Anyone Here Ever Had a Case Interview?

"Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis" (Dwhite95)
10/06/2015 at 09:41 • Filed to: None

Boring stuff after the jump. Have some Ferrari’s.

So I have an interview next week with a company I’d really like to work for. After doing some research the first interview is about an hour long, 30 minute behavioral and 30 minute case. The behavioral is fine and I’m not worried about that one, but I’ve never even touched a case interview before. Anyone have any tips for preparing for one? They have a few sample ones online, but I’m just trying to get all the info I can.

DISCUSSION (9)

BorkBorkBjork > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
10/06/2015 at 10:01

The bad thing about case interviews is that they are difficult to prepare for because they are specifically meant to test out your experience. Best thing I did for preparation (my first one was for a consulting firm a long time ago) was to simply talk to as many business owners as possible to get a perspective on their ongoing problems.

The case I was presented was to determine whether or not a client should purchase a gas station. I was given a bunch of made-up numbers (they usually care more about how you work the problem than your math) and told to make my recommendation. I added some outside knowledge (specifically, at the time the city was requiring gas stations to upgrade to smog-preventing pumps/handles, which was costing many stations an arm and a leg), and made up a bunch of numbers based on rising cost of fuel (just a BS linear extrapolation), and finished up with a “No, don’t buy it, and here’s why:”

Just be thorough, explain everything, and be confident. If you got this far into the interview process then you already have the knowledge to ace it.

davedave1111 > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
10/06/2015 at 10:04

In my experience things like ‘case interviews’ are fantastic tools for working out which employers to avoid like the plague. If they use them, politely decline the interview. If you actually get into a room with them and they ask you some shit like ‘why are manhole covers round?’, then just stand up, excuse yourself, explain that you and they clearly aren’t a good fit, and leave.

Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis > davedave1111
10/06/2015 at 10:10

They are kinda par for the course for the industry I’m trying to get into.

My citroen won't start > davedave1111
10/06/2015 at 10:10

They are round as to not fall on their own holes.

luvMeSome142 & some Lincoln! > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
10/06/2015 at 10:10

I don’t know about your specific situation, but I read something on quora the other day that might be helpful. And now I can’t find the post of course. But anyway, the question had to do with applicants to tech companies in the valley being given extremely hard problems to work out for the interview.

In one of the answers it was suggested that the point of the problem wasn’t to see if you knew how to solve it, but to see how you performed under pressure, and (this was the interesting part) to see if and how you asked for help.

The people who did the best got into a conversation with the interviewers about the problem and worked out some strategies on how to solve it. The worst, didn’t engage the interviewers, went into their own heads and tried to work out the problem on their own.

davedave1111 > My citroen won't start
10/06/2015 at 10:15

Nope, that’s not true - hence why the question is so dumb. They’re round because they cover round holes, that’s all. The holes are round because that’s how you dig a manhole/drain if you want to keep it from collapsing with minimum materials.

davedave1111 > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
10/06/2015 at 10:16

Keep looking, you’ll find the decent employers don’t pull that kind of shite. It’s like walking into a hotel and the first thing they do is punch you in the face: you ought to walk out, not go and see what the bedrooms are like.

wiffleballtony > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
10/06/2015 at 10:35

I hate case interviews. Effectively ended a job application that was 7 years in the making.

nermal > Dwhite - Powered by Caffeine, Daft Punk, and Corgis
10/06/2015 at 11:31

I’ve never specifically done a “Case interview”, but have been on tons of different ones.

Regardless of what type of position you’re talking about, you need to approach it as a sales process. You’re selling yourself. However, you are not the one buying, the interviewer is. There’s an extremely important distinction there.

Do as much research as possible, and then some, before hand. Check our glassdoor.com for info if it’s available. Look up others in the same position on LinkedIn and read their profiles. Try to anticipate questions that you’ll get, and know the answers to them. Most importantly, speak confidently. The worst thing you can do is to be unsure of yourself.

Finally, don’t do anything last minute in preparation. The night before the interview, make sure your shirt is ironed and you get to bed early so that you are well rested.

Good luck!