Prospect Client Interview for Consultants

Your preliminary work has paid off: The employer wants to meet with you for an interview. But before you break out the champagne to celebrate, you’ll have more work to do. Although you might be able to impress the interviewer and get a job offer during your initial meeting, in most cases you will need to jump through a few more hoops before being offered the position.

For most consulting positions, there are at least two rounds of interviews. The first is typically a “fit” interview in which the employer is looking to see if you have the experience and personal qualities the firm is looking for. Your first round of interviews could range from two separate halfhour interviews with different members of the firm, to a lengthy panel interview. The second interview is typically a “case” interview in which you will be given problems to solve. After that, you may be called in for meetings with additional people you would be working with to ensure you would fit well with the team.

The exact number of interviews will depend on how senior the position is (more senior positions usually require meeting with more people), as well as the organization. Large firms and corporations typically require more interviews than small consulting firms.

In a small firm, the principal (the firm’s owner) frequently chairs the interview process and makes the final hiring decision. As a result, the hiring process is usually fairly direct: one or two interviews and you’re done. In many instances, a candidate can get acquainted with the principal right from the beginning, whereas with a larger employer you may not meet some of the key players until after the first interview.

This section covers both fit and case interviews, and offers advice on preparing for the interview and following up afterwards. Preparation is key to ensuring that prospective employers see you as someone who is a fit with their company. You can get ready for the interview by conducting further research, dressing professionally, and coming prepared with everything you might need during the interview.

Researching the Company

Once you’ve scheduled the interview, it’s time to learn more about the employer so that you can ask relevant questions and speak to their particular needs during the interview. Chances are, most of what you learn will not become a topic of conversation during the interview. However, the employer will be listening for evidence that you are thoroughly familiar with their company. In a recent survey of the 1,000 largest companies in the U.S. by the staffing company Accountemps, 47% of the executives polled said that the single largest mistake an interviewee can make is to display “little or no knowledge of the company” for which they were applying.

Your first stop for company information should be the company’s website. Also check out websites such as Hoovers for company overviews and histories, key people, financial information, and industry news and trends.

It’s also a good idea to catch up on current events which might have a bearing on the company with which you’re interviewing, as well as on the business world in general. Finally, review the consulting resources mentioned throughout this book so that you can be up on industry news, particularly anything related to the employer’s niche.

TIP:  Don’t forget that interviewers can research you online just as easily as you can research them. Do a Google search of your name to see what comes up.

How to Dress

Work attire for business consulting generally follows the same guidelines as that of any other corporate job. While some firms may be more casual or flexible with their expectations, it’s a good idea to walk into your interview looking like somebody who works there. After all, the impression you’re striving for is of somebody who fits in.

In a recent article on CanadianLiving.com, Roz Usheroff, a communication and image specialist, instructs, “Absolutely research the company you are going to interview with. Know their dress culture.” The single easiest way to ensure that your entrance attracts the kind of attention you’re looking for (‘Who’s the new guy?’ not ‘Who’s that?’) is to investigate the formalized dress code of the company you’re interviewing for beforehand. There are a number of ways that this information can be found.

Do you know somebody who works there, or somebody who knows somebody? Ask them about the dress code. For the more assertive, there’s always the option of taking a quick trip to the company’s parking lot as employees arrive or depart for work to get a first-hand look. Just remember to make it a quick trip; no loitering or anything conspicuous. Avoid visiting the office before your interview if the parking lot is controlled by security, requires an appointment to be on the property, or presents other obstacles which could put you in an uncomfortable predicament.

If you don’t have an opportunity to learn about the dress code or observe people who work at the company, then dress in standard corporate attire.

For women, a matching pants suit or jacket and skirt in navy, dark grey, brown or black coupled with a tailored blouse in an appropriate neutral color is a great place to start. For men, a two piece suit in navy or dark grey with a white or neutral shirt and a simple (i.e. not loud or overly trendy) tie represents a classic corporate-minded outfit. Much has been made of the tie’s necessity in an interview setting these days, but in this instance, it should be considered essential.

In the final analysis, it’s always best to use simple good judgment when weighing the options between one outfit and another, with a nod to erring on the side of the more conservative. This also applies to any jewelry, cosmetics or other accessories which might prove distracting or risk being considered flashy. And of course, be sure to follow basic “good office neighbor” hygiene in the form of groomed hair, clean nails, polished shoes, and the like. Remember, when you’re being judged on whether or not you’ll fit in, every detail counts, no matter how small.

If you’re just getting started in consulting and need to build your business wardrobe, the list on the previous page can help you plan ahead.

What to Bring

In the interest of projecting a confident demeanor when arriving for an interview, you want to appear as unencumbered as possible. However, while it would be nice to stroll in with nothing but your personality to guide you along, the fact of the matter is that it’s important to be prepared to provide some manner of documentation or proof of your skills and experience if asked. The basics of what to bring to a corporate interview include: • Several extra resumes • An updated list of personal references • Any letters of recommendation • Copies of certificates or transcripts • Copies of any career-related awards you may have received • A dozen or more personal business cards • A calculator • Your smartphone with your calendar app, but be sure your phone is set not to ring during your interview • Some basic writing supplies (two new black or blue ink pens, a sharpened pencil or two, and one each of memo and legal-size notepads) The writing supplies may become particularly handy for a consulting interview in the off chance that you are asked to take an employment test prior to your formal case interview. While pen and paper will most likely be provided, it would be important to look (and be) prepared.

Organize all of these documents and supplies in some manner of a hard or soft shell briefcase in black, brown, or some other neutral color.

Be sure to know where everything is for easy, fumble-free access before you arrive.

Visual Aids

In addition to the items listed above, one way to differentiate yourself from other applicants is by producing a visual aid or two which illustrate a particular achievement or statistic relevant to your work experience. For example, if you were responsible for increased productivity in your area, a graph showing the numbers could be valuable. Were you responsible for a particularly large project involving many distinct phases and requiring numerous employees or departments? A flow chart outlining the project from start to finish emphasizing your role in coordinating the different facets would be particularly impressive.

When employing visual aids, make sure that the presentational value is on par with the achievement. Don’t try to render the finer points of a multi-million dollar international project on a handwritten cue card. Simple, easy to read, laser or inkjet printed items on white stock is ideal. However, you don’t need to invest in an extravagant presentation which you may not have an opportunity to present.

Above all, don’t force the introduction of these visual aids into the interview process. If the opportunity to illustrate a relevant point comes up, ask for permission to present the visual, and summarize its significance in brief. Don’t try to command the floor just to prove a point, and be prepared to not present it at all if no easy segue arises.

Interview Questions

Much has been written elsewhere on the best way to approach interview questions. The scope of this section is not to attempt to provide an exhaustive list of all possible questions and answers, but rather to put you in the frame of mind where you can easily identify or tailor the nature of the question or answer to serve both your concerns and the concerns of the employer. Answering Questions During a fit interview, questions will primarily focus on your background. It may include a review of your resume, a brief overview of your personal and work experience, and a line of questions geared towards getting a better sense of who you are as a person and a potential employee. In addition to traditional questions such as “Tell me about yourself,” or “Why do you want to work for our company?” you are likely to be asked “behavioral questions” about specific past behaviors. The purpose of behavioral questions is so the employer can attempt to predict how you are likely to behave in the future.

“Tell me about a time when you experienced conflict at work,” is an example of a behavioral question. The interviewer will not be satisfied with a hypothetical answer about what you “would” do in a conflict situation. They want to hear about an actual time you experienced conflict. The purpose is not to see if you have ever had a conflict (they expect you have); the purpose is to see how well you resolve difficult situations and, if something did not work out in the past, what you learned from it.

For a consulting position, you can expect to hear behavioral questions such as: “Describe your most successful project so far. What did you do to make it a success?” and “Describe a project where something went wrong. How did you solve the problem?” When confronted with these types of questions, describe the situation, say what you did, relate the outcome, and finish with what you learned from it.

Remember that the interviewer is not just evaluating what you say, they are also evaluating how you say it to see if you have the personal traits they are looking for in a consultant. You should therefore speak confidently, communicate clearly, and assert leadership. In other words, answer as a successful business consultant. A question as seemingly innocent as, “Why is blue the world’s favorite color?” could well be looking for you to challenge certain assumptions. After all, what data asserts that blue is the world’s favorite color?

However, be mindful of “over-answering” or giving too much information in response to a question, particularly if it pertains to a fairly basic or incidental facet of business consulting, at least in the preliminary interview. The time to present a strong case full of factual assumptions and reasoned projections will come later in the formal case interview (see Case Interviews, section 5.5.3).

Asking Questions

Asking the right questions is just as important as answering them. Remember, just as your client is evaluating your fit to the role, you must also evaluate if this will be a good partnership for both parties.

The following are examples of potential areas for questioning:

• What are the major issues faced by the business?
• Is there a budget set aside for the work? This is an important question as you want to avoid spending lots of time meeting different stakeholders in the company only to find out at the end that there’s no budget set aside or approved for this engagement.
• Is there a deadline for the project? If you have other commitments or the deadline is unrealistic, it may affect the viability of the project. Therefore, you want to find this out early on in the process.
• Has your client worked with consultants in the past? What worked and what needs to be done differently?

There’s countless other questions that you can add to the list above. The main aim of this process is to find out if you are able to execute the project successfully. If you can, congratulations! – you are one step closer to getting a client on board. If you can’t, it’s imperative to find out early on and not half way through the project which can be a painful experience for both you and your client, potentially impacting your reputation.

Following Up

The anxiety inducing client interview is over. You believe it has been a good meeting and you are now eagerly waiting for a decision from the client. Reality is, sometimes you get an immediate response but typically, it’s within a week or two.

If you did not hear back within a week, go ahead and drop a polite note or a telephone call to follow up. Do not sound desperate and be professional. If the response is vague or you’re given a moving goal post in terms deadline for a final decision, it may mean one of two things: (1) you did not get the gig or (2) the project was scrapped. The latter is possible especially if the budget has not been approved yet, as we talked about in the section above. Do not take the rejection personally. As in any business, it’s simply unrealistic to expect outcome in your favour 100% of the time. If this happens it’s time to move on…