PKC Advisory Consultant Interview Questions and Answers

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: I had a standard resume for this company as per our institute placement cell norms.
For a consultant profile, they do look for a consistent academic performance, scholarships, Olympiads etc. So I did make sure to include all my academic achievements in my resume.

Round: Test
Experience: This was the first round and was conducted in October itself, well before the final placement process that begins only in December. The test had 20 questions. All the questions described a particular situation and 4 options describing solutions/implications of the situation were provided. The candidate was supposed to choose one of the 4 alternatives, which according to him, was the best possible answer. From what I recall, there wasn’t much calculation involved. Use of calculator was permitted.
Tips: Attempt all the questions. Be accurate.

Round: Guesstimate Interview
Experience: Around 23 students got shortlisted for the next round of selection process which was held in December.
This round was based on “guesstimate” problems. I was asked to calculate the total annual revenue of McDonalds in India. No other data was given. Use of calculator was not permitted. This interview lasted for about 10-15 minutes.
Some other candidate was asked to estimate the length of roads in Delhi. Another one was asked to calculate the number of road side ads/banners in Delhi.
Tips: Prepare for guesstimate problems and qualitative case analysis.

College Name: IIT ROORKEE
Motivation: Indus Insights is a new company. It had a team of only 6 people when it came for recruiting. Not much information was available on the internet. I did attend its pre-placement talk and that acted as the main source of information about the company and the profile offered.

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: I had a standard resume for this company as per our institute placement cell norms.
They were least interested in my resume. They cared more about your analytical skills rather than on your on campus activities.

Round: Test
Experience: The first round was the written test which had a few questions from data interpretation and some questions that were quite peculiar to the consulting sector as such. Only 24 students got shortlisted for the next round out of close to 350 applicants.
Tips: The cut off for the written test was very high. So ensuring accuracy and attempting all the questions is important.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: The next round was the case study round. The case that I was presented with was to calculate the number of hoardings in a metropolitan city with the help of given data. I failed to qualify beyond this round.
Tips: One should prepare for “Guesstimate” type case interviews (where the interviewee is tried to estimate the final answer based on logical deduction and analysis of the given facts) for this company as they give very high emphasis to the performance in the case study interview round.

College Name: IIT ROORKEE
Motivation: Indus Insight is a start-up which uses quantitative analytics to give solution to real life problems encountered in business. The company was founded by an IITB alumnus. It is growing at a fast pace and the best source of information about them was the pre placement talk organised by them.

Round: Test
Experience: Test (Quant, Logical Reasoning)

Round: Interview
Experience: Round 1: I was asked to calculate the number of tyres sold in India annually. I started out in an organized manner, categorizing the vehicles using tyres, narrowing down on the basis of usage of each in the urban and rural sector. I did come up with a reasonably accurate figure. Thereafter, was also asked to list down the various sources of revenue for the airport authorities. At the end of the interview, the interviewer seemed quite satisfied.

Round 2: To estimate the number of traffic lights in Delhi. This time I started out giving three different methods to solve the problem. The bad part was that I was not allowed to make use of any standard data (Population of Delhi/ Population density/Area etc). After all my approaches were considered non satisfactory, I tried plugging the loopholes but the interviewer was clearly not satisfied. What was worse, unlike round 1, my calculations were by and large rough and I was asked to submit my calculations.

Round: Interview
Experience: Round 1: Basic introduction of all that I had done during my stay at IITK

Round 2: None

General Tips: At any point of time, be confident and ALWAYS have neat and clear calculations. You never know when you’d be asked to submit your calculations.
College Name: IIT KANPUR

Round: Test
Experience: The aptitude test was conducted just after the PPT. It was a fairly simple multiple choice written test with three sections: Quant,Data and Verbal.
Tips: One of my friend who was preparing for CAT 2015 told me that majority of the questions were lifted from previous year's CAT papers. So it won't hurt to prepare from them if you are aiming for this company.
Duration: 40 minutes
Total Questions: 30

Round: Guesstimate Interview
Experience: Company released a shortlist of around 68 candidates based on the aptitude test. All 68 candidates were interviewed on Day 1 of the placement process. We were allocated buddies from the companies who gave us an idea of what the interview process will look like.

Interview Experience:
The problem statement given to me was ambiguous and the interviewer seemed very grumpy. I tried to clarify as much as I could, and kept thinking aloud. I started by writing a simple formula for my estimation. I followed the normal approach as you will for any guesstimate. The answer that I got was not even near to what you would expect, but I told him that I might have overestimated some of the numbers because of which I am getting the wrong answer.
Tips: 1. Stay calm and give your best: Just after the interview, I panicked as I thought they won't shortlist me for the next round as I goofed up on the final answer of the guesstimate. However, because my approach was right, they selected me for the next round .

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: The case study was very simple, and after clarifying the question and providing a rough structure to the case, the interviewer provided me with all the data even before asking for any.
What he tested was:
1. Basic Structuring of the case
2. Accurate calculations based on the data that was provided
After the calculations, he asked me for the synthesis on the case and recommendations.
Just after this, he asked me to analyze my strengths and weaknesses. As I was done answering this question ,he extended me an offer on the spot and I was not required to go for the third round. :)
Tips: 1. The case study is very very simple, just make sure that you structure the case well and do not make any mistakes on calculations.

General Tips: 1. Stay Calm and prepare well : I started my preparation on 25th December, and prepared case studies and a lot of guesstimates for the next 5 days
2. Do not look where other students are getting shortlisted: I was the first one who was extended an offer on Day 1 Slot 2, whereas all the other hotshots(OPCs,Core Team) etc were still struggling with their first rounds.
3. Prepare dedicatedly: For Indus Insights, simple guesstimates and simple case studies will suffice.
Skills: Ability To Make Quick Calculations, Aptitude
College Name: IIT Kanpur
Motivation: 1. Consulting profile
2. Great opportunity to interact with clients across different verticals.