consulting case study bcg

Case Interview Preparation

Perform at your best during your case interview., bcgers share their case study interview tips., follow these dos and don ’ ts to ace your case prep:, test your case interview skills with these interactive quizzes..

47 case interview examples (from McKinsey, BCG, Bain, etc.)

One of the best ways to prepare for   case interviews  at firms like McKinsey, BCG, or Bain, is by studying case interview examples. 

There are a lot of free sample cases out there, but it's really hard to know where to start. So in this article, we have listed all the best free case examples available, in one place.

The below list of resources includes interactive case interview samples provided by consulting firms, video case interview demonstrations, case books, and materials developed by the team here at IGotAnOffer. Let's continue to the list.

• McKinsey examples
• BCG examples
• Bain examples
• Deloitte examples
• Other firms' examples
• Case books from consulting clubs
• Case interview preparation

Click here to practise 1-on-1 with MBB ex-interviewers

1. mckinsey case interview examples.

• Beautify case interview (McKinsey website)
• Diconsa case interview (McKinsey website)
• Electro-light case interview (McKinsey website)
• GlobaPharm case interview (McKinsey website)
• National Education case interview (McKinsey website)
• Talbot Trucks case interview (McKinsey website)
• Shops Corporation case interview (McKinsey website)
• Conservation Forever case interview (McKinsey website)
• McKinsey case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)
• McKinsey live case interview extract (by IGotAnOffer) - See below

2. BCG case interview examples

• Foods Inc and GenCo case samples  (BCG website)
• Chateau Boomerang written case interview  (BCG website)
• BCG case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)
• Written cases guide (by IGotAnOffer)
• BCG live case interview with notes (by IGotAnOffer)
• BCG mock case interview with ex-BCG associate director - Public sector case (by IGotAnOffer)
• BCG mock case interview: Revenue problem case (by IGotAnOffer) - See below

3. Bain case interview examples

• CoffeeCo practice case (Bain website)
• FashionCo practice case (Bain website)
• Associate Consultant mock interview video (Bain website)
• Consultant mock interview video (Bain website)
• Written case interview tips (Bain website)
• Bain case interview guide   (by IGotAnOffer)
• Bain case mock interview with ex-Bain manager (below)

4. Deloitte case interview examples

• Engagement Strategy practice case (Deloitte website)
• Recreation Unlimited practice case (Deloitte website)
• Strategic Vision practice case (Deloitte website)
• Retail Strategy practice case  (Deloitte website)
• Finance Strategy practice case  (Deloitte website)
• Talent Management practice case (Deloitte website)
• Enterprise Resource Management practice case (Deloitte website)
• Footloose written case  (by Deloitte)
• Deloitte case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

5. Accenture case interview examples

• Case interview workbook (by Accenture)
• Accenture case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

6. OC&C case interview examples

• Leisure Club case example (by OC&C)
• Imported Spirits case example (by OC&C)

7. Oliver Wyman case interview examples

• Wumbleworld case sample (Oliver Wyman website)
• Aqualine case sample (Oliver Wyman website)
• Oliver Wyman case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

8. A.T. Kearney case interview examples

• Promotion planning case question (A.T. Kearney website)
• Consulting case book and examples (by A.T. Kearney)
• AT Kearney case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

9. Strategy& / PWC case interview examples

• Presentation overview with sample questions (by Strategy& / PWC)
• Strategy& / PWC case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

10. L.E.K. Consulting case interview examples

• Case interview example video walkthrough   (L.E.K. website)
• Market sizing case example video walkthrough  (L.E.K. website)

11. Roland Berger case interview examples

• Transit oriented development case webinar part 1  (Roland Berger website)
• Transit oriented development case webinar part 2   (Roland Berger website)
• 3D printed hip implants case webinar part 1   (Roland Berger website)
• 3D printed hip implants case webinar part 2   (Roland Berger website)
• Roland Berger case interview guide   (by IGotAnOffer)

12. Capital One case interview examples

• Case interview example video walkthrough  (Capital One website)
• Capital One case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

13. Consulting clubs case interview examples

• Berkeley case book (2006)
• Columbia case book (2006)
• Darden case book (2012)
• Darden case book (2018)
• Duke case book (2010)
• Duke case book (2014)
• ESADE case book (2011)
• Goizueta case book (2006)
• Illinois case book (2015)
• LBS case book (2006)
• MIT case book (2001)
• Notre Dame case book (2017)
• Ross case book (2010)
• Wharton case book (2010)

Practice with experts

Using case interview examples is a key part of your interview preparation, but it isn’t enough.

At some point you’ll want to practise with friends or family who can give some useful feedback. However, if you really want the best possible preparation for your case interview, you'll also want to work with ex-consultants who have experience running interviews at McKinsey, Bain, BCG, etc.

If you know anyone who fits that description, fantastic! But for most of us, it's tough to find the right connections to make this happen. And it might also be difficult to practice multiple hours with that person unless you know them really well.

Here's the good news. We've already made the connections for you. We’ve created a coaching service where you can do mock case interviews 1-on-1 with ex-interviewers from MBB firms . Start scheduling sessions today!

The IGotAnOffer team

How to Prepare for Boston Consulting Group Management Consulting Case Interviews?

If you're preparing for a Boston Consulting Group management consulting case interview, this article is a must-read.

Posted August 17, 2023

Featuring Ben L.

Mastering the Case: Frameworks & Structuring

Wednesday, april 17.

6:00 PM UTC · 60 minutes

Table of Contents

If you're applying for a management consulting role at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), you're likely aware that the case interview is a critical component of the hiring process. While interviews can be nerve-wracking, preparation and practice can alleviate some anxiety and help you put your best foot forward. This article will cover everything you need to know about how to prepare for Boston Consulting Group management consulting case interviews.

Understanding the Boston Consulting Group case interview process

Before you start preparing, it's important to understand the Boston Consulting Group case interview process. BCG case interviews aim to assess your problem-solving, analytical, and communication skills. The interviews typically last around 45 minutes and are composed of two parts: a case study and a behavioral interview.

The case study is designed to test your analytical skills and your ability to think critically. You'll be presented with a hypothetical business problem or situation, and you'll need to provide recommendations and solutions based on the information provided. The interviewer will evaluate your ability to communicate your thought process effectively and logically.

The behavioral interview aims to assess your fit for the role. You'll be asked about your previous experiences and achievements, and you'll need to demonstrate your ability to work in a team and your leadership potential.

It's important to note that BCG case interviews are highly competitive, and the firm receives thousands of applications each year. Therefore, it's crucial to prepare thoroughly and practice as much as possible. You can find sample case studies and behavioral interview questions online, and it's recommended to practice with a partner or a coach to receive feedback and improve your performance.

Additionally, BCG values diversity and inclusivity, and the firm is committed to creating a welcoming and supportive environment for all candidates. If you have any specific needs or requirements, such as accommodations for a disability or religious observance, you can inform the recruiter in advance, and they will do their best to accommodate your needs.

Top tips for acing your Boston Consulting Group case interview

Now that you know what to expect, let's dive into some tips to help you ace your interview:

1. Practice! The more case studies you complete, the more comfortable you'll feel during the interview. There are numerous resources available online that provide case studies for practice.

2. Listen carefully to the interviewer's instructions. Pay close attention to the problem statement and make sure you understand the objective of the case.

3. Structure your approach. A structured approach will help you stay organized and focused during the interview. Start with the problem statement, clarify objectives, gather information, develop options, make recommendations.

4. Communicate effectively. It's important to articulate your thought process clearly and logically. Make sure to explain your assumptions, and ask questions if you're unsure about anything.

5. Be confident and calm. Remember that the interviewer is not trying to trick you, but rather assess your problem-solving skills. Take a deep breath and approach the case with a clear mind.

6. Use real-life examples. Whenever possible, use real-life examples to support your recommendations. This will demonstrate your ability to apply your knowledge to real-world situations.

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Practice makes perfect: how to hone your case interview skills

As mentioned earlier, practice is key to preparing for your BCG case interview. Here are some additional tips to help you effectively hone your skills:

1. Work with a partner. Practice with a friend or mentor who has experience in consulting. You'll get valuable feedback and be able to practice your communication skills.

2. Time yourself. The time restriction in the case interview can be challenging, so it's important to practice under timed conditions.

3. Analyze feedback. After completing a case study, analyze the feedback you received and identify areas for improvement.

4. Research the company. Before your interview, research the company and its values. This will help you tailor your approach and show that you are invested in the company's success. Check out this article to learn how to answer the "Why BCG?" question!

The importance of research and preparation for a successful BCG interview

Research and preparation are key components to success in a BCG interview. Here are some tips:

1. Research BCG. Learn about the company's culture, values, and recent projects. This will help you tailor your responses to the firm's expectations.

2. Read case studies. Reading case studies will provide you with a good understanding of the types of problems a management consultant may encounter.

3. Familiarize yourself with frameworks. Familiarize yourself with different frameworks used in consulting, such as SWOT analysis and Porter's Five Forces.

4. Practice your communication skills. In addition to having a strong understanding of consulting frameworks and case studies, it's important to be able to effectively communicate your ideas and solutions. Practice presenting your ideas to friends or family members and ask for feedback on your communication style.

How to analyze and approach a case study during a BCG interview

Here are some tips for analyzing and approaching a case study:

1. Break the case study down. Identify the key issues and prioritize them.

2. Gather information. Ask relevant questions to gather information that will help you solve the problem.

3. Develop hypotheses. Based on the information you've gathered, develop hypotheses to test.

4. Use frameworks. Utilize frameworks such as SWOT analysis, Porter's Five Forces, and the 4 Ps of marketing to organize your thoughts and approach the problem systematically.

Examples of common case questions asked during a Boston Consulting Group interview

Here are a few examples of common case questions:

1. Should a company enter a new market?

2. Should a company pursue a new product line?

3. How can a company improve its profitability?

4. How can a company reduce costs?

5. How can a company improve its customer satisfaction?

One approach could be to conduct customer surveys to identify pain points and areas for improvement. Another approach could be to invest in customer service training for employees to ensure they are equipped to handle customer inquiries and complaints.

6. How can a company stay competitive in a rapidly changing industry?

One strategy could be to invest in research and development to stay ahead of industry trends and innovations. Another strategy could be to form strategic partnerships or mergers with other companies to increase market share and resources.

Behavioral interviews: what to expect and how to prepare

Behavioral interviews aim to assess your fit for the role. Here are some tips:

1. Prepare examples of your previous experiences that demonstrate your problem-solving, communication, and analytical skills.

2. Be honest and authentic. Behavioral interviews are designed to test your character and work style, so be yourself.

3. Research the company and the role you are applying for. This will help you understand the company culture and the specific skills and qualities they are looking for in a candidate.

4. Practice your responses to common behavioral interview questions. This will help you feel more confident and prepared during the actual interview.

5. Remember to listen carefully to the interviewer's questions and answer them directly. Avoid going off on tangents or providing irrelevant information.

6. Finally, don't be afraid to ask questions of your own. This shows that you are genuinely interested in the role and the company, and can help you gain a better understanding of what is expected of you if you are offered the job.

Navigating the group case discussion portion of the BCG interview

The group case discussion is designed to test your teamwork and leadership skills. Here are some tips:

1. Listen to others. It's important to actively listen to your group members and build on their ideas.

2. Encourage participation. Encourage all members to contribute to the discussion and make sure everyone feels heard.

3. Manage time effectively. Keep an eye on the time and make sure the group stays on track. If the discussion is going off-topic, gently steer it back to the main point.

What to wear and bring to your Boston Consulting Group interview

It's important to dress professionally for your interview. For men, a suit and tie are appropriate. For women, a suit or professional dress is appropriate. You should also bring a pen, notepad, and a copy of your resume.

In addition to dressing professionally and bringing necessary materials, it's also important to research the company and the position you are interviewing for. This will show your interest and preparation for the interview. You can also prepare by practicing common interview questions and thinking about your own experiences and skills that relate to the job.

During the interview, it's important to listen carefully to the interviewer's questions and answer them thoughtfully and honestly. You should also ask questions about the company and the position to show your interest and engagement.

Follow-up & conclusion

After the interview, it's important to follow-up with a thank-you email to your interviewer. The email should thank them for their time and reiterate your interest in the position. You should also be prepared to answer any additional questions and provide any additional information requested by the interviewee.

Another important step after the BCG interview process is to reflect on your performance and identify areas for improvement. Take note of any questions you struggled with or areas where you felt unprepared. Use this feedback to adjust your preparation strategy for future interviews.

It's also a good idea to continue networking with BCG employees and attending company events. This can help you stay up-to-date on the company culture and values, as well as potentially lead to future job opportunities.

Preparing for the Boston Consulting Group management consulting case interview process can seem daunting, but the key to success is practice and preparation. Use these tips to prepare effectively for your interview, and remember to stay calm, collected, and confident. Good luck

For expert tips on how to prepare for interviews at other top-tier consulting firms, check out these resources:

• How to prepare for Deloitte management consulting case interviews?
• How to prepare for Accenture management consulting case interviews
• How to prepare for PwC management consulting case interviews?
• How to prepare for EY management consulting case interviews?

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Case study interview | tips from bain, bcg & mckinsey.

Bain, BCG, or McKinsey, the case study interview is a key part of the consulting interview process ©Philip McMaster

If you want to work in consulting, you’ll have to sit a case study interview. Here’s everything you need to know about the case study interview with tips from experts at Bain, BCG, and McKinsey

Mon Oct 11 2021

The consulting case study interview might just be one part of the application process, but it’s where you can stand out to your prospective employer and show you’ve got what it takes to crack cases day in day out.

Whether you have your eyes set on Bain, BCG, or McKinsey, or a smaller boutique consulting firm , here’s everything you need to know about the case study interview: 

What is the consulting case study interview?

The consulting case study interview requires you to solve a simulated problem for a client. There are two types of case interview: The interviewer-led approach and the candidate-led approach.

“We use a client-like problem such as how to reduce a carbon footprint, how to make a workforce more diverse, how to leverage technology, or how to grow a customer base, and ask you three questions that simulate the kind of problem-solving our teams do in a client engagement,” says Amy Ross ( pictured) , senior expert in McKinsey’s global assessment team based in New York.

The three questions aren’t in a set order, but you can expect to focus on identifying the issues, then doing analysis based on information the team collects (that McKinsey provide), then coming up with insights and developing a conclusion. The McKinsey case study interview is consistent across global offices.

The interviewer-led approach of the McKinsey case interview means you’ll be guided through the process by your interviewer. However, there’s a caveat, explains Eugene Goh, the cofounder of HR tech startup, HireQuotient, who worked as a principal for BCG for more than eight years.

“They’re expecting a lot more detail and depth,” says Eugene, who’s recently cowritten From the Interviewer’s Seat: The Insider’s Guide for Aspiring Consultants , a book on the consulting interview.

Candidate-led approach

The candidate-led BCG case study interview will similarly present you with a real BCG case from previous client work. You’ll then be presented with the client’s challenges and have 45 minutes to walk your interviewer through your solution, rather than being led question by question. The BCG case study requires you to build your solution step by step. 

“They’re looking for people who can structure their approach from end to end,” Eugene explains.

How can you stand out in your case study interview?

The case interview is supposed to simulate the problem-solving approach of the firm you’re interviewing with, which at McKinsey involves a lot of back-and-forth between team members, says Amy. You'll need to tackle case study interview questions that mimic a real consulting case. 

“Candidates should listen to the client context and think about what it means, rather than repeat back everything the interviewer says.

“If the case covers an industry that is unfamiliar, candidates might consider whether there is an analogous industry they are familiar with and see if that helps them think of good ideas.

You should ask questions to clarify your understanding of the data and the issues at hand. Amy advises that you take a moment before speaking to collect your thoughts. 

“Listen carefully, making sure you consider the information provided and the meaning behind the specific questions. You’ll stand out by putting the client front-and-center and by sharing interesting insights.”

The Bain case study, like the BCG case study, is often  candidate-led. To stand out, your interviewers are looking for your analytical skills; the ability to break down challenging problems into parts you can tackle in a sequence; strong communication skills; the ability to simplify complex concepts; teamwork; and the ability to work successfully among others. That's according to Keith Bevans, head of global consultant recruitment at Bain & Company. 

He explains that tackling a Bain case study is akin to playing in a jazz quartet. There’s no script, so you’re going to play a bit, and improvise. Improvisation is a key thing interviewers are looking for when you're solving a Bain case study. 

“I think some students want to be perfect and play classical music and don’t want to share their insight or preliminary analysis until it’s right," says Keith. "The truth is I need them to share because what they share may not be perfect, but it’ll spark something in somebody else. I need students who are comfortable in that sort of environment.”  

That's why MBA and business master's graduates are so well placed to enter consulting. They develop the skills that the Big Three consulting firms are looking for through live consulting projects, and constant group work that tests their ability to manage and lead diverse teams of peers to solve complex business problems. 

Skills that will help you stand out

How to prepare for your case study interview?

The best thing you can do ahead of your consulting case study interview is prepare. Make sure you work with real case study interview examples. 

Your business school will likely have a consulting club that offers consulting case study prep sessions, which will give you ample opportunity to work through mock case study interview questions. You may also have on hand a network of business school alumni who likely work in consulting, as well as professors—use them.

Amy from McKinsey recommends going to the website of the firm you’re applying to—McKinsey have case interview examples you can use to brush up on your casing. That way, you’ll know what to expect when you face your case study interview questions in real time.

She adds that there are many coaches and preparation services available to candidates, but the firm doesn’t expect you to use them. 

“Frankly, we are worried there’s a lot of misleading advice out there so, again, we advise to consult our website, and feel free to ask your recruiter to arrange for you to meet one of our consultants who can be your interview coach,” she asserts.

Approach the case study interview like a McKinsey consultant

→ Make sure you understand the information provided.  

→ Ask questions.

→ Collect yourself before diving into your answer.

→ Alongside logical ideas, challenge yourself to provide a few that are more ‘out there’, things you and a client team would want to test first. Sometimes, those bolder ideas are the best ones and often they really show McKinsey how you think.

Beware though, as you can see too many case study interview examples and overprepare. Angela Michalik, MBA recruiter at BCG, says that to avoid being overprepared focus on the quality not quantity of your prep.

Do one case, then get feedback, she says. At the end you should know where you were weak, and then in your next case go hard on the areas in which you’re weakest. 

“I feel by doing that, students really improve,” she says. “You have to reflect on what you need to work on and practice.” 

If you notice that you’re going straight into applying a framework to a case before you take the time to think, you might be overpreparing. 

“Each client problem is different and deserves an initial approach that meets their needs. We realize interviews are filled with uncertainty, but the link between preparation and success in our process is not so strong,” Amy from McKinsey notes. 

“Practice enough so you know what to expect, stay current with what’s new in the business world, and then bring curiosity and an open mind to your case interview.”

READ:  Bain, BCG, McKinsey: How To Get Hired By The Big Three Consulting Firms

Granted, you need to be ready for ambiguity, something that can be hard to prepare for. But there’s a step-by-step approach Eugene says can help break away from the fixed framework approach:

- Define the objectives. What are you trying to do? Understand a bit about the client’s constraints. What’s the timeframe for the project, their budget, for example.

- Dive into the diagnosis. Why does the client have a problem? 

- Option generation. What approaches could the client take?

- Option evaluation before coming to a decision

“It sounds generic but almost every problem, even in the real world, requires you to roughly go through those steps,” Eugene ( pictured ) says.

“That is a more helpful approach as it applies to all problems, therefore all cases.”

Case study interview prep is a key component of your overall application. But don’t stress. Focus on the quality of your preparation and lean on your business school network of MBA alumni in the consulting sector, as well as the resources available from your school’s consulting club.

Run through case interview examples from the firm’s you’re interested in and breathe before you approach a problem. That way, you’ll be best placed to ace your interview and launch your post-business school career as a consultant.

Where Do McKinsey, Bain, BCG Hire The Most MBAs?

Main image in this article is credited to Philip McMaster and used under this  license  

• MBB Consulting

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BCG Case Interview Guide

The Boston Consulting Group , more commonly known as BCG, is a global strategy consulting firm with over $8bn in revenue and 21,000 employees worldwide. It is the second-largest consulting firm in the world by revenue and is part of the prestigious MBB group (McKinsey, Bain, BCG).

Every year BCG receives thousands of job applications from undergraduates, masters, and MBA students across the globe. Working at BCG is considered one of the most highly reputable graduate jobs in the market and therefore is incredibly competitive. The acceptance rate at BCG is well below 1% and being an exceptional student is rarely enough.  

The BCG case interview is the cornerstone of their application process and is a problem-based interview where candidates are required to solve a business problem with limited information.

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• 1. What BCG is Looking for

With such an abundance of talent applying for jobs at BCG they are particular about the skills and personality traits they are looking for and they go beyond academic excellence. The type of work that BCG does on a daily basis for their clients requires a mix of quantitative ability, business acumen, and relationship building .

The traits they state they are looking for on their website are:

Problem-solving – The problems that BCG works with their clients on are complex and natural curiosity and problem-solving skills are critical.

Structured thinking – The complexity of problems means it is easy to get lost in insignificant details and so BCG is looking for structured thinkers that can take a pragmatic approach to the problem in order to ensure analysis is comprehensive. This is at the core of the BCG case interview .

Feedback incorporation – The culture of strategy consulting is one of high performance and so whilst consultants need to be confident they also need to have the humility required to take on feedback and change their opinion when the facts present the change.

Alternative thinking – The unique nature of the client problems that BCG consultants face means that often there is not a best practice approach to solving it that the team can take, therefore, alternative approaches are highly valued by BCG.

• 2. BCG Application Process

There are four steps to the BCG application process, resume and cover letter , online assessments , and first and then second-round interviews.

The first step of the BCG application process is the same as most other graduate jobs. Applications for BCG are straightforward and done online. They require a resume and a cover letter as well as some personal details. The cover letter needs to be unique to BCG and not a generic cover letter with the company name changed.

The online assessments consist of two different tests; the BCG potential test and the BCG Pymetrics game assessment . These are the filtering mechanisms that test candidates' quantitative skills and personality traits.

The first-round interviews are similar to those at Bain, are usually with a junior consultant (3-6 years experience), and are where you will first be tested with a case interview . You will typically have 2 interviews both starting with fit questions such as ‘ Why consulting? ’ or ‘Tell me about a time when…’ for the first 15 minutes and then followed by a 45-minute case interview .

The second-round interviews follow the same structure as the first-round interviews but are conducted by more senior members of the team , usually directors, and junior or senior partners. These consultants will be more rigorous in their assessment and provide a final hiring decision.

• 3. Types of Interviews

BCG use three types of interview across their network:  case interview, experience interview, and written case interview (also known as a structured case interview). The most common interview is the case interview but you need to be prepared for all three unless the recruiter states the type of interview you can expect.

• 3.1 Case Interview

BCG uses case interviews with the same weighting as other strategy consulting firms and typically a candidate will face four separate interviews before they receive a job offer . The case questions are based on real-life examples and the interviewers will have worked on the problem themselves, this allows them to provide context and data easily.

BCG is looking to test candidates’ ability to do the day-to-day work that will be required of them. On their website this covers:

Problem-solving

Alternative thinking

Structured analysis

Communication

Read our full guide on how to work through case interviews because these skills will be applicable for all case interviews.

• 3.2 Experience Interview

The experience interview is normally integrated into a case interview or written case interview with the first 15 minutes of a 60-minute interview devoted to the experience and fit questions. The questions are closely aligned to other job interview questions but strategy consultants will want to see a certain approach to answering them. The types of questions they will ask are:

• Why consulting?
• What is your greatest achievement and why?
• When have you led a team and how did you approach the role?
• What is a difficult decision you have made in the last year?
• What is an example of a time when you showed initiative and leadership?
• What do you most like to do in your free time?
• Why would you be a good fit for one of our project teams?

The key to these questions is to develop a structure that can be applied to all of them . By structuring your answer, you will show that even when discussing non-business-related topics you apply a considered approach to your answer.

• 3.3 Written (structured) Case Interview

The written case interview assesses the same attributes as the case interview and requires the same skills. However, instead of working through the case with the interviewer, you are given a large document pack (20-30 pages) that contains all the information required to answer the case. The information pack is dense and the time provided to read and digest it is small (c.10 minutes). This means that you are required to find the key pieces of information, interpret data quickly and structure a recommendation to present back to the interviewer under time pressure .

As with the case interview, there is no correct answer and the important part of your answer is the consideration of trade-offs for making decisions and comparing the possible strategic decisions the business in question can take . The interviewer will test your thinking and recommendations to see how robust your conclusions are and the steps you took to get there.

• 4. Case Interview

The consulting case interview is the cornerstone of every strategy consulting firm’s interview process due to the ability to replicate the problems and challenges of the work they do.

To score well in a BCG case interview, you must meet the criteria laid out above and you can do this following a structured approach to case interviews . The structure of a BCG case interview is as follows:

• Situation and problem
• Hypothesis validation
• Framework development
• Root cause analysis
• Mathematical calculation (sometimes)
• Creativity test (sometimes)
• Recommendation

At the start of the case, the interviewer will outline the context and the problem to be explored. An example might be:

“A high street retailer wants to cut costs by 30% in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, how would you approach this?”

You would then be expected to put forward an initial hypothesis on what the answer might be and explain your intention to prove or disprove it.

From there you will be expected to develop a framework to conduct your analysis and test it with the interviewer.

If your framework is MECE and you explore it correctly then you will find the root cause of the issue for the client (in this case where costs can be reduced) and begin calculations if relevant.

The creativity test is when the interviewer asks you for an alternative to your findings or recommendation e.g. “Okay, the client says they do not want to shut stores, how else can they reduce cost?” They may ask this more than once and it tests the candidates' ability to think of alternatives, even if their answer is appropriate.

Finally, you will be asked to provide a recommendation whereby you need to synthesize your findings and give a clear and concise proposal.

For more information on how to approach and solve case interviews, you can read our case interview guide.

• 5. Additional Tips

Case interviews are pressurized situations where your anxiety levels are heightened and you don’t have the safety net of notes or the internet to fall back on.

For in-person interviews, it is common that one of the questions will have a mathematical element or a market sizing question included . These require long maths calculations without a calculator. If you haven’t practiced long addition, multiplication, division, or subtraction recently then it is a good idea to do so. Being quick at maths shows your competent quantitative skills and reduces unnecessary pressure during the interview, increasing your overall performance.

We have published guidance and practice questions dedicated to case interview maths, that will give you an idea of what to expect.

As with maths, practicing case interviews is the best way to improve your performance. Through practice, you will begin to develop a robust approach that satisfies the structure and framework components of the case and you will recognize how to navigate the case successfully .

If you are applying to BCG then you are probably applying to other strategy consulting firms too, this practice will be relevant to all of the firms you apply to as they all use case interviews in their application process.

Apply structure to everything

The key requirement of a candidate in a case interview is the application of structure, specifically with a MECE approach . As mentioned above, you can even apply structure to the FIT questions and it is recommended you do so.

An example answer to the question ‘walk me through your CV’ would be to segment your experience into 1) Experience relevant to consulting 2) Experience not relevant to consulting and then briefly cover the experience you have in each bucket. This shows you understand what consulting is and what is relevant and also a key skill of a consultant – structured thinking .

If you can demonstrate robust structured thinking in your interview, you will score highly.

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• Casey - BCG’s chatbot online case study - 2023 guide

Casey, or the BCG Chatbot Case, is the new iteration of BCG’s Online Case aptitude test.

With Casey, BCG replaces a more traditional test with multiple choice questions with a chatbot meant to more closely mimic a real case interview - if that interview were conducted over WhatsApp rather than over a desk.

Given your performance will be a big part of whether you make it to the next round of selection - and ultimately whether you manage to land your job at BCG - the stakes are high!

To make matters worse, candidates have said that this new test is very difficult, with huge time pressure.

Obviously then, you’re going to want to prepare for Casey properly. Don’t panic - we’ve got you covered!

In this article, we’ll start by getting you up to speed with what Casey is and how BCG implement it in their selection process. We’ll also provide some useful background on why BCG wants to use this kind of test in the first place.

Once you understand what you are up against, we’ll cover how you can prepare for Casey and how this fits into your wider preparation.

Importantly, we’ll include some guidance on how your preparation should change depending on how long you have until test day. An optimal prep will be considerably different if you’re reading this a couple of months before you apply, versus just after BCG have sent you your invitation to sit the test. Either way though, there is a lot you can do to improve your chances!

Let’s dive right in…

What is Casey?

In short, Casey is a business case study administered automatically. The idea is that it should simulate a traditional case interview but with a chatbot standing in for the human interviewer.

Generally, you will be asked to sit Casey at home on your own computer rather than come in to a BCG location, as was sometimes required with previous tests.

Casey splits a single focal case study into eight to ten questions to be completed in 30 minutes.

As part of this, your last task is to deliver your final recommendation in a 60-second video, recorded on your webcam. The time limit here is very strict, and candidates have noted being automatically cut off when they ran beyond it.

Casey’s interface looks quite like Slack or even WhatsApp or SMS, with the characteristic text balloons from you and the chatbot displayed over a background image.

As such, Casey is presented much like a real conversation. However, despite the very naturalistic look, for the time being, this appears not to be some advanced AI you are chatting with. Instead, the chatbot will ask a series of standardised questions without giving you any feedback or notable interaction etc in between. Given the obvious, and well publicised, advances in AI chatbots , though, this seems likely to change in future iterations of Casey.

As it is, the current lack of feedback from the Casey chatbot has some important implications for the nature of this test and how you approach it - which we will explain in more detail shortly.

Question formats

Unlike the previous BCG Online Case and similar assessments like the old McKinsey PST, Casey is not only limited to multiple choice questions, but contains a mix of different question formats.

Some questions are indeed multiple choice (sometimes allowing you to pick more than one answer), others require you to fill in a number or write a single sentence in a box and others still require you to record your full rationale and/or mathematical working.

Of course, most distinct of all is the final recommendation to be delivered as a strictly timed 60-second video recorded on your webcam.

The previous BCG Online Case used negative scoring for wrong answers. Thus it was better not to guess for a question where you really didn’t have a clue, as wrong answers actively deducted points from your final score.

However, this is no longer a consideration in Casey, as there is no option to skip giving an answer to questions. An answer is required for you to move on to the next question, so you have no choice but to give your best guess, even if you aren’t sure.

One important point to note for time management is that questions are not necessarily singular, but can be subdivided into multiple smaller sub-questions. Thus, you cannot necessarily assume that you will be able to get through the next question in the same time you did the last, as it might be subdivided into more parts. The only thing to do is to work as fast as you can all the time .

Related to the above, you cannot navigate between questions in Casey. You simply complete one and are moved to the next. You cannot return to change your answers to previous questions, nor can you preview questions you haven’t seen yet. This is an important difference versus some other tests and interfaces like Typeforms that Casey might otherwise resemble.

Question interdependence

BCG claims that the questions in Casey are all independent, such that if you mess up one, that shouldn’t stop you from getting the subsequent questions right.

However, this is not how test-takers have experienced Casey.

In practice, those invited to sit Casey find that making mistakes in earlier questions will seriously influence whether you are able to get the correct answers for later questions.

It might be that Casey questions are separable at a strict, logical level but that, in practice, your initial approach to the case will often set you up for success or failure throughout. This would seem more likely to be true in practice with a test where heavy time pressure will realistically prevent a candidate from starting again from an entirely new framing of the overarching case study. Instead, test takers will be forced to rely on their same overall interpretation and structuring of the case throughout - such that getting off to a bad start will make it likely they approach subsequent questions wrongly.

Whatever the underlying truth of the matter, the practical takeaway remains the same - even though you’re up against the clock, you need to work as carefully as possible and check your working as far as time allows . In particular, you need to double-check all your maths, as making a mistake at the start can mean inputting the wrong numbers into all your subsequent calculations.

This issue is exacerbated by the fact that, as discussed below, Casey does not provide feedback or prompts in response to wrong answers, so there is nothing to nudge you onto the correct path again if you take a wrong turn.

Prep the right way

How is casey different from a case interview.

Since BCG and other firms are increasingly conducting at least some fraction of their live case interviews via video call rather than in person, one might be excused for wondering if there is really any meaningful difference between Casey and “real” case interviews beyond working in text rather than verbally.

Certainly, the two are pretty similar in terms of their requirements on the candidate. After all, as we’ll discuss below, Casey is fundamentally a cost-effective stand-in for one or more live interviews. Much the same skills are tested, and your preparation for both Casey and standard case interviews will very heavily elide.

However, Casey isn’t a perfect simulation of a traditional case interview and, importantly, those points of difference actually impose some distinct and notable challenges that you need to bear seriously in mind for a successful preparation and test day.

Let’s take a closer look:

• More Time Pressure - Case interviews can already be pretty time-pressured, but candidates often note that Casey is even worse. As opposed to the McKinsey Solve assessment, which is designed to give ample time and not overly hurry candidates, Casey piles on the pressure. There are even captions regularly reminding you how much time you have remaining and candidates are simply cut off if they don’t finish recording their final video recommendation in time.
• No Interviewer Feedback - This might seem trivial if you are new to case studies, but the fact that the Casey chatbot does not supply appropriate prompts/hints if you get stuck or point out minor mistakes before you move on is a major difference. In a traditional case interview, the interviewer can somewhat coach a candidate to get them through a question. This isn’t simply charitable but gives the interviewer a fuller view of how you think at each step of the problem rather than stopping as soon as you make one error. The fact this isn’t present with Casey means that initial calculation errors or mistakes with initial structuring can easily mess up your whole approach to a question. This ideally means checking twice and working in a more methodical, careful manner - though this is easier said than done under such heavy time pressure…
• Calculators Allowed - A glaring difference versus a standard case interview is that calculators and other, similar tools are allowed. Much like the McKinsey Solve assessment, with your Casey test completed at home, BCG make no attempt to stop you having whatever you like on hand at your desk. This might seem like a ray of hope to candidates with less of a quantitative background. However, this actually makes things tougher…
• Heightened Demands on Mathematical Skills - An increased demand on your mathematical ability in Casey versus a traditional case interview emerges as a result of the previous two points. The fact that you have basic arithmetic covered by your calculator means that Casey is free to test your mathematical skill in other dimensions. Thus, there will generally be a significantly increased demand - at least versus the average case interview - on your ability to form equations and generally to think through more complex, multi-step calculations. The real challenge is likely to be how you set up your approach to the question and the specific route you take through calculations rather than simply manipulating the numbers. This might suit those from an “academic maths” background a little more than a standard interview.
• Interpret Text Fast - Whilst a case interview is verbal, Casey requires you to read, digest and understand relatively substantial blocks of text very quickly. In this regard, Casey is more similar to a GMAT or the old McKinsey PST than the rest of BCG’s selection process.

How is Casey implemented in the BCG selection process?

At time of writing, Casey appears to be used differently by different BCG offices. However, it is not clear if this is simply a comparative trial of different methods for one pipeline to subsequently be adopted across the firm, or if this is simply a case of different offices exercising latitude in how they operate their own selection processes. Time will tell.

Currently, though, there appear to be two main ways in which Casey is used:

Casey as gatekeeper

Many offices will employ Casey as part of one or more pre-interview stages of selection that must be passed before being invited to a live interview.

Casey might be employed alone at this stage or might be leveraged alongside an HR phone screen and/or additional online selection tools, potentially including the SparkHire automated fit interviews, the Pymetrics Test or the BCG Potential Test.

Accounts from applicants suggest significant inter-office variation here. However, one relatively consistent feature of this MO is that subsequent live case interviews will tend to be conducted in person, on location. In this case, Casey will have straightforwardly acted to thin down the candidate pool before any interviews are conducted by real humans at all.

There is also some evidence that this use of Casey-as-gatekeeper might be more prevalent where offices are selecting candidates for internships or lower-ranking positions than for more senior roles.

Casey as interview supplement

Possibly more common is using Casey as part of the first round of case interviews. Casey will thus be deployed alongside one or more live case interviews, presumably replacing one or more additional live interviews that might be performed otherwise.

With this MO, the entire first round will typically be conducted online and candidates will often be asked to sit Casey on the same day as they attend one or more live interviews via Zoom.

This usage of Casey is interesting, though, as the fact they still employ Casey beside a live interview at all suggests that BCG finds some utility in their online chatbot beyond it being a pale, cost-cutting imitation of a real interview. We explore some possible synergies between Casey and “real” interviews below.

Does everyone get the same case?

This is very hard to confirm for sure, but the short answer is “yes and no”.

It does seem that BCG will often make use of at least very similar cases for all the applicants in a particular geographic region over a particular period of time.

Thus, everyone in South East Asia might get the same case in a particular hiring cycle, whilst everyone in North America might get another.

However - and this is important - even if everyone applying this year to the same office as you are saying they got, for example, the same case study about an airline with a profitability problem, that doesn’t mean these cases are actually exactly the same.

One of the touted features of Casey is to be able to score candidates on fundamental traits, so that those candidates can still be robustly ranked despite being given different questions.

This would be very similar to McKinsey’s approach with their Solve assessment (also known as the PSG) where, at time of writing, every candidate will get slightly different versions of the same two basic games. For some candidates, the settings of the games will change - the same challenges might be set in an alpine, aquatic or jungle environment, for instance. For other test takers though, simply the raw parameters in the game will change. So an ostensibly very similar scenario might contain different numbers of species to work with, have different stats associated with those species etc.

These arbitrary differences stop any candidate from having an unfair advantage because they heard some details from someone else who took the test before them. However, the differences are simultaneously not sufficiently profound to mean that candidates cannot be usefully ranked - McKinsey is able to look through the minor differences in the exact games and rank candidate performance regardless.

Information is still relatively scant for the time being, and it seems that changes are being made more frequently than the more established Solve assessment. However, the key takeaway is that, whilst you should pay attention to what other test takers are saying, you shouldn’t assume that will get the same case as them - and you should absolutely not plan to simply enter someone else’s answers into your own Casey test!

Why do BCG use this kind of assessment?

Casey is effectively a modernised iteration of BCG’s older Online Case.

BCG is far from the only big consulting firm starting to leverage reasonably advanced modern aptitude tests as part of their selection process. At high level, McKinsey’s Solve assessment and the Pymetrics test leveraged by a number of consulting firms (sometimes including BCG) fulfil much the same function.

In the past, all these firms used more traditional aptitude tests. These would typically be multiple choice, broadly GMAT-style tests, conducted on pen and paper in exam rooms supervised by company staff. Latterly, candidates would be asked to sit similar tests on company computers rather than on paper.

However, as these tests became digital, it became possible to have candidates sit them at home rather than on location, and this at-home testing has since become the norm.

Notably, other major firms - in particular McKinsey and Bain - have gone in a somewhat different direction to BCG in terms of the specific tests they have adopted. Elsewhere, the move has largely been towards tests that assess the same fundamental cognitive traits as a case interview, but outside of a business context and requiring little or no mathematics. However, BCG has been moving to a more and more direct simulation of a case interview, with obviously high demands on business knowledge and mathematical competence.

What do modern aptitude tests offer?

Importantly though, all these tests fill the same basic role. Let’s take a quick look at a few things modern aptitude tests offer consulting firms:

Cost-Cutting

Bluntly put, for all these firms, the primary reason for employing these tests is as a straightforward cost saver.

Whilst the theory and computational methods underpinning aptitude tests are improving at a formidable pace, it seems fairly certain that the real-life case interview will continue to be the gold standard means of selecting new consultants until such time as an AI can replace human consultants entirely.

The problem for BCG and similar firms is that real case interviews are expensive in terms of both staff time and disruption to projects.

Conducting in-person case interviews involves pulling consultants off active engagements, potentially requiring them to fly back to their home office if they are working on-site. Make this issue exponentially worse for second-round interviews requiring a partner to lead them.

The result is that consulting firms want to minimise the number of case interviews conducted per new hire as far as possible.

This problem is of course all the more pressing in light of the sheer volume of applications per position top-end firms like BCG receive. For sure, the majority will always be cut at the resume screen, but there will still be far more high-quality candidates than can ever be given multiple case interviews.

Many BCG offices appear to use Casey in precisely the same manner as other firms use Solve, Sova or Pymetrics. That is, to significantly reduce the candidate pool before proceeding those who remain on to the case interview round of selection. Clearly, this hugely reduces the number of interviews needed to finally winnow down the pool. Even for those BCG offices using Casey in parallel with real case interviews, at the same stage in the selection process, having candidates sit Casey will be replacing one or more traditional interviews and thus keeping costs down.

The demands of the Covid pandemic accelerated a general trend towards at-home testing and interviews, making more of the selection process for major corporates remote. However, even before the pandemic, there were other reasons to move recruitment online.

One of these reasons for at-home testing was the ability to cast a wider net in finding new talent - allowing those candidates living outside major cities with BCG offices and/or target universities to get a foot in the door in the selection process without having to find the time and money for trains, planes and automobiles to make it to BCG’s physical location.

Importantly, this isn’t just an ethical matter but makes good raw business sense. Expanding the pool of candidates competing for roles should, all things being equal, increase the quality of those being selected at the end of the process. BCG and similar firms’ business models ultimately rely on recruiting the very best talent available - and they simply can’t rely on this being located a stone’s throw from their own office.

Environmental

Another advantage of moving to a more remote selection process is a reduction in carbon emissions - and especially air miles - associated with the recruitment process. Thus, tests like Casey not only allow BCG and similar firms to save money on interviews but also derive some PR gain around their ESG credentials.

Casey might be better for BCG than just another case interview

An interesting consideration is that the differences between Casey and a real interview aren’t just shortcomings of Casey as a lower-cost simulation of an in-person interview, but might also be leveraged as positive advantages by BCG when employed in synergy with traditional case interviews.

In simpler terms, it might well be that some aspects of Casey allow BCG to gather useful information they wouldn’t have been able to access via case interviews alone.

An easy example from above is that Casey allows BCG to get an assessment of the candidate’s mathematical skills in a different dimension to a case interview. The traditional interview will largely test mental arithmetic and particularly the ability to make estimations and conduct quick calculations.

Casey then allows BCG to assess the same candidate’s mathematical reasoning at a higher level, separated from the need to conduct raw calculations.

However, there are potentially more significant synergies with in-person interviews.

BCG notes that Casey offers more of an objective, absolute assessment, and thus ranking, of candidates. This can have some real advantages in, for instance, taking account of the differences between individual interviewers.

In effect, the absolute scores generated by Casey could let BCG “calibrate” the assessments offered by different human interviewers - ironing out the differences between those who are more or less demanding - or potentially even helping account for systematic biases.

Since Casey is employed globally, there might also be some utility for BCG in making a similar examination of differences in recruitment between different offices. Thus, BCG would be able to notice if the calibre of candidates, as scored by Casey, was notably lower at certain locations - possibly allowing for ameliorative action from headquarters if large differentials started to develop.

We can expect that a firm like BCG, which needs to be at the cutting edge and sells itself to clients based on having exceptionally high-quality staff, will care a great deal about maintaining high standards across a global operation. Indeed, this is an issue other large firms explicitly contend with - as we see with Amazon dispatching its “ Bar Raisers ” even to the most far-flung locations to make sure that only the best new employees are hired. Casey might help BCG accomplish some measure of the same quality control.

Impress your interviewer

How can i prep for casey.

Your best options to prep for Casey depend on how long you have until test day. Here, we’ll start by outlining what an optimal prep would look like, with unlimited time on your hands. We’ll then see how things change if you are on a tight time frame - for example, if you only found out Casey existed when you were asked to take the test in the near future.

Finally, at the most immediate end, we’ll take a look at some fundamental tips for test day itself.

Optimal, Long-Term Prep

At a fundamental level, case cracking is case cracking, regardless of the specific format. Success when facing a chatbot or a video or in-person interview will ultimately depend on your being able to understand the case they give you and efficiently work through to a correct solution.

If you want to land a job at BCG, you will very likely have to get through five or possibly more live case interviews, conducted either via video call or in person. If you are asked to complete Casey, you can think of this as simply an idiosyncratic wrapper around what is basically just another case session.

Ideally then, your prep for Casey will simply be a more specific subset of your wider preparation for case interviews at BCG and any other firms to which you are applying.

We have excellent articles on all aspects of case cracking and related skills. A great place to start is our introduction to the case interview , where you can read about our recommended, MBB-style case cracking method in some detail in the collection of articles here, including particularly Casey-relevant skills like consulting maths .

We also have a great free case library for you to test your skills against and a free meeting board , where you can find fellow applicants from around the world to practice with.

These articles and free resources will give you an excellent foundation. However, to step things up to a higher level, the best place to go for a fully rounded, high-quality guide to case solving is our Case Academy course .

You can get full Case Academy access on its own with the MCC Bundle. However, you can lock in more value by getting course access along with some coaching sessions with real BCG consultants.

Having a real consultant put you through your paces will help immeasurably with both Casey and your live case interviews. Not only will this be great practice for tackling BCG cases, but receiving detailed feedback from experienced professionals is the single best way to identify your problem areas and iterate to make genuine progress and truly hone your case-cracking competence.

A great option for the basis of a decent prep would be our Bridge to Consulting, which is a bundle of five one-hour coaching sessions and full course access. You can find this package here:

Bridge to Consulting

Now, if you are going to make time for a genuinely thorough prep and want to leave nothing to change, the best option of all is one of our comprehensive mentoring programmes, where a 5+ year experienced consultant takes charge of your whole journey into consulting - advising on networking, helping draft your applications and planning your whole approach to case interviews and the consulting selection process as a whole.

You can read more about our mentoring programmes and apply to join here:

Mentoring Programmes

Specific Casey Prep

Whilst the bulk of your case prep will always be focussed on general skill building and simulating live case interviews with peers and/or coaches, it’s still a good idea to do some Casey-specific activities.

You can do these alongside your general case prep from the start, but it will make sense to throw in more Casey-specific work as you get towards the end of your prep, nearer to test day.

Some ideas to help build specific skills and practice for Casey are as follows:

Solo Cases Using a Calculator

You can do a reasonable simulation of Casey simply by working through cases solo, keeping within a strict time limit and using a calculator for the calculations. Our case bank is a great place to start, with a further compendium of free cases linked in this article. Ideally, select interviewer-led , “McKinsey-style” cases, as these will have a more similar structure to Casey. Cases with a strong mathematical component will also be particularly useful.

Practice Video Recommendations

Practice 60 second final recommendation videos. In particular, when working through cases solo, you can practice delivering your final recommendation into your webcam. If you find you struggle with any aspect of this, you might want to specifically practice delivering recommendations to camera in a more focused manner, iterating and improving until you are confident.

Zero Feedback Cases

Even when working with case partners and/or a coach, you can ask that they simulate the feel of Casey by not giving you feedback as you work, but prompting you to work faster and holding you against strict time limits.

PST and Similar Questions

A closer simulation, though, would be to work through some PST-style multiple-choice business questions. The Problem Solving Test, or PST, was McKinsey’s old aptitude test before they moved to the Solve assessment. We have many of these format of questions included in our Case Academy course and, with a free account on our site, you can work through some for free here . These questions embedded in the course are particularly relevant as simulations, as they are presented digitally and have a clock running with a tight time limit imposed.

If you simply want to secure some questions on their own, we have a free downloadable PST practice paper and some more PDFs to purchase in our main PST article .

Mathematics

Almost all the points above will build in a fair bit of mathematics - which you can perform with a calculator to yield more Casey-relevant practice. However, given both the heightened salience of maths within Casey, as well as the slightly different character of that maths, it will likely pay to put in some more focused maths practice.

It might sound trivial, but if it’s been a few years since you’ve used a calculator (a lot of folk won’t have touched one since university, or possibly even since leaving secondary school), then practising working through even trivially easy calculations quickly will help restore some muscle memory and help you avoid “fat finger” errors on the day.

As noted above, our consulting math article is a great jumping-off point.

Help, I’m in a hurry!

So, you’ve applied to BCG and you’ve just found out you’re going to have to sit Casey very soon. You didn’t know the chatbot interview existed until you got the email from BCG and now you’re scrabbling to prepare.

Perhaps, to make matters even worse, you have a busy work and/or academic schedule between now and test day, cutting down your time to prepare even further.

What to do next depends primarily on how much general case prep you have already done:

I have done minimal/no case prep

If you also haven’t started your general case interview prep yet and are green when it comes to case cracking in general, we won’t lie to you - this isn’t an optimal position to be in. This is doubly true if you have a live case interview on the same day or very shortly after.

However, hope is certainly not lost!

In this situation, you will want to think in terms of the Pareto Principle . You need to ramp up your basic knowledge and skillset as much as possible in the time you have available. This is not the time to focus a lot on a little, but to get an understanding of the fundamentals of one topic and move on to the next.

The best single resource here to bring you up to speed on case cracking quickly, as well as give you a truckload of PST-style questions and maths practice material, is our Case Academy course .

You can purchase the MCC Bundle to get access to our course material by itself. However, it will be more economical to get that same material along with some coaching sessions, which will let you work through mock case interviews with real BCG consultants, who will be able to give you pointers on what your weak points are and how to bring these up ASAP. A great option here is a discounted package of our course plus three coaching sessions:

Discounted - Course Plus Three Coaching Sessions

Importantly, this course material and any coaching sessions you get won’t just be useful for Casey but will continue to be useful as you go through the rest of the interview process at BCG and any other firms to which you are applying. You aren’t going to get a consulting job anywhere without convincing case skills and likely multiple rounds of challenging case interviews. You need to get good at case cracking, and top-tier learning material plus coaching is the way to do this .

I’ve done general case prep, but nothing Casey specific

This is a much better position in which to be. If you are already a decent case cracker, then there is a fairly strong chance you’ll be able to pass Casey without any further work - it’s the same fundamental skillset after all.

However, by the same token, there are plenty of accounts of decent casers fluffing Casey because they weren’t used to the format and simply made a mess of things as a result.

As such, it’s a good idea to do at least a bit of case prep - and if you’ve been diligent enough with your prep to learn case solving already, then why stop now?

Really you should try to get through as much of the Casey-specific activity suggested in the optimal prep section as you have time for.

The most useful elements will likely be working through the PST questions , doing some solo cases with a calculator where you practice video recommendations and doing some calculator practice if you need it. These will help transfer the skills you have over to the Casey format - hopefully helping you feel more relaxed and ready to demonstrate your existing competence on test day.

Test Day Fundamentals

Beyond your preparation to get you ready to deal with the questions themselves, there are a few basic tips to take on board before sitting down to do your Casey assessment.

A lot of this is going to be the same as the standard advice for getting ready for more normal Zoom interviews. Indeed, this is already salient as, depending on your target office, you might very well have a video case interview on the same day as your Casey.

• Make sure you have a decent wifi connection. If anything tends to mess this up (using the microwave or vacuum cleaner, for example), make sure any housemates/family know not to do that during your test.
• Check with your webcam in advance that your lighting is on point for the final recommendation video. This might well mean moving around some curtains and/or lamps.
• Similarly, ensure your background is professional or at least contains nothing incredibly sloppy (it seems unlikely that Casey will blur your background for you as you might be used to on Zoom).
• Dress as you would for an in-person interview. If you have a Zoom interview the same day, just dress the same for both. However, if you only have Casey, you should still look fully professional for your 60 seconds of fame at the end.

Now, let’s be more specific…

• First up, don’t do Casey on your phone. This is apparently possible, but will just make life difficult for no particular benefit to you and runs the risk of making your video recommendation at the end look sloppy.
• Use a proper computer and do so at a desk where you have some space for the other items you’ll need. Do not try to sit Casey from a sofa and end up juggling your laptop, calculator, paper etc between your lap and a coffee table (seems obvious, but someone will try it…).
• Finally, make sure you have everything you might need at your desk before you start. Just as basics, you’ll want a pad of paper, a pen and a calculator (you could use a calculator app on your phone here, but you’ll probably be faster with a real calculator). Remember that you can’t pause Casey, so if you kick things off and then remember you left your calculator downstairs, that dash through the house is time you won’t be getting back. Similarly, make sure that your computer is plugged in so you don’t have to do a panicked hunt for a charger halfway through when your battery starts to die.

Now over to you - Good Luck!

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Hacking the Case Interview

Case interview frameworks or consulting frameworks are arguably the most critical component of a case interview. Outstanding case frameworks   set you up for success for the case while poor frameworks make the case difficult to solve.

Struggling on how to use frameworks in your case interviews? Unsure of which frameworks to use?

Don't worry because we have you covered! We'll teach you step-by-step, how to craft tailored and unique frameworks for any case interview situation.

By the end of this article, you will learn four different strategies on how to create unique and tailored frameworks for any case interview.

Strategy #1: Creating Frameworks from Scratch

• Strategy #2: Memorizing 8 – 10 Broad Business Areas
• Strategy #3: Breaking Down Stakeholders
• Strategy #4: Breaking Down Processes
• Strategy #5: Two-Part MECE Frameworks

You will apply these strategies to learn how to create case frameworks for the six most common types of case interviews.

Profitability Framework

Market entry framework, merger and acquisition framework, pricing framework, new product framework, market sizing framework.

You will also learn six consulting frameworks that nearly every consultant knows.

Porter’s Five Forces Framework

Swot framework, 4 p’s framework, 3 c’s / business situation framework, bcg 2x2 matrix framework, mckinsey 7s framework.

If you’re looking for a step-by-step shortcut to learn case interviews quickly, enroll in our case interview course . These insider strategies from a former Bain interviewer helped 30,000+ land consulting offers while saving hundreds of hours of prep time.

What is a Case Interview Framework?

A case interview framework is simply a tool that helps you structure and break down complex problems into simpler, smaller components. Think of a framework as brainstorming different ideas and organizing them into different categories.

Let’s look at an example: Coca-Cola is a large manufacturer and retailer of non-alcoholic beverages, such as sodas, juices, sports drinks, and teas. They are looking to grow and are considering entering the beer market in the United States. Should they enter?

In order for you to decide whether Coca-Cola should enter the beer market, you likely have many different questions you’d like to ask:

• Does Coca-Cola know how to produce beer?
• Would people buy beer made by Coca-Cola?
• Where would Coca-Cola sell its beer?
• How much would it cost to enter the beer market?
• Will Coca-Cola be profitable from selling beer?
• How would Coca-Cola outcompete competitors?
• What is the size of the beer market in the United States?

This is not a very structured way of thinking through the case. The questions are listed in no particular order. Additionally, many of the questions are similar to one another and could be grouped together.

A case framework would provide a structure to organize these ideas and questions in a way that is easy to understand.

A framework for this case might look like the following.

Notice that we have simplified the list of questions we had into four main categories. These broad categories are frequently called framework “buckets.” Also notice that we have grouped similar questions together under each framework bucket.

This case framework tells us what areas we need to explore in order to make a recommendation to Coca-Cola. It also clearly shows what questions we need to answer under each area.

This is the power of a case interview framework. It simplifies a complex business problem into smaller and separate components that we can tackle one at a time.

So how do you develop a case framework? The next section will reveal four robust strategies for creating unique and tailored consulting frameworks for any case interview.

Case Interview Framework Strategies

There are four case interview framework strategies you should have in your toolkit:  

When given a case interview, you will need to decide which framework strategy you want to use. Some framework strategies will be more effective than others depending on what type of case interview you get.

Therefore, choose the case framework strategy that is easiest for you given the type of case that you get.

This case framework strategy can be used for any type of case. This is the most time-consuming strategy, but yields case frameworks that are the most tailored and unique for the given case interview.

To create a framework from scratch, ask yourself what 3 – 4 statements must be true for you to be 100% confident in your recommendation. These 3 – 4 areas will become the buckets in your framework.

Once you have your framework buckets, brainstorm a few questions for each bucket that you need answers to.

Let’s return to the Coca-Cola case example in which we are asked to determine whether or not they should enter the beer market. What 3 – 4 statements must be true for us to recommend that Coca-Cola should enter the beer market?

The four major statements that must be true are:

• The beer market is an attractive market
• Competitors in the market are weak
• Coca-Cola has the capabilities to produce outstanding beer
• Coca-Cola will be highly profitable from entering the beer market

These will be the major areas or buckets in our framework.

Next, let’s add a few bullet points under each area to add more detail to our case framework.

To determine whether the beer market is attractive, we would need to know the market size, the market growth rate, and the average profit margins in the market.

To assess whether the market is competitive, we would need to know who the competitors are, how much market share they have, and if they have any differentiation or competitive advantages.

To decide whether Coca-Cola has the capabilities to produce beer, we need to know if there are any capability gaps or if there are significant synergies that Coca-Cola can leverage.

Finally, to determine the expected profitability of entering the market, we would need to know what expected revenues are, what expected costs are, and how long it would take Coca-Cola to break even.

This gives us our case framework.

You can repeat this process for any case interview that you get to create an outstanding case framework.

Strategy #2: Memorizing 8 – 10 Broad Business Areas to Make a Framework

Creating case frameworks from scratch can be quite time-consuming. Because of this, many interview candidates make the mistake of using memorized frameworks for case interviews.

Candidates will either use a single memorized framework for every case or memorize a different framework for every type of case interview.

The issue with using memorized frameworks is that they aren’t tailored to the specific case you are solving for. When given an atypical business problem, your framework areas or buckets will not be entirely relevant.

A poor framework makes the case interview significantly more difficult to solve.

Additionally, Interviewers can easily tell that you are regurgitating memorized information and not thinking critically.

Instead of creating frameworks from scratch each time, this second case framework strategy provides a method to speed up the process while still creating frameworks that are unique and tailored to the case. Additionally, you won’t need to memorize multiple different frameworks.

First, memorize a list of 8 - 10 broad business areas, such as the following:

When given a case, mentally run through this list and pick the 3 - 5 areas that are most relevant to the case.

This will be your framework.

If the list does not give you enough areas for your framework, brainstorm and add your own ideas as areas to your framework.

Finally, add a few bullet points under each area to add more detail to your case framework.

This strategy guarantees that your framework elements are relevant to the case. It also demonstrates that you can create unique, tailored frameworks for every business problem.

Let’s return to the Coca-Cola case example in which we are asked to determine whether or not they should enter the beer market.

Running through our list of memorized framework areas, the following six areas would be relevant:

• Market attractiveness : Is the beer market attractive?
• Competitive landscape : How tough is competition?
• Company capabilities : Does Coca-Cola have the capabilities to enter the market?
• Profitability : Will Coca-Cola be profitable from entering the market?
• Risks : What are the risks of entering the market?
• Strategic alternatives : Are there other more attractive markets Coca-Cola should enter?

You can pick 3 – 5 of these areas as the basis for your framework.

This strategy is a shortcut for creating unique and tailored frameworks for every business problem. Even if you and a friend used this same strategy, you both may end up with different frameworks.

That is completely fine. As long as the buckets in your framework are major areas and are relevant to the case, your case framework will be significantly better than most candidates’ frameworks.

You do not need to develop a framework entirely from scratch every time to create outstanding case frameworks. This case framework strategy can be applied to over 90% of case interviews.

For the remaining 10% of case interviews, you will need to learn and use the next two case interview framework strategies.

Strategy #3: Breaking Down Stakeholders to Make a Framework

The first two case framework strategies can be applied to over 90% of cases. However, some cases may require you to identify and focus on various stakeholders that are involved in running or operating a business.

For these cases, the primary areas of your case framework will be these major stakeholders.

Let’s take a look at an example: Your client is a non-profit blood bank. They have volunteer nurses that go to schools and companies to collect blood from donors. They then sell this blood to hospitals, which use this blood for emergency situations when a blood transfusion is required. Currently, Hearts4Lives is not profitable because they are not able to collect enough blood to sell to their hospital partners. What can they do to fix this?

This case involves many different stakeholders:

• Volunteer nurses
• Blood donors
• Schools and companies

For cases in which many different stakeholders are involved, it will be useful to look at each stakeholder and determine what each could do to address the problem.

One potential framework could look like the following:

Strategy #4: Breaking Down Processes to make a Framework

Similar to the previous case framework strategy, some cases may require you to focus on improving or optimizing a particular process.

For these cases, the primary areas of your case framework will be each major step of the process.

Let’s take a look at an example: Your client is a waste disposal company that manages a fleet of drivers and garbage trucks that go to residential homes, collect garbage, and then dump the garbage in city landfills. They have an obligation to collect each home’s garbage once a week. Recently, they have been failing to meet this requirement and are backed up with garbage disposal requests. What is causing this issue and what should they do to fix it?

For cases involving processes and efficiencies, it can be helpful to look at the different components or steps in the process.

We can think about the process of collecting and disposing of garbage in the following steps:

• Get in a garbage truck
• Drive along a designated route
• Collect garbage at each stop
• Dispose of the garbage in the landfill

Using these steps as the primary areas of our framework, we can create the following case framework:

Once you have systematically listed all of the steps in a process, you can identify the pain points or bottlenecks that are causing the issue and determine ways to improve the process.

Strategy #5: Two-part MECE Frameworks

An easy way to make a 100% MECE framework is to use a two-part MECE framework. For the first step, start with a X and Not X framework. Some examples include:

• Internal / external
• Short-term / long-term
• Economic / non-economic
• Quantitative / qualitative
• Direct / indirect
• Supply-side / demand-side
• Upside / downside
• Benefits / cost

There are probably hundreds more frameworks that follow this pattern.

These frameworks are by definition 100% MECE. Since all of these frameworks are X or Not-X, they are mutually exclusive. There is no redundancy or overlap between X and Not-X.

Together, X and Not-X are also completely exhaustive. They cover the universe of all ideas and possibilities.

The X and Not-X framework by itself is good enough for a lot of the questions you could get asked in a case interview.

If you’re asked to brainstorm ways to decrease costs, you can create a framework consisting of decreasing variable costs and decreasing non-variable costs, also known as fixed costs.

If you’re asked to brainstorm barriers to entry, you can create a framework consisting of economic barriers to entry, such as cash and equipment, and non-economic barriers to entry, such as brand name or distribution channels.

However, to take your framework to the next level and truly impress your interviewer, we have the option of doing step two.

Step two involves adding another layer of X and Not X into your framework. What do we mean by this?

Let’s say you are trying to help a city decide whether they should host the upcoming summer Olympics. You start off with a framework consisting of benefits and costs. You can take this framework to the next level by adding another layer, such as adding in short-term and long-term.

With this additional layer, your framework now has four categories: short-term benefits, long-term benefits, short-term costs, and long-term costs. This is a 100% MECE framework that enables you to think through all possible considerations in deciding whether a city should host the Olympics.

Let’s look at another example. Suppose you are trying to figure out how to reduce a company’s costs. You start with a framework consisting of variable costs and fixed costs. You can take this framework to the next level by adding another layer, such as direct and indirect.

With this additional layer, your framework now has four categories: ways to directly reduce variable costs, ways to indirectly reduce variable costs, ways to directly reduce fixed costs, and ways to indirectly reduce fixed costs. This is another 100% MECE framework.

Case Frameworks: The 6 Most Common Frameworks

There are six common case frameworks in consulting case interviews.  

Profitability frameworks are the most common types of frameworks you’ll likely use in consulting first round interviews.

A profitability case might look like this: “An electric car manufacturer has recently been experiencing a decline in profits. What should they do?”

There are two steps to solving a profitability case.

First, you need to understand quantitatively, what is the driver causing the decline in profits?

You should know the following basic profit formulas.

Is the decline in profitability due to a decline in revenue, an increase in costs, or both?

On the revenue side, what is causing the decline? Is it from a decrease in quantity of units sold? If so, is the decrease concentrated in a particular product line, geography, or customer segment?

Or is the decline due to a decrease in price? Are we selling products at a lower price? Is there a sales mix change? In other words, are we selling more low-priced products and fewer high-priced products?

On the cost side, what is causing the increase in costs? Is it from an increase in variable costs? If so, which cost elements have gone up?

Or is the increase in costs due to an increase in fixed costs? If so, which fixed costs have gone up?

Next, you need to understand qualitatively, what factors are driving the decline in profitability that you identified in the previous step.

Looking at customers, have customer needs or preferences changed? Have their purchasing habits or behaviors changed? Have their perceptions of the company changed?

Looking at competitors, have new players entered the market? Have existing competitors made any recent strategic moves? Are competitors also experiencing a decline in profitability?

Looking at the market, are there any market trends that we should be aware of? For example, are there new technology or regulatory changes? How do these trends impact profitability?

Putting all of this together, we get the following profitability framework.

Once you have gone through this profitability framework and understand both quantitatively what is causing the decline in profits and qualitatively why this is happening, you can begin brainstorming ideas to address the profitability issue.

Among the ideas that you brainstorm, you can prioritize which recommendations to focus on based on the level of impact and ease of implementation.

See the video below for an example of how to solve a profitability case using this profitability framework.

Market entry frameworks are the second most common types of frameworks you’ll likely use in consulting first round interviews.

A market entry case might look like this: “Coca-Cola is considering entering the beer market in the United States. Should they enter?”

To create a market entry framework, there are typically four statements that need to be true in order for you to recommend entering the market:

• The market is attractive
• Competition is weak
• The company has the capabilities to enter
• The company will be highly profitable from entering the market

These statements form the foundation of our market entry framework.

Note the logical order of the buckets in the framework.

We first want to determine whether the market is attractive. Then, we need to check if competition is weak and if there is an opportunity to capture meaningful market share.

If these two conditions are true, then we need to confirm that the company actually has the capabilities to enter the market.

Finally, even if the company has the capabilities to enter the market, we need to verify that they will be profitable from entering.

This is a logical progression that your market entry framework will take you through to develop a recommendation for market entry cases.

Merger and acquisition frameworks are also common frameworks you’ll use in consulting interviews.

There are two common business situations.

The first situation is a company looking to acquire another company in order to access a new market, access new customers, or to grow its revenues and profits.

Another situation is a private equity company looking to acquire a company as an investment. Their goal is to then grow the business using their operational expertise and then sell the company years later for a high return on investment.

In either of these situations, mergers and acquisition cases typically involve acquiring an attractive, successful company.

It is rare to get a case in which a company or private equity firm is looking to acquire a poorly performing company to purchase at a discount. Nevertheless, you can always clarify the goal of the merger or acquisition with the interviewer before beginning the case.

In order to recommend making an acquisition, four statements need to be true.  

• The market that the acquisition target is in is attractive
• The acquisition target is an attractive company
• The acquisition generates meaningful synergies
• The acquisition target is at a great price and will generate high returns on investment

These statements become the basis of our merger and acquisition framework.

Synergies is an area that should absolutely be included in any merger or acquisition framework. A merger or acquisition can lead to revenue synergies and cost synergies.

Revenue synergies include:

• Having access to new customer segments
• Having access to new markets
• Having access to new distribution channels
• Cross-selling opportunities
• Up-selling opportunities

Cost synergies include:

• Eliminating cost redundancies
• Consolidating functions or groups
• Increasing buying power with suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, or retailers

Pricing frameworks are used in cases involving the pricing of a product or service. To develop a pricing framework, you should be familiar with the three different ways to price a product or service.

• Pricing based on costs : set a price by applying a profit margin on the total costs to produce or deliver the product or service
• Pricing based on competition : set a price based on what competitors are charging for products similar to yours
• Pricing based on value added : set a price by quantifying the benefits that the product provides customers

Your answer to pricing cases will likely involve a mix of all three of these pricing strategies.

Your pricing framework will look something like the following.

Pricing based on costs will determine the minimum price you can realistically set. Pricing based on value added will determine the maximum possible price. Pricing based on competition will determine which price in between these two price points you should set.

In order to get customers to purchase your product, the difference between your price point and the customer’s maximum willingness to pay must be greater than or equal to the difference between your competitor’s price point and the customer’s maximum willingness to pay for their product.

New product frameworks are used to help a company decide whether or not to launch a product or service.

New product frameworks share many similarities with market entry frameworks. In order to recommend launching a new product, the following statements would need to be true:

• The product targets an attractive market segment
• The product meets customer needs and is superior to competitor products
• The company has the capabilities to successfully launch the product
• Launching the product will be highly profitable

Expanding on these areas, your new product framework could look like the following:

A comprehensive guide to market sizing questions and market sizing frameworks can be found in our comprehensive market sizing article. You can also watch the video below:

As a summary, market sizing or estimation questions ask you to determine the size of a particular market or to estimate a particular figure.

There are two different market sizing frameworks or approaches:

• Top-down approach : start with a large number and then refine and break down the number until you get your answer
• Bottom-up approach : start with a small number and then build up and increase the number until you get your answer

To create your market sizing framework, simply write out in bullet points, the exact steps you would take to calculate the requested market size or estimation figure.

Consulting Frameworks Every Consultant Knows

There are six consulting frameworks that nearly every consultant knows.

I would not recommend using these exact frameworks during a case interview because the interviewer may think you are just regurgitating memorized information instead of thinking critically about the case.

Instead use the four framework strategies that we covered earlier in this article to create tailored and unique frameworks for each case.

Nevertheless, it is helpful to review these common consulting frameworks in order to understand the fundamental concepts and business principles behind them.

Porter’s Five Forces framework was developed by Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter. This framework is used to analyze the attractiveness of a particular industry.

There are five forces that determine whether an industry is attractive or unattractive.

Competitive rivalry:  How competitive is the industry?

The more competitive an industry is in terms of number and strength of competitors, the less attractive the industry is. The less competitive an industry is, the more attractive the industry is.

Supplier power:  How much power do suppliers have?

Suppliers are companies that provide the raw materials for your company to produce goods or services. The fewer suppliers there are, the more bargaining power suppliers have in setting prices. The more suppliers there are, the weaker bargaining power suppliers have in setting prices.

Therefore, high supplier power makes the industry less attractive while low supplier power makes the industry more attractive.   

Buyer power:  How much power do buyers have?

Buyers are customers or companies that purchase your company’s product. The more buyers there are, the weaker bargaining power buyers have in setting prices. The fewer buyers there are, the more bargaining power buyers have in setting prices.

Therefore, high buyer power makes the industry less attractive while low buyer power makes the industry more attractive.   

Threat of substitution:  How difficult is it for customers to find and use substitutes over your product?

The availability of many substitutes makes the industry less attractive while a lack of substitutes makes the industry more attractive

Threat of new entry:  How difficult is it for new players to enter the market?

If barriers to entry are high, then it is difficult for new players to enter the market and it is easier for existing players to maintain their market share.

If barriers to entry are low, then it is easy for new players to enter the market and more difficult for existing players to maintain their market share.

A low threat of new entrants makes the market more attractive while a high threat of new entrants makes the market less attractive.

A SWOT framework is used to assess a company’s strategic position. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Strengths : What does the company do well? What qualities separate them from competitors?

Weaknesses : What does the company do poorly? What are the things that competitors do better?

Opportunities : Where are the company’s opportunities for growth or improvement?

Threats : Who are the most threatening competitors? What are the major risks to the company’s business?

The 4 P’s framework is used to develop a marketing strategy for a product. The 4 P’s in this framework are: product, place, promotion, and price.

Product : If there are multiple products or different versions of a product, you will need to decide which product to market. To do this, you will need to fully understand the benefits and points of differentiation of each product.

Select the product that best fits customer needs for the customer segment you are focusing on.

Place : You will need to decide where the product will be sold to customers. Different customer segments have different purchasing habits and behaviors. Therefore, some distribution channels will be more effective than others.

Should the product be sold directly to the customer online? Should the product be sold in the company’s stores? Should the product be sold through retail partners instead?

Promotion : You will need to decide how to spread information about the product to customers. Different customer segments have different media consumption habits and preferences. Therefore, some promotional strategies will be more effective than others.

Promotional techniques and strategies include advertising, social media marketing, email marketing, search engine marketing, video marketing, and public relations. Select the strategies and techniques that will be the most effective.

Price : You will need to decide how to price the product. Pricing is important because it determines the profits and the quantity of units sold. Pricing can also communicate information on the quality or value of the product.

If you price the product too high, you may be pricing the product above your customer segment’s willingness to pay. This would lead to lost sales.

If you price the product too low, you may be losing potential profit from customers who were willing to pay a higher price. You may also be losing profits from customers who perceive the product as low-quality due to a low price point.

In deciding on a price, you can consider the costs to produce the product, the prices of other similar products, and the value that you are providing to customers.

The 3 C’s framework is used to develop a business strategy for a company. 3 C’s stands for customers, competition, and company.

The business situation framework was developed by a former McKinsey consultant, Victor Cheng, who added a fourth component to this framework, product.

Both of these frameworks are used to develop a business strategy for a company in a variety of situations, such as market entry, new product launch, and acquisition.

There is another similar framework called the 4C framework that expands upon the 3 C's. The 4C framework stands for customer, competition, capabilities, and cost.

The BCG 2x2 Matrix Framework was developed by BCG founder Bruce Hendersen. It is used to examine all of the different businesses of a company to determine which businesses the company should invest in and focus on.

The BCG 2x2 Matrix has two different dimensions:

• Market growth : How quickly is the market growing?
• Relative market share : How much market share does the company have compared to competitors?

Each business of the company can be assessed on these two dimensions on a scale of low to high. This is what creates the 2x2 Matrix because it creates four different quadrants.

Each quadrant has a recommended strategy.

• Stars : These are businesses that have high market growth rate and high relative market share. These businesses should be heavily invested in so they can continue to grow.
• Cows :   These are businesses that have low market growth rate, but high relative market share. These businesses should be maintained since they are stable, profitable businesses.
• Dogs :   These are businesses that have low market growth rate and low relative market share. These businesses should not be invested in and should possibly even be divested to free up cash for other businesses.
• Unknown : These are businesses that have high market growth rate and low relative market share. The strategy for these businesses is not clear. With enough investment, these businesses could become stars. However, these businesses could also become dogs if the market growth slows or declines.

The McKinsey 7S Framework was developed by two former McKinsey consultants, Tom Peters and Robert Waterman. The 7S Framework identifies seven elements that a company needs to align on in order to be successful.

These elements are:

• Strategy : The company’s plan to grow and outcompete competitors
• Structure : The organization of the company
• Systems : The company’s daily activities and processes
• Shared values : The core beliefs, values, or mission of the company
• Style : The style of leadership or management used
• Staff : The employees that are hired
• Skills : The capabilities of the company’s employees

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BCG Case Interview: Preparation Advice from a Former-BCG Consultant

• Last Updated January, 2024

Former BCG Consultant

What Sets BCG Apart from others?

BCG Case Interview Example

What Does BCG Look for in Candidates?

BCG Behavioral Interview

The Interview Process – An Overview

5 Tips For Passing Your BCG Interview

The bcg case interview.

BCG, short for The Boston Consulting Group, is one of the top strategy consulting firms in the world. BCG invests a lot in training and coaching its consultants so it’s no surprise that it ranked several times in the top 5 on Fortune’s “100 Best Companies to Work For.”  

Working at BCG is also a sign of being a top performer. It will remain on your resume for life and the experience you’ll get there will help propel your career forward. 

Every year, many candidates from undergraduates to MBAs, Ph.D.s, MDs, and experienced hires apply for a chance to join the ranks of BCG Associates and Consultants. It’s not easy to get an offer among such a competitive crowd: preparation is required to shine through the BCG case interview and behavioral interview.

But don’t worry, I can help you get ready. In this article, I’ll discuss:

• What sets BCG apart from other top consulting firms,
• What BCG looks for in candidates,
• The BCG interview process,
• The BCG case interview,
• An example of a BCG case interview,
• The BCG behavioral interview, 
• Tips for passing your BCG interview, and 
• Further resources.

Let’s get started!

What Sets BCG Apart from Other Top Consulting Firms?

Bcg is one of the mbbs.

BCG is among the top 3 management consulting firms alongside Bain and McKinsey, forming a group referred to as “the big three” or “MBB.” This isn’t to say that other firms are not tackling extremely complex problems brilliantly or that their staff is not composed of some of the brightest people you’ll ever meet. It does mean however that these 3 firms are better known and that Fortune 500 companies might pick them for their highest stake problems. 

Working at any of these 3 firms will give you:

• More exposure to those high stakes projects,
• More exposure to the executives who sponsor them, 
• More connections for your exit opportunities whenever you feel ready for your next chapter, and 
• A higher paycheck while working there. 

Pro-tip! Never ask about the pay in a BCG interview. It’s seen as caring about the wrong things.

Working for BCG, Bain, or McKinsey also allows you to cover a wide variety of industries and functions as a “generalist” before you choose a specific industry or area of expertise.  (They are not the only firms offering this either though.) 

What Makes BCG Different From Its 2 Main Competitors? 

• BCG is often seen as the nerd among the 3. Still influenced today by the mindset of its founder Bruce Henderson, BCG strives to develop tools and insights that influence business thinking. Ever heard of the growth-share matrix ? That’s a BCG concept.
• BCG tailors its approach to each client’s specific needs and situation , instead of replicating an existing recipe. 
• BCG values unique points of view and fosters them through encouraging diversity in its recruiting and staffing. I especially remember Women@BCG and Pride@BCG as being two very active internal networks, be it for mentoring or organizing events. 
• BCG offers clients digital and start-up incubation services in addition to strategy consulting. BCG Gamma for AI and big data or BCG Digital Ventures for internal disruptions (they design and incubate start-ups within a client, it’s pretty cool) help clients overcome challenges and make transformations. As a consultant, most cases you’ll be staffed on will not involve those other entities, but if you show interest you might very well be able to join your dream project disrupting the industry you’re most passionate about. 
• BCG’s people are unique. In all likelihood, what will end up making the biggest difference for you no matter which firm you pick is the people. There are real differences in fit among the three firms. When you work such an intense job, it’s really important to get along. 

BCG’s People

For the people, it’s not about which firm is “best” but which you like most. During your recruiting process, attend as many networking events and presentations from as many different firms as you can. Talk to the presenters, ask friends and friends of friends (or reach out to alumni from your school or any other club you’re part of) who work in these firms to chat with you and ask them what they like about working there. 

It’s hard for me to contrast BCG’s culture with either Bain or McKinsey since I have not worked for the other two. From what I’ve seen during my time at BCG, people there care tremendously about each other and managers are very involved in your development. I know that some of the friends I made there I’ll likely keep in touch with my entire life. A former BCG recruiter agrees on the people being the biggest determinant and the people at BCG being awesome. 

In terms of center of interests, most undergrads were what you’d expect of your average first-job-in-the-city 20-something (I was part of the NY office), and most MBAs/PhDs/experienced hires were pretty family-oriented in their free time (and some had cool hobbies or were high performers in their sport of choice). Company events were wholesome and typically welcomed partners and children. 

During my recruiting process, I went through “Bridge to BCG,” an immersive workshop for Ph.D. students (I was finishing up my dissertation at that time). On top of having a recruiting track tailored for Ph.D.s, which let me know that BCG valued my profile, the people I met at BCG, from consultants to partners, are really what convinced me BCG was the best match. 

And that contributes to self-selection: two guys I met when going through that recruiting event were also aiming for offers from BCG. We became good friends, practiced together like crazy, and all got offers. They’re still among the best friends I made during my time at BCG.

Personally, I was so set on wanting BCG that when I got the offer, I canceled my final round with McKinsey. If an additional offer wasn’t going to change my mind, I might as well start celebrating.

Alright, now let’s dive into how you can get there too. 

I’ll first cover what all top consulting firms want, and then color my answer with some BCG green. Do not skip the first part if you’re not familiar with it though – these things matter tremendously and honing on the specifics for the BCG case interview is pointless if you’re not at the bar yet on the basics. 

What All Top Consulting Firms Expect 

All firms are looking for the same basics: smart people, able to think fast, accurately, creatively, and by themselves, and communicate the solutions they come up with concisely and eloquently. They are looking for people who are open to feedback, care about making an impact, are inspiring leaders to others, and thrive when working in teams. 

The entire point of the case interview and the behavioral interview is to test precisely these skills. If you’re not familiar with these yet, the case interview is a business problem that you solve in real-time with prompts and data from the interviewer, while the behavioral interview is an opportunity for you to showcase soft skills such as leadership or impact through relating past experiences. 

My colleague Rebecca (former McKinsey) dives a lot deeper into the basics of the case interview in our Guide to Case Interview Prep and also gives a few tips about the Behavioral Interview . It’s worth reading these if you haven’t already. 

As you go through the interview, you are graded independently and methodically on all these skills to allow for easy comparison across candidates. At the end of the day though, the question the interviewer is answering internally is: “Would I want to staff this person on my team?” It’s that simple. 

What BCG Emphasizes More Than Bain & McKinsey

All the firms care about the attributes below. Moreover, one thing my time in consulting convinced me of is that there is still more variation within firms than across firms in terms of personalities and style, so each interviewer will have slight skews in preferences on what they deem most important in a candidate based on who they’d like on their team. 

That being said, here are 3 things that were regularly important in BCG recruiting decisions during my time there: 

• A Tailored Approach
• The BCG Attitude

#1 – Drive

The most important thing to ace your BCG case interview is your ability to drive the case. This means always being in the driving seat as you go through the case interview: 

• knowing where to go next, 
• getting there by yourself, and 
• explaining to the passengers (i.e. the interviewer) where to, why, and exactly what they need to know about it. 

One way to do this is the “hypothesis-driven” approach that BCG talks a lot about, which simply means having a running hypothesis and driving toward testing it. For instance, once you are done laying out the structure of the case, do not wait for the interviewer to tell you what to do and take an initiative: 

Example: “My hypothesis at this point is that the profit decline is due to a change in our client’s pricing since you mentioned attendance remained stable. Do we have any data on the pricing and membership model our client used over the last 5 years and have there been any recent changes?”

Drive is not just the ability to know what to do next and move toward it smoothly, it’s also the ability to constantly explain why you are doing it. It shows your interviewer that you have both the ability to think well and take someone by the hand through your thought process as you do so. 

Example: “Now that we’ve established the revenues of our site each year, I’d like to compute the total cost to know whether these revenues are enough for our client to meet their target of breaking even in 2 years. Do we have any data on costs at this point? Maybe starting with investment costs?”

Why Is Drive So Important?

Because that’s what you need to do constantly on the job.  As a consultant, your clients are paying your team a lot of money so they expect to know exactly what you are doing with that expensive time and why. It also helps prevent you from taking any wrong turn, as they are still the experts on their own business. 

As a team member, your manager’s stress level will also go down by a lot if when they come out of the meeting, they hear you say that given the partner’s remarks you took the initiative to stress-test the results of the analysis you are showing the client tomorrow. They’ll know they don’t need to constantly tell you what to do: you’ll know what’s needed and you’ll be a good communicator about what you are focusing on so they don’t need to obsess over monitoring you either. 

Drive also means knowing what to do with the results you find, and spontaneously getting to what we call 2nd level insight . 

1st level insight: Using the result to answer the question you were asked. Example: “The total cost is $1.2M.Therefore, given the revenues we computed earlier, it will take us 3 years to breakeven.” 

2nd level insight: The next-step that pushes the problem-solving forward. Example: “This does not match our client’s objective of breaking even in 2 years, so at this point, we’d have to recommend that they do not enter this market. Before doing so though, I’m wondering if we could explore additional revenue streams to see if they can make this a viable opportunity. Is it ok with you if I take a moment to brainstorm options?”

By getting to 2nd-level insights, you show you’re not just an analyst. You’re a consultant and you have the skills to do everything for the client if you had to. 

I once saw a documentary about the recruiting process for the acrobatic show Cirque du Soleil . One applicant was told “Power went down, everybody else is injured, you’re the Cirque tonight. What do you do?” Some days on the job will feel exactly like that. That’s why you need drive.

#2 – A Tailored Approach

The second thing that is emphasized at BCG is the ability to tailor your approach to the situation at hand. As explained earlier, BCG is proud of coming to each client and business problem not with a pre-made solution, but with all their expertise and a commitment to developing what is best for the client in that case. This trickles down to the BCG case interview.

During the case interview, your structure will still rely on some basics that you might have seen in a book, such as “external/internal factors.” But as way you lay out your structure, and as you interact with the interviewer throughout the entire case, you are putting yourself in the shoes of a consultant that’d be visiting a plant, the client’s headquarters, or talking with the Vice President of Sales about their rollout strategy for this new left-handed stapler to address the situation at hand. 

You can foster that skill for yourself by “using the words of the case.”

Example: Don’t say “volume is going down” but “the number of cases ordered by the supermarket went down so we’ve been shipping fewer bottles.’ Ask clarifying questions about the business model of the client during the opening of the case: imagine that you are trying to understand how your best friend is making a living. The hypothesis-driven approach is also helping you tick that box. 

Similarly in any brainstorming question during the BCG case interview (for which you should also answer using buckets/a mini-structure by the way), use specifics of the case to structure your brainstorming.

Example: If asked about additional revenues opportunities, you could think about it each step along the customer journey of your client’s clients, or you could use “options within the client’s expertise area” vs. “options in adjacent areas” vs. “options in new areas of expertise.”

The goal is really to show your interviewer that you are not just a machine at rehashing models and frameworks. You know how to look at every situation with new eyes, and you’ll be able to catch the subtleties of each client.  

#3 – The BCG Attitude

Last but not least is the attitude you project. I just came up with the term “BCG attitude” so no need to Google it, but what I mean by it is a combination of being personable, being coachable, and having a go-getter mindset . 

In conversations among interviewers, I’ve seen candidates who did quite well on the case interview being disfavored compared to others because they failed to demonstrate these qualities. The logic is that if the interviewer does not feel comfortable having you represent them and BCG in front of the client or if they think you wouldn’t get along with the rest of your teammates (or that your teammates wouldn’t get along with you), there are plenty of other stellar candidates that day who would be a better fit.

Being personable . I don’t mean being a stand-up comedian or as charismatic as Barack Obama, simply that interacting with you is pleasant. The interviewer can naturally start chit-chatting with you, and ideally, as you go through the interview both you and the interviewer get the feeling of working together.

Anything perceived as arrogance is likely to be a turn-off for the interviewers: they don’t want to send someone who would project that vibe to a client. If you stay professional and make the effort to care about whoever is in front of you, you’ll be just fine.

Being coachable. Like other consulting firms, BCG has a feedback-heavy culture. You are constantly reviewed (upward and downwards, i.e. by both your managers and the people you manage, if any). There is a culture of sharing feedback directly and regularly (there is even a culture of discussing how you like your feedback to be given to you). Hell, that’s how you progress in these firms. 

It’s not that you’re not expected to know everything when you start: it’s that you’re expected to not know most things, and be able to learn them fast, and then get feedback, and then course-correct even faster. So someone who does not take feedback well is unlikely to thrive in that environment. 

In practice, try not to ignore cues the interviewers might be giving you on where to go during the BCG case interview. Abstain from showing annoyance at any point. 

Having a go-getter attitude. This means always being game for more if need be. 

On the job example : The team is exhausted. It’s already late Thursday, we have a presentation tomorrow. The client just completely changed their mind on what they want to see. Your manager doesn’t want to be worried about you throwing your laptop at the wall or being passive-aggressive in the windowless team room. 

Instead, being able to take a breath and say: “Ok, it is what it is. What do we need to do and how can we do it efficiently so that we still get to sleep?”

Of course, all of these soft skills are hard to measure. But if you collapse when you realize that your numerical answer was off by a factor 100, the interviewer might have less faith in your ability to endure and perform under pressure. If that happens, just acknowledge it, explain why it makes no sense, and show the same structured approach in tracking down the error. 

In summary, showing that “BCG attitude” is not some magic trick: stay humble, stay hungry, and try to have a good time. That’s about it. 

Nail the case & fit interview with strategies from former MBB Interviewers that have helped 89.6% of our clients pass the case interview.

The BCG Interview Process – An Overview

How many interviews will i have .

As with most questions in management consulting, the answer is “it depends.” It is likely to vary with the country you are applying in as well as the recruiting channel (i.e., undergraduates, MBAs, advanced degree candidates such as Ph.D.s and MDs, experienced hires, etc).

Recently, BCG introduced the BCG Pymetrics Test and One-way Interview as pre-screening assessments in North American and other worldwide offices. They’ve also introduced the BCG Chatbot Interview as a round one case interview.

What was most standard in the US pre-COVID for the BCG interviews was to have 2 rounds of in-person interviews, each round composed of 2 interviews back-to-back. 

• First round: 2 interviews back-to-back with Consultants to mid-level managers (i.e., Project Leaders or Principals)
• Decision round: 2 interviews back-to-back with more senior managers (i.e., Principals, Partners, or Partners and Managing Directors)

Each one of the interviewers would go through both a BCG case interview and a BCG behavioral interview (also known as “fit”) with you, so that’d mean 4 case interviews and 4 behavioral interviews in total. After the first round and the decision round, you’d hear back from the recruiting team to know whether or not you are moving on to the next round (or getting an offer) within a few hours to a few days, sometimes longer. 

These calls would usually also involve some feedback on what you did well and what you could do better: BCG cares about people’s development, even here, and they want you to succeed.

There are exceptions to this schedule. Back when I was a Ph.D. student, I first applied to an immersive recruiting workshop called “Bridge to BCG” with a cover letter and a behavioral phone interview, which then led to a standard first round after the workshop. For my decision round, one of the two interviews was a written case.

BCG North America’s format for fall interviews is:

• First round: 1 25-minute fit interview. Candidates are asked 2-4 fit questions from a firm-wide standard list.
• Decision round: 2 back-to-back case interviews. These cases will be specific to the offices hosting the interviews.

The implication of this change is that BCG candidates will need to prepare their fit interview stories earlier in the recruiting process. See our article on “ Why BCG? ” for help with preparing for BCG fit interviews.

For the next season and beyond, it’s not clear how things will vary country by country. The result will likely be an overlap of general company policy and office discretion in each. 

While in-person interviews are likely to come back soon, it also seems reasonable to expect online case interviews to remain as part of the recruiting process.

In summary, you should prepare for something like 2 rounds of 2 interviews each, with some combination of in-person interviews, virtual interviews, and an automated online case study (at least for the first round), and be ready for any variation that might come your way. 

The good news is that the skills required are pretty consistent throughout, and they are the ones you need to pass both the BCG case interview and the BCG behavioral interview. 

What’s In a Typical One-on-One BCG Interview?

Whether you are in person at your campus, in a BCG office, or sitting in front of your laptop at home, here is what to expect when you are interacting with a (human) BCG interviewer, in chronological order.

One interview typically lasts about 45 minutes. If you are there in person, your two interviews will probably be back-to-back. One of your interviewers will probably either walk you or pick you up from the first room to the second. 

The Intro (~5min)

If you are there in person, think about this part as starting the moment the interviewer comes and picks you up to walk you to the interview room. As they do so, they might chit-chat, asking whether you stayed in the city the night before or mention something they’ve noticed on your CV. Once seated, they will take about 5 minutes to introduce themselves and remind you of the agenda for the interview. 

The Behavioral Interview (aka, the fit) (~10min)

The interviewer will ask you a couple of questions about your motivation, your experience, or how you’d handle a certain hypothetical situation. The goal is to showcase the skills such as Leadership, Impact, Coachability, as well as your motivations and fit for the firm. This part lasts about 10 minutes. Read more on that below in the penultimate section. 

The BCG Case Interview (~30min)

This is the meat of the interview and lasts about 30 minutes-maybe less if you’ve been efficient. While you are rated holistically throughout the entire interview, most of what is tested is through the case interview. In the next two sections, I will go more in-depth on what makes the BCG Case Interview different from other firms and go through an example of a BCG case interview.

The Q&A (~2-3min)

Your Interviewer should make sure there is at least a couple of minutes left after the case interview for you to ask any questions you have about the job or the firm. 

Those questions are your last shot to become memorable in the mind of an interviewer who might be seeing up to 9 other interviewees that day while having to think about answering 100+ client emails by Monday (and that one email from their Partner definitely tonight).

Pro-tip! Don’t ask about something that’s easily Googlable, as this shows a lack of preparation. Don’t ask about the pay or the hours: these topics are seen as inappropriate in the interview. If you’ve done your research, you know that the pay is good and that the hours can be long, and the assumption is that if the exact number matters to you enough to ask about it here, someone else wants this job more than you and will be a better fit.

So don’t neglect to give a thought to a few questions in advance. Of course, if something came up during the intro or the case that got you curious, go for it: the point is also to be authentic. If it looked like your interviewer was passionate about the industry you just talked about you might want to probe them on that; or if they mentioned having young kids and you’re expecting or would like to be soon, you probably care about how they managed and that’s also a great way to build rapport. 

I enjoyed asking some of my interviewers what were the good and bad surprises on the job. Feel free to use that, or take a few minutes at some point during your preparation to come up with something you’re genuinely curious about. 

The BCG case interview is a business problem that you are solving live with the help of the interviewer. It involves showing that you know how to think in a structured way, that you are able to drive toward an answer, have solid arithmetic skills, and the ability to communicate clearly. The interviewer of course knows the answer and hands you the relevant data and exhibits as you are making progress towards it. 

Our Ultimate Guide to Case Interview Prep explains exactly what the case interview is and details its various stages: 

• The opening, 
• The structure, 
• The analysis, and
• The conclusion.

It also gives you tips on how to become proficient at each.

In my experience, BCG cases are pretty standard compared to most you will encounter during your preparation. What is characteristic about the BCG case interview is to expect the interviewee to take the lead and be the driving force throughout. This is different from McKinsey, where the interview is led by the interviewer who really drills down on topics through a series of scripted questions (to prioritize an exhaustive assessment of your skills over this ability of driving the case).

As with any case interview, expect a fair amount of math, exhibit reading, brainstorming questions, or market sizing. BCG case interviews tend to have more variation than other firms in terms of industry, topic, or exact composition of the case. For instance, there are more often cases that are not about profitability, or you might solve a problem for a non-governmental organization (NGO). 

Some cases end up being very math heavy while others are frankly mostly qualitative. I had a case during my first round where a financial services firm had a turnover problem coming from a culture mismatch after merging with a Japanese counterpart. In my decision round, a partner asked me about what I thought that Galileo, tired of being a broke scientist, should do to make a ton of money after having invented the binocular (whether or not any of that is historically accurate).

That being said, for the vast majority of the cases you’ll encounter, you can still expect some form of profitability or growth case for your BCG case interview, with a couple of exhibits, some math, and a market sizing and/or a brainstorming question. From your point of view at the beginning of the case, think about it as an open map in front of you that it is for you to explore to find a treasure: strategically, heading toward your most likely guess, and taking your interviewer by the hand on the way. 

Let’s dive into an example. 

The BCG Case Interview – An Example

“Your client is the Health Ministry of a small developing country. They want to roll out a polio vaccination program for young kids. How should they go about it and what will be the cost?”

Opening 

The first thing to do is to repeat the main info in the prompt to the interviewer to make sure you got it right, and ask clarifying questions. If you don’t know what polio is or how old the kids receiving the vaccine against it are, it would be a good idea to ask your interviewer. Turns out polio is an infection caused by a virus that can lead to paralysis, and let’s assume we are targeting kids age 6 to 8. The location of the country does not particularly matter here.

Now is also the time to establish the client’s key success metrics: “What would success look like to the government of this country? Is there anything else they are worried about beyond costs?” Here, they simply care about reaching as many children as feasible in the country and want to estimate the costs. 

You’d now ask for a minute to lay down your thoughts so that you can build your structure. Notice that this case prompt is not your average profitability question so you can’t just use a framework you learned. 

Pro-tip! Take a moment to think about what you’d do before reading ahead, that’ll be infinitely more helpful to you. 

Here’s one proposal you could go with: 

• How many kids do we have to reach?
• What are the biggest locations across the country?
• How do we make sure families are aware of our program?
• How will kids enroll in our program? Do we go to them or do they get to us? (homes, hospitals, schools, etc.)
• Any adjustment in rural vs urban areas? What’s the topography like?
• Medical: Doctor, medical personnel, etc.
• Logistics: drivers, receptionist, etc. 
• Do we need security guards?
• Can we use any existing buildings?
• If not, a pop-up tent, or is it worth building?
• A medical bus?
• Vaccine storage
• How many vehicles?
• Any specialized storage needs? (frozen, etc.)
• Any shipping costs? (for refills?)
• Have they done other vaccination programs in the past?
• Do they have specialized medical staff who are public servants?
• NGOs (such as Doctors without Borders)?
• Private actors? (private clinic, etc.)
• Neighboring countries with expertise?
• Who is responsible? 
• How is accountability measured?
• Is there a budget? 
• Do we need to apply for grants or international help?
• If partnership, share costs?
• How much will we save in health expenditures down the line with fewer sick children? 
• Can we also use this program to test/vaccinate for other usual suspects among children’s diseases?
• What are our relations with the rest of the government? 
• Do they see polio as a priority?
• How is the general population seeing the Health Ministry in that country? 
• Could we leverage this program for a PR campaign?

This structure is pretty exhaustive. Don’t worry if you didn’t come up with every bullet point on your own.

In practice since you only have a couple of minutes at most to lay it out during your BCG case interview, you would not necessarily write these full questions on your piece of paper but a couple of keywords for each bucket and each sub-bucket.  

If you’d like to learn more about how to create a case structure, see our article on the Pyramid Principle .

Analysis 

Turns out the structure above is also pretty spot on. The first thing the interviewer would do after you lay it out is prompt you to brainstorm in-depth on the various ways to reach the kids, so if you’ve already alluded to it in your structure that gives you a headstart. 

On brainstorming questions, you’ll be rated on both your structure and your creativity. Make sure to always articulate the logic behind your ideas, using your past experience, analogies, or your general knowledge (“I remember when we got vaccinated for measles in our school…”). One way to go about it could be: 

• Pop-up locations by neighborhood
• Have primary care providers refer them to us (is that feasible in this country?)

And the most pragmatic answer is of course to go where kids already are spending the most time, which is schools. Opt-in programs where recipients have to go somewhere end up having reliably lower reach, for various reasons from opportunity costs to the social stigma associated with going to locations like hospitals.

Once aligned with your interviewer on that, what would you ask next? (Remember the importance of drive?) 

Sample follow-on question: “Do we have any data on the school repartition in this country?”

You’d then be handed a first exhibit: a map detailing the number of schools in each area of the country and the average number of students per school. Let’s say that there are 5 schools in area 1, 3 in area 2, 2 in area 3, and 10 schools in area 4. Each school has on average 400 students in our target age range. There are thus 20 schools with 400 students per school on average. 

A great candidate will comment right away on the total number of students we are targeting, which is 8,000, and ask about any differences in the various areas that would require different logistics. There are none here.

At this point, knowing that we will be touring schools, the interviewer would ask you to brainstorm further all the precise cost items associated with that. This is already done a bit in our structure above (told you it was spot on) but you can give it a try for yourself. 

Once satisfied, they’ll give you a second exhibit, this time with the following data. In each area, there will be a team composed of: 

• 1x doctor ($50/day)
• 4x technicians ($40/day)
• 1x driver + vehicle ($110/day)
• Vaccines ($2/vaccine)

When seeing this, you might first want to ask about the slight ambiguity on the technician cost: it’s $40/day for all 4 of them, not for each. It’s up to you now to take the initiative to compute the cost of the program. 

Take a break and try now. What do you notice? 

You’re missing a very important piece of data: how many kids can we see per day? Only when asked about this would the interviewer share with you that it takes a technician 6 minutes to inoculate a vaccine to a kid. We’re almost there. Great, and how many hours can we work per day? You might ask if it’s ok to go with a standard assumption of 8 hours/day and your interviewer would let you know that in this case, it’s actually closer to 5 hours/day. Now we have everything we need! 

A great candidate will also notice right away that since we only have variable costs here, the total cost will be the same whether we consider one team per area or one team touring all areas, so we can group all the computations at once to avoid doing it area by area (of course touring the areas simultaneously will however shorten the program length).

Each technician can therefore see 10 kids per hour, hence you can vaccinate 40 kids per hour in total with 4 technicians in a school. With 5 hours of work a day, that’s 200 kids per day which means exactly 2 days per school for each team. 

Since there are 20 schools at $200 per day per school in staff cost and it takes 2 days per school, the total staff cost is $8,000 for 40 days of man-work. And of course, 20 schools times 400 students that’s 8,000 students which represent $16,000 in vaccine costs at $2/vaccine. The total cost of the program is $24,000 to tour all the schools once. 

When getting to any kind of number, always take a moment to sanity check whether they make sense and comment on them. Big picture, $24,000 feels like a low number for a national program, and it is; you can link that back to the overall low number of schools (only 20 for the whole country). Whether that’s a lot of money for the Health Ministry is however an open question, and you might also wonder whether all kids in the country are covered by these schools: were these only the public schools? What about the rate of absenteeism in this country?

You can also comment on the overall timeline: it will be driven by the biggest area which will take the longest to tour. It had 10 schools, hence the program can be over in 20 working days assuming that transportation and school schedules do not slow it down. 

Notice how doing the math methodically helped me realize that some data was missing? It also made the computations flow easily. Without a structured approach, it would have been easy to run around in circles or compute tons of useless intermediate results instead.

“The right hand of the Health Minister walks into the team room and asks you about your findings before she jumps on a call with her boss. What do you tell her?”

The final synthesis of your BCG case interview should lead with your recommendation to the client and details the key reasons supporting that recommendation. It then mentions any risks to consider which might impact the outcome and the next steps that you’d suggest to either cover these risks or double down on the analysis. There is no need to repeat everything you covered during the case: be succinct and stick to the key arguments.

What would you say? Give it a try before reading the end!

“We recommend rolling out the polio vaccination program for kids aged 6-8 by touring schools with one medical team in each area of the country. This program is reasonably low cost and would only represent $24,000 in funding and take only 4 to 5 weeks to reach all the schools in the country. 

One concern we’d like to address next is whether absenteeism is an issue that would prevent us from reaching kids, especially in rural areas. That might inform whether running this program once a year is enough.” 

Congrats, you made it through your first BCG case interview!

The BCG Behavioral Interview

The BCG Behavioral interview (or “fit”), is the portion of the interview that allows you to showcase the soft skills that would make you a good consultant and a worthy addition to their team. Here are a few do’s and don’ts that apply to all firms , including BCG.

At BCG, each interviewer you’ll encounter asks two different questions about you and your experience. 

You can expect with a probability close to one that one of these questions will be what I’ll call a “motivation” question, which are things like: 

• “Why consulting?”
• “Why BCG?” or 
• “Walk me through your CV.” 

These are not opportunities to ramble or be exhaustive about everything you’ve ever done in your life, but instead, tell convincing and alluring stories that make it obvious that you are exactly where you ought to be right this moment. 

Personally, I talked about how during my Ph.D., while I enjoyed solving complex problems, I realized that I was longing for faster-paced environments that would give me a breadth and depth of exposure to many different issues and industries. I also mentioned that the people that I met during my recruiting (actually naming them and their office) convinced me that BCG would be a fantastic place to do that while building amazing relationships. There was a bit more color to it, but that was the backbone of my answer. 

Other questions will typically ask you about “a time where you did X” or “what you’d do in hypothetical situation Y” (in which case, feel free to tell the interviewer about a time when you did exactly Y). 

The main themes that come back for these questions are: 

• Leadership – your ability to inspire others, 
• Impact – how much effect you have on your environment and the lives of others,
• Influence – your ability to change someone else’s mind, and
• Resilience – how you fare against adversity such as after a setback or failure. 

Within the same round, the interviewers are supposed to coordinate themselves so that the themes they ask you about do not overlap.

When answering any of these questions, it’s important to be able to do so pretty much the same way you answer the BCG case interview: with a structured answer, taking your interviewer by the hand. The “A STAR(E)” framework is an amazing way to do just that.

My Consulting Offer’s founder Davis provides an example of using this framework at the link above. I will just emphasize 2 ingredients that my interviewers complimented me for when I went through BCG interviews myself. 

• Use your stories to show you are intentional and structured in the way that you tackle the Action (the second A in “A STAR(E)”). Instead of simply relating the series of steps that you took in that awesome story of you turning the tables over during that team project Sophomore year, also explain how you came up with the solution, and why. Example:   “I knew that to convince our adviser to give us that extension, I’d have to show her that there would be additional value for the lab, so I first contacted my favorite Professor to get them on board…”. You get the gist.  
• Use that final bracketed E, the Effect: what did you learn, about yourself or people? Which self-reflections did that story lead to? What did you or what will you change going forward given what happened then? A story about you overcoming a team disagreement that led to a deadlock will go a lot further if you wrap it up with reflections on team dynamics and the role you can play in those. Example: “One thing this episode taught me is that if my team reaches a dead end, it doesn’t matter who has the best idea. Now, if I see a situation like this coming up, I take the time to listen to every stakeholder to understand why they are so attached to their solutions. This always helps find common ground for the team to pivot and move forward.”

Of course, that exercise is worth doing by itself. It will contribute to making you a better consultant and a better colleague whichever firm you end up working for. 

And with all that preparation under your belt, sometimes a more senior interviewer like a Partner and Managing Director might just chat with you about a hobby you both share before diving into the case interview.  

1. Be Methodical in Your Casing Prep

Commit to practicing regularly with a wide array of case partners. Make sure some are at your level and some are more experienced (and don’t turn down casing with a couple of beginners once you have more preparation). 

Don’t overdo it. You don’t want to become blasé or a casing robot-but set a serious but realistic schedule for yourself between now and your BCG interview-whether that’s in 3 months or 5 days.

2. Make Sure You’re at the Bar on Each Part

When preparing, ask for detailed feedback on the various parts of the case and act on that feedback. Someone thought your conclusion was weak and gave you tips to improve? Go back to past cases you’ve done and rehearse the conclusions in front of a mirror. Get particularly comfortable doing math fast and accurately, reading exhibits, and coming up with structured answers on the go.

3. Focus on the Drive

Now that you have the skills, it’s time to embody a consultant. Demonstrate your ability to solve a business problem in collaboration with someone. When in doubt, walk your interviewer through your thought process. Same if you need to make an assumption at any point: explain why, how you are choosing it, and see if your interviewer is on board with that.

4. Don’t Skip the Fit

Have those 5 or 6 stories about your experience ready using the A STAR(E) framework, plus your answers to the motivation questions. Make sure to touch on all the typical themes and train with friends to alter your delivery of those stories in real-time to answer the plethora of prompts that might come up.

5. Enjoy yourself

At the end of the day, the BCG case interview is also a way for you to see whether you’d like the job. If even after solid preparation the idea of solving a business case live in front of the interviewer sounds horrific to you, this might not be the job for you. 

Once interview day comes, go with the intent to really enjoy the process. Remember, the people across the table want you to succeed. They are investing time that they could allocate to their clients into finding their best future teammates instead. 

They want that to be you.

Further Resources

• Our Ultimate Guide to Case Interview Prep
• Behavioral Interviews
• The BCG Online Case

In this article, we’ve covered:

• What sets BCG apart from other top firms,
• What makes a good BCG consultant,
• How to ace your BCG case interview,
• A BCG case interview example,
• What to expect in your BCG behavioral interview, and
• 5 tips to pass your BCG interview.

Still have questions?

If you have more questions about the BCG case interview, leave them in the comments below. One of My Consulting Offer’s case coaches will answer them.

Help with Case Study Interview Prep

Thanks for turning to My Consulting Offer for advice on the BCG case interview. My Consulting Offer has helped almost 85% of the people we’ve worked with to get a job in management consulting. We want you to be successful in your consulting interviews too. For example, here is how Matt was able to get his offer from BCG.

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3 Top Strategies to Master the Case Interview in Under a Week

We are sharing our powerful strategies to pass the case interview even if you have no business background, zero casing experience, or only have a week to prepare.

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BCG Online Case Chatbot: Reports, Examples, Guide (2024)

BCG recently developed a new iteration of Online Case aptitude test called BCG Casey - a chatbot simulating a traditional case interview. This tool is being used more by BCG as it is still proving effective and is gradually becoming a mandatory test when applying to BCG in almost every office at present.

There are a lot of uncertainties around it since this online assessment is a novel experience for prospective BCG consultants. Hence, this paper will provide you with more details regarding the format, interface, and nature of the content so that you can comprehend and become accustomed to this online chatbot interview.

Please remember that all images of the chatbot interface in the article are taken from the BCG Casey Simulation tool of MConsultingPrep

What is BCG Online Case Experience (BCG Casey)?

You will be interviewed by a chatbot named casey.

BCG Online Case Experience or “Casey” is a business case under a conversation format including a set of questions regarding interactive chatting environment . It is an online test that was developed in 2020 and used more frequently in 2021. Candidates can do it from any location where they feel most comfortable.

Time limit is 25-30 minutes with 6-8 questions

The duration of the BCG Casey test ranges from 25 to 30 minutes, depending on the number of questions involved (normally 6-8 questions). It is important to note that once the assessment begins, you will not have the option to pause it, and you will experience tremendous time pressure.

The BCG Casey test lasts 25-30 minutes, with 6-8 questions. You cannot pause during the test. Every five minutes, the bot notifies you of the remaining time (e.g. “15 minutes left”); this adds to the already-stressful time pressure.

Video record section at the end

After finishing your conversation with the chatbot, you will receive a prompt to record yourself on camera and present your final pitch for the entire case. You will be given 60 seconds for preparation and an additional 60 seconds to deliver your presentation . It is important to note that this time allocation is separate from the 30 minutes provided in the previous section.

The case context provided is typically concise and uncomplicated, usually involving a client who is facing emerging concerns or news. You will be provided with the necessary information regarding the context before you do anything further.

There are four answer formats

Eventually, there will be four types of answer format that will appear when you take the test including: multiple-select multiple choice, single-select multiple choice, long-text freeform, short-text freeform. Each answer format will typically have different material and approach methods, which I will elaborate on later in the article.

BCG Casey Simulation

Pass the BCG Online Case Experience (also known as the Casey / Chatbot Interview) with a comprehensive, interactive mock test and practice environment

Interface & answer format

Multiple-select multiple choice.

This is the most popular question format in the BCG Online Case Experience accounting for 40% to 60% of all questions. This type of format is displayed like the below image. After reading the question, click on see options to pop up all the choices. Some questions like the example below can have up to 10 choices so it is going to take up the whole screen.

In terms of strategy, notice that in every question of the multiple-select multiple choice format the question always gives you a clue as to how many choices to select. Sometimes it gives you an exact number like select three best, but sometimes it is just a hint. 

Single-select multiple choice

This particular format closely resembles the multiple-select multiple choice format, with the key distinction being that there is only one correct choice. Unlike the previous multiple-select type, all available options will be displayed directly within the answer box. It is essential to note that there is a single correct option, and once you click on any choice, your answer will be immediately submitted without the option to revise it.

Long-text freeform 

The user interface for this answer format is relatively simple. It features a message box reminiscent of messaging applications, with a send icon located on the right-hand side, allowing for submission by pressing the enter key. 

It is important to note that special text formatting options are not available, thus the use of hyphens and capitalizations serves as the preferred means of emphasizing ideas. BCG explicitly emphasizes that the optimal answers should be concise and adhere to a limit of no more than four to six lines.

Short-text freeform 

On the other hand, the short text answer format only allows you to enter in numbers. It often comes with math questions and the question will always clearly instruct you on rounding or how many decimal places to include. Hence, be careful when pressing the enter key into this answer format as it will submit the answer and there is no undo.

Final pitch (video answer)

Once you finish chatting with the AI, your final assignment entails recording yourself on camera and delivering your ultimate recommendation in the form of a pitch for the entire case. You will be granted 60 seconds for preparation and an additional 60 seconds for the actual presentation. 

It is essential to note that this timeframe is separate from the 30 minutes allocated for the preceding section.The time limit here is very strict as candidates have reported instances of automatic cutoffs when exceeding the allotted duration.

Question types by content logic

Structuring/Information question

These questions often present a scenario or problem and ask candidates to identify the most helpful option or the type of information that should be gathered . While they may appear to be data-focused questions on the surface, they actually require candidates to employ structuring techniques and create an issue tree.

Every BCG online case starts with a structuring or information question, for instance:

• Which of the following would be most helpful
• What statistics about ABC should the team gather
• Which piece of information would help ECG move forward with the project and Etc

When approaching these questions, it is advisable to carefully read through the provided options and mentally construct an issue tree based on the available choices. The issue tree helps in organizing the different aspects of the problem and identifying the most comprehensive and relevant options among the choices.

Candidates should aim to select options that collectively cover the issue tree and address the various components of the problem. This demonstrates their ability to think critically, analyze complex situations, and identify the most relevant information or factors to consider when structuring a case.

Quantitative question

Each case typically includes approximately two quantitative/mathematical questions. These questions are usually presented in a short text answer format, with occasional instances of single select multiple choice. 

The majority of quantitative questions are accompanied by an exhibit, providing around 20 data points, of which approximately half may be extraneous information.

It is not necessary to possess knowledge in accounting or finance, as the calculations and formulas involved are generally straightforward. Common mathematical concepts revolve around weighted averages, probabilities, and compound percentages . Familiarizing yourself with these types of mathematical problems through practice can greatly enhance your performance.

In these quantitative questions, you can typically determine whether your answer is correct or incorrect based on the follow-up question. If you are asked to provide further elaboration on how you arrived at the answer, it indicates that your response is correct. However, if the chatbot prompts you to address specific calculations or smaller steps, there is a possibility that your initial attempt was incorrect.

Critical thinking & logical question

The critical thinking and logical questions in the BCG Casey chatbot test assess your ability to analyze a given scenario, apply logical reasoning, and make informed judgments. 

These questions often involve evaluating different courses of action, determining cause-and-effect relationships, or identifying the most logical conclusion based on the provided information.

An example of critical thinking & logical questions is: which of the following course of action would likely make you more rich? However, you need to pay attention to the wording and notice if there is any “qualifier”, which is how airtight the logic has to be? The example question can be asked with several different qualifiers from weak to strong: 

• Which of the following courses of action would LIKELY MAKE you more rich?
• Which of the following courses of action would MAKE you more rich?
• Which of the following courses of action would CERTAINLY MAKE you more rich? 

This is important because we would grade each of the answer choices on the following scale. 

In some cases, the context of the scenario may influence the logic and reasoning behind your answer choices. Take into account relevant factors, constraints, or specific conditions mentioned in the question when evaluating the options.

Intuition/Insight question

The final category of questions in the assessment consists of intuition or insights questions. These particular questions are highly popular but also the most challenging to master. There is no predefined formula or universal strategy to approach them, and improving in this area requires diligent practice. 

As the name implies, these questions require you to generate or select a range of insights, elements, factors, and so on, based on a given context . The specific insights, elements, or factors can vary significantly, encompassing root causes, effects, solutions, and more.

For instance, in the aforementioned example of how to become rich, some examples of Intuition or Insights questions include:

• What are some personal expenses that tend to increase after getting married
• How can one become more disciplined in saving money?
• What are effective talking points to persuade a life partner to reduce spending on clothing?
• What are potential reasons for the underperformance of the stock market in the past six months?
• In what situations would one need to utilize an emergency fund?

These questions highlight the nature of intuition or insights questions, which demand thoughtful analysis and the ability to derive meaningful conclusions based on given scenarios

Scoring and criteria 

Other BCG online assessment tools utilized a negative scoring system for incorrect answers. Consequently, it was advisable to abstain from guessing when encountering a question for which one lacked any relevant knowledge, as incorrect responses would directly result in point deductions from the final score.

However, this aspect is no longer a factor in Casey, the current iteration of the online case format. In Casey, the selection of candidates is not solely based on the accuracy of their answers, but also on their approach to problem-solving and their ability to break down complex issues. 

Candidates are obligated to provide an answer for each question in order to progress to the subsequent one, leaving no alternative but to make an educated guess even when uncertain of the correct response.

Regarding the evaluation criteria, while BCG does not disclose official information, insights can be gleaned from the BCG Interactive Case Library. The majority of criteria focus on the problem-solving aspect of the consulting role:

Problem-structuring

In the BCG Casey chatbot, candidates are evaluated based on their problem-structuring skills. This involves approaching problems in a structured and mutually exclusive, collectively exhaustive (MECE) manner.

Additionally, the test evaluates the candidate's capability to gather data and test hypotheses during the problem-solving process . This is one of the most visible criteria in this test that highlights its importance in demonstrating strong analytical and problem-solving capabilities, a crucial skill for management consultants. 

Qualitative and quantitative processing

In the BCG Casey chatbot Test, candidates' math and analytical skills are evaluated, specifically their ability to analyze and process both qualitative and quantitative information within the case.

This assessment tests their proficiency in performing relevant mathematical calculations, with an emphasis on common business-world calculations such as percentages, averages, and working with large numbers. The test aims to determine how effectively candidates can apply these processing skills to the given scenarios and derive meaningful insights.

Business intuition 

Another trait that also falls into the grading criteria of the BCG Casey chatbot is candidates' business intuition. The test focuses on their capacity to evaluate potential costs and benefits, make informed decisions, and provide sound conclusions and recommendations based on their business knowledge and experience.

The objective is to determine how well candidates can apply their business intuition toward complex scenarios and provide relevant insights and directions tailored to the specific business context presented in the case.

Data synthesis & interpretation

Last but not least, candidates' aptitudes for data synthesis and interpretation are also a criteria assessed in the BCG Casey chatbot. This entails their proficiency in summarizing and synthesizing all relevant information to derive viable solutions for the client. Hence,  it measures their ability to draw meaningful conclusions from data, adopting a hypothesis-driven mindset. 

Candidates are expected to either incorporate their conclusions into existing hypotheses or generate new hypotheses that are relevant to the case at hand. The test aims to assess candidates' ability to analyze and interpret data effectively to make informed decisions and provide valuable insights to the client (in the case).

Casey vs actual case interview

“How similar is this compared to an actual case interview?" is always one of the most asked questions by candidates. Initially, this assessment uses the case structure and flow quite similar to an actual case interview, it even utilizes a chatbot to create a feeling of two-way communication like in the case interviews.

However, in reality, there are still clear distinctions between it and a real case interview . A few of these distinctions are as follows:

More time pressure

Case interviews are typically characterized by time constraints, but candidates frequently express that Casey, in particular, intensifies this pressure. Unlike the McKinsey Solve assessment, which allows for sufficient time and avoids rushing candidates excessively, Casey adds to the sense of urgency. 

Throughout the assessment, there are constant reminders displaying the remaining time, and candidates are abruptly stopped if they fail to complete the recording of their final video recommendation within the allocated time frame.

There is no interviewer feedback

In a conventional case interview, the interviewer has the ability to guide and support the candidate to navigate through a question. This is not only about supporting, but it also allows the interviewer to gain a comprehensive understanding of the candidate's thought process at each stage of the problem, rather than stopping the assessment immediately after one mistake is made. 

However, in the case of Casey, this supportive element is absent, which means that initial calculation errors or mistakes in structuring the problem can significantly disrupt the candidate's approach to a question or even impact the overall performance in the entire test.

Calculators are allowed

One notable distinction from a traditional case interview is the allowance of calculators and other similar tools in the Casey test. Similar to the McKinsey Solve assessment, BCG does not impose any restrictions on the resources you have at your disposal while taking the Casey test from the comfort of your own home. 

This may initially appear as a glimmer of hope for candidates with limited quantitative backgrounds. However, it is important to note that this provision actually introduces additional difficulties  when you take a real-life case interview.

Heightened demands on Mathematical Skills 

The heightened emphasis on mathematical proficiency in Casey compared to a traditional case interview is a direct consequence of the previous factors. With basic arithmetic being facilitated by the calculator, Casey has the freedom to assess your mathematical abilities in other aspects. 

The true challenge lies in your ability to devise a well-structured approach to the question and the specific path you navigate through the calculations, rather than solely focusing on number manipulation. This particular aspect may be advantageous for individuals with a background in "academic math" compared to a standard interview.

Interpret Text Fast

Last but not least, even though a case interview is verbal, Casey demands you to swiftly read, comprehend, and grasp fairly lengthy amounts of text. Combined with the above time pressure factor, this might be seen as a significant obstacle for the contenders of this online assessment since it requires more in terms of soft skills in computing.

BCG Casey chatbot vs others online assessments

It will be challenging to judge whether an assessment is difficult or easy because it is based on each person's subjective perspective. Thus, this section will place more emphasis on clarifying the difference of BCG Casey chatbot from other online assessments of MBB consulting firms.

Logic & Structuring and Business intuition are the two criteria that BCG Casey chatbot requires candidates to meet at the highest level . This is consistent given that the BCG Casey seeks to imitate an interviewer-led case and that the two criteria are the two major traits in the consultant case interview.

The BCG Casey chatbot places a stronger priority on testing these two areas than the majority of other online tests from McKinsey or Bain, as well as their own product - potential tests. 

However, it is also comparable to other online assessments in that they put a strong emphasis on time management, frequently setting a time limit that is tightly associated with the amount of queries . This is a difficult point of BCG Casey chatbot that candidates are often frightened.

On the contrary, the 2 criteria that are said to be the easiest of BCG Online Case Experience are numerical and verbal reasoning. This tool is less focused on accuracy or presentation as well as more on business than math compared to other tests like BCG potential test or McKinsey PST.

Finally, interface complexity of Casey chatbot is also reported as being on the more difficult side of the spectrum . The majority of candidates are concerned since they do not know which button will actually submit their answer while there is no reverse button.

Nevertheless, this issue can be solve by practicing the BCG Casey simulation to get used to the interface before doing the real test

BCG Online Case Experience vs BCG Potential test

I have to separate a part about the BCG potential test because there are similarities and confusion between these 2 assessments.

Although the BCG Casey chatbot takes the place of the BCG Potential Test, they are fundamentally different – the Online Case Experience, as the name suggests, is a virtual, chatbot-based interview, while the Potential Test is a standardized test similar to GMAT, GRE or PST.

The biggest implication of this information is that the candidate must prepare for case interviews sooner than before – however, this should be viewed as good news, since instead of having to spread the time and effort between case interview and test practice, the candidate can focus on the case interview side only and still pass through the whole recruitment process.

Additionally, the chatbot interview seems to have a more dynamic time constraint – good judgment and good luck will lead to lower numbers of questions (since there’s no need for “redirection”).

Some useful tips! 

Prepare everything within reach.

One of the most basic things that many candidates overlook and neglect to adequately prepare for is to ensure that you have all the necessary tools and resources readily available during the BCG Online Case Experience. Before starting the test, make sure you have your calculator, paper, pen, and any other materials that you may require. 

Although this is only at a basic level, being well-prepared will ensure that you perform your best on the assessment. Having all relevant tools at hand will save you valuable time and enable you to navigate through the test seamlessly.

Find a comfortable seat

Secondly, creating a conducive environment is essential for optimizing your performance during the BCG Casey chatbot. Remember you are at your house, find a comfortable seat that provides proper back support and ensures ergonomic comfort. 

Additionally, try to select a bright place where it will not interfere with your work process. Also, a strong and stable internet connection is also crucial to avoid any disruptions during the test. By selecting a suitable seat, you can eliminate unnecessary distractions and maintain your focus on the assessment.

Take Notes After Each Question

As you progress through the BCG Casey chatbot, it is advisable to take notes after completing each question. This practice is particularly important because some questions may require insights or data from previous questions within the same case. By jotting down key points, important calculations, or relevant information, you can quickly refer back to them when needed. 

In addition, taking notes helps you maintain a logical flow of thought and ensures that you provide accurate and well-structured answers. It also allows you to keep track of your progress and easily review your responses before submitting them.

Do Not Be Distracted by the Time Limit

Maintaining concentration and avoiding getting distracted by the time limit of the BCG Casey chatbot is indeed significant but it is challenging to execute. The reminders about the remaining time can create a sense of urgency, but it is important to maintain a steady pace and not rush your decisions. 

Prioritize accuracy and thoughtful analysis, taking time to understand each question and approach it strategically. Effective time management is key - allocate sufficient time to each question while keeping the overall time limit in mind.

Stay composed, think critically, and deliver well-structured responses. By staying focused and managing your time effectively, you can optimize your performance in the test.

Professionalism

Although the BCG Casey Chatbot is conducted online, it is crucial to maintain a certain level of professionalism throughout the assessment. Remember that at the end of the test, you will be required to record a video presenting your final pitch for the entire case. 

Dress appropriately and ensure that your background is clean, tidy, and free from any distractions. Creating a professional appearance and setting reflects your dedication and commitment to the assessment. It also contributes to a positive first impression, which can make a difference in how your responses are perceived.

Scoring in the McKinsey PSG/Digital Assessment

The scoring mechanism in the McKinsey Digital Assessment

Related product

The BCG Online Case (also known as the Casey Chatbot) is a challenging, 20-30 minute test with 6-8 questions of the case interview and GMAT types

The BCG Pymetrics Test has 12 mini-games to measure 9 key traits (risk-taking, emotional intelligence, fairness, etc.) reflective of a BCG consultant.

Case interview is the last round of BCG hiring process with 3 phases: resume, online tests and interviews. Candidates will have 4-6 interviews in 4-8 weeks.

Career in Consulting

Acing the BCG Online Case Interview – 2023 Guide

What’s the BCG Online Case Interview?

It’s a business problem you must solve.

But unlike the traditional case interview, you must solve this problem by interacting with a chatbot, Casey, on your computer.

No more one-to-one discussion with an interview.

For this chatbot case, you’re on your own.

And acing the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Online Case interview is no easy feat.

Not only does it require adapting to a unique interview format, but also having case-cracking skills that outshine the other candidates.

Hence, in this comprehensive guide, we will explore the ins and outs of the BCG Online Case, discussing its components, differences from traditional case interviews, and tips for success.

Let’s dive in right now.

Table of Contents

Key takeaways.

• The BCG Online Case is an assessment used to simulate real-life problem-solving scenarios. This is a case simulation via chatbot followed by a one-way video assessment.
• It assesses various skills, including problem-solving, business judgment, mathematical aptitude, graph reading, and logical reasoning.
• BCG uses this test during the screening phase to select the candidates who will be invited for interviews.
• The BCG Online Case is mainly used in the US offices right now (but seems to be rolled out worldwide). Alternative screening tests include the BCG Potential Test (also known as BCG online assessment) or the BCG Pymetrics Test.
• After a presentation of a client’s context and problem, candidates have 25 to 30 minutes to answer 8 to 12 questions (the time and number of questions might change, so be careful).
• Also, candidates must record a one-minute video to answer a final question and end the BCG online assessment.
• The online case must usually be performed within 3 days after receiving the link. Candidates hear back within 2 weeks.
• Candidates who fail the test are usually banned for 12 to 18 months.
• Time management is an important factor in acing the BCG online case assessment.

Understanding the BCG Online Case

The BCG Online Case (also called the BCG chatbot case or BCG Casey) plays a significant role in the recruitment process of the Boston Consulting Group.

Because the BCG Online Case evaluates if applicants have the skills to become best-in-class consultants before interviewing those applicants.

During this unique assessment, candidates engage with a chatbot, Casey, that presents a business case study.

Then, the case includes 8 to 12 questions assessing applicants’ critical thinking, data analysis, and strategic insights.

This online case experience aims to challenge candidates by offering a snapshot of the actual case interview process, simulating real-life problem-solving scenarios encountered by BCG consultants daily.

Finally, the candidates who fail the test are not invited for interviews.

Plus, they are usually banned for a 12 to 18-month period.

Key Components

The BCG Online Assessment is composed of a mix of question formats, ranging from multiple-choice to open questions, and culminates in a final video recommendation.

Candidates must complete the 8 to 12 questions within the 30-minute window, followed by a precisely timed 1-minute video on their webcam, presenting their final recommendation.

A sample multiple-choice question:

A sample open question:

A sample one-way video question:

This unique format tests the candidate’s ability to think on their feet and communicate their ideas effectively, similar to a live case interview, making it an essential part of the interview process.

Important : The candidates must answer the questions one by one. In other words: there is no possibility to skip a question or pause the test.

Skills Assessed

A wide range of skills are evaluated in the BCG Online Case, including:

Problem-solving (structuring)

Business judgment

Logical reasoning

Mathematical aptitude

Graph reading and interpretation

Candidates must demonstrate their understanding of business principles and showcase their overall business knowledge to excel in this assessment.

The BCG Online Case emphasizes proficiency in basic math concepts, data interpretation skills, and tackling math questions, all of which are crucial in solving real-life business problems.

Later in this guide, we’ll discuss how to master the different types of questions used to test those 5 skills.

But first, let’s have a quick overview of how the BCG Casey case compares to the aptitude tests used by the other top-tier consulting firms.

Next, let’s talk about the differences between the BCG Casey case and the traditional case interviews.

Differences Between BCG Online Case and Traditional Case Interviews

While the BCG Online Case shares some similarities with traditional case interviews, such as presenting a business problem to be solved, there are notable differences.

The most significant distinction is the use of Casey, a chatbot, which eliminates the need for a human interviewer and offers a more interactive experience through the BCG Interactive Case Library, which features various online cases.

Additionally, the online interview format presents unique time management challenges, as candidates do not receive the same level of interviewer feedback as in traditional case interviews.

Interaction with Casey Chatbot

In the BCG Online Case, success hinges on adapting to interaction with Casey, the non-human interviewer.

Candidates must navigate through questions without guidance, relying on their problem-solving skills and ability to structure their thoughts effectively.

Given the lack of feedback from the chatbot, a solid initial structure and a well-prepared approach are necessary to ensure smooth progression through the questions.

Time Management Challenges

In the BCG Online Case, time management is crucial as candidates must balance accuracy and speed within strict time limits.

The lack of interviewer feedback and the need to think and respond swiftly create a demanding situation, requiring candidates to prioritize questions, avoid getting stuck on difficult problems, and know when to skip or guess.

Calculator are allowed

Candidates can use a calculator during the BCG Casey test. 

While it seems to make the test easier, especially for candidates with limited quantitative backgrounds, remember that calculators are not allowed during live case interviews.

Hence, sooner than later, all candidates must develop strong calculation skills.

Okay, now let’s talk about how to ace the different types of questions asked in the BCG online cases:

• Structuring questions
• Business acumen questions
• Math questions
• Chart questions
• One-way video (or synthesis) questions

Mastering the structuring questions

The structuring questions are most likely asked at the beginning of the assessment.

In this type of question?

The chatbot asks you to choose 2-4 answers among 8 different options.

This is similar to creating an issue tree at the beginning of a live case interview. 

Check this article if you don’t know what an issue tree is.

How to correctly answer Structuring questions

Use the following approach to answer the structuring questions:

Step 1: Understand which metric the client wants to optimize

Step 2: Read each option provided one by one and select ALL the options that can influence this metric

For example, the client wants to optimize its profits.

And the factors that influence the client’s profits include “total costs per segment,” “the number of products per segment sold by the client,” and “the price of products per segment sold by the client.”

How to develop this skill

Refining problem-solving skills is crucial for success in the BCG Online Case.

Practicing mock case interviews is the best way to develop your structuring skills.

All case interviews include structuring questions.

For instance, when developing an issue tree at the beginning of the case.

Or during the case, when answering brainstorming questions such as “Which factors influence the market growth?”

You can practice independently, with friends, or with an expert.

Regardless of how you practice, you must track your mistakes and improvement.

Practice Resources

You can find a library of 280 case examples on this page .

These case examples?

They are directly from top-tier firms’ websites or case books from prestigious universities like Wharton, Harvard, or INSEAD.

Get 4 Complete Case Interview Courses For Free

You need 4 skills to be successful in all case interviews: Case Structuring, Case Leadership, Case Analytics, and Communication. Join this free training and learn how to ace ANY case questions.

Acing the business acumen questions

Strong business judgment is what separates the good from the best consultants.

And BCG wants to assess how strong your business judgment is.

In other words:

They want to know if you understand how “business forces” can influence a situation or an environment.

But these “business forces” can take many forms, such as supply & demand, competition dynamics, regulation, etc.

Hence, you must develop a strong business culture to be able to understand how these “business forces” work.

How to correctly answer Business Acumen questions

Use the following approach to answer the business acumen questions:

Step 2: Select, from the list of options provided, the factors that can influence this metric

For example, the client wants to optimize its pricing.

And the factors that influence the client’s pricing include “the willingness to pay of the customers” and “the sales of competitors for different price levels.”

One of the useful tactics for learning to ‘think business’ is when you learn about recent business events, try to figure out the (direct and indirect) implications of the event.

For example, imagine that the OPEC nations have decided to restrict oil supply. 

A first direct implication can be that gas prices will increase, which means that oil company revenues will increase as well. 

An indirect implication can be that the sales of SUVs will decrease, which means that  Auto companies will be offering more sales promotions on SUVs.

Another indirect implication can be that the use of public transportation will increase.  

And so on… you can think of dozens of other implications. 

If you want to learn more about developing your business acumen, check out our coaching program on this page or sign up for our free case interview training.

I recommend reading business articles from the following websites:

McKinsey.com

Business insider ( the strategy section )

When reading these articles, try to understand the underlying business forces that created or solved a problem.

Mastering the Math questions

For all consulting firms, including BCG, a strong correlation exists between a candidate’s quantitative skills and the probability that this candidate will become a best-in-class consultant.

That’s why top consulting firms love asking quantitative questions in case interviews.

And the Casey chatbot interview is no exception.

Hence, you’ll have to answer Math questions like this one:

How to correctly answer Math questions

Use the following approach to answer the math questions:

Step 1: Understand the objective and the data presented (units, titles, etc.)

Step 2: Develop the formula you need to answer the question

Step 3: Plug the numbers provided in your formula and do the Math

Step 4: If you have time, do a quick sanity check of your answer

For example, the client wants to optimize its pricing to maximize revenues.

Since revenues are equal to volumes times price, you need to add all the units per price level and multiply the total volumes by the price levels.

The answer will be the price level that maximizes the client’s revenues.

Note : calculators are allowed during the BCG test.

To sharpen your quantitative skills, practice with mock quantitative tests such as:

Mock GMAT Tests: These tests are excellent for practicing various quantitative problems.

Case Interviews: Simulate the real experience using case interviews that include math questions.

Mock McKinsey PST or BCG Potential Test .

Don’t limit yourself to traditional methods.

Various online platforms and apps are designed to help you practice mental calculations and case-specific math problems.

By mastering case interview math, you’re not just showcasing your ability to crunch numbers.

You’re proving that you can think critically, make data-driven decisions, and lead a case to its logical conclusion.

Acing the Chart questions

Analyzing lots of data is part of the daily routine of a consultant.

And these data come in many forms: charts, data tables, texts, etc.

Hence, you’ll have to answer Chart questions like this one:

To answer a chart question, you might have to analyze more than one chart.

How to correctly answer Chart questions

Use the following approach to answer the chart questions:

Step 3: Find the data you need in the charts presented

Step 4: Plug numbers from these charts into your formula and do the math.

This is important to do step 2 before step 3.

You don’t want to jump aimlessly in the chart.

Instead, have a clear goal (know what you’re looking for) before wasting your precious time reading the chart.

As for the Math questions, you can practice with mock quantitative tests like GMAT, McKinsey PST, or BCG Potential test.

Additionally, this article shares more tips on developing your analytical skills (including chart reading).

First, you can practice with GMAT tests.

Here are some examples .

Besides, visit websites full of charts like The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, etc.

Find charts, draw conclusions from these charts, and read the article to check if your conclusions make sense. 

Also, practice with the case examples you can find in these case books .

Additionally, here are more resources:

• SHL practice tests ( here )
• SHL verbal reasoning questions ( here )
• SHL numerical reasoning questions ( here )
• SHL inductive reasoning questions ( here )
• Free aptitude test examples ( here )
• Kearney mock recruitment test ( here )
• McKinsey PST examples ( here , here , and here )

Finally, you can use a platform like JobTestPrep to practice with tests that mimic real tests.

Tackling the one-way video question

With this question, BCG will test your communication skills and capacity to synthesize your work.

Most of the time, the one-way video question asks you to give a recommendation to the client’s CEO.

The one-way video question looks like this:

How to correctly answer One-Way Video questions

Use the following approach to answer the one-way question:

Step 1: Repeat the objective

Step 2: Provide an answer-first conclusion (following the pyramid principles)

Step 3: Discuss potential next steps and risks

Your answer is very similar to the conclusion you must provide in a real-life case interview.

For instance:

“ Our objective was to understand why profits declined and how to fix this problem. The drop in profits comes from an increase in our client’s labor costs. A solution is outsourcing some administrative activities in a low-labor-cost country such as [X]. For the next steps, I would estimate the impact of our client’s labor costs and analyze the potential risks, such as the impact on our client’s brand image and quality of services. “

There is a must-read book if you want to become a consultant.

The pyramid principle by Barbara Minto.

If you don’t have this book in your library, buy it now.

As for structuring questions, use this library of 280 case examples to practice giving recommendations and improving your communication skills.

Frequently Asked Questions (and final tips)

Is the online case important for bcg.

The Online Case is an integral part of the BCG recruitment process and provides the firm with a way to evaluate essential consulting skills, such as structuring, business sense, math skills, graph interpretation, and synthesis. As such, it is highly important for BCG.

What is BCG online case experience?

BCG Online Case Experience is a 25-minute assessment that challenges candidates with a fictional client case presented by the online chatbot ‘Casey’, requiring them to answer 8-12 questions to demonstrate their business skills.

How much does the BCG online case matter?

BCG online case is important because if your performance on the test isn’t up to the mark, then it doesn’t matter what other documents you provide; you won’t be invited to the first round of interviews.

What is the passing score for the BCG online case?

BCG’s online test is not used to filter candidates, but an average performance would be considered a good result with 70% of questions answered correctly.

What is the role of the chatbot, Casey, in the BCG Online Case?

Casey is an AI-powered chatbot that facilitates the BCG Online Case, assessing candidates’ critical thinking, data analysis, and strategic insights through various question formats.

Will I have to take the test from home?

Yes. BCG will send you a link to take the test.

Can I pause the game once it has started?

No. You must go through all the questions at one time once you have started.

Hence, it’s important to have an effective time management strategy.

Effective time management strategies for the BCG Online Case include avoiding getting stuck on difficult problems and knowing when to skip or guess.

Any last advice?

Before starting the test, ensure you are in a silent room (mute your phone) and check your internet connection.

BCG online case: final words

In conclusion, acing the BCG Online Case requires thorough preparation, mastery of relevant skills, and effective time management.

So, I hope you enjoyed this guide about the BCG online case.

And that you feel more confident about taking this online test, paving your way to a successful career with the Boston Consulting Group.

Now, I’d like to hear from you: What’s your biggest challenge in answering the 10 questions?

Managing your time effectively?

The one-way video assessment?

The numerical questions?

Let me know by leaving a quick comment below right now.

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You need 4 skills to be successful in all case interviews: Case Structuring, Case Leadership, Case Analytics, and Communication. Enroll in our 4 free courses and discover the proven systems +300 candidates used to learn these 4 skills and land offers in consulting.

• A new global BCG study reveals that during the past two decades, only 26% of corporate transformations successfully created value in both the short and long terms.
• We highlight five truths about corporate transformation—and refute one lie that executives like to tell themselves.

BCG Henderson Institute Newsletter: Insights that are shaping business thinking.

Business Transformation

/ article, five truths (and one lie) about corporate transformation.

By  Martin Reeves ,  Christian Gruß ,  Kristy Ellmer ,  Adam Job ,  Gabe Bouslov , and  Paul Catchlove

Key Takeaways

In an era of technological advancements, geopolitical tensions, and economic turmoil, standing still is akin to moving backward. As the durability of competitive advantage has dwindled , the average tenure of companies on the S&P 500 index has more than halved since the late 1970s. 1 1 S. Patrick Viguerie, Ned Calder, and Brian Hindo, 2021 Corporate Longevity Forecast , May 2021, Innosight website. Notes: 1 S. Patrick Viguerie, Ned Calder, and Brian Hindo, 2021 Corporate Longevity Forecast , May 2021, Innosight website.

But changing with the times is difficult: A new global BCG study reveals that during the past two decades, only 26% of corporate transformations successfully created value in both the short and long terms. (See “ About Our Research .”)

So how can change leaders beat the odds? We use our empirical insights to highlight five truths about corporate transformation —and refute one lie that executives like to tell themselves.

Truth #1: You Can (and Should) Fix Things Before They Break

In transformations, timing matters: Pre-emptive transformations are initiated while total shareholder return (TSR) is in line with or ahead of industry averages. These transformations create significantly more value in the medium and long run (+2.7 percentage point TSR over a three-year horizon) than reactive transformations (initiated after TSR has already dipped below the peer group).

Transforming preemptively—before a performance gap has opened up—means transforming from a position of strength, subject to less pressure and scrutiny: leaders are empowered to focus on identifying options for future advantage , rather than on purely defensive moves, such as divestments.

Consider, for example, Microsoft’s remarkable trajectory over the past decade: After stagnating performance from 2009 to 2012, the company managed to achieve some momentum between 2012 and 2014 (achieving 36% annualized TSR). Not content with this recovery, Microsoft’s then-incoming CEO Satya Nadella made changes to lay the groundwork for future success: He oriented the company toward the new dominance of cloud , even though this trend had not yet damaged the bottom line. This move set Microsoft up to nearly triple its stock price in the first four years of Nadella’s tenure. Nevertheless, he announced yet another restructuring in 2018, setting up an AI division, which was soon bolstered by Microsoft’s early $1 billion investment in OpenAI. 2 2 Don Reisinger, “Microsoft Is About to Undergo a Major Reorganization: Here’s How It Breaks Down,” Fortune website, March 29, 2018. Notes: 2 Don Reisinger, “Microsoft Is About to Undergo a Major Reorganization: Here’s How It Breaks Down,” Fortune website, March 29, 2018. Today, Microsoft is the most valuable company in the world—illustrating how preemptive transformation with heavy investment allows sustaining performance in an evolving competitive environment and amid significant technology changes.

Truth #2: Leadership Will Make or Break Your Transformation

Microsoft’s story also highlights the importance of leadership. The firm’s successful transformations were not only driven by Nadella’s anticipation of future trends, but also his willingness to question and change the mental models and organizational structures that underlay the company’s historic success. For example, since the 2018 restructuring, Microsoft no longer has a division dedicated to its Windows operating system. Contrast this with Blockbuster’s leadership rejecting the opportunity to acquire a fledging Netflix, Swissair continuing to invest in its failing airline, or Kodak not embracing the digital photography technology it pioneered—and the importance of leadership commitment to change becomes crystal clear.

When leaders present an obstacle to change, their removal can improve transformation outcomes.

• Our data shows that a leadership change during a transformation is associated with a 4.1 percentage points higher TSR performance over the five-year time horizon (compared to the previous downturn period).
• The positive TSR impact is even higher (an additional 3.7 percentage points over the five-year period) if the new leadership comes from outside of the company.

However, a change in leadership is not a guaranteed success driver; it is also associated with a high variance in TSR outcomes. As such, this effect is less driven by the leader per se than by their willingness and commitment to making a change—particularly at a time when leadership engagement in transformations is on the decline . Consistent with this, we find that preemptive transformations—in which leaders act to fix things before they break, demonstrating their initiative and commitment—are associated with higher leadership stability than reactive ones (4.7 percentage point lower frequency of CEO change during the transformation period). Moreover, we know from other research that stability in leadership teams can also drive a company’s long-term growth potential.

Truth #3: You Cannot Cut Your Way to Greatness

Our analysis shows that, in the short term, investor expectations are the most significant driver of value creation in a transformation contributing more than two thirds of TSR outperformance over industry peers in the first year after a transformation is initiated. (See Exhibit 1). Efficiency improvements drive 13% of the outperformance, while the remaining factors (revenue growth and margin improvements) play even smaller roles.

As such, it is crucial for companies to craft a compelling transformation plan and narrative at the outset of their journey, and to define a clear communication agenda toward their shareholders. Moreover, firms must signal discipline and momentum by executing on quick wins for cost reductions.

In the long term (five years), value creation drivers are flipped, such that the lion’s share of TSR outperformance is driven by successful cost reductions (32%) and revenue growth (43%), while investor expectations play a smaller role (25%). This indicates that, in the long-term, execution is key, as investors will keep executives to their promises. Moreover, it shows that you cannot cut your way to greatness: differential growth is critical to sustained value creation .

Truth #4: Transformations Require a Long-Term Orientation

Achieving sustainable growth and a future-proof operating model requires entering transformations with a long-term orientation, rather than merely focusing on addressing performance woes or catching up to peers in terms of technology stack or organizational best practices.

Our data shows that having a long-term strategic orientation exhibits a strong positive impact on transformation performance, being associated with a 12.5 percentage points higher TSR impact over a five-year horizon. 3 3 Measured leveraging a proprietary algorithm that quantifies the strategic orientation of companies based on semantic patterns in 10-K filings. Notes: 3 Measured leveraging a proprietary algorithm that quantifies the strategic orientation of companies based on semantic patterns in 10-K filings. A long-term orientation can be achieved by creating an entrepreneurial culture, in which new ideas are constantly developed and leaders are willing to take chances on unproven models. To support a forward-orientation, companies need to complement traditional, backward-looking performance metrics with future-oriented ones. For example, 3M pioneered the New Product Vitality Index (NPVI), a metric that tracks the share of sales from products that didn’t exist five years ago.

Beyond mindset, culture, and metrics, a long-term orientation also means investing in the exploration of new ideas that could be the basis of future advantage: above industry-average R&D spending is associated with a 2.9 percentage point improvement in TSR performance over the course of a transformation.

Above industry-average capital expenditures are also linked to better transformation outcomes—to the tune of 3.7 percentage point TSR over a five-year horizon. This indicates that leaders must find the right balance between identifying new sources of growth and improving their existing model, for example, by upgrading production machinery. It also underlines that operational effectiveness needs to be tied not only to cuts, but also to selective investments.

Truth #5: You Cannot Make Things Up as You Go

Transformations are complex and require simultaneously delivering on several objectives—usually under immense pressure from the outside and inside. As a result, companies cannot make transformation up as they go.

Putting a formal transformation program in place—which we identify based on a combined analysis of corporate announcements and restructuring spend—has a positive impact (5.9 percentage points) on long-run TSR during transformation periods. Moreover, the scale of the program and the willingness to invest in change matter, with our results further showing a strong, positive correlation between above industry-average restructuring spend and TSR outcomes (+5.7 percentage points over five years).

Formalizing the transformation entails defining a clear governance and process—or setting up a dedicated transformation office—for coordinating and tracking progress on change initiatives, as well as regularly communicating it to the executive leadership team so that roadblocks can be addressed promptly. Moreover, it may mean putting in place a chief transformation officer to helm an ambitious change effort, which our prior research shows can improve transformation odds significantly. However, simply having a CTO on staff is not a panacea. The role must be designed appropriately and filled by someone who is persistent, vigilant, and flexible —and who is trained for the job.

A Lie: You Are Special—and These Insights Don’t Apply to You

The empirical patterns of transformation are quite stable: At any point in the past 20 years, roughly 30% of companies significantly underperformed their sector for a period of multiple years, making transformation a necessity for performance reasons. 4 4 Underperformance is identified as an annualized deterioration in TSR, relative to the company’s industry average, of 10 p.p. or more over a two-year period. Notes: 4 Underperformance is identified as an annualized deterioration in TSR, relative to the company’s industry average, of 10 p.p. or more over a two-year period. (See Exhibit 2.) However, successful transformations are the exception, rather than the norm, even when measured on very modest criteria. More than 70% of companies fail to outperform their industry peer group average in both the short (one year) and long term (five years), after a previous performance downturn period. These number are quite similar to the findings in our 2018 report—showing that while the world has changed significantly in the last few years, the challenges of keeping up with that change have remained remarkably persistent.

Just as crucially, these patterns are remarkably universal, with our data showing that no region, sector, or size group is an outlier on transformation need and success rates. The success factors of transformations discussed throughout this article also have directionally similar effects across all subgroups of our sample.

Put briefly: When it comes to transformations, no one is special. Change leaders have no reason to be overconfident, given that only half of the companies we studied employed more than two of the key success factors we identified. Sustainable value creation through transformation remains so rare. 5 5 This includes: above-industry average R&D spending, CapEx investments, or restructuring costs (each scaled by sales); a long-term strategic orientation; setting up a formalized change program; bringing in a new CEO, or even a new external CEO. Notes: 5 This includes: above-industry average R&D spending, CapEx investments, or restructuring costs (each scaled by sales); a long-term strategic orientation; setting up a formalized change program; bringing in a new CEO, or even a new external CEO.

About Our Research

This study is an extension of BCG’s earlier work, “ The Truth About Corporate Transformation ,” published in MIT Sloan Management Review . Here, we broadened the research to a global scope, updated to cover the recent period of enormous turbulence, and deepened the analysis of factors and segments. Our empirical study covers the period 2001 to 2022, with the sample including nearly 2,000 public companies from around the globe that generated at least $10 billion in revenue in 2022 or had a market capitalization of $10 billion at the end of that year. To identify transformations, we assess firms’ total shareholder returns (TSR) relative to their industry peers, as transformations are regularly initiated in reaction to performance downturns. We combine this with a predictive model, which leverages information from corporate announcements and data on restructuring spend to identify whether a formal transformation program has been set up. Depending on data availability across variables in a given analysis, our study covers between 1,000 and 2,000 transformations.

In an increasingly turbulent world, changing with the times is crucial—but the odds of success are slim. To beat them, change leaders must heed these truths about corporate transformations.

The BCG Henderson Institute is Boston Consulting Group’s strategy think tank, dedicated to exploring and developing valuable new insights from business, technology, and science by embracing the powerful technology of ideas. The Institute engages leaders in provocative discussion and experimentation to expand the boundaries of business theory and practice and to translate innovative ideas from within and beyond business. For more ideas and inspiration from the Institute, please visit our website and follow us on LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter) .

Managing Director & Senior Partner, Chairman of the BCG Henderson Institute

San Francisco - Bay Area

Managing Director & Partner

Strategy Lab Director, BCG Henderson Institute

Senior Director – BCG Transform

ABOUT BOSTON CONSULTING GROUP

Boston Consulting Group partners with leaders in business and society to tackle their most important challenges and capture their greatest opportunities. BCG was the pioneer in business strategy when it was founded in 1963. Today, we work closely with clients to embrace a transformational approach aimed at benefiting all stakeholders—empowering organizations to grow, build sustainable competitive advantage, and drive positive societal impact.

Our diverse, global teams bring deep industry and functional expertise and a range of perspectives that question the status quo and spark change. BCG delivers solutions through leading-edge management consulting, technology and design, and corporate and digital ventures. We work in a uniquely collaborative model across the firm and throughout all levels of the client organization, fueled by the goal of helping our clients thrive and enabling them to make the world a better place.

© Boston Consulting Group 2024. All rights reserved.

For information or permission to reprint, please contact BCG at [email protected] . To find the latest BCG content and register to receive e-alerts on this topic or others, please visit bcg.com . Follow Boston Consulting Group on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) .

100+ Real Consulting Presentations from McKinsey, BCG, Bain, and More

By Paul Moss

We’ve gathered presentations from top consulting firms that you can use to inspire your own slide making.

For this post we’ve gathered 100+ real presentations from top consulting firms around the internet for you to review, analyze, and learn from. Each has its strengths and weaknesses, and each provides a different look into how top quality consulting presentations get created and delivered to clients. 

After finishing this article, make sure you check out our advanced courses to see how you can learn to build your own high-quality, consulting-style slides from scratch.

The Internet's Best Slides

Search through our curated library of REAL slides to find inspiration for your next presentation

• Reshaping NYCHA support functions   (BCG)
•   Loose dogs in Dallas: Strategic Recommendations to Improve Public Safety and Animal Welfare   (BCG)
•   Melbourne as a Global Cultural Destination   (BCG)
•   The Open Education Resources ecosystem   (BCG)
•   The True-Luxury Global Consumer Insight (7th Edition) (BCG)
•   Evaluating NYC media sector development and setting the stage for future growth   (BCG)
•   The Electric Car Tipping Point   (BCG)
•   Projecting US Mail volumes to 2020   (BCG)
•   Next Generation Manufacturing (2016)   (BCG)
•   Corporate Ventures in Sweden (2016)   (BCG)
•   Port of Los Angeles Clean Truck Program – March 2008   (BCG)
•   USPS Future Business Model   (McKinsey)
•   Investment and Industrial Policy: A Perspective on the Future   (McKinsey)
•   Outperformers: High-growth emerging economies and the companies that propel them   (McKinsey)
•   Technology’s role in mineral criticality (World Materials Forum)   (McKinsey)
•   Challenges in Mining: Scarcity or Opportunity?   (McKinsey)
•   Modelling the potential of digitally-enabled processes, transparency and participation in the NHS   (McKinsey)
•   Addressing the Global Affordable Housing Challenge (2016)   (McKinsey)
•   Capturing the Full Electrical Efficiency Potential of the UK (2012)   (McKinsey)
•   Digital Luxury Experience (2017)   (McKinsey)
•   Digitally-Enabled Processes in the NHS (2014)   (McKinsey)
•   How Companies can Capture the Veteran Opportunity (2012)   (McKinsey)
•   Insurance Trends and Growth Opportunities for Poland (2015)   (McKinsey)
•   Laying the Foundations for a Financially Sound Industry (2013)   (McKinsey)
•   From Poverty to Empowerment (2014)   (McKinsey)
•   Consumer privacy in retail   (Deloitte)
•   TMT Outlook 2017: A new wave of advances offer opportunities and challenges   (Deloitte)
• Deloitte SEA CFO Forum Southeast Asia Business Outlook   (Deloitte)
• Deloitte Kenya Budget 2022/23 Webinar   (Deloitte)
• The Shopping Centre Handbook 4.0   (Deloitte)

Bain & Co.

•   2011 China Luxury Market Study   (Bain)
•   Bain & UC Berkley Operational Excellence (2010)   (Bain)
•   Fintech New York: Partnerships, Platforms and Open Innovation   (Accenture)
•   Shaping the Sustainable Organization   (Accenture)
•   The Decade to Deliver: A Call to Business Action   (Accenture)
•   Fueling the Energy Future   (Accenture)
•   Cracking the Code on Consumer Fraud   (Accenture)
•   Right Cloud Mindset: Survey Results Hospitality   (Accenture)
•   Unleashing Competitiveness on the Cloud Continuum   (Accenture)
•   Whole Brain Leadership: New Rules of Engagement for the C-Suite   (Accenture)
•   Federal Technology Vision 2021: Full U.S. Federal Survey Findings   (Accenture)
•   Accenture Consumer Behavior Research: The value shake-up   (Accenture)
•   Tech Adoption and Strategy for Innovation & Growth   (Accenture)
•   Intelligent Operations for Future-Ready Businesses   (Accenture)
•   When, Where & How AI Will Boost Federal Workforce Productivity   (Accenture)
•   How fit is your allocation strategy?   (EY)
•   European Banking Barometer (2015)   (EY)
•   EY Price Point: global oil and gas market outlook, Q2 | April 2022   (EY)
•   IBOR transition: Opportunities and challenges for the asset management industry (EY)
•   Global Capital Confidence Barometer 21st edition   (EY)
•   Power transactions and trends Q2 2019   (EY)
•   MAPS2018 Keynote address on EY report: Life Sciences 4.0 – Securing value through data-driven platforms   (EY)
•   EY Germany FinTech Landscape   (EY)

PwC / Strategy&

•   Project Management: Improving performance, reducing risk   (PwC)
•   World Economic Forum: The power of analytics for better and faster decisions by Dan DiFilippo   (PwC)
•   Apache Hadoop Summit 2016: The Future of Apache Hadoop an Enterprise Architecture View   (PwC)
•   Turning big data into big revenue   (PwC)
•   Medical Cost Trend: Behind the Numbers 2017   (PwC)
•   PwC’s new Golden Age Index – how well are countries harnessing the power of older workers?   (PwC)
•   PwC’s Global Technology IPO Review — Q1 2015   (PwC)
•   PwC Trends in the workforce   (PwC)
•   18th Annual Global CEO Survey – Technology industry key findings   (PwC)
•   The FDA and industry: A recipe for collaborating in the New Health Economy   (PwC)
•   Making zero-emission trucking a reality   (Strategy&)
•   Sustainability strategies for Oil and Gas   (Strategy&)
•   Driving the sustainability agenda on C-level   (Strategy&)
• The Diversity Imperative: 14th Annual Australian Chief Executive Study   (Strategy&)
•   Creating a Winning Recipe for a Meal Kits Program   (LEK)
•   The 4th Annual New Mobility Study 2019   (LEK)
•   2019 APAC Hospital Priority Study Overview    (LEK)
•   Rail industry cost and revenue sharing (2011)   (LEK)
•   2019 Media and Entertainment Study   (LEK)
•   Navigating a digital-first home furnishings market   (LEK)
•   5 Opportunities in the Nutritional Supplements Industry   (LEK)
•   Infrastructure Victoria – AZ/ZEV International Scan   (LEK)
•   The Rapidly Evolving Landscape of Meal Kits and E-commerce in Food & Beverage   (LEK)
•   Top 8 Insights From the 2018 Beauty, Health & Wellness Survey   (LEK)
•   2018 Brand Owner Packaging Survey   (LEK)
•   2016 Strategic Hospital Priorities Study   (LEK)
•   The Merchandising Evolution (and why NDC Matters)   (LEK)
•   Infrastructure beyond COVID-19   (LEK)
•   China Exit or Co-Investment Opportunities for German PE Investors   (LEK)
•   Strategy Study 2014   ( AT Kearney)
•   Australia: Taking Bigger Steps   ( AT Kearney)
•   Lifting the Barriers to Retail Innovation in ASEAN   ( AT Kearney)
•   The Future of Commercial Vehicle Powertrains (2012)   ( AT Kearney)
•   A.T. Kearney 2017 State of Logistics Report: Accelerating into Uncertainty   ( AT Kearney)
•   Pursuing Customer Inspired Growth   ( AT Kearney)
•   The Accelerating Growth of Frictionless Commerce   ( AT Kearney)
•   Consolidation of the US Banking Industry   ( AT Kearney)
• Covid-19 and Effects on Turkey   ( AT Kearney)

Booz Allen Hamilton, Alvarez & Marsal and others

•   European Distressed Credit Watch List   (Alvarez & Marsal)
•   Corporate Headquarters Study 2018   (Roland Berger)
• The Lithium-Ion (EV) battery market and supply chain   (Roland Berger)
•   IP Theft   (Booz Allen Hamilton)
•   Booz Allen Hamilton and Market Connections: C4ISR Survey Report   (Booz Allen Hamilton)
•   Joining Forces: Interagency Collaboration and “Smart Power”   (Booz Allen Hamilton)
• Booz Allen at a glance   (Booz Allen Hamilton)
• Investor Presentation Deck   (Booz Allen Hamilton)
•   Responding to Covid-19 (2021)   (Oliver Wyman)
•   C ovid-19 Special Primer (2020)   (Oliver Wyman)
• Building Up Immunity of the Financial Sector   (Oliver Wyman)
• Customer Experience: The 14BN Risk Noted for Discussion   (Oliver Wyman)

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Reshaping NYCHA support functions

Good:  Realistic client presentation, clear slide structure, complete storyline

Not Good:  Outdated, long and dense

Download this Presentation

Loose dogs in Dallas: Strategic Recommendations to Improve Public Safety and Animal Welfare

Good: Realistic client presentation, clear slide structure, insightful and clear charts

Not Good: Outdated, long and dense

Melbourne as a Global Cultural Destination

Good: Realistic client presentation, good structure, slides “guide” audience to insights

Not Good: Outdated design

The Open Education Resources ecosystem

Good: Clearly structured slides, good visuals, good illustrative charts

Not Good: Relatively short, slightly older, incomplete storyline

The True-Luxury Global Consumer Insight (7th Edition)

Good: Recent presentation, nice looking visuals, clear charts

Not Good: Not a client presentation, too much focus on design

Evaluating NYC media sector development and setting the stage for future growth

Good: Complete presentation (intro, exec. summary, etc.), good examples of subtitles

Not Good: Lacks clear recommendations

The Electric Car Tipping Point

Good: Clear and insightful charts, clutter-free slides, good titles

Not Good: Relatively short, not a client presentation

Projecting US Mail volumes to 2020

Good: Easy to understand, good insights and analysis, contrasts with McKinsey presentation on the same topic

Not Good: Old presentation

Next Generation Manufacturing (2016)

Good: Nice clean design, excellent visuals

Not Good: Not a client deliverable

Corporate Ventures in Sweden (2016)

Good: Strong overall flow, good visualization s

Not Good: Relatively short

Port of Los Angeles Clean Truck Program – March 2008

Good: Realistic slides and presentation, good structure

Not Good: Short

USPS Future Business Model

Good:  Clear structure and analysis, insightful charts

Not Good:  Outdated, lackluster design

Investment and Industrial Policy: A Perspective on the Future

Good: Variety of charts, good titles

Not Good: Over designed, not a client presentation

Outperformers: High-growth emerging economies and the companies that propel them

Good: Variety of charts, qualitative visuals, clear titles

Not Good: Poor use of color, minimal footnotes

Technology’s role in mineral criticality (World Materials Forum)

Good: Clear storyline, well-structured slides, good titles and subtitles

Not Good: Overuse of visuals, relatively short

Challenges in Mining: Scarcity or Opportunity?

Good: Complex explanations made simple, variety of visual types

Not Good: Inconsistent titles, some unprofessional visuals (clipart, etc.)

Modelling the potential of digitally-enabled processes, transparency and participation in the NHS

Good: Realistic client slides, data heavy

Not Good: Cluttered, incomplete storyline

Addressing the Global Affordable Housing Challenge (2016)

Good: Realistic slide structure, good charts, great slide titles

Not Good: Strange slide formatting, mediocre design

Capturing the Full Electrical Efficiency Potential of the UK (2012)

Good: Realistic client deliverable (full deck, dense slides, proper deck structure)

Digital Luxury Experience (2017)

Good: Variety of charts, good use of icons

Not Good: Short presentation, light on content, not a client deliverable

How Companies can Capture the Veteran Opportunity

Good: Examples of text-heavy slides, good action titles

Not Good: Minimal charts, unrealistic structure, repetitive slides

Insurance Trends and Growth Opportunities for Poland

Good: Well organized presentation, clear takeaways

Not Good: Old formatting, short presentation

Laying the Foundations for a Financially Sound Industry

Good: Multiple chart examples (waterfall, line, dot, column)

Not Good: Short presentation, “conference-style” presentation

From Poverty to Empowerment (2014)

Good: Good variety of data visualizations

Not Good: Unattractive formatting and style

Consumer privacy in retail

Good: Clear titles, good use of icons and color to show insights

Not Good: Short, not a client presentation

TMT Outlook 2017: A new wave of advances offer opportunities and challenges

Good: Survey insights highlighted well, good use of color, clear charts and visuals

Not Good: Not a client presentation, heavy focus on survey data

Deloitte SEA CFO Forum Southeast Asia Business Outlook

Good: Line chart examples

Not Good: Poor titles, strange use of black

Deloitte Kenya Budget 2022/23 Webinar

Good: Consistent design, good colors

Not Good: Simple titles, meant for live presentation

The Shopping Centre Handbook 4.0

Good: Some insights

Not Good: Too many graphics, strange design

2011 China Luxury Market Study

Good: Clear titles, good use of color to highlight insights

Not Good: Short presentation, marketing presentation

Bain & UC Berkley Operational Excellence (2010)

Good: Realistic presentation, lots of slides

Not Good: Outdated content, ugly design

Fintech New York: Partnerships, Platforms and Open Innovation

Good: Simple and clear slide design, good structure, insightful charts

Not Good: Short presentation, only a few “consulting style” slides

Shaping the Sustainable Organization

Good: Well structured slides, clear takeaways

Not Good: Rounded chart bars

The Decade to Deliver: A Call to Business Action

Good: Variety of charts, good design

Not Good: Not a client presentation

Fueling the Energy Future

Good: Illustrative charts and matrices

Not Good: Curved line charts

Cracking the Code on Consumer Fraud

Good: Mix of charts and numbers

Right Cloud Mindset: Survey Results Hospitality

Good: Nice slide titles and charts

Not Good: Text heavy sections

Unleashing Competitiveness on the Cloud Continuum

Good: Focus on takeaways, clear charts

Not Good: Ugly backgrounds, overuse of pictures

Whole Brain Leadership: New Rules of Engagement for the C-Suite

Good: Formatting, use of numbers

Not Good: Unnecessary graphics

Federal Technology Vision 2021: Full U.S. Federal Survey Findings

Good: Clear survey results, nice bar charts

Accenture Consumer Behavior Research: The value shake-up

Good: Color design, focus on insights

Not Good: Marketing focused

Tech Adoption and Strategy for Innovation & Growth

Good: Color contrast, text structure

Not Good: 3D charts

Intelligent Operations for Future-Ready Businesses

Good: Sankey chart, tables, presentation structure

When, Where & How AI Will Boost Federal Workforce Productivity

How fit is your allocation strategy?

Good: Some good charts, good use of color

Not Good: Light on content, short presentation, inconsistent slide structure

European Banking Barometer (2015)

Good: Nice titles and takeaways, good variety of charts

Not Good: Survey-focused presentation (i.e. not client deliverable)

EY Price Point: global oil and gas market outlook, Q2 | April 2022

Good: Insightful charts and tables

Not Good: Report style, text heavy

IBOR transition: Opportunities and challenges for the asset management industry

Good: Formatting

Not Good: Meant for live presentation

Global Capital Confidence Barometer 21st edition

Good: Formatting and structure, interesting charts

Power transactions and trends Q2 2019

Good: Insightful charts

Not Good: Meant as appendix or “leave behind”

MAPS2018 Keynote address on EY report: Life Sciences 4.0 – Securing value through data-driven platforms

Good: Realistic slides, clear titles, good formatting

EY Germany FinTech Landscape

Good: Formatting and structure, insightful charts

Not Good: Data heavy, appendix style slides

Project Management: Improving performance, reducing risk

Good: Variety of qualitative visuals, good use of icons, nice design

Not Good: B ad titles, light on content

World Economic Forum: The power of analytics for better and faster decisions by Dan DiFilippo

Good: Scatter plot examples

Apache Hadoop Summit 2016: The Future of Apache Hadoop an Enterprise Architecture View

Good: Qualtative visuals

Not Good: Short and marketing focused

Turning big data into big revenue

Good: Text heavy slide examples

Medical Cost Trend: Behind the Numbers 2017

PwC’s new Golden Age Index – how well are countries harnessing the power of older workers?

Good: Mix of charts and tables, clean formatting

Not Good: Inconsistent titles

PwC’s Global Technology IPO Review — Q1 2015

Good: Combination and column charts

Not Good: Report style presentation

18th Annual Global CEO Survey – Technology industry key findings

Good: Visualized data

Not Good: Incomplete titles

The FDA and industry: A recipe for collaborating in the New Health Economy

Good: Simple and clear titles

Not Good: Inconsistent structure

Making zero-emission trucking a reality

Good: Very realistic slides, overall great presentation

Not Good: Text heavy transition slides

Driving the sustainability agenda on C-level

Not Good: Short, some cluttered slides

The Diversity Imperative: 14th Annual Australian Chief Executive Study

Good: Chart heavy, realistic slides

Not Good: Short presentation

Creating a Winning Recipe for a Meal Kits Program

Good: Clear titles, good charts

Not Good: Dense, too many pictures/logos

The 4th Annual New Mobility Study 2019

Good: Variety of charts, good amount of content

Not Good: Lots of filler slides, inconsistent titles

2019 APAC Hospital Priority Study Overview

Good: Very good (and realistic) design, clear slide takeaways

Not Good: Very short presentation

Rail industry cost and revenue sharing (2011)

Good: Good introduction and executive summary, realistic client presentation

Not Good: Outdated, boring design

2019 Media and Entertainment Study

Good: Clear charts, good titles

Not Good: Very short, too much text

Navigating a digital-first home furnishings market

Good: Infographic style slides

5 Opportunities in the Nutritional Supplements Industry

Good: Great charts, good deck structure

Not Good: Not a client presentation, text heavy

Infrastructure Victoria – AZ/ZEV International Scan

Good: Realistic client presentation, wide variety of slides

Not Good: Very long

The Rapidly Evolving Landscape of Meal Kits and E-commerce in Food & Beverage

Good: Variety of basic charts, realistic design

Top 8 Insights From the 2018 Beauty, Health & Wellness Survey

Good: Good column chart examples

Not Good: Report style

2018 Brand Owner Packaging Survey

Good: Good visuals, multiple charts

2016 Strategic Hospital Priorities Study

Good: Multiple charts, good qualitative visuals

The Merchandising Evolution (and why NDC Matters)

Good: Good storyline, clear charts

Not Good: Weak titles, outdated style

Infrastructure beyond COVID-19

Good: Wide variety of slide types, realistic presentation

China Exit or Co-Investment Opportunities for German PE Investors

Good: Multiple data heavy slides, good charts

Not Good: Slightly old

Strategy Study 2014

Good: Variety of charts

Not Good: Reads like an infographic, poor choice of color

Australia: Taking Bigger Steps

Good: Illustrative chart, use of icons

Not Good: D istracting backgrounds and colors

Lifting the Barriers to Retail Innovation in ASEAN

Good: Simple to follow

Not Good: Minimal analysis, questionable stacked column chart

The Future of Commercial Vehicle Powertrains (2012)

Good: Realistic slides, excellent takeaways, good overall structure

Not Good: Older presentation, simplistic design

Pursuing Customer Inspired Growth

Good:  Realistic client slides, multiple frameworks

Not Good: Short, outdated design

The Accelerating Growth of Frictionless Commerce

Good: Mix of charts, clear insights

Not Good: Distracting backgrounds, short presentation

Consolidation of the US Banking Industry

Good: A couple good titles

Not Good: Large text, minimal charts, distracting colors

Covid-19 and Effects on Turkey

Good: Consistent color, focus on insights

Not Good: Strange layout, marketing focused

Booz Allen Hamilton, Alvarez & Marsal and others

European Distressed Credit Watch List

Good: Simple charts

Not Good: Boring template, appendix heavy

Corporate Headquarters Study 2018

Good: Clear and simple slides, good variety of charts and visuals, not overly produced

Not Good: Not a typical client presentation, average slide titles

The Lithium-Ion (EV) battery market and supply chain

Good: Realistic titles and content-heavy slides

Not Good: Distracting background and colors

Good: Story flow, titles

Not Good: T itle page, overall design rs

Booz Allen Hamilton and Market Connections: C4ISR Survey Report

Good: Simple bar charts

Not Good: Titles, design

Joining Forces: Interagency Collaboration and “Smart Power”

Good: Slide consistency

Not Good: Chart design, outdated

Booz Allen at a glance

Good: Easy-to-read charts

Not Good: Meant for live presentation, minimal content

Responding to Covid-19 (2021)

Good: Excellent use of color, good overall design and visualizations

Not Good: “White Paper” style presentation (i.e. not client deliverable)

Covid-19 Special Primer (2020)

Good: Variety of data visualizations, nice color usage, clear takeaways

Building Up Immunity of the Financial Sector

Good: Clean design, interesting charts

Not Good: Some text heavy slides

Customer Experience: The 14BN Risk Noted for Discussion

Good: Simple design, good overall structure

Not Good: Inconsistent colors

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667: Five phrases to avoid (Case Interview & Management Consulting classics‪)‬ Case Interview Preparation & Management Consulting | Strategy | Critical Thinking

Communication and image in a case interview is governed by both what you say and how you say. It is true that how you say something tends to carry more weight. However, in some case, certain phrases should definitely be avoided because they cause much damage it is very hard to recover from them. We discuss them in this podcast.   Here are some free gifts for you: Overall Approach Used in Well-Managed Strategy Studies free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/OverallApproach   McKinsey & BCG winning resume free download: www.firmsconsulting.com/resumepdf   Enjoying this episode? Get access to sample advanced training episodes here: www.firmsconsulting.com/promo  

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New EY US Consulting study: employees overwhelmingly expect empathy in the workplace, but many say it feels disingenuous

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The majority (86%) of employees believe empathetic leadership boosts morale while 87% of employees say empathy is essential to fostering an inclusive environment.

As many employees face downsizings, restructurings and a looming global recession, most say that empathic leadership is a desired attribute but feel it can be disingenuous when not paired with action, according to the 2023 Ernst & Young LLP ( EY US )  Empathy in Business Survey .

The study of more than 1,000 employed US workers examines how empathy affects leaders, employees, and operations in the workplace. The survey follows the initial EY Consulting analysis of empathy in 2021 and finds workers feel that mutual empathy between company leaders and employees leads to increased efficiency (88%), creativity (87%), job satisfaction (87%), idea sharing (86%), innovation (85%) and even company revenue (83%).

“A  transformation’s success  or failure is rooted in human emotions, and this research spotlights just how critical empathy is in leadership,” said  Raj Sharma , EY  Americas Consulting  Vice Chair. “Recent years taught us that leading with empathy is a soft and powerful trait that helps empower employers and employees to collaborate better, and ultimately create a culture of accountability.”

The evolving state of empathy in the workplace

There are many upsides to empathetic leadership in the workplace, including:

• Inspiring positive change within the workplace (87%)
• Mutual respect between employees and leaders (87%)
• Increased productivity among employees (85%)
• Reduced employee turnover (78%)

“Time and again we have found through our research that in order for businesses to successfully transform, they must put humans at the center with empathetic leadership to create transparency and provide employees with psychological safety,” said  Kim Billeter , EY Americas  People Advisory Services  Leader. “Empathy is a powerful force that must be embedded organically into every aspect of an organization, otherwise the inconsistency has a dramatic impact on the overall culture and authenticity of an organization.”

In fact, half (52%) of employees currently believe their company’s efforts to be empathetic toward employees are dishonest ― up from 46% in 2021, and employees increasingly report a lack of follow-through when it comes to company promises (47% compared to 42% in 2021).

To fulfill the authenticity equation, previous EY research indicates offering flexibility is essential. In the 2022 EY US Generation Survey, 92% of employees surveyed across all four workplace generations said that company culture has an impact on their decision to remain with their current  employer.

Lead with empathy  now  to combat the workplace challenges ahead

While leaders may experience lower employee attrition rates now when compared to the Great Resignation, a resurgence is brewing. Many economists expect a soft landing from the looming recession and with it may come turnover, particularly if employees already feel disconnected from their employer or from each other.

In fact, failing to feel a sense of belonging at work or connection with coworkers is a growing reason why employees quit their jobs. About half (50% and 48% in 2021) left a previous job because they didn’t feel like they belonged, and more employees now say they left a previous job because they had difficulty connecting with colleagues (42% vs. 37% in 2021).

“What happens outside of work has a direct impact on how people show up. It’s no longer enough for leaders to think of a person in one dimension – as an employee or as a professional within the organization,” said  Ginnie Carlier , EY Americas Vice Chair – Talent. “Leading with empathy helps move from the transactional and to the transformational Human Value Proposition, where people feel supported both personally and professionally.”

2023 EY Empathy in Business Survey methodology

EY US  commissioned a third-party vendor to conduct the 2023 EY Empathy in Business Survey, following the 2021 Empathy in Business Survey. The survey among 1,012 Americans who are employed, either full-time or part-time, was completed between October 23 and November 6, 2022. At the total level, the study has a margin of error of +/- 3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.

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EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients. Information about how EY collects and uses personal data and a description of the rights individuals have under data protection legislation are available via  ey.com/privacy . EY member firms do not practice law where prohibited by local laws. For more information about our organization, please visit  ey.com .

This news release has been issued by Ernst & Young LLP, a member firm of EY serving clients in the US.

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EY refers to the global organization, and may refer to one or more, of the member firms of Ernst & Young Global Limited, each of which is a separate legal entity. Ernst & Young Global Limited, a UK company limited by guarantee, does not provide services to clients.