Avaali Solutions Associate Consultant Interview Questions, Process, and Tips

Interview preparation tips for other job seekers - Do prep for case study , puzzles , guesstimated . It is all required for this role .

Interview preparation tips for other job seekers - Really grind casing

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Answer 1) No numbers were expected, no knowledge of broadband technology was expected either. The key here was not just an increase in users, but also an increase in the number of uses. None of the established frameworks really helped. The interviewer was very helpful and gave me cues when I was not making progress.

Answer 2) Again, no numbers, no data. I thought I really screwed up this one. I asked the interviewer if I had missed out some aspect, and he told me where I had gone wrong. Then we discussed this aspect for about a minute or so.

Answer 3) Always try to pick something with practical/industrial applications

Round: HR Interview
Experience: Answer 1) The interviewer told me exactly what he expected…he told me the four departments he wanted me to look at. I was to check for ‘synergies’ or the potential benefits of the acquisition for these departments. This case was a lot of fun. (Thanks to the interviewer mainly). Luckily for me, he was highly impressed and he told me that a third interview would not be necessary. 

Answer 2) He also pointed out that I seemed to have dabbled in a lot of things, and discussed this for a long time. It was a two-way discussion, and was a very comfortable conversation. By the middle of this interview, I knew I had to join this company.

General Tips: Sleep well, wear comfortable footwear (Girls, please stash away those high heels for post-job treats and NOT interviews, they almost killed me), don’t starve yourself. If you have back-to-back interviews, sit down for a minute between interviews and take deep breaths, it really helps. Now let’s cut the chase and get to preparation

PPT : Attend PPTs of all the companies that you are interested in. It will give you a good idea of the kind of people you’ll work with, apart from the work itself. Stick around after the PPT and talk to your seniors who are working with the company. Wait for the pizza, there’s always enough for everyone.

Resume : Don’t try and squeeze in too much into your resume. Going by the experiences of my batch, I think companies looked for well-rounded individuals and not necessarily DR1’s or managers and CGs. Needless to say, do not lie or exaggerate. It is disgusting, and in most cases, it will be obvious too.

Interviews: Please don’t prepare answers to the last word, but think about some common questions: strengths/weaknesses (a little introspection never does any harm) and of course, “Why consulting?” (or analytics, etc). Go through your resume and think about what you have learnt from each experience.
College Name: IIT BOMBAY
Motivation: A must for consultancies. Most seniors will have material on this. Don’t over-do this bit, but from personal experience, I can say that 3 days of case studies will do just fine. Do this in groups of 2 or 3. Don’t use any technical jargon/names of frameworks.

Interview preparation tips for other job seekers - Be yourself and you will be fine

Round: HR Interview
Experience: The first interviewer asked me some standard stuff about Mood Indigo and my internship at ITC. He also later asked me about a course project I had mentioned in my resume and what impact it had. The case he asked me was one where there were different markets for a certain product, each with its own prices and size. I was asked to explain which market should the firm invest in and why. The second interviewer had a case about a tractor company in Maharashtra whose profitability was going down. He gave some data as I asked and one had to work his way to the fact that of lately the tractors being produced were not up to the mark. He had modified the case data differently for different candidates, so for someone else the case involved figuring out that the soil in Maharashtra was of a certain kind where a better tractor was required which a competitor was able to launch, etc.
Tips: I think at times I wasn't being myself, I normally solve cases aggressively and quickly come to a certain conclusion. But I was trying to be over careful and hesitating to state the obvious without thrashing out the case in full detail. I felt maybe the interviewer would have preferred me to stick to the former method. However, in the other company I felt exactly the opposite. Hence I think it really depends on the interviewer and the case in consideration, but my advice would be to try and be more & yourself than adopt some method suggested by seniors which you are not really comfortable with

College Name: IIT BOMBAY