By Jeff Altman, Big Game Hunter
I was coaching someone recently and it was interesting that this pattern came up again. They had a case study interview and they wanted me to go through a few cases with them in a mock interview, and I’ll tell you, this pattern repeated itself so consistently! It doesn’t matter if you are a junior or a senior. I see this happen all the time.
So you’ll see a case with several scenarios and some specific questions to answer. You are right. However, people forget something. The first thing they tend to forget is the lack of information they need to glean from the interview.
So, in a recent example, they had no idea what the team they would lead would look like. How experienced are they, or are they junior or senior? Have they ever worked with each other to know if these were a bunch of traitors thrown into a barrel or if this person had to pull them together or if they were an existing cohesive team?
There are things that are not in the case study that they should be asking about. In another case, there is a lack of information that should be explored.
When you go into a case interview, part of the way they evaluate you is by seeing if you dig right into your answers. This is the wrong approach, especially when you are in a leadership position. That’s because you’re proving you’re in the weeds. If you’re fresh out of school and going into an entry-level position, there’s a certain level of expectation that you’ll see.
However, if you’re higher level, you have to gain a different perspective from your experience and the expectations you can address. Like, what’s your budget for this project, right? What can be accomplished with a budget and a specific schedule varies.
Again, there are some questions that need to be answered before you start answering them, and if you just dive in indirectly, you’re missing out.
And even if you guess the answer, they’ll think you’re missing information. This can prove to be costly for you.
Ⓒ Big Game Hunter, Inc., Asheville, NC 2020
About Big Game Hunter Jeff Altman
Jeff Altman, Big Game Hunter is a coach who has been a recruiter for a hundred years. His work involves career coaching, as well as executive job coaching, job coaching, and interview coaching. He is the host of No BS Job Search Advice Radio, the #1 job search podcast on iTunes with over 1,900 episodes, and is a member of the Forbes Coaches Council.
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