While our interview philosophy and the characteristics we look for are consistent firm-wide, the actual consultant interview process varies a little by region or even sometimes by candidate. Our goal is to get the best information on a candidate before making a decision, and different circumstances may dictate a different approach. However, there are a number of core components of our process which you will likely encounter. These core components and their objectives are:
Early Round Interviews
Conversational Interview (also known as the “Fit Interview”)
Conversational interviews focus on understanding the candidate as a person by learning about his or her values, strengths and weaknesses. They help us assess “fit” with our values and community. Our process includes one or more conversational interviews.
Individual Business Case Interview
Individual business case interviews are designed to gain an understanding of a candidate's analytical capabilities. Candidates spend 15 to 30 minutes reading a written business case and preparing to discuss their answers to a series of questions with the interviewer. The cases consist of two to three text pages accompanied by four to six data exhibits. In this interview, we are looking for qualities such as logical thought, quantitative and qualitative analytical skills and the ability to develop defensible answers and recommendations. Our process includes one or more individual business case interviews.
It is not necessary to have an academic background in business in order to be successful in this interview. We are looking for candidates who have outstanding analytical capabilities; in our experience, those candidates have come from all types of academic and experiential backgrounds. For more on preparing for case interviews, click here.
Later Round Interviews
Group Business Case Exercise
In the final round of the interview process, candidates participate in a group business case exercise. In this exercise, three to six candidates spend 30 minutes reading background information on a business scenario. Each candidate is then given an additional 30 minutes to work through an individual business problem—which contains specific questions to be answered—on his or her own. Candidates then take turns facilitating a discussion about that problem with the group. Successful candidates not only present their own findings, they integrate feedback from other group members and actively participate in the discussion of others' problems.
Two Monitor consultants observe each candidate for strong analytical capabilities and effective facilitation and interaction skills. It is important to note that this is not a competitive exercise, but rather a collaborative one. Everyone from the group could ultimately receive an offer.
Role Play Interview
Candidates may participate in a role play interview. Typically, they will be presented with a series of challenging client interactions in video or written form. The candidate is then asked to diagnose the situation that he or she observed and may be asked to suggest next steps or role play related scenarios. The goal of this interview is to evaluate interpersonal skills and the ability to interact effectively in challenging situations.
Feedback Interview
The interview process often concludes with a session intended to discuss helpful feedback on prior interviews as well as open a dialogue about the recruiting process in general. Feedback and continual learning are an extremely important part of Monitor's culture and value system; we look to hire people who are reflective about their own experiences and open to learning from them.
This interview may also be used to collect further data on specific skills or characteristics not fully tested in prior interviews. For example, if the interviewer feels there is not enough data on a candidate's analytical capabilities, he or she may use this interview to further test them via another business case.
To better prepare for your Monitor interviews, please request details on specific interview processes from the Recruiting Coordinator who arranges them.