During the case interview you are expected to demonstrate that you have the necessary skills to be a consultant, by showing that you can solve complex business problems and convey the ideas you develop effectively. In the short time frame of the interview an interviewing partner is also trying to get to know you better as a person, to understand your individuality. The interviewer is seeing how you as a candidate will work with the people they see every day in the office, so you should try to be yourself. The ideal outcome would be that you both feel comfortable that you could work together closely on a project that may last a few months.

My advice is also to be well prepared to explain why you want to join BCG. Normally you will be asked this question, “why is it important to you?” I like the phrase from Petr Kapitsa, a Nobel Laureate: “The main sign of talent is when a man knows what he wants.” Show this and you will be on track to join the team.

Interviewing at BCG can be a great learning opportunity. However, it can also be challenging, so it pays to be prepared!

Generally speaking, your interview partner at BCG will be trying to figure out if you have the capabilities required to become an outstanding consultant, and whether you would contribute strongly to BCG’s corporate culture. Usually, the first part of the interview is designed to get an idea of your “fit” with BCG. Do you have a passion for learning? Are you achievement-oriented? Do you work well in teams? At a bare minimum, you should come to your interview with a well-thought-out answer to the question, “So why do you want to work at BCG?”

The second part of the interview, designed to test your ability to do the job, centers around a business case. Your interview partner will describe a typical business problem, usually taken from his or her personal experience, and ask for your opinions about how to solve it. The most important thing to understand about a business case interview is that you are not expected to know anything about the topic being discussed. Rather, your interviewer will be looking to see how you approach the problem: do you have a logical structure? Do you ask questions that get to the root of the problem? Can you make logical inferences from the information provided? In other words, you would be better off treating the business case as a conversation, than you would be simply trying to provide answers on the basis of what you already know.

Good luck!