Strada Payroll Associate Interview Questions and Answers

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: CASE 1:
No numbers were expected, neither knowledge of broadband technology. The key here was increase in the number of uses along with the users. None of the established frameworks really helped. The interviewer was very helpful and gave me cues when I was not making progress.

CASE 2:
Again no numbers no data was expected. On asked about the missed out aspects, the interviewer discussed the key aspects with me and also told me where I had gone wrong.
Tips: 1.When they ask questions about academic projects try to pick something with practical applications.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: 1. The interviewer told me exactly what he wanted.
2. It was a two way discussion and a very comfortable conversation3.He told me the four departments he wanted me to look at.
4. I was to check for 'synergies' or potential benefits of the acquisition of these departments.
Tips: 1.Sleep well.
2.Wear comfortable footwear.
3.Don't starve yourself.
4.Sit down a minute between interviews and take deep breaths.

General Tips: 1.Attend PPTs of all companies you are interested in.
2.Don't try and squeeze too much in your resume.
3.Case studies are must for consultancies so be careful in that.
4.Don't prepare answers to the last word, but think about some common questions.
Skills: No as such particular skills tested.
College Name: IIT BOMBAY

Round: CV Submission
Experience: This is an elimination phase, so it's important that your CV puts you in a good light. BCG would most likely conduct a CV building workshop. If they don't, McKinsey would. 
Tips: Keep in touch with seniors and get their advice and opinions too. Make sure you're happy with your final CV, and that it has been okay-ed by enough people before you ship it out.Don't make your CV on the last day. Put in sufficient effort - it will pay off.

Round: case workshop
Experience: BCG conducts a case workshop a couple of weeks before the interview process starts.Since the interview is entirely case based, make sure you pay attention in the case workshop. 
Tips: Also, it is advisable to form groups of 3-6 members with whom to practice business cases. I would suggest that you start with your case preparation in advance of the workshop, so you have things in perspective by then. Case books to practice cases from would most likely be circulated in advance. It also helps to make up your own cases, and have cases administered to you by people in Consulting.Do ask good questions in the case workshop. Although it's non-evaluative, it pays to make a good impression straight off the cuff.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Four interviews (2 rounds with 2 interviews each). Out of the 21 shortlisted candidates, 12 made it to round 2. Out of the four interviews, one was with a Senior Partner, two with Team Leads, and one with a Principal.My first case was about optimizing the transportation logistics of a cement manufacturer. The second case was about figuring out the issue with the business model of a hotel franchise experiencing falling revenues. The third case was about figuring out the reason for falling revenues of a retail outlet in Sri Lanka. The fourth case was about troubleshooting a new house-loan sales strategy, which was not performing up to expectation.Same set of skills as mentioned above. Make sure you're clear in what you say. 
Tips: There will be some minimal HR, which you must prepare for. The discussion will be a lot more informal than you would expect, but make sure your answers are crisp, sharp and to the point. Feel free to be exploratory and creative, making sure you're telling the interviewer exactly what you're thinking. They'll be at least as smart as you are (trust me on this), and it won't take much effort on your part to explain what you're thinking. Work with him/her. This is important. Don't be too slow or too fast. Develop a style based on your practice sessions, and play your strengths.

College Name: IIT Kharagpur

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

Round: Resume Shortlist
Experience: Shortlist of candidates made on basis of resumeThere was no test or GD
Tips: Concentrate on making a good resume highlighting your interns etc.Highlight your extracurricular activities and interests and also credentials

Round: Interview
Experience: Personal Interview- 4 rounds comprising of case studies and a bit of HR.The discussion on resume and HR questions will take only 5-10 mins. More importance will be given to caseSample cases- insurance companies, cement companies opening a new market in a new country etc.Similar pattern for all 4 rounds
Tips: General awareness about business is a must, since the selection depends solely on how well you perform in the case interviewsThe BCG website helps a lot to get an insight into how the interview works and what the company expects from the applicantsRefer to the “Interview Tips” section in the BCG websiteThe case study materials available on LAN and internet are highly useful preparation materialsDo not ignore the HR aspect of the interview. The interviewer actually uses it to gauge you and tailors the interview according to the way you answer HR questionsThe interviewer expects you to ask questions to them in order to gain more knowledge about the cases they present. They will not put all the data in front of you in black and white initially. The candidate is expected to ask for and get data from the interviewerIn the case interview, always communicate your line of thought. Give reasons for and validate your decisions regarding the case solutionsDraw conclusions from your analysis about the case

College Name: IIT Madras

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: BCG   Direct shortlisting based on resume. Decent CPI, some exposure to organizational leadership, a good skill set represented through extra-curriculars/sports is one way to get shortlisted. Writing the resume well without underplaying achievements or exaggerating them is essential.   Prepared case studies for the BCG interview. Was given 2 cases primarily business cases by 2 interviewers.One was about growth prospects of a company manufacturing valves.Was quite a disaster since I was nervous and intimidated by the interviewer.Felt like a stress interview even though BCG did not believe in the concept.(In contrast,was very cool- headed in Grail interviews and it sure helped)   The second case was about a tractor manufacturer losing market share in Maharashtra but doing well in other arts of India. The interviewer was friendly and i had calmed down. So quickly figured out that the soil conditions were different and hence required   tractors of a higher horsepower.But then elaborated more on this,becoming complacent overall and not probing other possible reasons.Was then asked to do a role-play as a consultant convincing the manufacturer to adopt a new strategy.Did it well,but could have been more open-minded to all issues.

College Name: IIT BOMBAY

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

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