Halcrow Consulting Interview Questions and Answers

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: I started preparing my resume somewhere around August end. I spoke to a few seniors about it and read quite a few resumes, especially of those seniors who either had a profile similar to mine or had secured jobs in fields of my interest, eg. Consulting, finance, etc. I also attended the Resume Writing Workshop conducted by McKinsey and Co. on campus and cleared a few doubts there.
Tips: I would advise you guys to start preparing your resumes well in advance, it is not something to be kept for the last minute. Being the first form of acquaintance between you and a firm, it is a highly important document and the way you highlight your strong points and attributes can go a long way in shortlisting you from amongst the hundreds of resumes that they have to scan. Also, it is important that you be able to speak on any point in your resume in detail, hence you must be sure of what you are writing in it.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: The procedure of selection for Opera Solutions was a set of 4 interviews, each having a case study and some HR questions. The initial shortlist had around 22 candidates, after the first 2 interviews around 10 candidates were selected for the final rounds. Finally 3 candidates were made offers.  There were no GDs, only case interviews. The first interview had a case involving a music company which scouts for amateur talent and launches them. They want to enter India and want you to analyse the market and suggest if its feasible or not. The interviewer gave a lot of data related to market share of pop music, bollywood, devotional music, etc and it suggested that the market share of the genre related to the company is very little. However I think what worked best was that I also pointed out certain solutions which could make it feasible, such as merging with another company in a genre where the given company has core competencies in. I think this was the high point of the interview which I atleast would like to believe compensated for a later interview that I did not do well in. Another interview had a case where a pharmaceutical company in the US wants to enter India. A set of constraints and data was given and I was asked to calculate if it should actually setup a manufacturing facility in India or manufacture in the US and transport to India. I did not do well in this one, I wasn’t being able to come up with a figure. Both the interviews had an HR component where I was asked about my strengths and weaknesses, about Mood Indigo and my academic record. I was asked to describe myself. I was also asked to talk about my co-intern’s project in ITC (she was also interviewing with Opera). In a subsequent interview after the shortlist, I was asked to estimate the market for Maruti cars, domestic air travel. They weren't expecting too much detail, the interviewer was more interested in the approach. point.
Tips: I attended most of the initial PPTs. One does get a good understanding of what a firm does and where exactly do you fit into it, you also understand what they are looking for and what is the extent of their operations. I must admit though that I found my interaction with seniors, especially those working in those firms was more informative and fruitful. They can give clarity in certain grey areas that companies might stay non-committal on.ending across links/documents would help us compile a single point resource) . I prepared for case studies from the material I took from seniors, most of which is available on the LAN. For case studies I prepared with a friend and sometimes in groups of 3. I think this method is better than individual preparation because the other person can point out where you are going wrong, you get a different perspective and at the same time you can prepare in a fashion where one interviews the other and vice versa, so you get slightly comfortable with how an actual interview might feel like. It is however important to ensure that the person you are preparing with is competent and complementary to your skill sets, so that you can improve upon aspects where you might be lacking in.

General Tips: Case studies and HR questions. One should be very comfortable with points mentioned in the resume and should be able to talk at length about any . I guess it'd just be shifting a little from being myself if you know what I mean. A lot of seniors would give you a lot of fundae, but at the end one must remember that unless one is comfortable with a certain way of speaking or certain method of solving cases, it wont look genuine. For example, one need not thrash out every single detail of a case before beginning to solve it, sometimes the interviewer might get impatient or might think you are trying to buy time to think by asking unnecessary details. So if you are the kind of a person who can intuitively draw good conclusions at the outset so as to decide which direction to proceed in and hence which questions to ask, you can surely go ahead and do that, you need not also ask questions that you know are not required. Case interviews are very feel-good interviews, even if you make a mistake you will be guided back on track by the interviewer, hence I personally would recommend that you stick more to your general approach to solving cases (if you know it is a good one and works of course) and not try to change too much just because a certain senior did it in a different way.
College Name: IIT BOMBAY

Round: Resume Shortlist
Tips: Resume building is the most important of all steps. Keep it concise and to the point.

Round: Test
Experience: Puzzles
Tips: Practice as many puzzles as possible

Round: Stress Interview
Tips: Keep your cool, divert interview towards your strong zones

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: Guesstimates (basic level) and puzzles. Also know your resume and courses well

General Tips: They want to check your thinking, try every problem given in interview. They would have simple solutions.
Skills: Critical Thinking
College Name: IIT DELHI
Motivation: Application of statistics

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: Resume is the candidates face before the interview. All the things that he/she wants to communicate should be communicated well and in an organized manner. Giving excessive and irrelevant information doesn’t heed well with the company and the recruiting staff. For, non-core jobs a long resume is not necessarily a good resume. They generally prefer a short and concise resume giving only the details relevant to the job profile being offered. For example, for a post of Business Analyst giving a long list of technical and course projects will not help the candidates cause. I personally focussed a lot on Position of Responsibilities and extracurricular activities, especially those showcasing my leadership and oratory skills.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: The first interview began with some questions about me. The interviewer asked me to tell something about me and my hobbies. Then he moved on to my resume and asked questions related to my intern and the PORs I had held and asking me to give a brief description about the duties involved. These questions were basically to ease me into the interview. Then he asked the routine interview questions like why consulting, why not a core job, what makes you think you are suited for this job. He asked me to relate some incident that showcased my leadership and teamwork skills. After the HR part, he gave me a case study. I was asked to estimate the market size of the bulbs market in India. It was an easy enough case study and I asked a lot of questions like whether I have to estimate for commercial and domestic both, for bulbs and CFL both etc. The catch in the question was to consider the replacement ratio for the bulbs and CFL.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: The second interview also had a similar beginning with the routine questions. Then he moved on to case study which was a number crunching problem. He gave me almost no details and just narrated the situation. I had to as all the questions probing for the numbers and the data. The case went on as he kept elaborating the case with new additions.

Also, the interviewer was senior partner in the firm and I felt that I had made a genuine rapport with him. I felt free and asked him a lot of questions about his job, the job profile and how important an MBA degree is for the future. He explained me the details and I had a very healthy communication with him.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: This one was pretty short and quick. The interviewer decided to ask me questions about my hobbies. We discussed about Hollywood movies, actors, football and my other interests. We both shared an interest in Hollywood movies and we had a nice time discussing the merits of my favourite actor, MORGAN FREEMAN. Then he gave me a puzzle. There are 25 horses and only 5 can race in one race. I had to determine the fastest three horses in the minimum number of races (the answer is 7. Try it out. It’s not very tough). I was not able to solve the puzzle on my own but he guided me with various clues and finally I was able to complete the puzzle with his help.
Tips: Be prepared with the routine answers but don’t mug them up. Remember them in points and elaborate them as you go through the monologue. Answers to questions like why consulting and why should we hire you should be prepared very well. Prepare these answers yourself and don’t mug up some standard answers. The interviewer will know when you do that. Prepare some questions of your own about the job and the company and ask them to the interviewer when he gives you the chance. Don’t get nervous if you can’t get some question but instead try a new approach or ask for help.

General Tips: Focus a lot on extracurricular and PORs in the resume but at the same time keep it balanced. Prepare for case study interviews and puzzles. Be through with your resume and why you are there for the interview. Getting selected for the interview means you have an equally good opportunity as anyone else, so be confident.
College Name: IIT KANPUR
Motivation: The major information about the company was obtained from the pre-placement talk held by the company at the college campus. Also I talked to some of my seniors working there and in other consultancy firms as business analyst to get a feel about the profile and job description. Also enquiring about the attributes that the company majorly looks for from the seniors helped a lot.

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: There were 3 Job profiles open of opera solutions (Solution Analyst, Analytics Specialist, and Software Engineer). Students are asked to sign just for one profile. There was a test for analytics and software profile and direct interview for solution profile (Consultant profile).
Tips: Spend enough time before choosing the profiles. Spoke to senior who had a similar job and figure out your best suitable profile and prepare accordingly.

Round: Test
Experience: Opera solution conducts workshop for shortlisted candidates. In the workshop, they mostly tell about technical part behind big data management such as Mainframe and Hadoop. After the workshop, the test was conducted. The test had two sections, the first section contains objective questions around 20-25 (I did not remember the exact number). Objective questions were of aptitude type (moderate level of difficulty). The second section contains 5-6 subjective questions, mainly focus on probability again the moderate level of difficulty. 30 students were shortlisted for next round (interview round).
Tips: Start preparing as early you can. Practice problem daily does not wait for last few day. The main point of practice is to develop a habit of increasing accuracy and speed which is the crucial points of aptitude test.
For probability practice, there are online website and blogs you can take help from them. I have listed down some which are used. You should have some prior practice before setting for test otherwise, it would be difficult to do well in the test as some questions are tricky and difficult to solve in the first time.
For aptitude practice, you can refer TIME material, I think that is sufficient.

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Duration: 60 min minutes
Total Questions: 20+5

Round: Guesstimate Interview
Experience: The interviewer first goes through my resume and ask some basic question, not in depth. Then he asked me some puzzle (similar type of question asked in the subjective paper but with a high level of difficulty) and one guesstimate.
My interview last for 10-15 mins, the interviewer is very helpful and always try to calm and comfort me.
The interviewer gave me feedback and point out some area on which I can quickly look it for further interview.

Tips: I have assigned a buddy, IIT graduate having the same specialization. (Opera solutions follow buddy program similar of other consultant company). I personally found out buddy program very useful, you should contact your buddy or at least talk to him ones. The information you get from a buddy is very helpful of preparing for an interview. You get some aspect on which domain you need to work.

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: Next round was the telephonic interview with a senior analyst. The interviewer asked me some question from my resume especially on the technical project which involves some mathematics tool.
Then he asked some probability problems which are very tough.

Tips: The interviewer was interested in your approach only, how you’re tackling the problem. How much wide can you think? The interviewer is also ready to help you and try to figure out your strength. So be calm and speak with confidence.

Round: Stress Interview
Experience: The interviewer asked me some question from my resume in depth.
He asked one guesstimate and one probability question.

Round: Behavioural Interview
Experience: The interviewer started with questions like why this company, which other companies did I appeared for.
He asked me some quick calculation problems.

General Tips: Resume: Spend sufficient time on the resume as I was the initial step of shortlisting.
You be able to speak at any point in your resume in detail, hence you must be sure of what you are writing in it.

Puzzle: Practice Daily

Guesstimate: Practice with your sincere friends
Skills: Ability To Make Quick Calculations, Puzzle Solving Capability, Knowledge Of Your Resume Points, Guesstimation Cases, Probability And Statistics
College Name: IIT Bombay

Round: Puzzle Interview
Experience: A puzzle was asked first.
I was then given a case study : You own a telecom company. You have various customers. They have joined you 3 years ago,6 months ago and some recently. How do you define who is a good customer?

Round: Other Interview
Experience: It was only for 15 minutes. I was asked a question related to boy girl paradox. Then the job was offered.
Tips: Be cool and try to be less nervous. Do not try to speak about the things that you have no idea about

General Tips: Go to the interview with a cool mind. Take a trusted person with you if you are shortlisted on day 1.
College Name: IIT KANPUR

Interview preparation tips for other job seekers - Reading on audit areas and basic risk control

Interview preparation tips for other job seekers - Get a good package if you have good experience, just be confident and explain your past work smoothly.