How to Practice Case Interviews | Proven Strategies to Practice (Part 8 of 12) | caseinterview
Summary
TLDRThe speaker shares insights on case practice, recommending Business Week for its concise data-driven articles. They discuss the importance of understanding business terminology and concepts, and suggest practicing case openings and closes alone or with a partner. The speaker emphasizes the value of case practice for interview preparation, using made-up scenarios to simulate real case interviews and improve analytical skills.
Takeaways
- 📚 Practice case analysis using short articles from 'Business Week' as they provide concise data.
- 🌟 'Fortune' is less data-focused and more conceptual, which can be useful for broadening perspectives.
- 📈 When practicing, create hypothetical scenarios to simulate the case interview process.
- 📊 Real case interviews will involve hard data, requiring critical thinking and precise analysis.
- 🗣️ Practice opening and closing statements for case interviews to improve structure and delivery.
- 🏥 Explore current business issues like the debate on differential internet speeds and medical bill financing.
- 🔍 Use case studies to familiarize yourself with business lingo and concepts.
- 📈 Track the growth of markets and industries to identify potential business opportunities.
- 🤝 Practice with a partner to simulate real interviews and receive constructive feedback.
- 💡 Practice is key to mastering case interviews; it helps in refining both content and delivery.
Q & A
What does the speaker recommend for practicing case interviews?
-The speaker recommends using short articles from Business Week and Portfolio for practicing case interviews because they tend to have data and are more conceptual.
Why does the speaker find Business Week useful for practice?
-Business Week is useful because the articles are short and data-driven, which helps in practicing analytical thinking and case structuring.
What is the significance of the LeBron James example mentioned in the script?
-The LeBron James example illustrates the importance of understanding market potential and viewership, which is crucial for making strategic business decisions.
How does the speaker suggest practicing for case interviews?
-The speaker suggests practicing by making up scenarios based on articles, writing down terminology that is unfamiliar, and practicing both the opening and closing of a case.
What is the importance of having hard data in real case scenarios according to the speaker?
-Hard data is important in real case scenarios because it provides a solid foundation for analysis and decision-making, unlike the made-up data used in practice.
Why does the speaker emphasize the difference between made-up practice cases and real cases?
-The speaker emphasizes this to highlight that while practice cases can help with structuring and thinking, real cases require precision and are based on actual, logical data.
What is the speaker's approach to reading a new magazine for case practice?
-The speaker's approach is to read a new magazine, identify interesting articles, and then consider what framework could be applied to analyze the situation described.
How does the speaker recommend familiarizing oneself with business concepts?
-The speaker recommends writing down and looking up terminology that is unfamiliar to build a dictionary of business concepts.
What is the purpose of practicing the opening and closing of a case?
-Practicing the opening and closing helps in structuring the case analysis and ensuring a clear and impactful presentation of the conclusions and recommendations.
Why is the speaker's approach to practicing case interviews considered effective?
-The speaker's approach is effective because it mimics real interview scenarios, helps in understanding business lingo, and improves the ability to analyze and structure cases.
What is the speaker's advice on how to handle unfamiliar case scenarios?
-The speaker advises to familiarize oneself with a wide range of business issues and terminologies to handle unfamiliar scenarios by using practice cases and real articles.
Outlines
📚 Practice Case Preparation and Data Analysis
The speaker discusses their approach to practicing case interviews using short articles from Business Week and Fortune. They emphasize the importance of working with hard data, which is often absent in practice cases, and the need to think critically about the information presented. The speaker shares their method of making up scenarios during practice to simulate the process of a real case interview, where precise and deliberate data is provided. They also mention the risk of logical inconsistencies when making up numbers but clarify that real case data is precise. The speaker suggests practicing the opening and closing of cases, especially with a partner, and using the table of contents of magazines to select articles and determine the appropriate framework for each case.
📈 Understanding Business Lingo and Case Practice
In this paragraph, the speaker talks about the importance of familiarizing oneself with business terminology, especially for those without a broad business background. They share their personal experience of writing down and looking up terms they didn't understand, such as 'economies of scale' and 'price elasticity'. The speaker highlights the value of magazines like Business Week for understanding business lingo and practicing case interviews. They also discuss the process of practicing case closings by making up scenarios based on provided data and suggest practicing with a partner by taking turns reading and creating cases from articles. The speaker emphasizes the importance of practice, sharing a personal anecdote about how their first live interview was much smoother due to extensive practice. They also mention the use of magazines like Portfolio for detailed case practice and the benefits of practicing with a partner to refine analytical skills.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Business Week
💡Case Study
💡Data
💡Conceptual
💡Practice
💡Regulatory
💡Framework
💡Medical Financing
💡Brand Name
💡Growth Market
💡Differential Internet Speeds
Highlights
The speaker prefers using Business Week for case practice due to its short and data-rich articles.
Fortune magazine is mentioned as more conceptual and less data-focused compared to Business Week.
A new magazine is introduced as an interesting source for case studies, despite a lack of data in one specific issue about LeBron James' popularity in China.
The importance of understanding the difference between making up data for practice and using hard data in real cases is emphasized.
The speaker suggests that about 30% of the time in a real case, the person is making up scenarios while 70% of the time involves hard data analysis.
The speaker advises to write down and critically think about hard data in real cases.
A method for practicing case interviews is outlined, which includes making up scenarios and practicing the opening and closing of cases.
The speaker shares a personal practice routine of going through the table of contents of Business Week to decide on frameworks for each article.
An example of a case framework is provided with United Airlines looking to merge, which falls under mergers and acquisitions.
The debate on differential internet speeds for customers based on service levels is mentioned as a business situation and regulatory issue.
The financing of medical bills is presented as a new growth market, with hospitals selling debt to finance companies.
The speaker recommends practicing with a partner, taking turns reading articles and making up cases with data.
The value of Business Week for understanding business lingo and terminology is highlighted.
The speaker discusses the importance of familiarity with business concepts to avoid being stuck on unfamiliar ideas during case interviews.
A closing practice example is given for Citibank entering the medical financing business, emphasizing the importance of a strong conclusion and recommendation.
The speaker shares personal experience, mentioning that practice made a significant difference in their first live interview.
The speaker suggests practicing case analysis with a partner and deciding in advance what the answer should be to guide the practice session.
An example of reverse-engineering a case scenario is provided, where the speaker decides the answer first and then creates consistent data to support it.
Transcripts
I can but actually I can't a little
secret I when I practice cases actually
people let me show you here's five
practice cases I go to the bookstore by
far Business Week
it's the best because they're short and
they tend to have data okay
things like fortune they tend to be more
conceptual portfolio so new magazine
came out a couple months ago really
interesting too I think it has like they
haven't gone through this particular
issue and I got the I got the China went
from fortune so I could do the case but
there's no more data the article is
short so LeBron James he I sort of like
the rising star in the NBA and and they
they showed these games in China and
there's like 100 million viewers per
game okay so it's like staggering right
cuz I'm pretty sure not you know forty
percent America probably wasn't watching
those games that's why I get my ideas
from I'll talk about practicing later
but I tend to sort of make these things
up when I'm practicing just to go
through the process one thing you will
find that's a little different
so the examples I'm giving I tend to
sort of sort of make them up a little
bit okay in a real case you will have
hard data okay you will have hard data
and and so maybe I would say 30 percent
of time the person is making up 70% of
time there is a lot of hard data so you
want to get it write it down
think critically about it it's not
conceptual at all so I here I'm making
numbers up and so sometimes when
logically inconsistent that's sort of a
risk of that which is fine but in real
case they're they're not logically
inconsistent they're very precise it's
very deliberate and so you should be
aware of that so I'll be happier then be
a case let's see make sure I'm just make
sure I have all my notes here
okay let's do the imbuing so actually me
skip ahead a little bit when you when
you're practicing I was on talked about
this at the end but since it's sort of
relevant when you're practicing
particularly somebody else you can
practice the opening and the close by
yourself okay so you open up this this
week look at the first article so I just
look at a table of contents and I'll
just rattle them off let's see okay
United Airlines is looking to merge okay
what kind of framework is that mergers
acquisitions right okay okay there's a
debate in the marketplace on the
internet with ISPs around differential
internet speeds so bandwidth speeds
depending on levels of service for the
customer so high paying customers get
faster deliverability under in it and
lower ones don't
what should comcast do that's that's
much more business situation regulatory
let's see another one it's actually me
explain that one what it is is sort of
like if I'm a big company paying more my
emails get delivered instantly but if
you pay less your emails take a day or
two that's what that is so a lot people
hate that it's an industry regulatory
thing that's what that is okay there's a
new growth market in financing medical
bills so you go to the doctor you don't
have insurance you have twenty thousand
dollar bill you only make fifteen
thousand a year you have no insurance
now what hospitals are doing according
to the article and money's magazines
they are taking rather than having an
in-house they're selling the debt to
these professional finance companies
okay so like a beneficial health
convenience so if you're working for
American Express should you enter the
medical financing business that's a
business situation framework right um so
this is literally I did so I just sit
there every week I go to the table of
contents not just an article which
member would I use okay next one I'm
interesting which article right that's
an interesting article which framework
would I use and I would just do that
sort of
I know sort of like is it I don't know I
just thought uh sort of I was sort of
embarrassed actually yeah so I just sit
there the coffee shop and you start
reading over actually other guy chahiye
the same thing I mean business week if
you're how many of you don't come prior
to business school did not really have a
broad business background it's with very
narrowly focus okay
Business Week lastly it's a great
magazine for understanding like lingo so
one of the things I did when I was
practicing was write down terminology I
didn't understand I was doing this was
like like 1920 right so I didn't
understand all business and so every
time there's a word like economies of
scale like what's that I mean I had that
Indy Kong one I want to go look up a
note increasing returns to scale
what's that price elasticity what that
does that mean all the senses the prices
and so I'd sort of have this dictionary
for like a page and I just started
writing them all down and and if you
have no if you don't have a broad
background business this is really tends
to touch on all these issues so you're
sort of getting get familiar with the
issues and so often what happens though
is you get a case and you just you've
never heard of anything similar to it
and so you're you're not stuck on the
analytics you're stuck on this was like
foreign the whole idea is foreign and so
you're struggling on the wrong thing and
that's just really a familiarity issue
okay so you can sort of fix that with
magnet so okay is that interesting
helpful so also on the closes when you
close a case see all these all these
business we can particularly they give
you data and they sort of tell it
sometimes I tell you what happened and
what the company did about it and so you
can sort of practice closing okay so we
should find an example so I'll make one
up so you know Ameriprise Ameriprise I'm
making up a company here Oh Citibank
okay so Citibank let's see Citibank
should enter the medical financing
business because it has a brand name
rich it has distribution to all the key
hospitals because they finance through
the receivables so there you have
relationships they have distribution and
there's it's a growing market at 30
percent per year which is higher than
the existing lines of business for
Citibank that's sort of a quick one but
you can literally just sort of go
through each one and as I'm saying it
you can practice drawing it out
start saying it verbally and again it's
always sort of conclusion inside
recommendation first three big ideas as
to why so it's just a good way to
practice and if you subscribe you get it
every week you got ten new things to
practice it's pretty useful and so
business we can think is the best one
very consistently the best one and then
next best is probably portfolio by cons
and asks they get into a lot of detail
so it's otherwise until that's articles
are too short and it's not enough mean
and then in terms of practicing you just
get a partner and you saw it this week
you read it next week I'll read it and
I'll sort of make up cases based on here
I'll have some data and so that makes it
sort of more interesting alright last
thing on practicing practice makes a
difference okay sort of mentioned
earlier to a few of you hum I had my
first live interview I practice it was
probably my thirty or forty eighth case
and mostly practice was just like this
like how would I do this if I was this
company you know and then you're going
to dinner I was a lousy date because I'm
sort of always focused on case surrounds
interview mode go out to dinner and
interesting the customers are really
interested in sushi now for whatever
reason well is their growth strategy
here well okay first of all four things
need to look at you look at a customer
or you look like a product look at that
competition in the company itself clear
this company this restaurant is really
good at catering to the young market the
customers seem to be young why they why
they why are they buying right and so me
it's pathetic said I know okay let's
talk about the NBA oh so when you
practice this is why it came to mind
when you practice you sort of want to
when your partner someone to practice
the analysis you want to figure out what
what conclusion you want that person
you're practicing with to end up with so
if I'm pretending to be the interviewer
and I'm practicing here's interviewee I
had to decide in advance what the answer
is
quote unquote and then I can make up the
rest okay so for the NBA I'm trying to
think of so the answer is they should do
it okay so that and then I can sort of
reverse-engineer make everything else
sort of somewhat consistent that would
lead people to down that road
and I would say and I would probably
refer to say I had to make it up they
should do it because it is a much bigger
market than the US I'm sorry I'm
thinking actually we're I'm thinking of
the close I want to hear right as the as
the mock interviewer and then I'm going
to make up data around what the what
data I'm going to provide so maybe it's
as an interviewer I want to say the NBA
should enter China because it's a big
market the advertising the advertising
portion of the market is growing like 30
percent per year which is great
viewership is growing like a 50 percent
per year and maybe demographically
they're all sorting by TVs some point
them
you
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