Management Consulting Behavioral Questions
When you are called for a management consulting fit interview, that means your application stood out above other candidates. If you are fortunate enough to be in this situation, get ready for the next challenge by preparing answers to the behavioral questions we listed below.
In management consulting case interviews, recruiters assess your capability to think in a logical way. They give you questions on actual business problems, brain teasers and estimation questions to figure out how technically prepared you are. During fit interviews, they assess if you:
- Are emotionally ready to take the position
- Have a personality that matches with their corporate culture
- Can handle the work-related pressure
- Can deal with colleagues smoothly
- Have the right motivation
We never know what questions you will get. So to help you in the best way we can, we listed the main areas that management consulting recruiters usually deep dive into and enumerated at least five possible questions under each category. Try to practice your answers to develop your confidence for the actual interview.
Personal Qualities and Background
- Tell me something about yourself.
- What inspired you to pursue a consulting career?
- Why do you want to work in this consulting firm?
- What are your strengths and weaknesses?
- How prepared are you for a management consulting position in our firm?
Decision Making
- What was the most challenging or most difficult decision you’ve ever made? Tell me the details about it.
- How do you come up with a decision? Do you prefer to consult other people or do you want to decide on your own? Why?
- Think about an experience when you had to choose from several options. How did you come up with your final decision?
- What will you do if you need to decide on something that’s beyond your technical knowledge or area of responsibility within a limited amount of time?
- Before you went to university, what programs were you considering? What made you decide to pursue your degree?
Communication
- How should management consultants communicate effectively?
- Tell me an incident when your boss wasn’t convinced with your proposal or idea. How did you explain your side?
- Share an experience when you received a negative feedback about your work output. How did you manage it?
- Recall an experience when you needed to develop and present an idea in front of a large or small group. How would you rate your presentation skills that time?
- What was the most challenging report you’ve ever written? How did you accomplish it?
Interpersonal Skills
- How did you relate with your colleagues and supervisors on your first day at work in your previous job? (How did you relate with the club members and officers during the first club activity you’ve joined?)
- Tell me about a time when you had to coordinate with someone whom you were not comfortable? How did you manage it?
- How do you deal with different personalities?
- In which situation are you more productive or effective: working on your own or working on a team?
- When you’re working with your close friends, what guidelines do you follow to maintain objectivity and professionalism?
Other Areas
- (Time Management) How will you maintain work-life balance when your job requires you to work for 60 to 80 hours per week?
- (Commitment) Tell me about community involvement project in which you volunteered. What was your role in the team?
- (Stress Management) What do you usually do when you’re frustrated, anxious or under stress? Illustrate your answer with an experience.
- (Productivity) If you get the management consulting job, what possible factors will pull your productivity level down?
- (Organizational Skill) How do you usually organize a project to ensure success at the end of the day? Cite an experience.