Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Chennai
Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Your seniors at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Chennai were your true well-wishers, they shared their placement interview questions for you. 🙏
AmbitionBox
Search
Reviews
- Reviews
- Salaries
- Interview Questions
- About Company
- Benefits
- Jobs
- Office Photos
- Community
Filter interviews byIndian Institute of Technology (IIT), Chennai Placement Interview Questions
Updated
4 Dec 2024
13 interviews found
Interview experience
Good
Difficulty level
Moderate
Duration
4-6 weeks
Result
Yes, I joined the company
I applied via Campus Placement and was interviewed before Oct 2022.
3 Interview Rounds
1
Resume Shortlist Round
Pro Tip by AmbitionBox:
Keep your resume crisp and to the point. A recruiter looks at your resume for an average of 6 seconds, make sure to leave the best impression.
View all tips
2
Case Study Round
Buddy Process with a senior and junior buddy - This happens for almost 2 weeks where you do 3-4 cases with them.
3
One-on-one Round (2 Questions)
- Q1. Interview with Partner 2 Cases were asked - 1. Estimate the number of fans in India 2. The famous ski resort profitability
- Q2. Some generic questions on Resume
I applied via Campus Placement and was interviewed in Dec 2016.
3 Interview Rounds
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Technical + HR Interview
Experience: The interview lasted 40 minutes. I was asked a case before and after some HR questions.
Tips: Prepare your case solving part. Introspect a bit to find answers to some typical HR questions
Skills: Problem Solving Abilties
College Name: IIT Madras
Experience: The interview lasted 40 minutes. I was asked a case before and after some HR questions.
Tips: Prepare your case solving part. Introspect a bit to find answers to some typical HR questions
Skills: Problem Solving Abilties
College Name: IIT Madras
4 Interview Rounds
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Resume Shortlist
Tips: 1. Ensure that your resume does NOT have any random points - it's alright if it isn't completely packed, as long as the points that you have mentioned are authentic and have genuine impact.
2. Standard resume tips like, using the right action verbs, text formatting, etc. apply.
3. Try to think of your different experiences from a consulting perspective - I spun my FMCG internship as a pseudo consulting internship - since it involved working with a factory team that I didn't know before, and I had to pitch a change proposal to the factory management. Similarly, I thought of the various teams that I worked in, and tried to think of it in terms of the changes that I brought at an organizational level.
4. Numbers. While it is good to quantify - be cautious with them, and do not try to quantify something that is not concretely measurable. This again gives the impression that you're trying to bluff.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: The interviewer was very friendly and focused on my thought process alone. He gave me a case on FMCG since I had interned with one.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: This was a gruelling round where the interviewer tested me at different levels by making me constantly shift to different thinking styles. I drew almost 4 different trees for the same problem. Again, he looked mainly for my ability to think on the feet, and to present my views without becoming defensive.
While I felt that the interview didn't go well, he was satisfied with my structuring, and that was what worked well, I guess. :)
General Tips: 1. Do solid math prep - CAT, speed math on Elevate, etc. Fast math definitely carries brownie points.
2. Work on your vocabulary in advance. Taking the GMAT definitely helped me structure my sentences better and use the right words in the right places.
3. Make sure your resume is watertight. You should know it thoroughly, and you should be able to walk people through the thought process that went behind each point of yours.
Skill Tips: 1. Don't freak out about the number of cases that you could have done. Take time to dissect each case. Eventually, it's about trying to train your mind to think along a structured path. One tip that was given to me by my buddy, was to try to analyze each issue outside, and try segmenting it. This helped me a lot in thinking on the feet.
2. Be calm throughout the interview - smile and don't worry about the outcome. That's not in your hands anyway.
Skills: Flexibility, Analytical Skills, Drive, Leadership Skills, Top-Down Communication
College Name: IIT Madras
Motivation: People. The people here seemed genuinely hardworking and fun to hang out with, and I have observed them over the three years I was part of the placement team. Additionally, the company has some really nice policies to help you learn and grow
Tips: 1. Ensure that your resume does NOT have any random points - it's alright if it isn't completely packed, as long as the points that you have mentioned are authentic and have genuine impact.
2. Standard resume tips like, using the right action verbs, text formatting, etc. apply.
3. Try to think of your different experiences from a consulting perspective - I spun my FMCG internship as a pseudo consulting internship - since it involved working with a factory team that I didn't know before, and I had to pitch a change proposal to the factory management. Similarly, I thought of the various teams that I worked in, and tried to think of it in terms of the changes that I brought at an organizational level.
4. Numbers. While it is good to quantify - be cautious with them, and do not try to quantify something that is not concretely measurable. This again gives the impression that you're trying to bluff.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: The interviewer was very friendly and focused on my thought process alone. He gave me a case on FMCG since I had interned with one.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: This was a gruelling round where the interviewer tested me at different levels by making me constantly shift to different thinking styles. I drew almost 4 different trees for the same problem. Again, he looked mainly for my ability to think on the feet, and to present my views without becoming defensive.
While I felt that the interview didn't go well, he was satisfied with my structuring, and that was what worked well, I guess. :)
General Tips: 1. Do solid math prep - CAT, speed math on Elevate, etc. Fast math definitely carries brownie points.
2. Work on your vocabulary in advance. Taking the GMAT definitely helped me structure my sentences better and use the right words in the right places.
3. Make sure your resume is watertight. You should know it thoroughly, and you should be able to walk people through the thought process that went behind each point of yours.
Skill Tips: 1. Don't freak out about the number of cases that you could have done. Take time to dissect each case. Eventually, it's about trying to train your mind to think along a structured path. One tip that was given to me by my buddy, was to try to analyze each issue outside, and try segmenting it. This helped me a lot in thinking on the feet.
2. Be calm throughout the interview - smile and don't worry about the outcome. That's not in your hands anyway.
Skills: Flexibility, Analytical Skills, Drive, Leadership Skills, Top-Down Communication
College Name: IIT Madras
Motivation: People. The people here seemed genuinely hardworking and fun to hang out with, and I have observed them over the three years I was part of the placement team. Additionally, the company has some really nice policies to help you learn and grow
4 Interview Rounds
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Group Activity
Experience: I had an activity (networking session) before interview. However it was nothing related to selection process. we were given fundaes by senior people about how the work would be, shared their experience working the company. In brief it was more or less like knowing about the company and their work at more closer level. This was in no way related to selection. We were given an opportunity to have a small chit chat with their senior people.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I was asked questions related to quantitative cases. Case studies using quantitative analysis contain elements of the empirical analytical scientific approach.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I was asked to answer conceptual cases. I felt this round was a bit more testing than the first round. But overall fist two rounds are almost similar.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: There was nothing asked about cases. The questions were aimed at knowing about me and my level of commitment towards my future and the company.
Skill Tips: I practiced a lot of cases. I had a partner with me, and we used to sit together and practice cases. I spoke to some of the pass-out seniors. Even that helped me a lot. If you ask what helped me more while preparing for interview, having a partner and practicing cases with him helped me and him a lot. You can literally know many things when you speak to someone rather talking to a book. I had no prior intentions for core. I wrote all key points on paper, sticked them to my cupboard and used to go through them. I didn't refer any books or any material or anything. Anyway I had this non-core stuff already in my mind. I choose my minors and electives in the interest of the management side. I started practicing cases very early. I also watched many videos about the cases.
Skills: Logic, Communication
College Name: IIT MADRAS
Experience: I had an activity (networking session) before interview. However it was nothing related to selection process. we were given fundaes by senior people about how the work would be, shared their experience working the company. In brief it was more or less like knowing about the company and their work at more closer level. This was in no way related to selection. We were given an opportunity to have a small chit chat with their senior people.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I was asked questions related to quantitative cases. Case studies using quantitative analysis contain elements of the empirical analytical scientific approach.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I was asked to answer conceptual cases. I felt this round was a bit more testing than the first round. But overall fist two rounds are almost similar.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: There was nothing asked about cases. The questions were aimed at knowing about me and my level of commitment towards my future and the company.
Skill Tips: I practiced a lot of cases. I had a partner with me, and we used to sit together and practice cases. I spoke to some of the pass-out seniors. Even that helped me a lot. If you ask what helped me more while preparing for interview, having a partner and practicing cases with him helped me and him a lot. You can literally know many things when you speak to someone rather talking to a book. I had no prior intentions for core. I wrote all key points on paper, sticked them to my cupboard and used to go through them. I didn't refer any books or any material or anything. Anyway I had this non-core stuff already in my mind. I choose my minors and electives in the interest of the management side. I started practicing cases very early. I also watched many videos about the cases.
Skills: Logic, Communication
College Name: IIT MADRAS
1 Interview Round
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: First 5 minutes is taken to analyse your resume and get a feel of you as a person.The problem will be given for you to analyse and it is very important that you style what you speak to carry forward a constructive discussion with the interviewers. They will look at how you apply your knowledge to build a solution.
Tips: The 2 important things that you need to keep in mind are as follows ï Breaking the problem down to the absolute basicï Following a systematic and structured way of solving the problems.It is important to get feedback post-interview and they (the interviewers) would be willing to let you know as well.Important to defend your resume well. Have bullet points ready to speak for 30-45 seconds on them. It should differentiate you from other candidates.
General Tips: Resume should have a narrative of life in insti. Listing your passions and skills. Lookout for spikes in resume. Distinguish your work from other people in institute. Attend resume making sessions to understand how to reflect them in resume. Contact seniors who have joined the company to go through resume and suggest changes. Good Leadership PoRs will be appreciated. Important to quantify achievements in resume as companies like to see spike/impact that you have created. November – Prep for Case interview in a rigorous manner
College Name: IIT MADRAS
Experience: First 5 minutes is taken to analyse your resume and get a feel of you as a person.The problem will be given for you to analyse and it is very important that you style what you speak to carry forward a constructive discussion with the interviewers. They will look at how you apply your knowledge to build a solution.
Tips: The 2 important things that you need to keep in mind are as follows ï Breaking the problem down to the absolute basicï Following a systematic and structured way of solving the problems.It is important to get feedback post-interview and they (the interviewers) would be willing to let you know as well.Important to defend your resume well. Have bullet points ready to speak for 30-45 seconds on them. It should differentiate you from other candidates.
General Tips: Resume should have a narrative of life in insti. Listing your passions and skills. Lookout for spikes in resume. Distinguish your work from other people in institute. Attend resume making sessions to understand how to reflect them in resume. Contact seniors who have joined the company to go through resume and suggest changes. Good Leadership PoRs will be appreciated. Important to quantify achievements in resume as companies like to see spike/impact that you have created. November – Prep for Case interview in a rigorous manner
College Name: IIT MADRAS
5 Interview Rounds
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: nETWORKING session
Experience: In the activity, we were given fundaes by senior people about how the work would be, shared their experience working the company. In brief it was more or less like knowing about the company and their work at more closer level. This was in no way related to selection. We were given an opportunity to have a small chit chat with their senior people.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I was asked questions related to quantitative cases. Case studies using quantitative analysis contain elements of the empirical–analytical scientific approach.
Tips: Be good at your logical skills and communication skills.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: In the second round I was asked to answer conceptual cases. I felt this round was a bit more testing than the first round. But overall first two rounds are almost similar.
Round: HR Interview
Experience: In the 3rd round there was nothing asked about cases. I was asked questions like Why was I interested in joining this company, What are my long term goals and what are my short term goals. The questions were aimed at knowing about me and my level of commitment towards my future and the company.
General Tips: 1. Practice cases.
2. Watch videos on cases.
3. Choose electives and minors on technical side.
4. Good communication skills.
Skill Tips: 1. Practice cases.
2. Watch videos on cases.
3. Choose electives and minors on technical side.
Skills: Logical Skills, Communications skills
College Name: IIT MADRAS
Experience: In the activity, we were given fundaes by senior people about how the work would be, shared their experience working the company. In brief it was more or less like knowing about the company and their work at more closer level. This was in no way related to selection. We were given an opportunity to have a small chit chat with their senior people.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I was asked questions related to quantitative cases. Case studies using quantitative analysis contain elements of the empirical–analytical scientific approach.
Tips: Be good at your logical skills and communication skills.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: In the second round I was asked to answer conceptual cases. I felt this round was a bit more testing than the first round. But overall first two rounds are almost similar.
Round: HR Interview
Experience: In the 3rd round there was nothing asked about cases. I was asked questions like Why was I interested in joining this company, What are my long term goals and what are my short term goals. The questions were aimed at knowing about me and my level of commitment towards my future and the company.
General Tips: 1. Practice cases.
2. Watch videos on cases.
3. Choose electives and minors on technical side.
4. Good communication skills.
Skill Tips: 1. Practice cases.
2. Watch videos on cases.
3. Choose electives and minors on technical side.
Skills: Logical Skills, Communications skills
College Name: IIT MADRAS
5 Interview Rounds
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: They looked for peaks. Acads, Internships, CGPA, extra andco -curricular, POR's.
I had an all rounded resume.
I started resume preparation by August
Tips: Should start resume preparation by June.
Round: Group Activity
Experience: 1. A case Interview preparation workshop. They explained what exactly we could expect as case interviews. Also, they conducted one on one case interviews with us.
2. A BCG dinner was organized for the 22 shortlisted candidates. This gave us an insight of what the company does. We could all interact with about 10-12 employees at BCG at different levels. This was non- evaluatory.
3. Buddy interaction programme. We were all allotted buddies who were like our mentors. They were extremely personal and helped us both with case interviews and the personal interviews and about matters pertaining to the company in general. This was non- evaluatory.
Tips: na
Round: HR Interview
Experience: Each interviewer had his style. None of them were particularly stress interviews. But its good to be prepared with your resume. I was asked a case in which my intern was my case and I had to re-do it with different constraints given by the interviewer.
Tips: Be thorough with your resume.
General Tips: Start preparing your resume at the earliest .
Skill Tips: Case study preparation in groups maximum of 3 people.
One can youtube the videos of victor cheng.
Skills: Case study
College Name: IIT MADRAS
Motivation: I had concrete reasons of getting into a consultancy and had a clear cut ling term goal which was aligned to a consultancy.
Experience: They looked for peaks. Acads, Internships, CGPA, extra andco -curricular, POR's.
I had an all rounded resume.
I started resume preparation by August
Tips: Should start resume preparation by June.
Round: Group Activity
Experience: 1. A case Interview preparation workshop. They explained what exactly we could expect as case interviews. Also, they conducted one on one case interviews with us.
2. A BCG dinner was organized for the 22 shortlisted candidates. This gave us an insight of what the company does. We could all interact with about 10-12 employees at BCG at different levels. This was non- evaluatory.
3. Buddy interaction programme. We were all allotted buddies who were like our mentors. They were extremely personal and helped us both with case interviews and the personal interviews and about matters pertaining to the company in general. This was non- evaluatory.
Tips: na
Round: HR Interview
Experience: Each interviewer had his style. None of them were particularly stress interviews. But its good to be prepared with your resume. I was asked a case in which my intern was my case and I had to re-do it with different constraints given by the interviewer.
Tips: Be thorough with your resume.
General Tips: Start preparing your resume at the earliest .
Skill Tips: Case study preparation in groups maximum of 3 people.
One can youtube the videos of victor cheng.
Skills: Case study
College Name: IIT MADRAS
Motivation: I had concrete reasons of getting into a consultancy and had a clear cut ling term goal which was aligned to a consultancy.
4 Interview Rounds
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: Your resume can only get you an interview. Beyond that, I guess everyone is on an equal footing. I believe that once shortlisted for a consulting interview, your CGPA and/or extracurricular achievements don’t matter so much that it can make your selection.
Tips: Made a good resume (after dozens of iterations).
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I solved in 20 mins, all the while explaining to interviewer my thought process.
My 2nd, 3rd and 4th round of case interviewers did not spend any time on 'chit chat' and went on directly to give me a case.
Tips: I believe what they were looking for was confidence, clarity of thought process, logical deduction at every stage of problem solving and poise, if and when you go wrong and realize your mistake. Case interviews are a simulated work environment; the interviewers will treat your performance as a proxy of how you would do in everyday consulting work. This includes checking for 'fit' or likeability.
There was not much time spent on discussing my resume and/or HR questions, so I should have been selected because I did the case studies well. However, please do not consider this as a reason to not bother about your resume at all. Consult interviewers may pick up any point/word on the resume and you do not want to be in a situation where you can’t explain/talk enough about what is asked. I had spent considerable time preparing for everything on my resume.
General Tips: 1. Made a good resume (after dozens of iterations) and knew it well
2. Prepared for HR questions, rather than just looking up answers online
3. Practiced GDs, did mock interviews as frequently as possible
4. Revised quant
5. Current affairs. And by that, I don’t mean just knowing what is going on, but having an opinion about all sorts of issues
6. Didn’t spend too much time after one particular sector/company. And got to know every company/sector's style of interviewing from seniors who are placed there. Attended all placement talks to understand what each company is looking for.
Skill Tips: It is necessary to understand the consulting interview process well, as there are specific traits which firms are looking for in future consultants and which they will definitely test through case interviews. I did so by practicing cases with friends and seniors working in consulting
Skills: case studies
College Name: IIT MADRAS
Funny Moments: I should have prepared core subjects, even though I was not too enthu about joining a core company. I interviewed with ITC, but did badly in the technical round and wasn’t called for a 2nd round of interview. Fortunately, things went well for me in the end so it did not matter.
Experience: Your resume can only get you an interview. Beyond that, I guess everyone is on an equal footing. I believe that once shortlisted for a consulting interview, your CGPA and/or extracurricular achievements don’t matter so much that it can make your selection.
Tips: Made a good resume (after dozens of iterations).
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I solved in 20 mins, all the while explaining to interviewer my thought process.
My 2nd, 3rd and 4th round of case interviewers did not spend any time on 'chit chat' and went on directly to give me a case.
Tips: I believe what they were looking for was confidence, clarity of thought process, logical deduction at every stage of problem solving and poise, if and when you go wrong and realize your mistake. Case interviews are a simulated work environment; the interviewers will treat your performance as a proxy of how you would do in everyday consulting work. This includes checking for 'fit' or likeability.
There was not much time spent on discussing my resume and/or HR questions, so I should have been selected because I did the case studies well. However, please do not consider this as a reason to not bother about your resume at all. Consult interviewers may pick up any point/word on the resume and you do not want to be in a situation where you can’t explain/talk enough about what is asked. I had spent considerable time preparing for everything on my resume.
General Tips: 1. Made a good resume (after dozens of iterations) and knew it well
2. Prepared for HR questions, rather than just looking up answers online
3. Practiced GDs, did mock interviews as frequently as possible
4. Revised quant
5. Current affairs. And by that, I don’t mean just knowing what is going on, but having an opinion about all sorts of issues
6. Didn’t spend too much time after one particular sector/company. And got to know every company/sector's style of interviewing from seniors who are placed there. Attended all placement talks to understand what each company is looking for.
Skill Tips: It is necessary to understand the consulting interview process well, as there are specific traits which firms are looking for in future consultants and which they will definitely test through case interviews. I did so by practicing cases with friends and seniors working in consulting
Skills: case studies
College Name: IIT MADRAS
Funny Moments: I should have prepared core subjects, even though I was not too enthu about joining a core company. I interviewed with ITC, but did badly in the technical round and wasn’t called for a 2nd round of interview. Fortunately, things went well for me in the end so it did not matter.
3 Interview Rounds
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: With the help of my good resume, i was being shortlisted.
Tips: Your resume is the first impression you make for yourself on the company or the interviewing panel. Most companies have a resume shortlist for their interviews where they reduce the field from roughly 600 applicants to 20-30. So, your resume is of utmost importance.
Different companies look for different things in the resumes of their applicants. For example, the consulting firms look for people who are all-rounders and have spikes or achievements across the board. Other firms like people who are strong in the Positions of Responsibility department specially.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I had four interviews with the Boston Consulting Group.
Each interviewer made me solve a small case.
There wasn’t any personal interview.
Cases that I solved here were also largely similar.
Some examples include how to price a new cab service, how to improve market share for companies like flipkart etc.
General Tips: Build your resume stronger as much as you can, and solve case studies.
The main format of interviewing for consult companies is the case interview format. Here they give you a small business problem in the form of a case and ask you to solve it on the spot. There are a lot of prep books for this on the internet. The one I found most useful was Case in Point. I formed a case group of 2-3 people and practiced cases from this book. Mock interviews with people from the consulting companies also helps a lot.
College Name: IIT MADRAS
Experience: With the help of my good resume, i was being shortlisted.
Tips: Your resume is the first impression you make for yourself on the company or the interviewing panel. Most companies have a resume shortlist for their interviews where they reduce the field from roughly 600 applicants to 20-30. So, your resume is of utmost importance.
Different companies look for different things in the resumes of their applicants. For example, the consulting firms look for people who are all-rounders and have spikes or achievements across the board. Other firms like people who are strong in the Positions of Responsibility department specially.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I had four interviews with the Boston Consulting Group.
Each interviewer made me solve a small case.
There wasn’t any personal interview.
Cases that I solved here were also largely similar.
Some examples include how to price a new cab service, how to improve market share for companies like flipkart etc.
General Tips: Build your resume stronger as much as you can, and solve case studies.
The main format of interviewing for consult companies is the case interview format. Here they give you a small business problem in the form of a case and ask you to solve it on the spot. There are a lot of prep books for this on the internet. The one I found most useful was Case in Point. I formed a case group of 2-3 people and practiced cases from this book. Mock interviews with people from the consulting companies also helps a lot.
College Name: IIT MADRAS
4 Interview Rounds
Interview Preparation Tips
Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: Resume shortlist for consulting companies is perhaps the most competitive among all firms and therefore, in the interest of meaningful utilization of time, it's best to start case study preparation only after the shortlist is out. There's typically little more than a month between then and placement day, which is more than enough to prepare for any interview.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: To prepare for case study interview, all shortlisted candidates will form prep-groups.
It's good to have 2-3 students per group, but not more.
It's a good idea to practice solving cases (a case, very crudely, is nothing but a business problem which some firm is facing and you are approached for guidance and suggestions) with different “interviewers”. This helps in getting feedback from different perspectives.
I solved cases with my BCG (someone from within the firm assigned to help you in preparation), within my prep-group and also with few other shortlisted fellow students. I worked out maybe 10-12 cases in interview setting. This number varies from person to person.
Tips: The idea is to practice till you gain confidence.
I used cases from Case In Point for the preparation.
Other good sources include case study material of foreign business schools such as Wharton. But then again, time is a precious resource during placement semester. So, I didn't bother going through any source apart from Case In Point. Also, despite whatever people might say,
solving cases requires nothing but logical thinking and some innovative thought at times.
It is not required to mug up the frameworks (you will learn about this irritating word at a later point) and you also do not require any business knowledge to crack the interview.
Round: HR Interview
Experience: The personal interview part is not something to fret over. It is just meant to see whether you are an amicable person (read: someone who will be able to interact with the clients).
As for preparation, just go over everything that you have written on your resume. You should be comfortable with talking for five minutes on any point in your resume.
And, of course, think on the standard HR questions:
Why consulting?
Why this firm?
What are your strength / weaknesses? And so on and so forth.
General Tips: Application process to company starts typically with a resume shortlist and therefore it is of utmost importance to write a good, impressive resume.
A lot of people with great credentials fail to make this initial mark because their resume is poorly organized. It's good to have resume points, but it's equally important, if not more, to write them properly. Writing a perfect resume is an art that needs to be learnt.
Resume-writing is an iterative and time consuming process.
So, best start a fortnight before deadline. Remember that it's a one-time effort. Once a good resume is ready, it can be used throughout the placement season with minor modifications.
Do it once and do it correct. It took me about four or five iterations to end up with my final resume. It's a good idea to show the resume to lots of colleagues and seniors and challenge them to tear it down word-by-word.
College Name: IIT-Madras
Experience: Resume shortlist for consulting companies is perhaps the most competitive among all firms and therefore, in the interest of meaningful utilization of time, it's best to start case study preparation only after the shortlist is out. There's typically little more than a month between then and placement day, which is more than enough to prepare for any interview.
Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: To prepare for case study interview, all shortlisted candidates will form prep-groups.
It's good to have 2-3 students per group, but not more.
It's a good idea to practice solving cases (a case, very crudely, is nothing but a business problem which some firm is facing and you are approached for guidance and suggestions) with different “interviewers”. This helps in getting feedback from different perspectives.
I solved cases with my BCG (someone from within the firm assigned to help you in preparation), within my prep-group and also with few other shortlisted fellow students. I worked out maybe 10-12 cases in interview setting. This number varies from person to person.
Tips: The idea is to practice till you gain confidence.
I used cases from Case In Point for the preparation.
Other good sources include case study material of foreign business schools such as Wharton. But then again, time is a precious resource during placement semester. So, I didn't bother going through any source apart from Case In Point. Also, despite whatever people might say,
solving cases requires nothing but logical thinking and some innovative thought at times.
It is not required to mug up the frameworks (you will learn about this irritating word at a later point) and you also do not require any business knowledge to crack the interview.
Round: HR Interview
Experience: The personal interview part is not something to fret over. It is just meant to see whether you are an amicable person (read: someone who will be able to interact with the clients).
As for preparation, just go over everything that you have written on your resume. You should be comfortable with talking for five minutes on any point in your resume.
And, of course, think on the standard HR questions:
Why consulting?
Why this firm?
What are your strength / weaknesses? And so on and so forth.
General Tips: Application process to company starts typically with a resume shortlist and therefore it is of utmost importance to write a good, impressive resume.
A lot of people with great credentials fail to make this initial mark because their resume is poorly organized. It's good to have resume points, but it's equally important, if not more, to write them properly. Writing a perfect resume is an art that needs to be learnt.
Resume-writing is an iterative and time consuming process.
So, best start a fortnight before deadline. Remember that it's a one-time effort. Once a good resume is ready, it can be used throughout the placement season with minor modifications.
Do it once and do it correct. It took me about four or five iterations to end up with my final resume. It's a good idea to show the resume to lots of colleagues and seniors and challenge them to tear it down word-by-word.
College Name: IIT-Madras
Campus Placement Interview Questions at Top Colleges
- Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Chennai Placement Interview Questions
- Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Technology, Delhi Placement Interview Questions
- National Institute of Technology (NIT), Warangal Placement Interview Questions
- Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Lucknow Placement Interview Questions
- Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur Placement Interview Questions
- Show more
- Home >
- colleges >
- indian institute of technology iit chennai placement interview questions