Business Careers
A case interview tests how you think when you do not know the answer
Case interviews and guesstimates frighten students because they seem to need knowledge nobody has. They do not. They need a method: ask what the problem is, structure it, work through the numbers aloud and say what you would recommend. This session teaches that method and practises it on made-up cases, so the first one a student meets is not the real one.
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These rounds look odd and test something ordinary.
Case interviews are widely used in management consulting, where firms describe a case round as an interview in which the candidate works through a business problem with the interviewer. Variants turn up in strategy, business-analyst and product roles, in some business-school interviews and in some campus rounds. Many business students will never meet one, and the session says so honestly.
The skills behind them are not rare, though. Structuring a messy problem, doing arithmetic with reasonable accuracy, and explaining a recommendation in plain words are useful in almost any business job, and a student who practises them gets better at ordinary interviews and group discussions as well.
What the session teaches
32 topics across 7 areas. Seven parts, practised on made-up cases.
What a Case Interview IsA conversation, not an exam.5
- A business situation is described, and the interviewer expects a discussion
- Common types: profit decline, market entry, pricing, growth, and operations
- Why there is no single correct answer
- How interviewers judge: structure, numbers, judgement and communication
- Interviewer-led and candidate-led formats
Asking Before AnsweringThe first two minutes decide the next twenty.4
- Repeating the problem back in your own words
- Asking about the goal, the time frame and the constraints
- Not asking everything at once
- Taking a minute to think and saying so
Silence while you structure your thoughts is acceptable. Rushing into an answer usually costs more.
Structuring the ProblemFrameworks are a starting point, not a script.5
Interviewers can tell when a candidate has memorised a framework and is applying it without thinking.
- Splitting a problem into parts that do not overlap and together cover it
- Using familiar ideas, such as revenue and cost, customers and competitors, as a base
- Adapting the structure to the case rather than forcing a template
- Saying where you will look first, and why
- Forming a hypothesis, and being willing to drop it
The NumbersRough, but visible.5
- Setting out the calculation before doing it
- Rounding sensibly and saying so
- Percentages, ratios, break-even and simple growth
- Checking whether the result is plausible
- Recovering calmly from an arithmetic slip
GuesstimatesEstimating a number you cannot look up.5
- Top-down: start from a large known figure and narrow it
- Bottom-up: build from one unit of demand to the total
- Stating each assumption aloud and keeping it reasonable
- Checking the result against a second route or common sense
- Why the process matters more than the number
Practice figures in the session are assumptions made up for the exercise and are not statistics.
Reaching a RecommendationA case ends with a view.4
- Summarising what you found in three points
- Making a recommendation, not a list
- Naming the main risk and the next step
- Staying open to a challenge from the interviewer
Preparing HonestlyA little practice goes a long way.4
- Practising with a partner, aloud, with a timer
- Reading business news with a “why” in mind
- Using mental-maths practice for ten minutes a day
- Recognising where case rounds are used, and not preparing for them if the roles you want do not use them
Practice material
- Cases written for the session, with a business and a problem
- Guesstimates on everyday products and services
- A worked example of a top-down and a bottom-up route to the same estimate
- Mental-maths drills
What students leave with
- A structure they can adapt to a new problem
- A routine for a guesstimate: clarify, break down, assume, calculate, check
- Two cases to practise with a partner
- A better sense of whether these rounds apply to the roles they want
How the session runs
A practitioner who has been through and has run case interviews works one example in full, aloud, then students practise in pairs, taking turns as the candidate and the interviewer, with the practitioner moving between pairs. Cases and estimates are written for the session. We do not use real interview questions that a company has asked, and we do not claim any employer uses these particular ones.
What your students leave with
- A method for structuring a business problem aloud
- A way to ask clarifying questions without stalling
- A three-step approach to a guesstimate, with a sense check
- Comfort doing rough arithmetic in front of someone
- Practice giving a clear recommendation at the end
- A realistic idea of where these rounds are used, and where they are not
Scheduled sessions
Nothing scheduled yet
Sessions are arranged with a college once a date is agreed. Ask us and we will find the right person for it.
A student rather than a college? See what is coming up, or ask your placement team to host this.
Structure the problem. Say your reasoning. Make a recommendation.
Tell us who your students are and what stage they are at. Sessions are free for participants.