The takeaway here: I hope to have some more time to post over the next couple of weeks until exams and the holiday travels drag me away.

The most important bit of news to share is that I finally accepted a full-time job offer this past week!  I’m headed back to the consulting firm I worked for during my summer internship.  Given the amount of time and stress I devoted to the recruiting process this year, it’s ironic that I’m accepting an offer that was on the table back in early August.  In retrospect, it shouldn’t have been a tough decision.  I had a fantastic experience over the summer, built a lot of strong relationships, and (I think) established a solid reputation within the office.  I really hope I haven’t sacrificed all of that goodwill by exploring other options over the last few months.

It’s tricky to know how best to handle this.  HBS’ policies are both a blessing and a curse.  They require firms to keep their offers open until this weekend:

“Second year class of 2010 students may not be required to accept offers before 1/15/10, or 3 weeks after the offer is made, whichever date is later. Full-time offers to previous employees and/or summer interns must be held open until at least 11/16/09. It is permissible to offer incentives to students who accept a full-time position in advance of these dates. The base offer (including base salary, base signing bonus, performance bonuses and job function) must remain open until the decision date.”

I think it may have been even later (Dec or Jan) in years past, but the power balance has shifted solidly to the recruiter’s camp in this dire economic climate.  The policy is great in that it gives us the chance to explore other options… BUT, only within the bounds of firms that recruit on-campus during recruiting week.  The 50-60% of jobs that arrive after the 11/16 deadline are outside this process… and tend to include many of the more interesting possibilities (VC/PE, start-ups, etc…)

I hope I’ve made the right choice here.  When I stop to think about it, it’s kind of amazing that I’ve signed a contract that doesn’t even have a start date until 1 year from today…!  Part of me thinks that’s a bit insane.  I can barely make firm travel commitments a few months in advance.  For the firms that require you to do this (consulting + i-banks), it’s really quite a good deal.  You’re able to remove candidates from the job market during what’s likely the most attractive period of their lives — all without paying a dime.  Now, that’s a *good* contract!

Maybe I’m just feeling a bit fatalistic now that I’ve (basically) locked-in the end result of two years at HBS… and while it’s a great option, it doesn’t involve a risky turnaround, stock options, the c-suite, or private jets.   (So much for everything I’ve learned here…!)

Or maybe it’s just typical melancholy from a rainy, rainy Saturday morning:

Rainy November #1

Rainy November #2

The decision comes down to BCG and Bain.  I’m not sure if I would’ve turned McKinsey down (the international strength and flexibility appeals to me), but there are many attractive aspects to these two choices.  For those (like my parents) who aren’t all that familiar with the firms, the generic reputations go something like this:

McKinsey: The largest firm (9k consultants).

The most well-known of the firms with a strong reputation (although, one damaged slightly by the Enron scandal).  Known for the “McKinsey Way” (a process that is effective, but sometimes criticized as rigid and template-driven).  Strongest international presence, targeting and capturing most of the work for foreign governments and NGOs.  Viewed as a “burn-out” with little work-life balance.  Unlike the other two firms, encourages consultants to specialize as soon as they enter.

BCG: The nerdy firm (4.5k consultants).

Known for cutting-edge insights, academic books and articles, and “thought leadership”.  Also seen as “too theoretical” and more about the technically insightful, but less actionable, recommendations.  Medium international presence and medium work/life balance.

Bain: The cool firm (4.5k consultants).

Reputation for strong impact and only focusing on what counts.  Staffing structure involves a 1 : 1 Undergrad : MBA ratio, which leads to a younger firm with more social drinking / partying (versus the typical 0.5 : 1).  The strongest of the top 3 firms in serving Private Equity clients (the most demanding client type?) with a market share 4x the next firm.  Lower international presence with the best work/life balance.

The whole consulting recruiting process is such a time-sink.  Even post-offer, I think I’ve had (at least) two calls a day from people at each of the firms…!  They don’t give up easily, and they want to make sure that you’ve met every single person in the company who has a similar background / set of interests.  As much as I appreciate the attention, I can’t wait until this is all finally over! 

I am glad I have a job locked down, though… From some statistics I’ve heard, the majority of RCs can’t say the same.  I think it’s primarily because people are being picky – they’re holding out for those coveted private equity or venture capital jobs.  If only those still existed…

If I could do it over again, I would:

1.  Watch the first five videos on the free CaseInterview.com while folding laundry.
2. Schedule 3 mock interviews / week with former consultants in the 3 weeks prior to the actual interviews (so – 9 interviews total).
3. The weekend before, skim a few real cases from a consulting club case book (not Case in Point). 

That’s it!  You really don’t need to do much more than that.  Memorizing frameworks?  Useless.  Attending case prep lectures and sessions?  Equally wasteful.  If you truly feel behind, I’d say that the time would be much better spent receiving (or giving) a mock interview than learning techniques that can only be effectively applied 5% of the time. 

That said, here are my top 10 tips for case interviews:

1. Listen carefully.  Information isn’t typically given without a purpose.
2.  Start with the basic metrics: industry size, market share, growth, margins.
3. Framework #1: Revenues – Costs = Profits
4. Framework #2: Client/Product, Customers/Market, Competitors, Risks
5. Don’t try to explore a laundry list of ideas.  Categorize and group.
6.  In contrast, segment everything they give!  Averages hide the truth.
7. Drive the interview forward with probing questions.
8. Hypothesize constantly!  Let this drive your search and analysis.
9.  Structure your answers: “I think about this in three ways…”.
10. Conclude holistically and succinctly.  Answer the original question.

That’s it!  Good luck…

I’ve spent most of this weekend trying to catch up on case interview prep.  Over the last few weeks, I’ve only taken the time to do about 4 mock case interviews.  The first one was an absolute catastrophe.  The second one was only a mild disaster.  During the last two I started to feel vaguely competent.  I was probably able to run through another few this weekend, building the total up to around 10 (of varying quality).  Nothing spectacular, but I feel modestly prepared.  I would feel a lot better if I were like some of my classmates… some have done 30-40!  That’s incredible. 

Although, I do wonder if some of the preparation that goes on defeats the entire purpose of the interview.  At what point does it become more of a memorized response to typical business scenarios rather than a measure of cognitive speed and clarity?  Hard to say…