Common case study interview formats

- Have you caught on that case study interviews are kind of a beast? I liken it to going into battle. You want to be well-equipped with the best weapons. You want to find out as much as possible about your enemy, and you want to have a game plan, because as we know, knowledge is power. So before we jump into actually solving for a case study, we need to walk through the two sub-types of case study interviews, interviewer led, and candidate led. Typically, companies will stylistically interview somewhere in between these two formats, so it's important to be familiar with both. Interviewer led cases are when the interviewer is highly involved throughout the process. Typically, they interject throughout solving the problem and often jump around, making it confusing for the candidate. Think of it like this, they are creating a bunch of mini-cases within the bigger case. Your goal as the candidate is to stay organized and address each question concisely. An example of an interviewer led question may be, "What's the global market size in dollars "for wireless headphones?" And once you answer that, they may interject and say, "Okay, now given those assumptions, "what should our client who markets wireless headphones "do about that?" The key to acing this style of interview is to be agile, quick on your feet, and incredibly decisive. Companies are looking to see if your brain can handle a bunch of different things thrown your way. Stay focused and answer the question that's right in front of you. Now in contrast, candidate led cases are when the interviewer is more vague and rarely intervenes. They are very hands-off. This allows the candidate to lead the conversation. I would recommend following a chronological format to solve the problem, which allows the emphasis to be placed on methodology versus just results. An example of a candidate led case may be: A retailer has seen declining profits over the last two years. Based on research, opening up in a new market may be the way to go. How would you figure out what the next best move is? And then they let you talk. As you can see, this type of question doesn't give you a lot to work with. This is where you have to put your thinking cap on, and start asking some questions. Case interviews, whether interview led or candidate led can actually be the best way to prove your capabilities, skills, and leadership potential. You just have to be knowledgeable about the format and practice, practice, practice.