Place yourself in the shoes of your interviewer. The objective of asking a case question is to see how the candidate thinks, how s/he can handle unexpected pressure and questioning. In most interviews, the candidate has memorized and rehearsed pat answers for general questions, such as "Tell me about yourself." The case question cut through all this detritus.
Your interviewer is looking for composure, creativity, your ability to deconstruct the problem, ask appropriate and relevant questions, stay on theme, and arrive at a recommendation consistent and congruous with the important points of the case.
The good news is that having been through at least one year of b-school, you are probably familiar with several case studies, and you have been questioned by your professors and classmates numerous times. The bad news is that your case books contain pages of data and stories, while the case question is usually just one sentence.
When your interviewer asks you a case question, the first thing you should do is take out a pen and write the question down. This helps you to ask your questions of your interviewer; you can always remind yourself of the primary question that needs to be answered.
Next, don't jump right in with your questions. Take a minute to compose yourself. Structure your line of questioning on your pad of paper. Think of what questions you need to have answered in order to make an appropriate recommendation. Think logically. Explain your assumptions. Articulate. Be confident.
Let's try a sample question....
Case question: Pizza Hut wants to know whether it should enter the Malaysian market.
Write the question down, and begin to structure your questions. Company. Environment. Customers. Competitors. Management.... What is Pizza Hut? How do they make money? (foreign exchange, pizza sales, salad sales, soft beverage sales, hard beverage sales?) Are they international? Do Malaysians eat pizza? Do they know what pizza is? Do they have a competitive product? Are there competitors in the market? What is the penetration of pizza products in the Malaysian market? What is the current Malaysian diet? Do they eat cheese? Do they drink alcohol? Do they eat out? Do they eat fast food or sit-down dinners? What sort of restaurant would Pizza Hut build in Malaysia? Would the product mix differ than in other countries? What is the government environment? Does the government require local partnerships? Can Pizza Hut source internationally? What is their international experience? Why should Pizza Hut enter Malaysia? With what Pizza Hut goal or strategy is it consistent? What is the expected ROI? Who would manage it? Then begin to ask your questions.
After about 25 minutes of questions, you should synthesize and explain your recommendation.
According to our readers (and Forbes magazine 3/24/97), below are some more questions that were recently asked of candidates:
1. Why are manhole covers round?
2. Why are soda cans tapered at the top and bottom?
3. You are working for the manager of a plastics company. The division is unprofitable and is known for poor customer service What would you do?
4. How many barbers are there in Chicago? (McKinsey)
5. How many golf balls does it take to fill an Olympic sized swimming pool? (Booz Allen & Hamilton)
6. You are in a boat in a lake holding a rock. You drop the rock into the lake. Will the water level of the lake rise?
7. You and your neighbor, who aren't necessarily friends, are planning lawn sales for the same day. You are both planning to sell the same type of used appliance in the same condition. You plan to price the appliance at $100. Your neighbor plans to sell his for $40. What do you do? (Boston Consulting Group)
8. You are in a room with three light switches. Each one controls one lightbulb in the adjacent room. You need to discover which switch controls which bulb. You may flick only two switches, and you may enter the adjacent room with the lightbulbs only once. What do you do? (Boston Consulting Group)
9. How long would it take to move Mount Fuji (Booz Allen & Hamilton)
Some potential answers:
1. A circle provides the greatest coverage using the least materials? Round covers can't fall into a round hole, but a square cover could fall into a square hole if dropped diagonally? Round covers can be rolled?
2. For stacking? Are cans made of aluminum and the tops made of tin? Is tin more expensive than aluminum and must therefore be reduced? (Dome reversal at the bottom of the can stops the pressurized aluminum can from bulging at the sides.
4. According to Forbes, the potential questions could be: How many people live in Chicago? How many are men? How many times per year does an average man get a haircut? How many heads does a barber cut per week? per year? How many barbers would be needs for full barber employment? What about vacations? etc.
5. How big is an Olympic sized pool? How big is that in cubic measurements? How big is a golf ball? See also "The packing of spheres," Scientific American, January 1984.
6. What kind of boat? Is the lake fresh water or salt water? What type of bottom does the lake have? Is it stream fed? Is the rock sedimentary or conglomerate or igneous? What is the outlet for the water?
7. Buy your neighbor's appliance for $40 and sell them both for $100 each
8. Flick on switch #1. Wait five minutes. Flick it off. Flick on switch #2. Now enter the room. The warm bulb that is off is for switch 1, etc.
9. What is the shape of Mount Fuji? What is the formula for the volume of a cone? What is the height of Mount Fuji. What is its radius? Is Mount Fuji solid? What is the volume of a dump truck? etc.
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