Goal Understand question Agree major points Gather /analyse facts Develop recommendation Listen carefully Ask questions Paraphrase to confirm Describe your overall approach (i.e., dont go into details straight away) Keep it simple Use a framework if appropriate Agree priority issues Make estimations Work together (e.g., ask questions, watch for hints) Synthesise your answers Discuss trade-offs Relate back to question Tips Clarify Structure Analyse Conclude 1 LAST MINUTE INTERVIEW HINTS Things to keep in mind 1. Listen to the problem make sure you are answering the question that you have been asked to answer 2. Structure your answer up front think of a structure for 4-5 key questions that you need to answer in order to answer the overall issue 3. Proceed in a organised fashion finish one key question of the structure and arrive at a point of view on it before you go onto the next 4. Step back periodically summarise what you have learned and what the implications appear to be 5. Communicate your train of thought even if you have considered some alternatives and rejected them, tell the interviewer what and why 6. Ask for information judiciously make sure that the interviewer knows why you need the information 7. Watch for cues from the interviewer and keep an open mind 8. Do not try to "crack the case" it is much more important to clearly demonstrate a logical thought process than to arrive at the solution 9. Use business judgment and common sense Some common mistakes 1. Misunderstanding the questions or answering the wrong question 2. Proceeding in a haphazard fashion, i.e., not identifying the major issues that need to be examined or jumping from one issue to another 3. Barraging the interviewer with questions without explaining why you need the information 4. Force-fitting a familiar business framework to a case question, whether or not it is remotely relevant (or misapplying a relevant business framework that you do not really understand), rather than simply using common sense 5. Not being able to draw a sensible conclusion or point of view based on the information provided by the interviewer 10. Relax and enjoy the process, think of the interviewer as a teammate in a problem solving process and the case as a real client problem that you need to solve