TSS Consultancy Junior Business Analyst Interview Questions and Answers

Interview preparation tips for other job seekers - Be precise

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Partner had been told to test me on case. During Q&A, I asked him about how Mckinsey treats innovation (since I come from an R&D background). He found the Q different. Was able to engage with him on that and had a healthy chat. My second Q completely resonated with him. I asked him how Mckinsey treated candidates with above avg exp. To that he talked about his own story (had joined consulting after 10 yrs industry exp.) and how it just changes the ramp rate. This question set up a good rapport between us and I could sense some good vibes at the end.

Recommended Approach
I took my time to come up with a structure. Start with population of city, segment it into 2 parts working professionals and non-working people (housewives, students,etc) I suggested I would estimate the # of people in each segment and then estimate the total # of rides they would take and based on the average time taken for an auto ride, I will find the total # of autos in the city. Sameer was OK with this plan. I started with Mumbai and said Sion and ahead autos were not allowed. So I suggested we should use only 50% of the population (around 7.5 million) to estimate # of autos. He was pleased that I used some practical knowledge also. From there on it was relatively straightforward. One place I made an assumption that 15% of working professional would use an auto. He wanted to know how I made this assumption. I realised that was a mistake on my part to make such an assumption. I then split the working professional segment to different income classes and then put a % for each to figure out how many from each sub-segment would take an auto.

The final # for working prof segment came around 50000 autos (assuming around 30min for a one-way ride, and on average 50% of autos have a single passenger and 50% have 2 passengers). He told me to double it to include the other segment. He asked whether this 100K was a reasonable estimate and what single question I would ask to see if this was reasonable. I was suggesting Qs which would not directly answer and more elaborate. Finally I suggested we could look at # of taxis in the city to get a comparable. He wanted one more question. At this point I was drained out. He helped me arrived at the question. (look at another city with comparable population) In retrospect these look trivial but I was unable to think so simple.
Tips: DONTs: Do not make assumption without any reasoning behind it. Don't think complicated. Keep your though process simple. Most of the times the interviewer is asking for fundamental stuff, nothing complicated

DOs: Lay out the structure especially in guestimate with as much detailed layering as possible before you crunch the #s. The interviewer will tell you how much detail he wants you to focus on. Engage the interviewer in the discussion as at every point he might give you some data to simplify your calculations.

Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Mainly PI with a small case let. This was a discussion primarily on technology.
General Gyan:

1. Resume: I do not come from a stellar pedigree (read ‘no IIT’), do not have a brand name company, do not have a stellar CGPA (above average). I still got a shortlist. I believe what matters is the way you show your accomplishments. Spikes are good to have definitely. At the same time, if you are showing consistently good work throughout your time till ISB, that will also work. You need to work hard on showcasing them on the resume. RESUME preparation is critical. Make sure to spend sufficient time (start 4th term onwards). show it to alums who are in these firms. Use the alums who come on campus to get reviewed. They are extremely helpful. (It also helps you establish a rapport). At the same time, no need to try and become best friends with the alums who keep visiting. They cant help you on interview day (thats my opinion). Only your performance will.

2. Case Prep: For these top 2-3 firms, you will get close to 4-6 weeks of time to prep. You can quickly glance through the Case in Point book in 3-4 days but don't spend too much time solving those cases. Start case solving with ISB casebooks. They are available all the way from 2005. I would suggest solving the later years while reading through the earlier years just to make sure you have covered most topics. One thing I did was focus on MCK cases only (only shortlist) as interview date approached. Try to form more than one group (3 people is sufficient per group) preferably after short-lists are out (otherwise incentives are misaligned). More than one group allows you to cover more case types, prevent lack of preparation due to time conflicts among members, etc. Try to understand the frameworks and use your own structure. This gives originality. Mock cases and buddy sessions are important. Use them as an opportunity to iron out your case solving abilities. get the buddy to have PI session also.

3. Interview: While cases are very important, the PI interviews made the difference. Cases could have been handled by any of the shortlists. the shortlist to conversion could be any where between 2:1 to 3:1. It is this discussion that will set you apart. If you are able to engage the interviewer in an intelligent manner, you are through. Read up on your area of expertise. Use opportunities to draw the interviewer to topics of your interest. Be thorough with material on your resume. Put a lot of thought into the PI qs and maybe try saying it out loud to one of your study mates. This will allow you to get a reaction, understand the time you are taking and give you better clarity. Finally, I think you should not be too rigid. Be calm, have fun, add humour if you see fit. Good Luck and feel free to reach out to me if you need any guidance.
Tips: I had met Somnath(Interviewer) during the dinner and had had a good conversation on the Internet of Things phenomenon. He remembered that and we were able to continue that conversation. This was more of a fit interview and whether I can hold my ground on technology discussions. It helped that Somnath also had a 2-yr old kid (like me) which allowed us to discuss non-work related concerns about consulting also.

DOs:

Be relaxed and have fun during this kind of an interview. As soon as you perceive it to be a generic discussion, I would suggest be confident and bold. Have strong opinions with sufficient backing (examples, data, experience, etc).


Skills:
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)