1. Entering the Business World
How to prepare for a business or consulting interview

2. Business News Update

3. The Interview Introduction Questions about you
Why business or consulting?
Possible math question
Case Question
Your questions

4. Introduction This is THE first impression Overall factors to consider
1- Your appearance- do you look like the full package?
2- Eye contact and firm handshake
3- Smile

5. Questions About You What they want:
Confident, comfortable communication
Leadership and initiative
A team player
Drive, aspirations, energy, morals and ethics

6. Questions About You Common General Questions: Why are you here?
Why did you pick Hopkins?
What do you think consultants do?
What do you know about this job/firm?
Why would you choose us over a competitor?
How are your quantitative skills?
Have you ever failed at anything?
With what other firms are you interviewing?
What transferable skills do you have?
Why should I hire you?

7. Questions About You Common Personal Questions: Tell me about yourself.
Tell me of a time you showed leadership skills.
Tell me of a time you were a team player.
Give an example of a time you influenced or persuaded a group
Tell me about a recent crisis you handled
Tell me of a time you took initiative and started something
What type of work do you like best?
What accomplishments give you the greatest satisfaction?

8. Why Business/Consulting?
12 Reasons:
1- You’ll work with and learn from very intelligent and articulate people
2- Develop a vast array of marketable skills in a prestigious environment
3- The learning curve never ends
4- Receive exposure to corporate elite
5- Exposure to many industries
6- Working as part of a team

9. Why Business/Consulting?
12 Reasons (cont’d)
7- You like problem solving
8- You like organizing things for greater efficiency
9- Exposure to multiple projects
10- Travel
11- Improved chance of acceptance into business school
12- Looks great on a resume’

10. Possible Math Question
Be prepared to prove your quantitative ability
Practice working sums by hand
Know common percentages
Examples:
What is 100 divided by 7?
What percent of 7 is 63?
What percent of 72 is 9?

11. Case Questions February 7: February 21: March 7: Entering a New Market
Industry Analysis
February 21:
Mergers & Acquisitions
New Products
March 7:
Pricing Strategies
Growth Strategies

12. Case Questions March 21: April 4: April 18: New Business
Competitive Response
April 4:
Increasing Sales
Reducing Costs
April 18:
Increasing Profits
Turnaround

13. Your Questions
Try to answer as many of these as you can with your own prior research
1- What type of work does your firm do?
2- In what industries do you specialize?
3- How big is the firm? International offices?
4- What kind of training does the firm offer?
5- What type of work does an entry level employee do?
6- How much client contact first year?
7- Does firm have a mentor program?
8- What is the travel schedule like?

14. Your Questions 9- How long is a typical workday?
10- How is a study team picked?
11- How often do you get reviewed?
12- How many hires does the firm expect this year?
13- How does the number of hires this year compare to last year?
14- Where do people go when they leave the firm?
15- What is the usual tenure of an employee?
16- Is it possible to transfer to other offices? International offices?

15. Practice Case Background:
Our client is a large global power company. Currently they are in 25 countries around the globe and have expanded rapidly. The power industry has been declining rapidly over the past couple of years, and now the company finds itself in a liquidity crisis and needs to generate cash.

16. Practice Case
Question 1 – what would you need to know in order to help determine which assets to sell?
Question 2 – what is the total coal usage per plant?

17. Practice Case
Industry has been declining rapidly over the past couple of years
Average plant burns 300 days/year and 20 hours/day
Coal costs average $10/ton for up to first 400,000 tons and $8/ton after that

18. Practice Case
50% of coal used is standard coal which uses 100 tons/hour
30% of coal used is superior coal which uses 80 tons/hour
20% of coal used is premium coal which uses 40 tons/hour

19. Solution
Question 1:
Most of the assets are the plants, so the question is to determine which plant to lose.
Discuss:
- different geographic regions
- whether the markets are expanding or declining
- where their competitive strengths are
- which plants are making the most money

20. Solution
Question 2:
- Average plant burns 300 days/year and 20 hours/day = 6000 hours/year
- 50% are 100 tons/hour = 50 tons/hour
- 30% are 80 tons/hour = 24 tons/hour
- 20% are 40 tons/hour = 8 tons/hour
so = 82 tons/hour
82 tons/hour * 6000 tons/year = 492,000 tons/year
$10 * 400,000 + $8 * 92,000 = $4,736,000 per year

21. How many dogs are there in US homes?
Estimation Practice
How many dogs are there in US homes?

22. Solution US population = 300 million
1 household = 3 people, so 100 million hhold
40% have no dog (0 dogs)
50% have one dog (50 million dogs)
10% have an avg 2.5 dogs (25 million dogs)
Total: 75 million dogs
*Actual Number: 73 million