Interview Day

Introduction

This is a super short section, to discuss some of the things that can happen as you approach the interview day. Unlike the rest of your journey, there isn't going to be a smooth linear progression of improvement. There will be a few moments in which you either get good or bad news. Therefore, it may help to have a better understanding of how some of these processes will work, so that you're better prepared for the same.

Hot lists

A few days prior to the interviews each consultancy will begin to contact the students who are at the top of their shortlist. These calls usually start off with entry level employees informing you that the consultancy is interested in interviewing you as early as possible, and gauging your interest in the hotlist. You are expected to keep this information fairly hush hush, think over it and get back to them within a certain period of time. If you tell them that you're interested, you're likely to get a confirmation call from some more senior employees. The idea here is to confirm your response, and also lock it in to an extent, as no one wants to go back on the word that they've given someone who might be interviewing them. If however, you reject the hot list, that pretty much ends there, and you either get a hot list from another company or you don’t. It's important to keep in mind that not all firms offer hot lists on all campuses. So you should check on how exactly things work within your institute.
The reasons that hot lists work, is that everyone is risk averse. The companies want to ensure that they know whom they're getting in the first round of interviews, and they want to make sure that they're able to make as many offers as early as possible, lest they should lose the best candidates to competition. Candidates too are hoping to lock in an early interview slot, because those slots have a higher conversion rate than the later ones. This sounds like a win-win. It often can be, but that doesn't necessarily mean that you should jump at the hot lists that you get. A fundamental idea which we need to accept is that if you have accepted a hot list, you are going to put that company as your top preference, and you will not change the order or try to trick any of the consultancies. The next key thing to understand is that while the first few slots have a higher conversion rate, that is a consequence of the 'better' candidates getting scheduled earlier on, on average. Psychologically, there maybe a reverse bias, where interviewers assume that you're better because you're interviewed early on, but let's ignore that and give them a little more credit than that. It is also easy enough to see that some candidates do get rejected in early slots, and others get selected in later slots. The hot list offer is an indication that the consultancy is interested in you, and is likely to select you (subject to interview performance) independent of when you interview with them. If there is another firm that you are interested in, over the one from which you have received a hot list, but their hot list isn't out yet, or they don't offer one, I would suggest that you put your preferences over your fears. The reason is that you will get to interview with each company that you're interested in, and you don't want to rule out the options that you're more inclined towards on account of fear. Keep in mind that the fact that you're on multiple shortlists is already indicative of the fact that you are very very likely to get into one of the consultancies, provided that you have done your prep well. So give yourself the chance to pick the firm of your choice.

Disappointment

There is always the scope for a little disappointment along the way. You might not get the hot lists that you expected. You might mess up an interview. And you might get rejected by a firm you interview with. Through out the placement process, it's important to keep in mind that these disappointments will arise, and that there are plenty more opportunities for you to seize. It's often tough to stay focused in the light of a big let down. But that is also when it is most important, to forget everything which happened in the last hour, to avoid analysing a case that you just did, and to just stay in the moment, and present the best version of yourself once again.

Happy ending

You might or might not end up in a consulting firm of your choice. You might or might not end up in consulting at all. Keep in mind that there is always a long journey ahead, and if this is truly something important to you, there are more opportunities to join later on. You might also find that you are happier and a better fit in a different kind of company. There are plenty of recruiters at B school. All of them have interesting enough roles, and every role comes with a series of drawbacks as well. While a lot of outcomes might not seem perfect, I don't believe that there are very bad ones.