Pre-Placement Preparation, Resume, LEK, Key Takeaways
Pre-Placement Preparation
There will be different aspects to your preparation based on the companies you wish to apply for. We’ll go over each of them briefly –
1) Mental math –
a) A very important aspect of preparation for majorly trading firms and consults.
b) Do not take this lightly because no matter how smart you used to be you would’ve lost practice due to over dependence on calculators
c) You can use sites like rankyourbrain for this. Desired speed should be around 40 questions (2 min) in hard mode.
2) Aptitude –
a) You will have to be very good in this as most companies will test this.
b) Ensure that you minimize any mistakes
c) Tests on Pariksha.com and the ones conducted by department placement coordinators should give you a good level of preparation.
3) Current affairs –
a) It is important to be up to date with this aspects for GDs and interviews
b) Subscribe to a newspaper – I recommend Hindu and Mint, or read regularly on the app
4) HR and Resume preparation –
a) This part should take around 3-4 days. It can be done close to placements.
b) Be prepared for every single line that you write on your resume
c) For HR, I would suggest sometime when you are alone reflect on your life. Think about all the experiences that you faced at some point in your life which contributed to making you who you are today. This is especially helpful for any unexpected/unprepared questions during the interview.
5) Consult Prep –
a) Attend case interview workshops which will be conducted by the different firms.
b) Focus on quality and not quantity. Over preparation is very real – too many cases and you may become very dependent on your frameworks. This will make you less coach-able.
c) After doing 5-10 cases revise your cases and try to reduce recurring mistakes in the next cases.
d) The cases you will face in interviews will be unlike any you have prepared for so try to do many unconventional cases
e) Take buddy sessions very seriously and show progress across your sessions. Try not to worry about if your buddy is judging you during the process.
f) Towards the end do cases with unknown people rather than your case group or friends. This can do wonders to your confidence ahead of day 1.
Resume
1) Familiarize yourself with what is a resume –
a) Glance through resumes of seniors to understand types of resumes (1 page and 2 page (Consult, Analytics, Finance within 1 page)
b) Notice the formal ways in which points will be written
c) Understand different ways to write same points across 1 page and 2 page resumes
2) Gather information
a) You would have done it for your third-year resume but sit down and write everything you have done in your life. Ensure you don’t miss anything.
b) Try to group all your achievements in headers. You can use existing ones or make your own
3) Making your resume
a) Think of an appropriate format to make your resume table format or header format) based on the matter you have and companies you plan to apply for
b) Pay very close attention to language and formatting – if caught can be a huge turn-off
4) Reviews
a) First round of reviewing should be done by your close friends
b) Second round of reviewing to be done by seniors who have been placed in firms you wish to apply for. Make sure you give them at least a week to review it as they will be pretty busy
c) A continuous round of reviewing to be done by people who you can blindly trust – family or very close friends
5) Miscellaneous
a) Most importantly NEVER lie on your resume
b) Make notes while making your resume of the different points, which you can quickly glance through during resume prep couple of months later
c) You can make upto 3 different 1-page resumes. If you are keen on a particular company you can try to make one resume specifically tailored to it.
d) Try to be different and original in your resume. You should be proud to show people your resume
I had interviews with the following firms –
1) LEK Consulting
2) Boston Consulting Group
3) ATKearney
4) Strategy&
5) Morgan Stanley Investment Banking
LEK Consulting:
Round 1: (Approx. 25 min)
We started by having a discussion about my IIT life and my family to help me calm my nerves.
After a brief discussion, we moved on the case.
Case:
Case type – Market entry
Question – Your client wants to enter the high-school market in your home town and wants your help to estimate the demand and if this is a feasible idea.
Approach – After a few initial questions based on the client, I broke my approach into 2 major parts – Firstly estimating the demand and secondly checking the feasibility of setting up the school based on the demand supply gap.
After I presented my approach to the interviewer, we had a quick discussion on how I would go about doing it and the data that would be required. Post this we closed the case.
Key learnings –
1) Be confident in whatever you say
2) Initial part of the case is key so be exhaustive
Round 2: (Approx. 25 min)
This was my first partner round. We started by having a similar discussion as in the first round and then focused on the mentorship program as I was involved in the same for 2 years. It was just a normal conversation which transitioned into a case.
Case:
Case type – Unconventional
Question – Your client wishes to increase interest of students in your college in core engineering. What would you suggest him to change.
Approach – After a few initial questions based on the client, I broke down the college life into various stages – Before he chooses his major, First year in college, Corresponding years. I did so as I felt at each stage the factors which would govern his interest in core engineering would be significantly different. After this, I wrote down all different stakeholders involved at each stage (student, parents, faculty, amenities) and relevant factors under each of them.
After I presented my approach to the interviewer, we had a quick discussion on why I broke down the problem in this way and how the different stakeholders are involved.
Post this I felt the interviewer was convinced with my approach and asked me to wait for my other partner round.
Round 3: (Approx. 15 min)
This was my second partner round. In our initial discussion, it came up that I had taught in an NGO in my first year. This led to a discussion on teaching and transitioned into a case.
Case:
Case type – Unconventional
Question – How will you implement technology to help teachers to make teaching a more enjoyable experience.
Approach – I broke down my approach into the different stages in delivering a lecture inside and outside the classroom.
Briefly after the interviewer understood my approach we discussed where and how we could implement technology at all the different stages.
Post the interview, I knew that this was going to be my final round irrespective of the result and so I was mentally preparing myself to interview with the next firm if I needed to. Fortunately, after a few minutes the partners entered the room and offered me the job. I accepted the offer and exited the placement process.
Key Takeaways:
1) Be confident – This can’t be emphasized enough. Know that you have done a lot of preparation and that you are ready for whatever happens that day.
2) Always have a smile on your face.
3) Have a trusted friend with you to manage your interviews and trust him completely to schedule your interviews. Do all your thinking only inside the interviews.
4) The entire process will at times be exhausting and scary. It is important to keep going no matter what happens.
Be-Prepared 