Why do you want to work for this company?", and,
• "Why do you want to do this particular job? ...this type of consulting?", for example.

And in those questions, they're expecting you to have perfectly thought out, clear, linear answers. They are meant to be 2 minutes for "Walk me through your resume", and 1 minute for all of the other questions. And "Walk me through your resume", is meant to be a linear story, that tells from the beginning to the end how you got to where you are today. "Why the firm", is meant to be a re-telling of some experience that you had who is incredible, inside the company. And, "Why do you want to do this job?", well, that's meant to really explain, how you came on the journey. To deciding this is exactly what you want to do.

Firms are looking for you to have something prepared, and for it to come across as clear and enthusiastic.

Fit Interview Story Questions

Now for story questions, we have a very specific recommendation. We recommend that you prepare 15 stories, inside your interview. When you prepare these stories they are meant to be able to answer a variety of story-like questions. Such as, "Tell me about a time when..." ...fill in the blank.

Fit Interview Question Examples

Here is an example:

• "Tell me about a time when, you demonstrated leadership in a team."
• Or, "Tell me about a time when, you used data to solve a problem."
• "Tell me about a time when you faced an obstacle on a project and how you overcame it."

And those series of questions all together, pull out from you, the examples and illustrations of how you lead. We build stories from three different categories:

1. Academic
2. Leadership
3. Work Experience

And you need to have a balance of all of them. We also build stories from different parts of your experience. Even if it seems like it's, not maybe as professionally relevant, as some of the more recent experiences. However, when you build stories there is one key tip that we have, beyond just building the 15 stories, it's that when in the interview, you do release the most recent stories first. Inside the interview. So you should have professional experiences from the last 2 years, that you use to answer your first couple of questions.

Tricky Questions

The final set of questions, are the ones that everyone fears. The tricky questions. These are ones that you never enjoy answering. Examples like:

• "What is your greatest weakness?" or,
• "Tell me about a professional failure." or,
• "Explain an obstacle", or,
• "Tell me about a difficult boss that you've had, and how you handled them".

All of these are meant to demonstrate . your ability to build trust in a stressful situation.

What The Questions Are Not

And they're not what you think they are. They are not meant to expose your own self awareness. They are meant to illustrate in your story telling, the way that you faced a difficult problem. The way that you sized it up. And, the way that you handled it to improve upon it. They are not meant to demonstrate perfection, and they're not meant to specifically set the person [interviewer] at ease, that you're a perfect candidate. They are meant to set them at ease, that when difficult things come up, as they will, in contending with issues that you'll face as a consultant, you'll be ready to handle them.

Summary For Fit Interview Prep

In summary, if you want to prep for fit interview questions, there is a ton of work that you need to do. And if you at least start with these three things, preparing for the basic direct questions, preparing for the more advanced story questions, and preparing for the ultimate tricky questions. You'll at least have a good handle on some of the key areas that you'll need to work on, when you go into the final steps of the consulting prep process. If you want some personal advice based on where you are, and where you'd like to go in your career, reach out to us at team@managementconsulted.com.

Related Content:

• McKinsey PEI: Personal Experience Interview
• Advanced Consulting Fit Interviews – Video Overview
• Case Interview: Complete Prep Guide