Fit Interview Tips
- Review key decisions in your life and the inputs that went into the decision.
You learn a lot about a person when you understand how he makes
decisions. What factors did you weigh when you made a particular change
(typically it will be a job change)? What did you like about the
situation? What did you want to leave behind? Since you may be a
decision maker for this interviewer’s firm some day, he or she will
want to understand how you think. Emphasizing the times you used facts
and data to help you make a good decision will be important.
- Systematically go through the most likely questions for each section of your resume. You
know you could get questions about leadership, persuasion, tough
situations and successes for each portion of your resume, so prepare
your answers in advance. You may not have the luxury of giving your
best persuasion example if your interviewer asks for such an example
from a specific time in your life. Also, refresh your memory on the big
picture of each situation. If you worked for the purchasing department
of Ford Motor Company, then think through what was happening at the
corporate level as well at the industry level during your work there.
The person interviewing you will often position his or her questions at
a high level. Be prepared with answers from every section of your
resume and practice your answers out loud.
- Tighten up your responses with “answer first.” Consultants
are not patient people. So do yourself and your interviewer a favor and
get to the point quickly with your examples. Most consulting firms have
created an “answer first"
culture where you are expected to get to
the point early. Don’t frustrate him by telling lengthy, drawn-out
stories. Move to the final conclusion of your examples and you’ll be
fine.
- Link your experiences to consulting whenever possible. Since
your future in consulting will be focused quite a bit on data,
analysis, problem solving and deriving insights in ambiguous
situations, you’ll want to show that you are already comfortable with
most of those activities. Try to help the interviewer understand the
kind of work you did in the past and how it relates to consulting.
