Business case study interview questions

HR Interview – Competency Based

As previously mentioned, this is mostly a competency based interview. You are asked questions about the situations you have faced in the past and how you have dealt with them..

The questions normally stick to the following template “Tell me about a time you had to deal with a difficult individual at work”. These questions are used to determine how you will perform in the future by looking at your past performance through real life examples. 

You are also being judged on how well you structure the answer therefore, the key here is to answer using the STAR technique:

Situation – what was the situation and when did it take place?
Task – what task was it, and what was the objective?
Action – what action did you take to achieve this?
Results – what happened as a result of your action?

The technique ensures that your answers are well structured and provide all the information required. Don’t be too vague in these questions and try to use as many different situations/examples as possible. It is better to use the most recent experience you can draw upon.

Senior Manager Interview – Skills Based
 
THe next part of the interview process is a Senior Manager interview. This part of the interview is carried out by a Senior Manager within your business area. 

The interview is mainly focused around your specific Technical expertise or domain knowledge you possess.

The interviewer here can ask varied questions about technology and your experience. 

Senior Executive Interview & Case Study
 
The final section of the interview is conducted by a Senior Executive. The main focus of this interview is your ability to digest, analyse and provide thoughts on a case study. 

However, before getting started the interviewer asked me the following questions 

Tell me about yourself
 
Why accenture?
Where do you see yourself fitting?
What are your salary expectations??

The executive also asked why I had chosen to work on the Technology that I had and some questions designed to show my thought leadership in the particular technical/business area.

This finally lead to the Case Study:

The case study I was given is detailed below:

Accenture Interview Case Study Example 

The key issues highlighted in the Case Study are as follows:

The Case Study describes two banks that have decided to merge. You are then instructed to role play and provide the opinion of a consultant who may be assisting these companies in merging successfully.
Both banks operate in different parts of the Market and use different tools. 

The Case Study describes several Ethical issues which arise from previous investments of either Bank, which are not in line with the employee view of the opposing Bank.

The Banks employees are also showing resistance to using Technology which is used by the other bank. One Bank uses cutting edge systems, where as the other uses older systems. Neither set of employees is willing to use the other Banks systems.

The Banks use different operating models and server different sectors. One bank focusing on Branch business where as the other is focused on mobile banking.

The case study also highlights that both CEOs have been kept on board and have different views on the direction of the company as a whole. 

I hope this post helps you through the process – drop a comment if you think that the case study method is a good way to gauge someone’s intellect!