What is a Case Interview Question?

A few days ago I attended a case interview workshop at our school’s career center and I thought it was a great learning experience. A case interview is a type of job interview question that allows you to demonstrate your ability to solve a problem. It is usually used by business consulting companies to see how well you are able to solve a situation under pressure. These questions are a lot different from what most people will experience in their interview. Nevertheless, I thought that it would be a great idea to share some case interview questions to show what they are like.


Vault Guides have great tips for mastering Case Interview Questions

The case interview question usually does not have a definite “right” or “correct” answer. Instead, the question is given to allow a person to demonstrate their ability and process in solving a situation. The interviewer is more interested in the steps that led up to the final answer than the answer itself. Usually, the interviewer only gives the candidate very little details of the problem so that the candidate can ask questions. For example, if the question was, “Why did the chicken cross the road?” the candidate may ask questions such as “where is the chicken?” The point for asking questions is to see what direction the candidate is going down to answer the question. Therefore, there are technically no wrong questions to ask as long as it is relevant for answering the question.

Case interview questions are difficult and nerve-racking, however, staying calm is essential to think through all the possibilities for answering the question. The questions asked are usually not very complicated, instead the questions can usually be answered with common sense, logic, and “thinking outside of the box”. Here are a few sample case interview questions, try to answer the questions as best as you can:

1. How many phone booths are in New York City?

2. Why are manhole covers round?

3. The client is a U.S. biotechnology company with one product on the market ($500MM in sales). The product is used by dialysis patients, so the target audience in nephrologists. In 6 to 12 months, the company is planning on introducing a new product to the market. The new product is for cancer patients, so the target audience is oncologists. There is one major competitor for the current product and if new product is introduced within a year, there will be no competition for at least one year. The current sales force is comprised of 100 sales representatives. Most reps joined the company to be in an entrepreneurial environment and have been selling only one product for the past 5 years. To successfully introduce the new product to the oncology market, the company will need to invest money in expanding its sales force.

The first question is usually asked to see the candidate’s ability to think logically and process numbers. The second questions is usually asked to see the candidate’s creativity and analytically. The third question is a business case question that allows the interviewer to see the candidate’s decision for answering a company’s dilemma.

Case interview questions are difficult, therefore, researching and practicing is essential to doing well in a real interview. There are many books and advices online of prior case interview questions. Studying them will help one understand the concept of thinking strategically and logically to answer the questions asked.