2017 Fit Interview Workshop II presented by the Consulting Club at the Texas Medical Center

1. FIT INTERVIEW WORKSHOP II

2. OUTLINE
1. Importance of fit interview
2. How to prepare
3. Types of questions
4. Best practices and common mistakes
5. Partner up and practice

3. IMPORTANCE OF FIT INTERVIEW
Fit interview
(10-15 min)
Ice Breaker
(1-5 min)
Questions
(1-5 min)
Case interview
(25-35 min)
Full-time position interview
Fit interview is just as important as the case
interview, if not more
 Determines your likability
 Contributes to how helpful the interviewer will
be during the case interview

4. PURPOSE OF THE FIT INTERVIEW
1. Assess your ability to prioritize information and
communicate succinctly
2. Gauge how you mesh with the firm and office
 Professional presence
 Airport test
3. Evaluate your understanding of consulting and
the specific firm
4. Assess your soft skills and character
 Leadership
 Teamwork
 Communication
 Drive to achieve
 Problem-solving

5. OVERALL STRATEGY
KNOW:
1. The consulting industry
2. The firm
3. The job
4. The interview process
5. Yourself

6. RESOURCES FOR LEARNING
ABOUT CONSULTING
 YouTube videos
 Victor Cheng
 Managementconsulted
 Management Consulting Prep
 Consulting prep websites
 www.vault.com
 www.caseinterview.com
 www.managementconsulted.com
 www.mconsultingprep.com
 www.glassdoor.com
 Firm websites
 Case interview prep books

7. TYPES OF QUESTIONS
1. Resume-based
 General
 Specific
2. Why consulting and why the firm
3. Self-awareness
4. Story
5. Curveball

8. GENERAL VS. SPECIFIC
RESUME QUESTIONS
 Walk me through your resume
 Tell me about yourself
 What experiences have made you who you are
today?
 Tell me something about you that is not on your
resume
 How did you choose to study/work at X
school/company?
 Tell me your role at X [company]. How did that
grow or change and why did you leave?

9. ANSWERING GENERAL RESUME
QUESTIONS
 Highlight your education followed by relevant
experiences (consulting or business, if any)
 Underscore soft skills
 Use reverse chronological order
 Do not rush or ramble (aim for 1-2 minutes)

10.  Structure your answers
 Mention consulting soft skills and key words
 Quantify your achievements when possible
 Highlight any awards and honors
 Be concise (~1 minute)
ANSWERING SPECIFIC RESUME
QUESTIONS

11. SPECIFIC RESUME QUESTIONS
My role as a teaching assistant for the Cell
Biology course consisted of three aspects. First, I
served as the communication liaison between
instructors and students; second, I organized
weekly Q&A sessions; and third, I assisted the
instructors in grading students’ performance. I
worked as TA for 2 consecutive years, serving
more than 10 instructors and 80 students, and
was 1 out of 50+ awarded the best TA prize last
year.
EXAMPLE ANSWER:
SPECIFIC RESUME QUESTION

12. SPECIFIC RESUME QUESTIONS
My role as a teaching assistant for the Cell
Biology course consisted of three aspects. First, I
served as the communication liaison between
instructors and students; second, I organized
weekly Q&A sessions; and third, I assisted the
instructors in grading students’ performance. I
worked as TA for 2 consecutive years, serving
more than 10 instructors and 80 students, and
was 1 out of 50+ awarded the best TA prize last
year.
SPECIFIC RESUME QUESTION:
STRUCTURE

13. SPECIFIC RESUME QUESTION:
KEYWORDS
My role as a teaching assistant for the Cell
Biology course consisted of three aspects. First, I
served as the communication liaison between
instructors and students; second, I organized
weekly Q&A sessions; and third, I assisted the
instructors in grading students’ performance. I
worked as TA for 2 consecutive years, serving
more than 10 instructors and 80 students, and
was 1 out of 50+ awarded the best TA prize last
year.

14. SPECIFIC RESUME QUESTION:
NUMBERS
My role as a teaching assistant for the Cell
Biology course consisted of three aspects. First, I
served as the communication liaison between
instructors and students; second, I organized
weekly Q&A sessions; and third, I assisted the
instructors in grading students’ performance. I
worked as TA for 2 consecutive years, serving
more than 10 instructors and 80 students, and
was 1 out of 50+ awarded the best TA prize last
year.

15. WHY CONSULTING
Really asking: Why are you a good fit to be a consultant?
 Demonstrate a clear understanding of consulting
 Display a genuine interest in consulting
 Answer why you can succeed in consulting
 Highlight relevant achievements
 Touch upon soft skills
 Develop a unique and creative story
 Average: Only a simple reason
 Good: I have three reasons
 Great: Let me tell you a story

16. WHY THE FIRM
Really asking: Why are you a good fit with the firm?
 Demonstrate a genuine interest in the firm by
knowing:
 People (networking)
 Specific aspects of past achievements or cases
 Staffing model
 Unique culture or initiatives
 Do not compare the firm with the others
 Convey what you can do for the firm, not just how
great the firm is
 Develop a unique and creative story

17. SELF-AWARENESS QUESTIONS
 What are your strengths and weaknesses?
 What would your mentor/supervisor say is your
biggest weakness/strength?
 What are your short and long term goals?
 What would you miss about academia?
 Tell me about a time when you failed
 Give me an example of a time when you had to
resolve a crisis

18. SELF-AWARENESS QUESTIONS
 What are your strengths and weaknesses?
 What would your mentor/supervisor say is your
biggest weakness/strength?
 What are your short and long term goals?
 What would you miss about academia?
 Tell me about a time when you failed
 Give me an example of a time when you had to
resolve a crisis

19. STRENGTHS
 Pick 3 strengths that are consulting soft skills
relevant
 Provide brief, supporting illustrations
 Highlight achievements
 Quantify results
 Be confident, not arrogant
 Try to tell stories

20. WEAKNESSES
 Pick 2 weaknesses
 Choose examples that are:
 from the past to distance yourself
 distant from the consulting soft skills
 Acknowledge assertively and say how you
have improved
 Try to tell stories

21. STORY QUESTIONS
Specific examples of how you have
demonstrated key consulting soft skills
 Leadership
 Teamwork
 Communication
 Drive to achieve
 Problem-solving

22. STRATEGY FOR STORY
QUESTIONS
 Look at your resume: how do your experiences
demonstrate key soft skills?
 Generate relevant stories for each soft skill
 Formulate the story with the STAR method
 Practice being structured but natural-sounding
 Refine the stories and receive feedback

23. THE FIT MATRIX
Story A Story B Story C Story D
Problem solving X X
Leadership X X
Teamwork X
Communication X X
Drive to achieve X X X

24. STAR METHOD FOR
ANSWERING STORY QUESTIONS
Situation
Task or trouble
Action
Result

25. STAR METHOD: SITUATION
Clearly describe the context of the situation
 Who
 What
 Where
 When
 Why

26. STAR METHOD: TASK OR TROUBLE
 Identify the task or trouble at hand
 Highlight specific constraints or challenges
such as (for example, deadlines or costs)
 Mention potential consequences if the issues
were not resolved

27. STAR METHOD: ACTION
 Clearly describe specific actions that you took
to complete the task
 Highlight your rationale behind the actions
 Did you consider any alternatives?
 Demonstrated consulting soft skills

28. STAR METHOD: RESULT
 Conclude with the results/outcome of your
actions
 Quantify the impact if possible
 Did you meet your objectives?
 What did you learn from the experience?
 What are the implications?

29. STAR METHOD:
LEADERSHIP EXAMPLE
Situation: Students in the department felt they were not
getting enough exposure to other research topics outside
of their lab.
Task: Other departments have had success bringing in
external speakers for weekly seminars. Thus, I decided to
try to institute a similar program in my department.
Action: I spoke to departmental administrators about
funding for honorariums. I created a committee of
interested students to send invitations to potential
speakers and arrange the logistics for the program.
Result: The department granted me $3000 in funding.
With this fund, we have hosted >30 external speakers
since June, and >100 students and faculty have attended
each seminar. With our success, the department supports
the permanent installment of this seminar progam.

30. COMMON MISTAKES WHEN
SELECTING STORIES
Using stories:
 Irrelevant to the question
 Too far in the past
 That can not be backed up with details
Point: Avoid using the same story multiple times
in the same interview session

31. COMMON MISTAKES TO AVOID WHEN
PRESENTING STORIES
 Giving a rehearsed speech
 Using “we” instead of “I”
 Being vague or generic
 Not structuring the story
 Spending too much time on the context
 Telling stories with so many facts that the
interview does not know how to follow up

32. RANDOM CURVEBALL QUESTIONS
 Some questions are unpredictable
 How do you feel about [a current business event]?
 What is the most interesting business problem that
[pharma/biotech industry] faces today?
 Intended to determine how you react under
pressure
 Strategy: Breathe, take time to think and
demonstrate confidence in your answer

33. QUESTIONS?

34. PRACTICE SESSION
 Choose one
1. Why consulting?
2. What is your proudest achievement?
3. Tell me about a time when you led a team
4. Tell me about a time when you worked with a
difficult person
 Apply the STAR method
 Partner up and share your answers

35. APPLICATION DEADLINES
DATE/TIME EVENT
September 4th (Monday) LEK 2018 Life Sciences Specialist
No due date available ClearView Life Science Strategy
Consultant (Experienced Hire)
No due date available Putnam Associates Life Science
Consultant (San Francisco and Boston)