While the traditional case interview remains the tried-and-true method of screening potential consultants, many consulting firms are incorporating a hybrid interview into the mix: the presentation case. As a part of second or third round interview rounds, candidates may be ask to present and discuss a topic to a set of multiple interviewers. The case interview presentation could take many different forms. You might be handed a pile of papers to read through and be instructed to put together a short PowerPoint deck for discussion in an hour. Some firms ask you to complete a set of presentation slides by hand, often supplying the conclusions and key insights based on the data provided. Other firms ask you to prepare a presentation ahead of time on the topic of your choice, and one or two even make you explain a topic to your interviewers on the fly. As mentioned elsewhere in this guide, some consulting firms have been using presentations within the context of a group discussion and joint presentation for years. It is interesting to see that the trend is finally moving to the individual level.

While the traditional case interview is generally a good indicator of success in actual problem-solving, it is also an imperfect assessment in many ways. Cracking a case on the spot isn't something you normally do on the job; in reality, you will rarely need to solve a client's problems in the space of twenty minutes. The necessary data would never be available right away, and you would have normally have days or weeks to create an appropriate framework and adjust it as necessary. Firms have realized that they might be missing out on great candidates who might not do well at in the classic case interview. If you've taken a personality test like Myers-Briggs, you know by now that people process information differently. Some people are great at processing data using intuition; others need to have all of the facts and numbers before they can synthesize them. What if you weren't so great at analyzing a case on the fly and in front of a tense client, but with 10 minutes alone to reason you'd come up with a brilliant solution? Wouldn't that person make an outstanding consultant as well? Think about your peers who you feel would make highly successful consultants, yet aren't getting consulting jobs because they aren't stellar at case interviews. 4 d. E+ h# [+ L
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From the firm's perspective, the presentation case interview can give the hiring firm data that the traditional case interview cannot provide. The firm gets a slightly better sense of how you might conduct yourself interacting with a client, which is generally just as high-pressure a situation (if not more) than your typical interview situation. It also sees you in a more typical job situation, where you are given data or research summaries and you need to draw some conclusions. Finally, the firm sees your presentation skills; no matter the level, nearly all consultants do at least some presenting on every project. This tells the firm quite a bit more about how you would actually do the job. This is so useful an interview format that you'd think most consulting firms would use it. Indeed, if it weren't so time-consuming (and therefore costly) for firms to round up the number of people necessary for this process, they probably would.