Simon Kucher & Partners Interview Questions and Answers

Round: HR Interview
Experience: I had prepared a structured answer for each of the above questions. We had a very long discussion on internet services and mobile services. The interview lasted close to an hour and a half.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Asked for more information on the company like- Is it a manufacturing co., or an IT co.? What do you mean when you say Operations and Roadmap? Any financial restrictions? What is the final objective of the co.? She said the company was a mobile operator like Bharti and that I should concentrate on the co.’s IT department (I knew nothing of IT and thought everything was over. I told her upfront that I do not have an IT background but I would try my best.). She asked me to ask her relevant questions. When I asked her about what she meant by roadmap, she probably missed it. Twice she asked me the first question that I should be asking. I didn’t ask the meaning of roadmap again thinking it might work against me. Then she finally said that I should ask what she meant by ‘roadmap’. She said the company wants to move from point A to point B and asked me how the company should go ahead. She also said that the company wants to complete 100 projects to reach point B in 3 yrs. I then tried to structure the problem. “On one side, we have the current capabilities/resources of the company and on the other, capabilities/resources required to successfully execute the 100 projects. We basically have to fill in this gap to achieve our objective.” She was pretty happy with this simple structure. Then I listed the areas that we should look into like- Financial resources and Human Resources. Under fin. resources, I talked about the funding part and under HR, I talked about hiring, firing and training of employees. Then I talked about increasing the effectiveness of the execution- through performance-based pay and several reviews of the projects to modify the strategy if required. Then she told me that there are several departments in a co. like Bharti, such as IT, Marketing, Operations etc. She asked me to list 5 different profiles of employees in IT and marketing separately. These types had to be unique (specialist positions). For example, when I said CMO under the marketing department, she disagreed. Under IT, I came up with Software developer, Hardware ppl, IT maintenance, Architect, Analyst. I took some time to come up with ‘Architect’. Used 4 Ps for coming up with the types under Marketing (Product Manager, Pricing Manager, Segment manager, Advertising people, Market researcher). She seemed satisfied with the solution.
I was quick to figure out what she did not like in people (she hates it when people use words they do not know the meaning of). From then on, I started asking her everything I didn’t understand fully and she appreciated it. Though I did not have an IT/telecom background, I answered all her questions and could engage her in a conversation on her fields of interest (telecom/internet). I asked her a lot of questions that she said were good :).
Tips: Ask a lot of RELEVANT questions. The interviewers like it. Be confident.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I started by saying that we could measure success of the service by estimating the profits or the revenues. He asked me to go ahead with the revenues. I asked the population of Kuwait, mkt penetration, % handsets that are 3G enabled. I assumed the population and mkt penetration to be const. throughout the year. He was ok with the assumptions. From the above data, I calculated the number (say x) of potential users (of the new service) among the co. B customers. I asked him the current ARPU. I then asked what % of it was voice usage and what % was data related. I asked him the average minutes of usage/month/user. From the data, I could calculate the $ value of voice usage charge/minute. For the video calls, I said we can charge 50% premium over the voice usage charges. I divided the users into 2 segments- business and residential. I asked what % of ‘x’ were business users and what % were residential users. I also asked their minutes of usage per day or week. It was simple Math after that. He asked me about the assumptions that were made in the case. I listed 3 of them (like no switching of customers from A to B etc). He also discussed about how the pricing should be done. I gave him 2 answers- one as a CFO of the co. and the other as a CMO of the co. A CMO would use unmetered pricing to facilitate higher penetration of the new service whereas a CFO would use metered pricing to get back his investments.
Tips: Do not ignore PI. Have good reasons to work for the co.

Skills: Case Solving Ability, Case Analysis
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Your client is the COO of a regional telecom player in the Middle East. The COO has asked you to prepare an operations roadmap for the next 2-3 years. These are the steps that I took:
• Clarify what is meant by operations roadmap: Was told it includes marketing, sales, retail stores operations, IT, Network and Customer Care
• Asked a few more questions and found out that the main problem was prioritization of projects that COO had in front of him with limited resources.
• Focused on how to setup a portfolio structure to allow the COO to staff and execute projects.
Couldn’t get the particular insights that the interviewer was looking for. She wanted me to use certain words! So even though I was saying the same thing, she wanted it to be said in a particular way. Got lost half-way through the case where I just kept fishing for words to meet her expectations.
Tips: Think simply and take a step back when stuck or ask for help from interviewer. You have to get used to the interviewer style very quickly in an interview.

Skills: Case Solving Ability, Case Analysis
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: I think having some good spikes like Big PORs, Intern in well known brands, startups. and consitency in CPI would help you get shortlisted. I was a 8 pointer with a couple of Institute Awards.
Regular tips like making a neat resume etc apply

Round: Technical Interview
Experience: It started with tell me about yourself. Then they asked questions on my resume projects to check how well I was able to explain it and if I had not exagerrated in my resume. Finally a guesstimate.

The guesstimate involved calculating the no. of beer bottles sold in Mumbai on a weekend? They told me that I should not calculate, explanation should suffice. The interviews were very friendly and did not put any stress.

Round: HR Interview
Experience: Again the interviewer was very friendly. The HR started with Tell me about yourself. We then had a conversation on our hobbies, he was keen to check how passionate I am about my hobbies. Then he asked Why consultancy? Finally he asked me if I had any question for him.(Never say no, and ask a relevant question).

General Tips: Dont lie in your resume
Be happy during the interview! Smile!

"Job to sabki lag hi jaegi"

Skills: Passion, Guesstimate Skills, Honesty
College Name: IIT Bombay

Interview preparation tips for other job seekers - Well prepare for your resume

Interview preparation tips for other job seekers - It's quite a moderate interview but be prepare for more rounds of technical interviews.

Eligibility criterianaAccenture interview preparation:Topics to prepare for the interview - Data Structures, Pointers, OOPS, System Design, Algorithms, Dynamic ProgrammingTime required to prepare for the interview - 6 MonthsInterview preparation tips for other job seekers

Tip 1 : Practice aptitude
Tip 2 : Focus on practicing coding
Tip 3 : Learn from mistakes

Application resume tips for other job seekers

Tip 1 : Mention some projects that you have done
Tip 2 : Try to have skills that are required for the role

Final outcome of the interviewSelected

Interview preparation tips for other job seekers - Be confident About what you are saying