CQ Consultalks | Runjhun Bharti Goswami | Auctus Advisors

Runjhun: It’s well known that consulting is a good platform to start, because, the learning curve is very steep and you are exposed to a lot of different fields be it finance, government sector jobs, etc. I wanted to start with something like that, that’s why I chose consulting.

Runjhun: No, I didn’t have any previous intern in this field. It all depends on how you tell the story. I mean in every interview they ask a question like “ tell me about yourself” or “what’s your story?” In that, you are supposed to tell about your major internships and projects and in that only, I included this question stating about my last internship when I was in architecture field but the part I liked the most was about meeting with the consultants, as it was a huge project, and I and liked the brainstorming part, resolves and conflicts.

Runjhun: The major four companies that come to our campus are BCG, Mckinsey, EY Parthenon, and L.E.K. They all ask CVs and shortlist in the month of September, and by October everything is wrapped-up. I was shortlisted for BCG, which shortlists around 30 people, who all have a good CV. Then they start further rounds, usually, at least 4 rounds, and can have more depending on what kind of evaluation they want to proceed with. For Auctus Advisors, they shortlisted in October, then they assigned us a buddy, who is usually a person in the second year of the job. They evaluate us on the basis of different categories of cases we have to prepare for. There are mostly two kinds of cases qualitative and quantitative. Quantitative cases are usually covered in the first round of interviews which are usually taken by the buddies. There were three rounds with my buddy, one round with a Manager and one with the Director. Then they shortlisted around 10 people and these people were again interviewed by the Director on the day-1 of placements.

Runjhun: The first thing is, there are two books Day 1 and CIC (case interviews cracked) all of the cases from those books are important. The questions depend on the kind of projects the interviewers have worked on. One of the interviewers worked a lot with airlines, so he gave me a case about a new route proposed between two cities. There were several questions from my CV, on the projects that I had done. So it’s necessary that candidates know about the kind of projects the companies are working on. Also, they must be very thorough with their CV.

Runjhun: The HR round becomes much easy if you have revised your CV well. They ask you questions like “what is your story?”, your story should come out naturally and must be very grounded and wrapped up within two minutes. I covered my internships and PORs, meanwhile creating a background that though I was pursuing architecture, I was always interested in economics and entrepreneurship. I elaborated on my last intern a little bit, about the work I did and how it drove me into consulting.

Runjhun: CG is very important and PORs do play a role. What people can do is take up good projects, which they can justify and start preparing. They all must start with quant preparation, guesstimates, cases, and puzzles. These are asked frequently and they must be well prepared for that. Also probability, statistics and regression — there are a lot of questions from these in the tests that companies take. I would also suggest forming a case group (usually 4 members). Make a good CV and get it rectified by seniors.

Runjhun: I would suggest taking some PORs, and take up some good projects and courses and not sit idle.