Tips to Ace an Interview
Brittany Blackamore shares an always relevant post on how to ace an interview.
Ready or not, recruiting season is here. For many candidates, this means they face the dreaded case interview.
I remember the first time I attempted a case interview. I was in a case workshop at UCLA Anderson, and we were told to work in teams on a practice case. My classmate read my first prompt. I was already intimidated, and when the answer wasn’t immediately evident to me, I froze. I ran out of time, and before we exchanged turns, I could feel my face turn red as she explained what I could have done differently.
What I didn’t realize back then is that casing is a learned skill. Very few people know how to approach case interviews without training. This is actually good news: it means that anyone can learn how to ace a case interview; it will just take practice. If I learned how to do it, so can you.
Here are my favorite tips when it comes to surviving—and mastering—the case interview.
- Think out loud
The best way to avoid freezing during your case interview is to think out loud. A case interview assesses more than just your ability to solve a problem; it allows the interviewer to observe your communication style and executive presence.
Make it a conversation. Treat the interviewer as if she were a colleague. If you approach the case interview as a brainstorming exercise, rather than a timed exam, you will relax and think more clearly.
Throughout the interview, make your logic explicit. Talk through your assumptions, your initial hypotheses, and your framework. If you make your logic explicit, your interviewer can assess your abilities and gently nudge you if you go off track.
Key points include:
- Quickly crunching numbers
- Develop insights
- Preparing a succinct summary
Access the full article, Here are My Top 8 Tips to Ace Your Case Interviews, on LinkedIn.
