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1、Case QuestionsCase questions are most commonly used in consulting interviews, but they can be used in other situations, such as in interviews for marketing positions with consumer goods companies. Simply put, a case interview is the analysis of a business question. Unlike most other interview questi
2、ons, it is an interactive process. Your interviewer will present you with a business problem and ask you for your opinion. Your job is to ask the interviewer logical questions that will permit you to make a detailed recommendation. The majority of case interviewers dont have a specific answer that y
3、ou, the candidate, are expected to give. What the interviewer is looking for is a thought process that is at once analytical and creative. Heres a sample case question: You are advising a credit card company that wants to market a prepaid phone card to its customers. Is this a good idea? You: What i
4、s the role of our company? Do we simply market the card or must we create them ourselves? Interviewer: This card will be co-marketed with an outside phone company. We dont need to perform telecommunications functions. You: What are our expenses connected with the card? Interviewer: We must pay 15 ce
5、nts for every minute we sell. We also have to pay $1.00 as a start-up cost for the card and card systems. You: What are our marketing expenses? Interviewer: We normally use slips of paper that are attached to the backs of our credit card payment envelopes. We sometimes also send customers a direct m
6、ailing - in a separate envelope. Or we can have telemarketers call selected customers. You: Whats the cost of each of these marketing techniques, and what is their response rate? Interviewer: Telemarketers have a 2 percent response rate, and cost $1.00 per call. Direct mailings cost us 40 cents per
7、mailing and have a 0.50 percent rate of response. Our payment attachments have a 0.25 rate of response, but only cost us 5 cents each. You: Im going to assume we will sell one-hour phone cards. That will cost us $9.00 for the minutes and a dollar per card - so each card costs us $10. Interviewer: Th
8、at sounds reasonable. You: And what is our expected revenue on a one-hour phone card? What is the current market rate for a 60-minute phone card? Interviewer: Assume its 50 cents a minute. You: So if we sell the cards for $30, we have a $20 profit, minus our expenditures on marketing. Interviewer: W
9、hats our cost structure look like? You: Okay, lets figure this out. To sell 1,000 cards through telemarketing, we would need to contact 50,000 people. That would cost us $50,000. To use direct mail, we would have to contact 200,000 thousand people, which, at 40 cents per mailing, costs us $80,000. S
10、ince the envelope inserts arent very reliable, we will need to contact 800,000 people using that method. But at 5 cents each, it costs only $20,000 to sell 1,000 cards. We make $20 profit on each card. But even at the cheapest promotional vehicle, at $20 profit, we would only break even, because our
11、 profits on 1,000 cards would be $20,000. We shouldnt market this card, unless we can further cut our marketing costs or increase the price of the card. If we could slice the cost of the envelope attachments a penny or so, or sell the card for $35, or convince our co-marketer to reduce our costs, it
12、 might be worth selling.Commonly-asked QuestionsCompanies these days look for more than whether youre a witty or especially cool individual when it comes to personality. Among the characteristics highest on their list are teamwork and innovation. They may not ask whether you are a team player, or cr
13、eative - doesnt mean you shouldnt go ahead and tell them. But then again, a lot of interviewers will ask you outright: tell me why your personal traits will work here.1. Why are you applying for this position? Probably the most commonly asked question at job interviews. You need to convince your int
14、erviewer that you are enthusiastic about the job. 2. Tell me about a time when you used initiative/Give me an example of when you came up with an innovative solution/Give me an example of a time you exceeded expectations. In this ever-changing world in which we work, employees are supposed to be inn
15、ovative, to be able to think outside of the box. Questions like these (such as the way the initiative question and exceeded expectations questions are worded) can be used as opportunities to talk about creative faculties - pick an instance when showing initiative meant coming up with an out-of-the-o
16、rdinary solution.3. I see on your resume that you served as chairperson of such-and-such committee. What was that experience like?Along with innovation, employers often look for leadership ability. In general, interviewers are looking for evidence of a willingness to listen, an ability to give feedback, and a firmness when it comes to getting things done. 4. What would members of your basketball team/business school co