CONSULT CLUB, IIM AHMEDABAD | MARCH 2020

HOW TO CRACK
A PPO

EXPERIENCES OF PGP2s
CONVERSATIONS WITH CONSULTANTS
HOW TO DO WELL ON A TOUGH CASE?

1
 INTRODUCTION
Experience of PGP2s Having completed a successful
1. Boston Consulting Group………...04 season of summer placements,
2. AT Kearney………………...……….07
3. Deloitte……………………..……….09 most of you would now be looking
4. Accenture………………….………..12 ahead and wondering what to do
5. Strategy&………………………...…15
6. Bain & Co…………………….…….17
(and not do) to secure a pre-
7. Alvarez & Marshal…….…………..19 placement offer from the firm in
8. McKinsey & Co………………….…22 which you will be interning.
9. Roland Berger…….………………..24
Conversations with Consultants With this article, the Consult Club
1. Ayush Bansal – BCG…….………..26 brings you a set of tips and tricks
2. Shreeya Bhutani – Bain & Co…...28
3. Shrey Jain – McKinsey & Co…....29
from students who have been
where you are and secured PPOs.
How to do well on a tough case……..31

Editorial Team – Aaditya Agarwal, We also spoke to a few consultants

Anika Bhasker, Amritha Menon,
Dhairya Shrivastava, Gunish Handa,
Niraj Pande
Special thanks – Ganesh Mahidhar,
Anik Ganguly, Anirudh Swaminathan,
Krati Agarwal, Purav Shah, Rahul
Gupta
who have spent a couple of years in
consulting firms to get a 'third-
party view' of what interns
typically do wrong. Read on to
ensure your internship stint is a
successful one!

For regular updates, do

follow us on our LinkedIn
page.
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SIGN
01

EXPERIENCE
OF PGP2s

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Interviewee 1
Give us a brief description of the internship
process.
At BCG, we had an orientation for the first
couple of days, after which we were allotted our
project. Interns typically have two kinds of
experience:
• A reasonably relaxed project, where you get
to enjoy Fridays in office and get familiar
with the culture of BCG.
• My project was a bit on the demanding side,
so I had to spend all five days at the client
site. While Saturdays and Sundays were not
officially working, I would sit back at the
hotel and work. I had absolutely no travel
during my internship.
We had a few mandatory training sessions in
between. There were some fun training sessions
as well, such as on power dressing, and dining
etiquette.
Walk us through the review process.
4
Aditya Vikram Daga
BCG
The review process at BCG is an ongoing one,
and one of continuous evaluation. If you haven't
had face time with the partner, you are given a
slot to interact with the partner in the form of a
presentation. I did not have such a formal review,
as I was constantly interacting with the partner.
After the mid-term evaluation, the most crucial
part of the internship begins, where you are
required to work on your feedback and show a
positive growth trajectory. You do have a final
evaluation, but most of the decisions are taken
before the final review. The final review also
involves making a presentation with a few
independent members of the recruitment team. I
felt, however, that this was more of a hygiene
check. But they will not be aware of the extent of
work you have put in, and their understanding
will be limited to your 2-3 slide deck.
What are some of the skills to hone prior to
the internship?
I think nothing. Go with an open mind and a
clean slate. People would tell you to brush up on
PPT skills, but I don't believe that is necessary.
The firm has more tools at your disposal than you
can imagine. In the orientation session, when
people talk about add-ons and extra features in a
BCG PowerPoint template, focus on those
things, and be smart enough to grasp them
quickly. Spend some time at night trying to
figure out how to make PPTs easily, because this
will come in handy. This was especially true in
my case because I was working on a consumer
goods project, where you are required to make
more slides and decks. Pick up the important
things that are taught during internship sessions.
No technical skills are required. The firm is
paying for your time and charging it to the client,
so they will not give you any task that is beyond
your capability. For instance, I will not be
assigned on a high-tech project because I may
not have the necessary pre-required knowledge.
The firm wants to make the most out of me and
be able to evaluate me. In short, no technical or
PPT skills. Be yourself.
What are some of the key things that
candidates are tested for during internship,
and what is seen for each metric?
1. Problem-solving is something they are hiring
you for. Make sure you demonstrate a structured
thought process, and that a lot of thought goes
into anything you present to anyone on the team.
Treat any problem as a case problem. This
approach helped me identify areas that I should
and shouldn't focus on. Be logical and intuitive
in your approach.
2. Communicate. People usually take this to
mean you should communicate a lot.
Communicate only as much as is required. Be a
person your team would like to work with.
Gauge what your team management would like,
and behave accordingly. I once attempted to start
a discussion with my team partner on what I was
5
working on, and he shot me down immediately.
In hindsight, perhaps attempting a non-work-
related conversation would have made more
sense.
3. Establish your presence in the case. Make sure
you make friends with the client, as you will need
to communicate a lot with the client. They are the
ones who are going to give you data, explain the
processes to you. Don't come across as a fault-
finding authority.
4. When you are providing insights/ suggestions,
think you might be the one implementing them
as BCG does a lot of implementation work. Don't
give far fetched or impractical ideas. People on
the team are highly experienced and will call
your bluff.
5. Effectiveness- Not whiling away time
6. Client interaction
7. People management- Don't try too hard to
impress people. At the same time, be the kind of
person they would want to work with.
Do's and don'ts. What are some of the
mistakes that can adversely affect our PPO
chances?
Don'ts:
1. Don't make unnecessary attempts at
conversation (DCP, in IIMA jargon). The people
who are working with you are IIM alumni, much
more intelligent and more experienced than you,
and will be able to see through this.
2. Don’t try too hard to over-impress your team
members. I have noticed, especially at dinners,
that people seem to think this is important. Try
and understand they are taking you as a
prospective team member. Just be yourself and
do your work.

3. Consulting teams are very result-oriented as

they have to achieve a lot in a short period. Don't
waste your time. Take initiatives. Don't wait for
others to tell you what to do. Be proactive about
what you can do on your own.

4. Never approach someone with a problem.

Understand you are there to solve problems. If in
doubt, go with a problem and give your opinion
on how to go about solving it. In other words,
have a take on things. Your take may or may not
be right, but you should have an opinion.

5. Don't be concerned only about your piece of

work. You're working in a team, so you might be
required to support people when the case is under
pressure. You might be required to make slides
for someone else for a client meeting. You may
be asked to give your inputs, for which
contextual immersion in a case is necessary.
Don't treat your piece as an isolated piece of
work.

6
 Interviewee 2
Give us a brief description of the internship
process.
We had a 2-day orientation and onboarding process
in Kearney's Gurgaon office. This was a crash
course on essential Excel skills, PPT, and
presentation tips, as well as a brief overview of
some of the industry practices that Kearney is doing
projects in. Post our project allotments, we were
given a knowledge transfer of the status of the
project, what the project is, and asked to read up
relevant presentations and charters. Modules for the
interns had already been created, and I was given 2
modules to handle. Complete autonomy was given
to shape the module without any unnecessary
intervention. My team was one of the best at
Kearney, and they made consulting life, in general,
way more tolerable. My module was under the
direct supervision of my manager, but I could go to
any member of my team for help,
7
Keshav Damani
AT Kearney
without any hesitation, and that is what I generally
did – I ran my ideas by the first and second-year
SBAs before going to my manager so that the idea
was more comprehensive and structured. Since my
first project was only 6 weeks long, I was staffed on
another project where we were optimizing the
media spends for a large automobile player. Before
work began, I held an expectation-setting session
with my manager to understand what he was
looking for from me and what the weak points were
that I needed to work on post my mid-term review.
This is a very crucial step, no matter where you are,
as this could be the make-or-break step between
getting and not getting a PPO. The same standards
as my first project applied here as well, with the
added advantage of work location flexibility and
backend team support. All-in-all, I was satisfied
with my internship experience, with Kearney and I
do believe that they did everything in their power to
ensure that my experience at the firm was a nice
one, not only work-wise but networking and
people-wise as well. And I bet 90% of the interns
would tell you the same story.
Walk us through the review process.
I cannot stress enough on the importance of both
these reviews as these are perhaps the only times
where partners in your project get to see whatever
you have worked on. My piece of advice would be
to go down to the second and third layers of
everything that you are doing. In case of paucity of
time, you usually may end up making assumptions
that are given to you by folks up the ladder, but if
you do not question those assumptions or find out
flaws in them, they will definitely come back to bite
you during your reviews. So, my two cents –
question everything. The midterm is more like an
initial assessment and course correction review. Do
not be disheartened if all is not positive in your
review. Take the feedback seriously and work well
and hard on your improvement areas while keeping
the good ones intact. People judge you on the
"delta" over your previous review or how well you
have been able to work on your improvement areas.
In addition to the review process, have bi-weekly
sit-ins with your manager or the Associates/SBAs
for an informal review to assess how you are
perceived to be in the firm. My mid-term was not as
rosy as I would've wanted it to be, but my final
presentation could not have been better. Thus, take
your mid-term review as a stepping stone and do not
be disheartened if it is not 100% to your liking. That
being said, try and ensure that if there are 5
parameters on which you will be evaluated, you are
doing well in 3 out of those 5. This will not only
boost your confidence but also enable you to work
on the other 2 with a clear mind.
What are some of the skills to hone prior to the
internship?
Kearney had sent across a few Excel problems that
we worked on. Apart from that, brush up basic MC
toolkits like the LOOKUP functions, etc. Also, go
8
through some shortcut videos for Excel and
PowerPoint over YouTube if you are interested. No
other preparation is necessary.
What are some of the key things that candidates
are tested for during internship, and what is seen
for each metric?
This would vary from firm to firm. For Kearney,
there were 5 things on which one is evaluated.
Problem-solving, communication, and
professionalism are 3 of these. There is a famous
litmus test in consulting called the "Airport Test" –
i.e., whether someone can spend 3 hours with you
at the airport or not. And I do believe that this does
somehow, not objectively but subjectively, feed
into your evaluation. Be fun to be with, and do not
overly stress about work. Work hard and party
harder. I am sure that there were interns who had
performed better than me on the internship, but
there would hardly be anybody who would've
partied harder. Ultimately, the analytical and
problem-solving skills have an absolute cut-off, but
what can distinguish you from the other interns
would be your people skills. So, do pay attention to
those as well.
Do's and don'ts. What are some of the mistakes
that can adversely affect our PPO chances?
I believe expectation-setting or rather, the lack
thereof was an important factor in missing out on a
PPO. If you are not aware of whether you are on
the right track or not and what is expected out of
you, there is no way that you will be able to take
corrective action. So, treat both your formal and
informal reviews seriously. Additionally, don't just
do what you are told, find out ways to do things
yourselves, and then verify with the seniors.
 Interviewee 3
Give us a brief description of the internship
process.
There are 4-5 business verticals at Deloitte (based
on industry expertise). When you enter the
organization, you are placed in the consulting
practice in one of the verticals and assigned to a
project. There is a week-long 'Consulting 101'
orientation from storyboarding to client interviews
to conducting workshops. They give you a case and
help you solve the case completely. After this, you
are staffed on a live client project. I was working in
the consumer strategy segment based in Hyderabad.
My project was with a leading FMCG client for
their net revenue management. At Deloitte, 80% of
your effort is on client work and deliverables. Apart
from this, you are expected to undertake firm
initiatives, which include thought leadership,
industry research, positioning Deloitte better to
clients,
9
Aparnaa
Ramanathan
Deloitte
publishing white papers, and the like. In my case, I
worked on 2 such initiatives-one on insurance space
and one on internal practice development. You can
organize learning sessions on the weekend where
professionals speak about their work experience.
Walk us through the review process.
You're allocated a mentor or counselor, who will
help you throughout the internship, explain to you
about your project, and keep an eye on your
performance by keeping in touch with your project
team. Mid-way through the process, you will have
an interview with senior managers and partners. It
involves a 4-minute presentation followed by Q&A.
Your counselor helps you prepare for this. At this
point, you are given an idea of whether your
performance is up to the mark or not. A mid-review
is more of a course correction, where you are clearly
told what you need to do if you are not performing
well. One of the highlights is that the support
system at Deloitte is very strong. You can literally
walk up to your mentor at any time, and they'll help
you prepare. If you don't do well at your mid
review, it is not a very big red sign. You will be
clearly told what needs to be done in order to
improve. However, towards the end of your
internship, you will have your end review (with a
similar panel of extremely senior partners). This is
a do-or-die situation, where they evaluate if you
have corrected course wherever you have been
asked to do so. The decision is taken then and there,
where the panel has a 5-10-minute discussion with
your counselor (who also pitches for you and
describes the work you have done). The decision is
not revealed immediately to the candidate- it is
revealed once all campuses get appraised.
What are some of the skills to hone prior to the
internship?
Nothing specific. Good Excel skills are a
prerequisite to any consulting internship. Knowing
to make good-looking and impactful PPTs is a good
add-on. Most of all, problem-solving. You are
placed in an ambiguous environment, where you
might not know what exactly to do. While I worked
on 1 major project, several other interns had to work
on multiple projects. So your ability to take charge,
read up on industries, etc. becomes critical. Deloitte
has internal resources that would help you here.
You are not treated as an intern, but a first-year
consultant. What is measured in your reviews is
whether you can be put in front of a client (Which
will happen during the internship) and how well you
fare. You need to take a lot of ownership; nobody
will spoon-feed you about what needs to be done.
When you sit with the team, you will be
contributing and helping decide the stream of work.
In some cases, I had to handle the stream of work
independently. Also, you will be evaluated on softer
aspects like client communication and the ability to
leverage your peer network. At Deloitte, you are
encouraged to talk to people cross-functionally. For
example, I worked in the consumer sector but
10
interacted with managers in M&A. No one will
push you to do it, but you need to realize that
internship is the best chance you have to figure out
if consulting works for you.
What are some of the key things that candidates
are tested for during internship, and what is seen
for each metric?
One thing which my manager spoke to me about at
a party is that they test your confidence during the
mid- and end-term reviews. They grill you a lot
because that is the way clients would ask you
questions. Handling the relationship is tested.
Another aspect you are grilled on is your project.
You are expected to understand the nitty-gritty
details of your project, understand it end-to-end,
and provide recommendations to clients over and
above the strategic aspects (implementation).
You are also tested on your hard skills- the quality
of your deliverables and how good you are at
understanding situations.
Do's and don'ts. What are some of the mistakes
that can adversely affect our PPO chances?
Ironically, do not go into an internship with only a
PPO in mind. If you do, you will be overly
conscious of your every action, and you will not be
able to interact with people in the organization
freely. An internship is as much an opportunity for
you to evaluate whether you fit into the firm as it is
for the firm to evaluate you. This should not be a
factor that affects your day-to-day functioning.
You are there to judge (a) the company, (b)
consulting as a career. It's not that getting a PPO is
not important. But at IIMA, you have many
options during finals. Work hard, be yourself, and
secure the PPO. But don't let your internship
become all about PPOs.
All 6 interns from IIMA got PPOs. In other
campuses, following were some of the red flags:
● Communication and soft skills cannot be
emphasized enough.
● Don't expect any hand-holding. You are
expected to take ownership of your work. You will
be preparing deliverables like a first-year
consultant.
● General enthusiasm to learn and excitement
about work are also gauged because you have to
put in long hours.

11
 Interviewee 4
Give us a brief description of the internship
process.
We had orientation only for a couple of days, which
included one day of training, and one day for the
provision of an access card, laptops, and so on. Post
that, we were allocated to our project managers in
various departments of the Accenture Capability
Network: Some of these project managers were in
the office itself, while some of them were at client
sites. None of the interns were sent to client sites
from the Capability network. They worked with
seniors who were offsite resources on the projects,
while simultaneously developing "Assets," which
took the form of playbooks or dashboards for some
phenomenon in the industry. For example, the Zero-
Based everything playbook for the supply chain
management. This was the major project that most
of the people worked on, while simultaneously
supporting some part of live projects. The pace
generally picks up as one goes through the
internship, is highest around mid-review, comes
down by a bit in the 2 weeks post that, and then
picks up again towards the end-term review.
12
Ganesh Mahidhar
Accenture
Walk us through the review process.
Midterm and end-term reviews are very important
points of evaluation, especially in Accenture. They
are, at times, the only checkpoint that you have with
your senior manager who is in charge of the project.
The mid-term review is when opinions are generally
formed regarding both the ability to work and the
ability to present. Sticking to time and showing the
big picture impact becomes very important in such
a setting. While your project may have excruciating
detail, it is a general recommendation to show the
business impact at the highest level as compared to
going into every little computational detail. The end
term review happens with a group of MDs, and this
is the real make or break for the internship. Any red
flags raised here could result in a direct PPO
rejection. It is even more important to be top-level
focussed and give a macro picture to MDs as
compared to the details per se. Before both midterm
and end-term presentations, a recommendation is to
get your decks verified by both the buddies that are
allocated to you during the course of the internship
and your manager. For the end term presentation, a
review by the senior manager also becomes key. Be
sure to get their buy-in before you go in for the
presentation.
What are some of the skills to hone prior to the
internship?
Basic PPT skills and Excel skills. If you want to
show off to your team, dig up PPT shortcuts for
making graphics and alignment and so on, and use
it to make slides. This reduces time by at least 50%.
What are some of the key things that candidates
are tested for during internship, and what is seen
for each metric?
a. Cultural Fit: This would be judged through
general interactions with your team and how you
behave with them. Be nice, be normal, and be a
person that people would want to spend time with.
b. Coachability: While they don't expect you to be
experts on all the subjects related to the project, they
expect you to understand and pick things up really
quickly. Shorter deadlines to work mean that you
typically do not have a guy who's going to explain
every piece of the puzzle. Start taking the initiative
and try to gather information from both primary and
secondary sources as much as possible.
c. Problem-solving and presentation ability: Most
presentations in consulting follow a peculiar format
in terms of slide design. The titles of the slides tell
a story by themselves that you can understand. The
details of these larger headlines are what is captured
in the slides. The titles make the wireframe for the
slides along with the proposed basic design. Try to
make wireframes and get them approved by your
manager or the consultant before you flesh the deck
out. Rework often takes away precious hours and
sometimes even leads to not getting a PPO. Be
quick with analytics. Most times, there is a
viewpoint that the team believes in, and they're
using you as a resource to find research to validate
it. Keep that in mind. Most hypotheses get data for
13
and against the argument. Try to figure out what
kind of analysis needs to be done.
d. Innovativeness: Be creative with your solutions.
There is always a possibility that your team has
missed out on something obvious or that you have
thought in a direction different from theirs. Put that
to use to test some solutions, especially with your
manager. This shows communicativeness and
initiative, both of which are key to success during
an internship.
Do's and don'ts. What are some of the mistakes
that can adversely affect our PPO chances?
Already covered most of the dos and don'ts in the
answers above.
Regarding the mistakes which can adversely affect
the PPO chances, I'd divide these into two parts:
a. Culture-based: Whatever you do, do not come
off as standoffish or non-communicative with your
team. Make every effort to gel well while not
appearing to be too nosy or overbearing on
members of the team that you're working with. I'd
say use your judgment here, and be a person that
you yourself would like to work with.
b. Project-Based: In Accenture, especially, a lack
of focus on the asset that you're building could
prove to be a disaster. Be very sure to clarify the
key deliverables within a week of starting the
internship, and touch base as frequently as
possible. For me, it meant that I touched base
every day with the consultant on my case and once
every 3-4 days with my manager. Any meandering
paths must be resolved to clarity per se. There is
going to be a lot of work that you really can't claim
ownership for, as it would involve editing PPTs
and making decks, but try to balance that work
with the asset you're building, as what really
matters in the evaluations is the piece of work that
you can lay ownership to.
 Interviewee 5

Anil Kumar Singh

Strategy&

Give us a brief description of the internship

Walk us through the review process.
process.
There were 2 reviews, and both are quite important.
Strategy& is a part of the PwC network, and hence
It is a very transparent process, where you can
orientation was along with the PwC new joiners.
discuss your review with your manager. There are
This was for 2 days in Mumbai, after which we went
6-7 key parameters on which you are judged. My
to our respective offices. On day 3, we met our
manager and I sat together, and we agreed on each
teams and were assigned to our projects. There was,
and every point. They have a 4-star rating system.
therefore, no slack in between. We were given the
You wouldn't want to get less than 3 stars in any
workstream we were expected to handle. One of the
parameter (2 stars mean trouble). Ensure that
first things my manager I did, which I liked a lot
whenever you are working on a project, you are able
(this may vary from person to person), was that he
to demonstrate that you are good at those
had a one-on-one meeting with me, where he set out
parameters. If you feel you are not getting an
expectations from both sides very clearly. He asked
opportunity to be tested on a parameter that other
me what I was looking for from the project in terms
interns are, you will lose out on your PPO chances.
of role and learning, and then told me what he
expected. This set out the agenda for the next 2 The end-term review is more comprehensive. You
months and elucidated what I needed to do for a will be asked to name 5 people at the workplace, the
successful internship. amount of time and nature of work done with them.
There will be an independent assessor who will
contact these 5 people and obtain feedback. Based
14
on this, a comprehensive report will be prepared on
the same 6-7 parameters.
If, in the midterm review, you are lagging behind on
a parameter, make sure you rectify it before the end-
term review. They are looking for people who show
promise of growth. You will not know what
happens on Review Day, but you will have a
feedback meeting the following day. This would be
with the independent assessor, and your buddies
(junior and senior) would also weigh in. If you have
any disagreement, you can voice it, but the system
is by and large fair.
What are some of the skills to hone prior to the
internship?
1. Keep in touch with your buddies once in a while.
The firm wants to evaluate if you are introverted or
not and whether you are in the habit of talking to
people. Ask them about the firm to show your
enthusiasm. This is a hygiene factor, meaning that
not talking to them would not reflect well on you.
3. Thought leadership- how you break down a
problem. Sometimes the problem may not fit into
one of the frameworks you have learned. Coming
up with a solution that works will do your chances
a lot of good.
Do's and don'ts. What are some of the mistakes
that can adversely affect our PPO chances?
You have to work for long hours (15-16 per day).
Don't crib about it, at least not in front of the team.
Try to remain upbeat. It shouldn't be evident that
you are tired. You should make a good impression.
People should proactively seek opportunities to
display those 6-7 skills on the basis of which you
are judged. Find out whether you are able to
demonstrate those skills. If you're not getting these
opportunities, ask for them. The 2 months are all
you have. If the manager is not taking an interest,
seek him out. I was lucky in this regard.

2. PPT-making and Excel skills are a must. Soft

skills- be an eloquent speaker because you will have
to present before people on several occasions, and
you should not fumble. Secondly, you should voice
your opinion. There would be team meetings where
partners are present, and it is a chance for you to
create an impact. If partners remember your name,
that is good for you. This is not to be confused with
some types of CP in class.

What are some of the key things that candidates

are tested for during internship, and what is seen
for each metric?

1. Communication- how you structure a case they

give you

2. Business acumen- how familiar you are with

what is happening in the industry. You should
provide suggestions that are relevant.

15
 Interviewee 6
Give us a brief description of the internship
process.
Our internship started on 1st April and ended on
31st May. We had 1 week of training in the
beginning, and in the 1st week of May, we had our
Midterm review. Towards the end of the internship,
we had our Endterm reviews. Depending on the
project, timelines varied and were set accordingly.
Walk us through the review process.
Both Endterm and Midterm presentations are made
to a specific committee, not your case team. Mostly
Senior Partner level people are a part of the
committee. The midterm presentation is usually in
May – usually done in a nice location. For us, it was
Goa. Midterm presentations are more important
than Endterm since they make you realize what is
going good and what you need to improve and areas
of discussion that you should have
16
Khushbu Gupta
Bain & Co.
with your case teams. That being said, if you’re
performing well, it boosts your confidence.
Endterm presentation is just a check, but as a firm,
Bain lays more emphasis on midterm process.
What are some of the skills to hone prior to the
internship?
Just the basics of Excel and PowerPoint. Everything
else you can learn or revise during your internship
if required.
What are some of the key things that candidates
are tested for during internship, and what is seen
for each metric?
There are no defined evaluation criteria as such, but
a few important metrics are problem-solving ability,
interaction with the team and client and other
hygiene factors like communication. Problem-
solving is tested on the case itself – how well can
you understand the issue, how you go about
thinking through it and how you come up with a
novel but implementable solutions. Team and client
interaction are other metrics that are evaluated
throughout. How well you engage with the team and
the client and if you are a team player are generally
the things they look for.
Both the review presentation also emphasizes a lot
on this. Another one could be the interactions with
the case teams. Since in a profession like
consulting, one works very closely in small teams,
it is important that your team members see you as
someone they can work with.

Do's and don'ts. What are some of the mistakes

that can adversely affect our PPO chances?

1. Try to understand the big picture of the project

you are working on, ask your case team about the
context. A lot of emphases will be given on this
during your midterm reviews.
2. Don’t just interact with your own team, but get a
sense of other teams and what is the nature of
work. Look at it as evaluating the firm too, and see
if you like the other work that’s ongoing too.
3. Continuously have conversations with team
members on your progress and what are
improvement or development areas. This helps you
to realize what are the areas that you need to work
on to be properly evaluated. Although Bain has a
structured program, it still helps to have informal
chats with team members.
4. Don’t be very narrow-sighted about the case.
Don’t restrict yourself to just your case team.
Regarding the mistakes which can hamper your
PPO chances, it depends on a lot of factors – there
is nothing that can be pinpointed. The general
advice would be to understand your workflow very
thoroughly and where your workstream fits in. The
midterm also involved a lot of emphasis on why
you are doing something, your thinking and
process rather than the actual outcome. So keep
that in mind during your internship.

I think the most common mistake is not

understanding the big picture of the workstream,
i.e., where your work fits in the bigger case
context and how it is adding value to the client.
17
 Interviewee 7
Give us a brief description of the internship
process.
We had 2-3 day training initially we got to know the
business areas A&M operates in, history and
structure of the organization, etc. Post that, we were
allotted projects. You are then expected to get in
touch with your project leader to understand the
context, your workstream details, deliverables and
get introduced to the project team. You work on
your project for about a month and then have a
midterm review at the end of the first month. At the
end of the second month, you have the finals
review.
Walk us through the review process.
Midterm review: With the Director – It was very
informal. Since the director was not involved in the
project, most of the discussion went around getting
to know her and getting to know my understanding
of the project. She
18
Mamita Devburman
Alvarez & Marshal
(A&M)
was not evaluating as such. She gave some feedback
but not evaluative.
Endterm review: This was scheduled at the end of
the 2nd month. The evaluating panel was comprised
of three MDs of the firm. This was a formal,
evaluative discussion where we gave the
presentations and the discussions revolved around
the work we did and how we did it.
Apart from this, I had weekly presentations with my
project manager, where we discussed the progress
of the project and the next steps.
I feel that the project manager and team feedback
mattered the most. Endterms were formal, but there
was no heavy cross-questioning. This means that
you were being continuously evaluated and
feedback from the project manager was taken.
What are some of the skills to hone prior to the
internship?
I’d recommend that you brush up a little bit of Excel
and PowerPoint before starting out. If you’re not
comfortable with numbers, make sure you spend
some time looking at your FRA textbook and revise
the basics of income statement, cash flow
statements and balance sheet.

What are some of the key things that candidates

are tested for during internship, and what is seen
for each metric?

Based on my experience, what mattered the most

was diligence. Analytical skills are an important
metric for any consulting firm and will always be a
primary determining criterion. In addition, client
interaction is an assessment metric, along with
communication and presentation skills.

Do's and don'ts. What are some of the mistakes

that can adversely affect our PPO chances?

1. Be diligent
2. Show interest
3. Talk to people
4. Don’t be disrespectful to anyone. Be careful
if it’s a formal setup, even if the PM is friendly.
I think that not being interactive enough with the
manager, and not being available when called
upon for work are major deal-breakers. I think
another important reason is not paying attention to
feedback.

19
 Interviewee 8
Give us a brief description of the internship
process.
We had a 2-day orientation in Mumbai where we
got to know about McKinsey, its core values and
how it works. There were also sessions on the basics
of problem-solving, excel, PPT making and
communication. We received our staffing details
(client, location, team) on the second day evening
post which everyone started traveling to their
client/project sites. The staffing for interns is
usually random and you don’t have any say in the
kind of client or project you get.
I worked on a digitization project for a public sector
bank. The duration of the internship was 8 weeks.
Unlike most of the other consulting internship
programs, McKinsey doesn’t have any formal
midterm or end-term reviews/presentations.
20
Niraj Pande
McKinsey & Co.
Walk us through the review process.
There are no formal midterm or end-term reviews
or presentations for the interns at McKinsey. The
evaluation is continuous. Feedback from the entire
team - Partner, Associate Partner, Engagement
Manager (EM), the Associates on the case, as well
as the people from the client-side - is considered to
evaluate the performance of interns.
One of the elements which play a significant role in
evaluation at McKinsey is the problem-solving
session (PS session). Problem-solving sessions are
sessions with the members of the team (EM,
Associate Partner, Partner), either individually or as
a team, where you brainstorm together to either find
solutions to the problems in your project or find the
next steps to proceed with the project. This is where
you get to discuss your approach to the problems,
your methodology, the issues you are facing as well
as get new ideas for the project. Everyone at
McKinsey takes PS sessions very seriously.
Even though there are no formal feedback sessions
at McKinsey, it is expected that the interns reach out
to the teammates informally for feedback. Most of
the interns had informally scheduled two feedback
sessions during the internship - one about midway
(~4 weeks later) and second towards the end (last
week). You should do these feedback sessions with
almost everyone in the team who is involved in your
project/workstream - Partner, Associate Partner,
EM and Associates. These informal feedback
sessions are very important since they will help you
understand what is going well and what needs to be
improved so that you can focus on showing a
trajectory in the areas you lack over the remaining
period.
What are some of the skills to hone prior to the
internship?
Nothing as such. While most people would suggest
brushing up your excel and PPT making skills, I felt
that it’s not necessary. We had sessions on basics of
excel and PPT making during our orientation which
covered almost everything. Moreover, McKinsey
has a separate graphics team for designing the
slides, so all you need to focus on is the content and
the storylining of the slides.
What are some of the key things that candidates
are tested for during internship, and what is seen
for each metric?
Some of the key metrics used for evaluation were:
1. Problem Solving skills: This is one of the
core skills you will be expected to be good at as a
consultant. This will be evaluated majorly on the
basis of your performance in the PS sessions with
your EM, associate partner and partner.
2. Structuring: This will be evaluated based on
the PS sessions as well as on your ability to use a
structured approach to break the project into some
key questions. This is where your MECE
structuring skills become important.
21
3. Communication - Written & Oral: Written
communication is evaluated, usually, on the basis of
the quality of your PPTs/reports - storylining of the
document, being crisp and to the point, etc. Oral
communication is evaluated based on how you
communicate during the team discussions or
presentation, being assertive and confident while
speaking, top-down communication, etc.
4. Client handling: How efficiently can you
work with the client, get the requisite data, are you
friendly with the client personnel or do you treat
them differently, etc. You might also get to present
your work to the client.
Other than the above metrics, some softer aspects
which also matter are your work ethics, ownership,
ability to take initiatives, your presence in the team,
how well you gel with the team members outside
your work, etc.
Do's and don'ts. What are some of the mistakes
that can adversely affect our PPO chances?
1. Have a very clear picture of your workstream
and deliverables. Make sure that you and your EM
are aligned on them. If you are not given a proper
workstream (for example, you are just being given
some ad hoc tasks or you’re just helping with
someone else’s project and don’t have a clear
workstream for yourself), don’t hesitate to raise it
with your EM or even your partner, if required.
2. Ensure that you get significant facetime with the
partner on your case. Make sure that you get to do
at least 3-4 PS sessions with your partner over the
8 weeks. The more the better. In some cases, the
partner will not be involved in the project every
day but would be visiting every few days. In such
cases, the PS sessions will become more crucial.
3. You must have at least two feedback sessions -
first one roughly midway through your internship
and second towards the end. Ensure that you get
feedback from everyone involved in your
workstream from your team - Partner, Associate
Partner, EM, Associates.
4. Make sure that you interact with your
teammates beyond work and get to know them
better. Don’t be transactional.

22
 Interviewee 9
Give us a brief description of the internship
process.
The way the internship was structured was that we
had an Introduction for the first 2-3 days. During
this time, we were given training in Pyramid
structure, presentation making, templates used,
tools used exclusively at Roland etc. We also got to
interact with the people in the Resource Teams.
After this 3-day training, we were allocated
projects, based on our profile write-ups. I was
allotted a project around creating knowledge
documents for a restructuring project in Thailand.
This project lasted for 3 weeks. After this, I was
allotted a module on a live project, involving market
entry in the vehicle conversion industry for a global
OEM. In the meanwhile, I created a pitch deck for
a case with a global mining company.
23
Rahul Gupta
Roland Berger
Walk us through the review process.
I had a call with my manager almost daily. There
was a midterm review scheduled at the end of the
first month, with the partner and the manger. In the
midterm, they create a perception of what all you
have done in 4 weeks. It is a good opportunity to
correct if something is going wrong.
At the end of the internship, there was a end term
review, with two partners, and all the managers and
all other internal stakeholders who you worked
with. The aim of the midterm is to refine your
approach, and identify areas of improvement, and
not to identify your mistakes. That is checked in the
final review.
The PPO was communicated after 1 month from the
end of the internship.
A buddy was allocated to everyone as well, and I
interacted with my buddy 2-3 times.
What are some of the skills to hone prior to the
internship?
Since I knew RB did a lot of cases on automobiles,
I read a few industry reports about automobiles. I
personally don’t think you need to read anything,
except honing your ppt and excel skills.
What are some of the key things that candidates
are tested for during internship, and what is seen
for each metric?
You are tested on these key metrics:
5. Get as much feedback as possible. Try to show
your work to other people – it’s also about
marketing yourself
6. Get help from people at IIMA. Leverage the
diversity that the campus gives you
Don’ts
1. Don’t miss deadlines
2. Don’t skip social events because of work
pressure

1. Ability to keep the big picture in mind while

solving smaller problems

2. Showing improvements in areas identified as

weaknesses

3. Personality and Communication (Cultural fit)

4. Adherence to timelines, and the ability to handle

module independently

Do's and don'ts. What are some of the mistakes

that can adversely affect our PPO chances?

Do’s
1. Try to interact with people. This ensures that
you get a good network, however, your
productivity goes down
2. Take initiative. Your managers want you to take
the initiative, but no one wants to handhold you.
They want you to do it first, even if right or wrong
3. Reach out to your seniors and keep them
engaged while updating them with the content of
the project
4. PPT skills matter - don’t make silly mistakes in
terms of typos/formatting etc. Keep the storyline
of the ppt in mind while creating the deck.

24
02

CONVERSATIONS
WITH
CONSULTANTS
25
 Interviewee 1
What he had to say:
There are 2 kinds of factors at play here- those
under your control and those not under your
control.
(a) Factors not under your control-
1. Your domain/ expertise does not align with the
requirements of your project. For example, you are
required to do a tech-heavy or financial modeling
project, which is not your area of expertise. So you
may not be able to find answers. In such a case,
don't wait for a long time to tell your project leader
about your discomfort with the project. It is better
you align expectations with the project leader on
the first day. Understand what the engagement is
focused on- interaction with the client, research, or
analytics, or something else? Basic problem-
solving and communication are expected from
anyone in consulting, and you can't say you aren't
26
Ayush Bansal
BCG
comfortable with these. But if there are aspects
like Excel modeling you aren't comfortable with,
you can communicate. A project leader may still
tell you that you have to figure it out. It is less of a
problem once you join, but in an internship, you
have only 3 weeks to make an impression.
2. Whether you get a PPO or not is also a function
of your evaluator, which may vary a bit from
person to person. Some people have higher
expectations than others and would want you to
figure out basic things by yourself. While others
would help you with basics, and be easier to work
with. This is not a major factor because feedback
is received from the entire team. But as an intern,
you may feel scared and the need to impress. It is
better to speak to someone else (your buddy) and
understand the working style and expectations of
your project leader upfront. The working style of
people matters a lot.
(b) Factors under your control-
1. Everybody is told to take feedback regularly deliverables. So you need to keep communicating
during the internship. It gives you a sense of what with your project manager. Else your deliverables
is going right and what isn't. Get feedback every may not align with his expectations, and you will
week or every 2nd week. This is spoken about a lot realize this after 2 weeks.
but seldom done in practice.
2. Reinforce things that are going well and try to
showcase that you are trying to improve in areas
that aren't going well. This can be achieved by
taking multiple rounds of feedback.
3. Apart from these, other factors are contextual.
You will be evaluated for your working style,
ability to engage in a non-work-related
conversation, how you gel with the team. If you
just focus on your module and don't interact with
the team and are regarded as a person difficult to
talk to, a negative impression is formed. Some
people find it easier to do this than others. One
good way to connect with the team is to take the
lead in non-work-related events like team dinners.
Show interest in these events.
4. One thing you are evaluated on is hard skills-
Were you able to handle the module and come up
with an answer? Were you good at client
communication? Did you handle the module
independently? If you falter on any of these, and
the module was a critical part of the project, your
chances are not good. Another part is the
relationship-building and initiative. For instance, if
you have free time on your hands, speak to the
project leader for new work or ask him if anything
more needs to be done on your module. If you
don't do this, 2 or 3 weeks will pass, and you may
have nothing to show for it. It may create an
impression that you were 'chilling' or unwilling to
work. Another aspect is to appraise your project
leader every day of what you have done, what you
plan to do, and what you could not do (Seeking
guidance). If you and the project leader are in the
same room, this becomes easier. You can take out
5 minutes at any time. But teams are sometimes
very disconnected. As an intern, you will be given
an important module forming part of client
27

Interviewee 2
What she had to say:
1. Always good to have interns that have their
basics sorted in terms of Excel and PPT as it
creates instant credibility and a good impression
with the team members because it gives them a
sense that rechecking of one’s work is not
required.
2. It is important to speak up when one has a
question and not jump to assumptions about
anything. Curiosity is a great quality to have and
showcases one’s interest in the case which the firm
takes quite seriously.
3. It is okay to make mistakes, and attitude towards
work comes into play as one should be willing to
work on one’s mistakes.
4. Frequent feedback chats with one’s case
manager, helps to stay on track, and course correct
early on. It also is very helpful in terms of reviews
28
to have the buy-in of one’s manager well in
advance.
Shreeya Bhutani
Bain & Company
5. While social bonding with the team helps work
be a little more fun, it is rarely a make-or-break
deal. Work quality and attitude matters the most.
6. Bain is very inclined to give everyone a PPO
and interns are very valued during their internship
stint.
7. In my experience, there can be two major
reasons why people don’t get PPOs if they do well
on the above accounts - a) Extreme Behavior at
parties or social outings, or b) Team issues that
may come from misalignment with the team
members. In case of the latter issue, try to raise it
to as many people as possible, especially to the
allotted mentor..
 Interviewee 3
What he had to say:
There are 3 major factors that matter for PPOs -
1) Way of looking at the problem: This is not
just restricted to your problem-solving and
analytical abilities but also to whether you’re
making the right noise, and raising red flags where
you feel the need. The ideal situation is to strike a
balance between being proactive enough to raise
the issues that you can see with your workstream,
but not be too needy when it comes to asking
questions.
2) Team Interaction: As a consultant, you will
end up spending a lot of time with your team. As
such, the “Airport Test” is important to pass. This
is basically based on the premise that if someone
was stuck at an airport with you for long hours,
then would they be excited about it? Imagine that
your 2-month period is an airport test. Working
along with your team
29
Shrey Jain
McKinsey & Company
is a key part of your job as a consultant, so this
becomes even more important in consulting.
3) Client Interaction: Understanding the
expectations of the client is a key metric that
interns are assessed on. Again, it’s vital that the
client is kept in the loop with the work that you’re
doing. Based on who the client is, discretion
should be exercised on the intensity of follow-ups
and prioritization of the work
Other Pointers
1. Guidance: Asking for guidance on specific
problems is highly encouraged, but it is crucial that
one goes to seek guidance with one’s version of
the answer and seek clarifications on that.
2. Preparation: The core expectation during the
internship is to assess one for their rigour and hard
work in problem-solving. It’s hard to prepare in
advance as one is unaware of the sector that you
would be working on. So, don’t stress too much
about that. Brushing up on basics (Excel and
presentation skills) is always good.
03

HOW TO DO
WELL ON A
TOUGH CASE
30
 Interviewee 1
What he had to say:
An internship experience out of IIMA in a top-tier
consulting firm is a delightful learning journey.
However, this journey can be a fairly non-linear
one with various aspects acting, either individually
or collectively, as road bumps. For an intern, most
of these aspects are going to be uncontrollable, but
the reaction to them is not and that can make all
the difference between a day well spent and not.
A four-level non-exhaustive classification of
certain challenges aspects will be (based on
discussions with multiple interns)-
1. Travel: In my internship for instance, every
Monday morning started with an international
flight from Bangalore to the middle east in a time
when SpiceJet had just stopped operating its fleet
on that route and available flight timing options
out of Bangalore (where the airport ride itself is an
unknown
31
Aaditya Agarwal
Bain & Co.
variable) were at difficult hours. This is an issue
not for the inconvenience of flying but its impact
on sleep and consequently, productivity. Thus, one
has to neatly define their schedules to see where
sleep fits in, what assists sleep (like I had even a
special sleep playlist figured out for my journeys)
2. Demanding team: While I had an amazing
team experience, I have often heard that this is a
major pain point. However, this requires some
degree of mental calibration to understand that
people are different and have different
expectations and your team might not be
particularly challenging but there is a more
fundamental expectation mismatch which can be
resolved by conversation with the team or talking
to others in the firm who have worked with your
current team members- requiring more focus on
the aspect of building one’s network
3. Demanding client: The best of the team cannot
truly insulate you from the challenges of a
demanding client. This phase of the internship is
marked by lack of complete clarity on the expectations from you and set up your deadlines
deliverables with limited time or scope for making on calendar so as to not miss them
any mistake. This really becomes a test of both
5. Error-free work: Take 5-7 minutes extra to
one’s interpersonal skills and ability to manage
see that the work you have done is error-free.
time properly
Make a checklist of things (like font color,
4. Personal professional skills: Not all of us sourcing, etc) for both, the excel and the power
share the same level of training in some of the points which you can check before submitting any
tools that are essential to excel during an work. This more than anything else made sure that
internship and that can slow the pace of work. This I did not have to apologize for extremely avoidable
is perhaps the easiest to remedy challenge and errors
before the internship work on this front can really
In the end, the projects are challenging because of
enter the internship phase more confidently
the hours and the fear of the unknown- you do not
Putting all of this together, a challenging case be know how the project will shape up the next day.
challenging on any and all of the above fronts. The Some of the tips above can help people from some
key, in my opinion, is only five-fold, of the perils that the internship can throw up, for
others- welcome to your consulting life!
1. Not preempting everything as a disaster:
Some things will go downhill in every case and
constant self-evaluation or evaluation with respect
to your friends on other projects will not help.
2. Communication: As an intern, you are treated
as a member of the team and all help is provided
but it has to be asked for; therefore it is imperative
to establish a rapport with team members outside
of work hours, reach out to more people in the
organization or simply any other senior who you
feel can provide guidance to you. If the firm has a
specific mentorship initiative, then do make the
most of it. Do not let the fear of being evaluated
prevent you from seeking help
3. Prepare: Investment before and in the early
phases of your internship in skill development and
knowing how your firm does things can go a long
way in making the transition into work-life
smoother
4. Notes-taking and calendar-updates: When
challenges are many, both stakeholders and
deadlines seem to multiply. It can be very useful to
come up with a robust note-taking system to keep
track of everyone’s (including your own)

32
BEST OF LUCK!
We know you
will ace it!
-Signing off,
Consult Club 2019-20
team

33