PROBLEM SOLVING PROCESS
Clarify
Structure
Analyse
Conclude
Goal
Understand question
Agree major points
Gather /analyse facts
Develop
recommendation
Tips
• Listen carefully
• Ask questions
• Paraphrase
to confirm
• Describe your overall
approach (i.e., don’t
go into details straight
away)
• Keep it simple
• Use a framework if
appropriate
• Agree priority issues
• Make estimations
• Work together
(e.g., ask questions,
watch for hints)
• ‘Synthesise’ your answers
• Discuss trade-offs
• Relate back to question
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LAST MINUTE INTERVIEW HINTS
Things to keep in mind
Some common mistakes
1. Listen to the problem – make sure you are answering the question
that you have been asked to answer
1. Misunderstanding the questions or answering the wrong question
2. Structure your answer up front – think of a structure for 4-5 key
questions that you need to answer in order to answer the overall issue
3. Proceed in a organised fashion – finish one key question of the
structure and arrive at a point of view on it before you go onto the next
4. Step back periodically – summarise what you have learned and what
the implications appear to be
5. Communicate your train of thought – even if you have considered some
alternatives and rejected them, tell the interviewer what and why
6. Ask for information judiciously – make sure that the interviewer knows
why you need the information
2. Proceeding in a haphazard fashion, i.e., not identifying the major
issues that need to be examined or jumping from one issue to another
3. Barraging the interviewer with questions without explaining why you
need the information
4. Force-fitting a familiar business framework to a case question, whether
or not it is remotely relevant (or misapplying a relevant business
framework that you do not really understand), rather than simply using
common sense
5. Not being able to draw a sensible conclusion or point of view based on
the information provided by the interviewer
7. Watch for cues from the interviewer and keep an open mind
8. Do not try to "crack the case" – it is much more important to clearly
demonstrate a logical thought process than to arrive at the solution
9. Use business judgment and common sense
10. Relax and enjoy the process, think of the interviewer as a teammate
in a problem solving process and the case as a real client problem
that you need to solve
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