Show us what you've got
Of course, we'll be very pleased if it turns out that you are a potential Roland Berger employee. But we would also like to know why. Just tell us. At a certain point in the interviews, we'll want to know why Roland Berger is your first choice.
Your first task at Roland Berger
We want to know you and your strengths better. Especially in management consulting, case studies are a popular means for testing analytical, conceptual and communication skills. Nothing you need to worry about – it should be fun. Here are five tips on how to safely get through each case study.
Prepare
Practice is allowed
Applicants often have great respect for the case studies because they can't prepare for them by memorizing facts. A little practice goes a long way. Practice the interview and case situation with a friend. Simply take a current business topic from the newspaper, have your friend formulate it into a case and give it a try. No one expects you to know the market size for baby diapers in Southeast Asia offhand. But you should come up with an approach to estimate it. To solve market estimation cases, it helps to have some relevant basic data at hand, for example: How many people live in the country? What's the age distribution? And by all means, use common sense.
Listen
A good question is better than a bad answer
Pay close attention to how the interviewer formulates the case. Take notes and summarize the task in your own short and concise sentences. This will prevent misunderstandings – and will allow you to prove that you are on track by asking a good question. As a rule, in a case description, not all the information is included. With the right questions, you'll be able to ascertain what your interviewer would like to hear from you.
Structure
Just keep calm
There's no reason to be embarrassed if you need to think things over a bit. Don't jump straight into what you believe is the core of the case. Take a minute to sketch out your assumptions and the path to the solution. You need to be able to keep calm under stress and act deliberately. Discuss your solution with your interviewer – perhaps he/she has a hint for you to get you back on the right track if you've gone astray.
Share
Think out loud and accept advice
There's more than one way to solve a case. If you have an idea, give it a structure and modify it when solving it together with your interviewer. If you lack information, simply make an assumption – especially in assessment cases. Share this with your interviewer, so he/she can understand your path to the solution. Only when you share your thoughts the interviewer can assess your analytical skills and your creativity – and provide you with tips on how to proceed.
Focus
Stick to the essentials
Show your interviewer that you grasp the important aspects of a task. Don't get bogged down in an academic discussion, which is beyond the scope of the interview and is not expected at this point at all! Have the courage to simplify and just say: "I could go into more detail with this analysis. But for this case, I assume that …"
