case study bain and company

47 case interview examples (from McKinsey, BCG, Bain, etc.)

One of the best ways to prepare for   case interviews  at firms like McKinsey, BCG, or Bain, is by studying case interview examples. 

There are a lot of free sample cases out there, but it's really hard to know where to start. So in this article, we have listed all the best free case examples available, in one place.

The below list of resources includes interactive case interview samples provided by consulting firms, video case interview demonstrations, case books, and materials developed by the team here at IGotAnOffer. Let's continue to the list.

• McKinsey examples
• BCG examples
• Bain examples
• Deloitte examples
• Other firms' examples
• Case books from consulting clubs
• Case interview preparation

Click here to practise 1-on-1 with MBB ex-interviewers

1. mckinsey case interview examples.

• Beautify case interview (McKinsey website)
• Diconsa case interview (McKinsey website)
• Electro-light case interview (McKinsey website)
• GlobaPharm case interview (McKinsey website)
• National Education case interview (McKinsey website)
• Talbot Trucks case interview (McKinsey website)
• Shops Corporation case interview (McKinsey website)
• Conservation Forever case interview (McKinsey website)
• McKinsey case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)
• Profitability case with ex-McKinsey manager (by IGotAnOffer)
• McKinsey live case interview extract (by IGotAnOffer) - See below

2. BCG case interview examples

• Foods Inc and GenCo case samples  (BCG website)
• Chateau Boomerang written case interview  (BCG website)
• BCG case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)
• Written cases guide (by IGotAnOffer)
• BCG live case interview with notes (by IGotAnOffer)
• BCG mock case interview with ex-BCG associate director - Public sector case (by IGotAnOffer)
• BCG mock case interview: Revenue problem case (by IGotAnOffer) - See below

3. Bain case interview examples

• CoffeeCo practice case (Bain website)
• FashionCo practice case (Bain website)
• Associate Consultant mock interview video (Bain website)
• Consultant mock interview video (Bain website)
• Written case interview tips (Bain website)
• Bain case interview guide   (by IGotAnOffer)
• Digital transformation case with ex-Bain consultant
• Bain case mock interview with ex-Bain manager (below)

4. Deloitte case interview examples

• Engagement Strategy practice case (Deloitte website)
• Recreation Unlimited practice case (Deloitte website)
• Strategic Vision practice case (Deloitte website)
• Retail Strategy practice case  (Deloitte website)
• Finance Strategy practice case  (Deloitte website)
• Talent Management practice case (Deloitte website)
• Enterprise Resource Management practice case (Deloitte website)
• Footloose written case  (by Deloitte)
• Deloitte case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

5. Accenture case interview examples

• Case interview workbook (by Accenture)
• Accenture case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

6. OC&C case interview examples

• Leisure Club case example (by OC&C)
• Imported Spirits case example (by OC&C)

7. Oliver Wyman case interview examples

• Wumbleworld case sample (Oliver Wyman website)
• Aqualine case sample (Oliver Wyman website)
• Oliver Wyman case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

8. A.T. Kearney case interview examples

• Promotion planning case question (A.T. Kearney website)
• Consulting case book and examples (by A.T. Kearney)
• AT Kearney case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

9. Strategy& / PWC case interview examples

• Presentation overview with sample questions (by Strategy& / PWC)
• Strategy& / PWC case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

10. L.E.K. Consulting case interview examples

• Case interview example video walkthrough   (L.E.K. website)
• Market sizing case example video walkthrough  (L.E.K. website)

11. Roland Berger case interview examples

• Transit oriented development case webinar part 1  (Roland Berger website)
• Transit oriented development case webinar part 2   (Roland Berger website)
• 3D printed hip implants case webinar part 1   (Roland Berger website)
• 3D printed hip implants case webinar part 2   (Roland Berger website)
• Roland Berger case interview guide   (by IGotAnOffer)

12. Capital One case interview examples

• Case interview example video walkthrough  (Capital One website)
• Capital One case interview guide (by IGotAnOffer)

12. EY Parthenon case interview examples

• Candidate-led case example with feedback (by IGotAnOffer)

14. Consulting clubs case interview examples

• Berkeley case book (2006)
• Columbia case book (2006)
• Darden case book (2012)
• Darden case book (2018)
• Duke case book (2010)
• Duke case book (2014)
• ESADE case book (2011)
• Goizueta case book (2006)
• Illinois case book (2015)
• LBS case book (2006)
• MIT case book (2001)
• Notre Dame case book (2017)
• Ross case book (2010)
• Wharton case book (2010)

5. How to practise case interviews

We've coached more than 15,000 people for interviews since 2018. There are essentially three activities you can do to practice case interviews. Here’s what we've learned about each of them.

5.1 Practise by yourself

Learning by yourself is an essential first step. We recommend you make full use of the free prep resources on our consulting blog and also watch some mock case interviews on our YouTube channel . That way you can see what an excellent answer looks like.

Once you’re in command of the subject matter, you’ll want to practice answering cases. But by yourself, you can’t simulate thinking on your feet or the pressure of performing in front of a stranger. Plus, there are no unexpected follow-up questions and no feedback.

That’s why many candidates try to practice with friends or peers.

5.2 Practise with peers

If you have friends or peers who can do mock interviews with you, that's an option worth trying. It’s free, but be warned, you may come up against the following problems:

• It’s hard to know if the feedback you get is accurate
• They’re unlikely to have insider knowledge of interviews at your target company
• On peer platforms, people often waste your time by not showing up

For those reasons, many candidates skip peer mock interviews and go straight to mock interviews with an expert. 

5.3 Practise with experienced MBB interviewers

In our experience, practising real interviews with experts who can give you company-specific feedback makes a huge difference.

Find a consulting interview coach so you can:

• Test yourself under real interview conditions
• Get accurate feedback from a real expert
• Build your confidence
• Get company-specific insights
• Learn how to tell the right stories, better.
• Save time by focusing your preparation

Landing a job at a top consulting company often results in a $50,000 per year or more increase in total compensation. In our experience, three or four coaching sessions worth ~$500 will make a significant difference in your ability to land the job. That’s an ROI of 100x!

Click here to book case interview coaching with experienced MBB interviewers.

Related articles:

• Hacking the Case Interview

Bain case interviews are the most difficult part of the interview process. Bain interviews include case interviews , behavioral or fit interview questions, and written case interviews for some offices. You will need to pass every single Bain case interview in order to land a Bain job offer. 

If you have an upcoming Bain case interview, don't worry because we have you covered.

I'm a former Bain Manager and interviewer and in this article, I'll cover exactly what to expect in your upcoming Bain interview and how to crush your Bain case interviews.

Specifically, we’ll go through in detail:  

• The Bain interview process
• What is a Bain case interview?
• What does a Bain case interview assess?
• How to solve a Bain case interview
• The most common types of Bain case  interviews
• Bain case interview examples
• Bain case interview tips
• How to prepare for Bain case interviews
• How to solve Bain written case interviews
• Bain written case interview tips
• Bain behavioral and fit interview questions
• Recommended Bain case interview resources

If you’re looking for a step-by-step shortcut to learn case interviews quickly, enroll in our case interview course . These insider strategies from a former Bain interviewer helped 30,000+ land consulting offers while saving hundreds of hours of prep time.

The Bain Interview Process

The Bain interview process has the following steps:  

1. Resume and cover letter screening

Bain’s resume and Bain's  cover letter screening is similar to other consulting firms. Two or three weeks after the application deadline, you should hear back from Bain on whether or not you have been invited to a first round interview.

2. Bain math test  (only used by a few offices in South America)

In a few offices in South America, Bain uses math tests to screen candidates before interviews. For the vast majority of candidates, you will not need to worry about taking a test.

There are two types of tests. The first one is based on questions that are similar to GMAT questions, a graduate level exam for entry into business school. You’ll have 25 minutes to complete 15 critical reasoning, data sufficiency, and problem solving questions.

The second type of test is similar to the McKinsey PST and BCG Potential Test. You’ll get two business cases with text, charts, graphs, and tables. You’ll have 45 minutes to answer 15 questions.

3. First round interviews

First round interviews consist of two 40-minute interviews. The interview may start off with one or two behavioral or fit interview questions, but the majority of the time will be spent on the case interview. You'll be interviewed by a mix of Senior Associate Consultants, Consultants, Managers, or Senior Managers.

4. Final round interviews

After your first round interviews, you should hear back from Bain within a week or two on whether you have been invited for a second round or final round interview.

Final round interviews consist of two to three 40-minute interviews. One of the interviews will be focused on behavioral and fit interview questions with a mini-case if there is time. The remaining interviews will focus primarily on case interviews. You'll be interviewed by a mix of Senior Managers, Associate Partners, and Partners.

In some countries, Bain uses a written case interview in their second round of interviews. You’ll be given 90 minutes to review a 20-page packet of information to fill in 5 pre-made slides.

After completing your final round interviews, you should hear back from Bain within a week on whether or not you are being extended an offer.

What is a Bain Case Interview?

A Bain case interview, also known as a “case” for short, is a 30 to 60-minute exercise in which you and the interviewer work together to develop a recommendation or answer to a business problem.

These business problems can be anything that real companies face:

• How can Amazon increase its profitability?
• What can Apple do to increase customer retention?
• How should Tesla price its new electric vehicle?
• Where should Disney open another Disneyland theme park?

Bain case interviews simulate what the consulting job will be like by placing you in a hypothetical business situation. Cases simulate real business problems that consulting firms solve for their clients. Many Bain case interviews are based on actual projects that interviewers have worked on.

While consulting projects typically last between 3 to 9 months, case interviews condense solving the business problem into just 30 to 45 minutes.

Bain case interviews can cover any industry, including retail, consumer packaged goods, financial services, energy, education, healthcare, government, and technology.

They can also cover a wide range of business situations, including entering a new market, launching a new product, acquiring a company, improving profitability, and growing revenues.

Although Bain case interviews cover a wide range of industries and business situations, no technical or specialized knowledge is needed.

Unless you are interviewing for a consulting firm that specializes in a particular industry or function, cases are designed to be solved by someone that has general business knowledge.

Nailing your Bain case interviews is critical to get a job at Bain. There is no way to get a Bain job offer without passing your case interviews.

What Does a Bain Case Interview Assess?

Bain case interviews assess five different qualities or characteristics: logical and structured thinking, analytical problem solving, business acumen, communication skills, and personality and cultural fit.

1. Logical and structured thinking : Consultants need to be organized and methodical in order to work efficiently.

• Can you structure complex problems in a clear, simple way?
• Can you take tremendous amounts of information and data and identify the most important points?
• Can you use logic and reason to make appropriate conclusions?

2. Analytical problem solving : Consultants work with a tremendous amount of data and information in order to develop recommendations to complex problems.

• Can you read and interpret data well?
• Can you perform math computations smoothly and accurately?
• Can you conduct the right analyses to draw the right conclusions?

3. Business acumen : A strong business instinct helps consultants make the right decisions and develop the right recommendations.

• Do you have a basic understanding of fundamental business concepts?
• Do your conclusions and recommendations make sense from a business perspective?

4. Communication skills : Consultants need strong communication skills to collaborate with teammates and clients effectively.

• Can you communicate in a clear, concise way?
• Are you articulate in what you are saying?

5. Personality and cultural fit : Consultants spend a lot of time working closely in small teams. Having a personality and attitude that fits with the team makes the whole team work better together.

• Are you coachable and easy to work with?
• Are you pleasant to be around?

All of these five qualities can be assessed in just a 30 to 60-minute Bain case interview. This is what makes case interviews so effective in assessing consulting candidates.

How to Solve a Bain Case Interview

Bain case interviews are candidate-led. This means that you will be expected to lead the direction of the case. You will propose what areas to investigate, what analyses to do, and what the next step should be.

There are six steps to solve any Bain case interview.

1. Listen to the case

The case will start with the interviewer giving you the case background information. During this step, make sure you are taking notes on the most important pieces of information. You should focus on understanding the context, company, and the objective.

2. Verify the objective

Understanding the business problem and objective is the most important step of the case interview. Answering the wrong business question is the quickest way to fail a case interview.

Therefore, you should ask clarifying questions to better understand the business situation and issue. Make sure that you confirm the objective of the case with the interviewer. This will ensure that you start the case on the right track.

3. Create a framework

Next, create a framework to help you tackle the business problem. A framework is a tool that helps you structure and break down complex problems into simpler, smaller components. Think of a framework as brainstorming different ideas and organizing them neatly into different categories.

Walk the interviewer through your framework. They may ask a few questions or provide some feedback.

For a complete guide on how to create tailored and unique frameworks for each case, check out our article on case interview frameworks .

4. Develop a hypothesis

After creating a framework, you should develop a hypothesis that answers the business problem. A hypothesis is an educated guess on the answer based on the data and information that you have so far.

Your hypothesis does not need to be correct because you’ll be continuously testing and refining your hypothesis throughout the case. The purpose of having a hypothesis is to guide your analysis and ensure that you are spending your time answering the right questions.

5. Test your hypothesis

The majority of the case will be spent testing your hypothesis. 

Sometimes, your hypothesis will be completely wrong and you’ll need to develop another hypothesis to test. Other times, your hypothesis may be correct, but you’ll need to refine and narrow down your hypothesis further.

Throughout this process, you’ll likely be answering a mix of quantitative and qualitative questions. Make sure that after each question, you explain how your answer impacts your hypothesis and state your new hypothesis.

6. Deliver a recommendation

In the last step of the case interview, you’ll present your recommendation and provide the major reasons that support it. It is also good to include potential next steps that you would take if you had more time or data.

The Most Common Types of Bain Case Interviews

While you can be given any kind of business situation or problem, there are three types of cases that are by far the most common in Bain case interviews:  

• Profitability case
• Market entry case
• Merger and acquisition case

Bain Profitability Case Interview

A Bain profitability case interview might look like this: 

“An electric car manufacturer has recently been experiencing a decline in profits. What is causing this decline and what should they do?”

There are three steps to solving a profitability case.

First, you need to understand quantitatively, what is the driver causing the decline in profits? Is the decline in profitability due to a decline in revenue, an increase in costs, or both?

Next, you need to understand qualitatively, what factors are driving the decline in profitability that you identified in the previous step. You’ll likely need to look at customers, competition, and the market to understand why this decline is happening.

Have customer needs or preferences changed? Have new competitors entered the market? Are there new technology or regulatory changes?

Once you have identified why the decline is happening, you can brainstorm potential solutions and prioritize the solution that is the most effective and practical.

Bain Market Entry Case Interview

A Bain market entry case interview might look like this: 

“ Facebook  is considering entering the smartphone market in the United States. Should they enter?”

For market entry cases, there are typically four major areas you want to investigate in order to develop a recommendation:  

• Market attractiveness: Is this an attractive market to entry?
• Competitive landscape: How strong are competitors and how easy is it to capture meaningful market share?
• Company capabilities: Does the company have the capabilities to successfully enter the market?
• Financial implications: Will the company achieve its financial goals or targets from entering the market?

After determining whether or not the company should enter the market, you can look into potential risks, the market entry strategy, or explore alternative options that the company has. What you choose to do depends on the context of the case.

Bain Merger and Acquisition Case Interview

A Bain merger and acquisition case interview might look like this: 

“Walmart is considering acquiring a company that provides an online platform for small businesses to sell their products. Should they make this acquisition?”

For merger and acquisition cases, you first want to understand the reason why the company is looking to make an acquisition. For example, are they trying to gain access to more customers, acquire intellectual property, realize synergies, or diversify sources of revenue?

Next, there are generally four major areas you want to investigate in order to develop a recommendation:

• Market attractiveness: Is the market that the acquisition target plays in attractive?
• Company attractiveness: Is the acquisition target an attractive company?
• Synergies: Are there significant revenue and cost synergies that can be realized?
• Financial implications: What are the expected financial gains or return on investment from this acquisition?

Afterwards, you can consider potential risks or consider alternative acquisition targets. What you choose to do depends on the context of the case.

Bain Case Interview Examples

Bain provides a few videos that show what their case interviews might look like:

1. Food Co. is a multi-billion dollar client that is looking to enter the alternative milk category. They are trying to determine what is the best way to enter the alternative milk market.

2. PrintCo case interview example : Market entry case focused on helping a restaurant menu printing company decide whether to enter the electronic restaurant menu market. This case is in a video format and is helpful in understanding what an associate consultant-level interview looks like (post-undergraduate role).

3. A company is looking to introduce a revolutionary 3D television. They are trying to determine the market opportunity and how they would go about designing the product and entering the market.

Bain also provides two practice cases that you can do on your own. We've also included our own videos covering how to solve every step of these practice cases.

1. CoffeeCo case interview practice : Market entry case focused on helping a friend decide whether she should open a coffee shop in Cambridge, England.

2. FashionCo case interview practice : Profitability case focused on identifying how a fashion retailer can increase revenues.

For more practice, check out our article on 23 MBA consulting casebooks with 700+ free practice cases .

Bain Case Interview Tips

Here are six Bain case interview tips you should follow to improve your Bain case interview performance:

Tip #1: Don’t rely on using memorized frameworks

Interviewers can tell when you are using memorized frameworks because not all of the elements of your framework will be relevant to the case. You can make yourself stand out from other candidates by creating customized frameworks for each case. 

Tip #2: Have a hypothesis-driven approach

A phrase you’ll often hear Bain consultants use is “answer-first.” Bain consultants develop a preliminary answer before they begin solving a case.

In your Bain case interview, you should do the same thing. State a hypothesis in the beginning of the case based on the limited knowledge that you have. As you answer quantitative and qualitative questions, continue to adapt and refine your hypothesis.

Tip #3: Answer “so what?” after every question

Throughout the case, make sure you are connecting each of your answers back to the overall business problem or question. What implications does your answer have on the overall business problem?

Many candidates make the mistake of answering case questions correctly, but they don’t take the initiative to tie their answer back to the case objective.

Tip #4: Structure your approach before doing any math calculations

When given a quantitative problem to solve, resist the temptation to start crunching numbers immediately. Instead, take the time to write out an approach and walk the interviewer through it. This will help you avoid making unnecessary calculations or reaching a dead-end.

Tip #5: Talk through your calculations out loud

Talking through your calculations out loud provides two benefits. One, it makes it easy for the interviewer to follow your work. If they know exactly what you are doing, they can provide feedback or hints if you get stuck. Two, talking through your calculations out loud decreases the likelihood of you making math mistakes.

Tip #6: Be enthusiastic

Bain wants to hire candidates that love their job and will work hard. Displaying enthusiasm shows that you are passionate about consulting and working at Bain. Having a high level of enthusiasm and energy also makes the interview more enjoyable for the interviewer. They’ll be more likely to have a positive impression of you.

How to Prepare for Bain Case Interviews

There are seven steps to preparing for Bain case interviews.

1. Understand what a case interview is

The first step in preparing for Bain case interviews is to understand exactly what case interviews are.

When you are familiar with what case interviews are, it is important to know what a great Bain case interview performance looks like.

Knowing what a great Bain case interview performance looks like will facilitate how quickly you learn case interview strategies in the next step.

Before continuing onto the next step, you should be familiar with:

• The overall objective of a case interview
• The structure and flow of a case interview
• The types of questions you could get asked
• What a great case interview performance looks like

2. Learn the right strategies

Now that you have sufficient background knowledge, the next step in preparing for Bain case interviews is to learn the right strategies to build good case interview habits.

It is much more effective to learn the right case strategies the first time than to learn poor strategies and try to correct them later.

The quickest, most efficient way to learn these strategies is to go through our Comprehensive Case Interview Course .

If you prefer reading case interview prep books instead, the three I recommend are:

• The Ultimate Case Interview Workbook
• Case Interview Secrets

Hacking the Case Interview provides strategies on exactly what to do and what to say in every step of the case interview. It is a concise and straight to the point guide. I recommend this book as the first book to read for beginners.

Case Interview Secrets teaches core concepts such as the issue tree , drill-down analysis, and a hypothesis driven approach. It illustrates these concepts through stories and anecdotes. If you have read Hacking the Case Interview, I recommend also reading this book to get perspectives from a second author. Check out our full review of Case Interview Secrets .

Case in Point provides a ton of specific and complex frameworks. However, you likely won’t be using many of these in an actual case interview because many of them are overly complex and specific. If you have time, it may be useful to skim through this book. Check out our full review of Case in Point .

At the bare minimum, read either the first or second book. If you have the time, read the first two books so that you can get strategies from two different authors.

Make sure to spend sufficient time learning the right strategies before starting to practice cases. It is ineffective to practice cases if you have no idea what strategies to practice and refine.

Before moving onto the next step, you should at least have strategies for the following parts of a case interview:

• Developing unique and tailored frameworks
• Solving quantitative problems
• Answering qualitative questions
• Delivering a recommendation

3. Practice 3-5 cases by yourself

Once you have learned the right strategies, the next step in Bain case interview prep is to practice.

When practicing case interviews, it is usually better to practice with a case interview partner than to practice by yourself . Casing with a partner better simulates the real case interview experience.

However, when you are just starting to practice, I recommend doing the first 3 – 5 cases by yourself.

There are three reasons for this:

• You can get the hang of the case interview structure and format much more quickly working by yourself rather than having to wait to schedule a time with a partner
• There are many aspects of case interviews that you can practice without a partner, such as structuring a framework and solving quantitative problems. You can get much more practice working through these parts by yourself
• You may have difficulty finding a case interview partner if you are a complete beginner. Without having done any cases, you likely won’t know how to properly give a case or provide good feedback

4. Practice 5-10 cases with a partner

The next step in preparing for Bain case interviews is to case with a partner.

Casing with a partner is the best way to simulate a real case interview. There are many aspects of case interviews that you won’t be able to improve on unless you practice live with a partner.

When practicing cases with a partner, ensure you are spending enough time after cases to deliver feedback.

For a case that takes around 30 – 40 minutes, spend at least 15 – 20 minutes for feedback. Much of your learning and improvement will come from these feedback sessions.

Do not move onto the next step until you have done at least 5 – 10 cases and are beginning to feel comfortable with case interviews.

5. Practice with a former or current consultant

At this point, I highly recommend asking former or current consultants to give you a practice case. This will significantly help you prepare for case interviews.

Doing a mock case with a former or current consultant is highly advantageous because they know exactly how to run cases and give feedback. You’ll receive incredibly helpful feedback that your previous case partners likely missed.

If you feel that you are plateauing with your case partner, that is a sign you should do a mock case interview with a former or current consultant.

You can find former or current consultants among:

• People you met during the consulting recruiting process
• Your broader LinkedIn network

I would not ask a consultant that is involved with the consulting recruiting process for a case too prematurely. Although these practice cases are not evaluative, some firms will actually make note of how well you perform during the practice case.

At this point, you will have accumulated a long list of improvement areas from all of the different people you have cased with.

6. Work on your improvement areas

In this step of preparing for Bain case interviews, you will work on strengthening and fine-tuning your improvement areas. Examples of common improvement areas include:

• Creating a more complete and mutually exclusive framework
• Performing math calculations quicker or more smoothly
• Providing more structure to your qualitative answers
• Leading the case more proactively
• Delivering a more succinct recommendation

Try to focus on improving one thing at a time. This is much more effective than trying to improve everything at once.

For some areas, such as math, it will be better to work independently. For other areas, such as learning to proactively lead the case, it will be better to work with a case partner.

If you are looking for more cases, look at the resources listed in step four. If you are looking for specific drills or practice problems for a particular part of a case interview, check out The Ultimate Case Interview Workbook .

Do not move onto the next step until you have finished working on all of your improvement areas.

7. Stay sharp

If you have progressed this far, congratulations! You have almost finished preparing for Bain case interviews.

Once you feel that you have no more improvement areas to work on, the key is to not burn yourself out by doing too many unnecessary cases.

While each case that you do makes you slightly better, there is a point when doing too many cases can create case fatigue right before your interview. Case fatigue can negatively impact your interview performance.

On the other hand, you also don’t want to go weeks without having done a case. You may end up forgetting strategies or become rusty and slow.

Once you have achieved case mastery, I recommend doing no more than 2 cases per week in the weeks leading up to your interview. This ensures that you remain sharp for case interviews, but don’t have case fatigue.

How to Solve Bain Written Case Interviews

Bain written case interviews are used by several offices as part of the consultant and summer associate second-round interviews.

The written case interview will require you to develop a recommendation based on a business situation and problem. There is no one right answer or recommendation for these cases. The goal is to present a structured, well-supported recommendation and to participate in a rich discussion with the interviewer.

According to Bain, here’s how the written case interview is structured:

• Bain will provide you with 20 to 30 PowerPoint slides describing a client’s situation
• You will have 55 minutes to review the slides and handwrite a brief recommendation before the interview begins
• You will then have 40 minutes to present and discuss your recommendations with the interviewer, who may challenge your assumptions and ask follow-up questions

Follow these eight steps to ace your Bain written case interview.

1. Understand the business problem and objective

The first step in completing a written case interview is to understand what the objective is. What is the primary business question you are trying to answer with the data and information provided?

2. Read the list of major questions

Some written case interviews will provide you with a list of 3 – 4 key questions that you will be expected to address or answer. Read through these questions first since these will be the questions that you will want to prioritize.

If the written case interview is more open-ended and does not provide you with a list of key questions, skip this step and move onto the next step.  

3. Skim the materials

Next, flip through the information packet that is provided to see what information is available. Identify what data you have and what data you do not have.

The goal in this step is not to read and analyze every slide. That would take too much time. Instead, by seeing what information exists, you will be able to better prioritize what you spend your time reading and analyzing.

4. Create a framework

Before you begin reading and analyzing the information in the slides in more detail, you should create a basic framework to help guide your analysis. If you are provided with a list of key questions or pre-filled slide templates, then this will likely be the foundation of your framework.

Else, based on what information exists in the information packet, identify the three to four key questions you need to answer or investigate.

5. Read and analyze the material 

Afterwards, read and analyze the information that is relevant to each area of your framework. As you begin answering questions and drawing insights, make sure to write a one or two sentence summary. This will make it easier to decide on a recommendation later.

6. Decide on a recommendation

Review the list of key takeaways that you have summarized from answering all of the major questions in your framework. Decide on what recommendation these findings collectively support.

Remember that there is typically no right or wrong recommendation. As long as your recommendation is supported by data and evidence, you will be in great shape.

7. Create your slides

Once you have a recommendation, it is time to start filling in your slides. Usually, Bain provides slide templates that you will need to fill in.

If no slide templates are provided, you should use the following structure when creating your slides:

• Slide 1: Present your recommendation and the three reasons that support it
• Slide 2: Present your first reason and the data that supports it
• Slide 3: Present your second reason and the data that supports it
• Slide 4: Present your third reason and the data that supports it
• Slide 5: Summarize everything that you’ve covered so far
• Slide 6: Propose potential next steps

8. Prepare for potential questions

If you have any time remaining, brainstorm potential questions the interviewer may ask you during your presentation. They may want to know how you performed your analysis or how you reached your conclusions.

Preparing for these potential questions will help your presentation go much more smoothly. You will also feel much more confident while presenting.

For a full guide on written case interviews, check out our consulting written case interview step-by-step guide .

Bain Written Case interview Tips

Here are five tips that Bain recommends following to complete your written case interview successfully.

Tip #1: Prioritize your time

You may not have enough time to read everything in the information packet provided to you. Therefore, prioritize your time by focusing on identifying the most important issues. Then, spend your time getting answers to the most important questions that have the greatest impact on your recommendation.

Tip #2: Be concise in the messaging of your slides

It can be tempting to overload your slides with every piece of information that you learn. Instead, outline the most important points that you want to make. Make your slides concise and focused on illustrating the most important findings and takeaways.

Tip #3: Be prepared to do math and conduct analyses

Part of the written case interview will likely involve doing analysis with the numbers that are provided. Do the math that is required and double check your calculations.

Tip #4: Have a practical recommendation

Make sure that your recommendation can actually be implemented in a reasonable amount of time. You can demonstrate sound business judgment by recommending a course of action that is not only effective, but pragmatic. 

Tip #5: Build counter-arguments to potential objections to your recommendation

You can strengthen your recommendation by looking at the major reasons that support the opposite recommendation. If you can acknowledge these points and build counter-arguments to them, you’ll have an easier time defending your recommendation when the interviewer challenges your assumptions and recommendation later.

Bain Behavioral and Fit Interview Questions

Each of your Bain interviews may start with the interviewer asking you traditional resume questions to get a better understanding of your background, interests, and career goals.

Some interviewers may ask specific questions on your professional or academic experiences. You may be asked to describe a project that you worked on and elaborate on the approach you took to solve a problem.

In addition to these questions, your interviewer may also ask a behavioral question, which asks you to describe past experiences and how you handled them. Interviewers want to know that you have displayed qualities of successful consultants in your previous experiences.

Bain suggests preparing answers to these ten behavioral and fit interview questions:

1.  Why are you interested in Bain?

How to answer: Have at least three compelling reasons why you are interested in Bain. Among the top three consulting firms, Bain is best known for its incredibly fun and supportive culture. Bain is also the clear leader in private equity consulting work. In addition, you can mention Bain’s focus on mentorship and local staffing model to build stronger office communities. 

2. What experience are you most proud of?

How to answer: Choose your most impressive, unique, or memorable accomplishment. Structure your answer by providing information on the situation, the task, the actions you took, and the results of your work. Make sure you talk about your accomplishment with passion.

3. What experience do you wish you could do over, and how would you do it differently?

How to answer: For this question, Bain is looking to see if you have a growth mindset and whether you continuously look for opportunities to grow and improve yourself. Pick a meaningful experience in which you felt that you did not take full advantage of. Speak to what you hope you could have learned from doing the experience over again.

4. What is a difficult decision you’ve made in the last year?

How to answer: For this question, Bain is looking to see how you make difficult decisions. You could pick an experience in which you used tremendous amounts of data to make an informed decision. You could also pick an experience in which you had to reconcile differing opinions from different groups of people. Show Bain how you tackled and thought through these decisions.

5. What is an example of a time when you showed initiative and leadership?

How to answer: Pick an example of a time when you were in a leadership role and went above and beyond expectations. Make sure to emphasize the steps that you took that demonstrated initiative and leadership. Also, quantify the results and impact of your work.

6. What aspects of your internship did you especially enjoy?

How to answer: Mention qualities of your internship that you’ll likely also experience at Bain. You can speak to how you enjoyed working closely in small teams, how you were energized by the opportunity to make a meaningful impact, or how you felt fulfillment from helping other teams achieve their goals. 

7. What aspects of your internship did you like less?

How to answer: For this question, avoid bringing up aspects that are critical to being a successful consultant. For example, don’t say that you did not enjoy working in teams or working with large quantities of data. 

You should mention aspects that you didn’t like that consulting would fulfill. For example, you can mention how you would have liked to make more of an impact or have more ownership and responsibility. 

8. What do you most like to do in your free time?

How to answer: Bain asks this question to see if you are a fun person that has a life outside of school and work. This is a great opportunity to mention hobbies and interests that you have won awards or recognition for. Avoid mentioning generic hobbies and pick interests that are unique and memorable.

9. What attributes would you bring to a case team?

How to answer: Identify three attributes that make you stand out relative to your peers. You can mention qualities such as initiative, energy, compassion, mentorship, or positivity. Provide examples to make these claims more credible.

10. Describe a role where you changed the direction of a team. How did you do it?

How to answer: For this question, the interviewer wants to see evidence of leadership. Focus on explaining the steps that you took to change the direction of the team and then highlight the results and impact of your work. You may need to speak about your leadership style and how you were able to motivate or persuade others.

For a step-by-step guide on how to best answer all of these questions and more, check out our complete guide on consulting behavioral interview questions .

Recommended Bain Case Interview Resources

Bain case interview books.

After free resources, the next cheapest option to preparing for Bain case interviews are case interview prep books.

Case interview prep books are great resources to use because they are fairly inexpensive, only costing $20 to $30. They contain a tremendous amount of information that you can read, digest, and re-read at your own pace.

Based on our comprehensive review of the 12 popular case interview prep books , we ranked nearly all of the case prep books in the market.

The three case interview prep books we recommend using are:

• Hacking the Case Interview (available on Amazon): Perfect for beginners that are short on time. Transform yourself from a stressed-out case interview newbie to a confident intermediate in under a week. Some readers finish this book in a day and can already tackle tough cases.
• The Ultimate Case Interview Workbook (available on Amazon): Perfect for beginners that are short on time. Transform yourself from a stressed-out case interview newbie to a confident intermediate in under a week. Some readers finish this book in a day and can already tackle tough cases.
• Case Interview Secrets (available on Amazon): This book provides great explanations of essential case interview concepts and fundamentals. The stories and anecdotes that the author provides are entertaining and help paint a clear picture of what to expect in a case interview, what interviewers are looking for, and how to solve a case interview.

Bain Case Interview Online Courses

Case interview courses are more expensive to use than case interview prep books, but offer more efficient and effective learning. 

You’ll learn much more quickly from watching someone teach you the material, provide examples, and then walk through practice problems than from reading a book by yourself.

Courses typically cost anywhere between $200 to $400.

If you are looking for a single resource to learn the best Bain case interview strategies in the most efficient way possible, enroll in our case interview course .

Through 70+ concise video lessons and 20 full-length practice cases based on real interviews from top-tier consulting firms, you’ll learn step-by-step how to crush your Bain case interview.

We’ve had students pass their Bain first round interview with just a week of preparation, but know that your success depends on the amount of effort you put in and your starting capabilities.

Bain Case Interview Coaching

With case interview coaching, you’ll pay anywhere between $100 to $300 for a one-hour mock case interview session with a case coach. Typically, case coaches are former consultants or interviewers that have worked at top-tier consulting firms.

Although very expensive, case interview coaching can provide you with high quality feedback that can significantly improve your case interview performance. 

By working with a case coach, you will be practicing high quality cases with an expert. You’ll get detailed feedback that ordinary case interview partners are not able to provide.

Know that you do not need to purchase case interview coaching to receive a consulting job offer. 

The vast majority of candidates that receive offers from top firms did not purchase case interview coaching. By purchasing case interview coaching, you are essentially purchasing convenience and learning efficiency.

Case interview coaching is best for those that have already learned as much as they can about case interviews on their own and feel that they have reached a plateau in their learning. 

For case interview beginners and intermediates, it may be a better use of their money to first purchase a case interview course or case interview prep book before purchasing expensive coaching sessions.

If you do decide to eventually use a case interview coach, consider using our case interview coaching service . 

There is a wide range of quality among coaches, so ensure that you are working with someone that is invested in your development and success. 

If possible, ask for reviews from previous candidates that your coach has worked with.

Summary of Best Bain Interview Resources

Here are the resources we recommend to land a Bain consulting offer:

For help landing consulting interviews

• Resume Review & Editing : Transform your resume into one that will get you multiple consulting interviews

For help passing case interviews

• Comprehensive Case Interview Course (our #1 recommendation): The only resource you need. Whether you have no business background, rusty math skills, or are short on time, this step-by-step course will transform you into a top 1% caser that lands multiple consulting offers.
• Case Interview Coaching : Personalized, one-on-one coaching with a former Bain interviewer.
• Hacking the Case Interview Book   (available on Amazon): Perfect for beginners that are short on time. Transform yourself from a stressed-out case interview newbie to a confident intermediate in under a week. Some readers finish this book in a day and can already tackle tough cases.
• The Ultimate Case Interview Workbook (available on Amazon): Perfect for intermediates struggling with frameworks, case math, or generating business insights. No need to find a case partner – these drills, practice problems, and full-length cases can all be done by yourself.

For help passing consulting behavioral & fit interviews

• Behavioral & Fit Interview Course : Be prepared for 98% of behavioral and fit questions in just a few hours. We'll teach you exactly how to draft answers that will impress your interviewer.

Land Multiple Consulting Offers

Complete, step-by-step case interview course. 30,000+ happy customers.

Bain Case Interview: Process, Criteria & Preparation (2024)

Bain & Company are among the  top three largest and most prestigious management consulting firms  and  ranked as the best consulting firm to work  in by Glassdoor. To land the desirable offer from Bain&Co, the candidates must pass the stressful yet compelling consulting interviews known as the  Bain case interview .

In this article, we willl walk you through the fundamentals, techniques, tips and tricks you can use to ace the Bain case interview in an effective way.

What is Bain case interview?

Bain case interview is a screening tool used in Bain interviews to evaluate a candidate's problem-solving and analytical skills . It is used to predict how well the candidate may perform as a consultant if they are hired. This assessment typically takes 40 to 60 minutes and can consist of multiple cases.

Bain case interviews are candidate-led . In this format, candidates are expected to lead the case by breaking down problems, hypothesizing the root causes , and collecting data from the interviewer to test their hypotheses. Candidate-led case interviews, therefore, are less structured than McKinsey’s interviewer-led , in which the candidate must answer given questions instead of deciding their own approach.

To gain a better understanding of the Bain case interview format, here are some important features of candidate-led case interviews to keep in mind:

• Candidate-led cases focus on one big problem . In these cases, you solve the problem as a whole, instead of addressing it through each question like in interviewer-led cases.
• Candidate-led cases are more flexible : You are free to analyse the problem in the way you think is best.
• Candidate-led cases focus less on giving the right answer : There is a large margin of errors allowed as you have very little assistance from the interviewer.

Another consulting firm using the candidate-led case interviews is BCG. Learn more about this interesting case interview format in our Complete Guide to BCG Case Interview .

When does Bain case interview take place?

Bain case interviews are the third stage of the company's hiring process. The hiring procedure is divided into three stages: Application ⇒ Online tests ⇒ Interviews . The whole process usually takes between 4 and 6 weeks, with usually 14 days between phases. Each level of Bain's selection is described briefly below:

Stage 1: Application

The first stage of Bain’s hiring process is resume and cover letter screening . Usually, candidates can apply via Bain online application form , allowing them to collect all the data quickly and easily, as well as submit any necessary documents. Check out Bain's FAQs for more credible information about the application round.

The resume and cover letter should showcase your consulting attributes, and qualities Bain looks for, apart from educational background or work history. You can equip yourself with guidelines and templates for a perfect consulting resume with our Complete Guide to Consulting Resume .

Stage 2: Online tests

After submitting your application form, you will progress to Bain Online Tests. The Bain Online Test, sometimes known as the Bain Online Assessment, is a set of pre-interview screening tests used by Bain & Company, assessing skills and traits necessary for consulting work: cognitive abilities, problem-solving skills, or cultural fit.

Bain Online Tests is not uniform across offices worldwide. The question types, format, and design can vary from place to place. Fortunately, most tests' format and underlying purposes at different Bain offices are similar. The common tests are:

• Aptitude test
• Analytical test
• Business case test
• Personality test
• One-way video interview

You can dive deeply into the fundamentals of each one and practice common question types in our Bain Online Test Overview .

Stage 3: Interviews

Typically, the Bain Interview process consists of 2 interview rounds : the first conducted by junior consultants or managers, and the second carried out by Bain partners to make a final decision. Both rounds include 2 common types of interviews:

• Fit interview : often lasts 10-15 minutes, assessing a candidate’s experience, competencies, motivations as well as personality fit.
• Case interview : often lasts 30-45 minutes each, up to 6 case interviews, and usually divided into 2 rounds.

What does Bain & Co look for in a candidate?

According to the Bain official website, the 4 qualities that the company seeks in a candidate are:

Problem-solving skills

This is one of the core values of a Bainee, yet a consultant in general, as they constantly find pragmatic solutions for clients. Therefore, the company is trying to find a candidate with the ability to analyze problems and resolve any problem efficiently and systematically.

The ability to lead

Bain employees must be able to manage individuals from diverse backgrounds and create a sense of belonging where everyone can perform to their full potential. When applying to Bain, emphasize how you've been a leader in the past, whether at work, school, or via extracurricular activities.

Results delivery

Bain is proud of its legacy of offering solutions that have a positive, quantifiable impact on our customers' objectives and reputations. Thus, they want to hear how you've made an impact in your previous work, along with significant results to an organization, project or team's success.

Candidates who push themselves to be exceptional and have the ability to motivate others are sought after by Bain. Throughout the selection, you should showcase your enthusiasm for the job, willingness to contribute, and entrepreneurial drive spirit.

Five steps to approach a Bain case interview

Though the question types in Bain case interviews might vary, there is a standard process that you can apply for any case you encounter: Taking notes ⇒ Clarifying ⇒ Structuring ⇒ Hypothesizing ⇒ Pitching .

Taking notes

You will be given the case background at the beginning of a case interview. Make sure you pay attention to every piece of information interviewers give you, and t ake careful notes of key details about the client, the problem they are facing, and the objective they want to achieve. Moreover, keep your notes neat and organized to ease the storing and arranging information.

To get a case interview going in the right direction, it's crucial to ask the appropriate clarifying questions . If you skip this important step, you can misinterpret the objective, the business context, or technical terms. Make sure there is nothing unclear or unfamiliar before attempting to solve any case.

Structuring 

In a case interview, structuring is breaking down a complex business problem into smaller components , allowing you to solve it more efficiently and professionally. Below are several helpful techniques to stay organized:

• Keep the map habit : The map habit means regularly and explicitly checking where you are and where you're doing next. It also makes you sound structured and organized, which is a defining characteristic of a consultant and will immensely impress the interviewer. One helpful trick is to pause at each step.
• Number your items : Numbering each item is a simple and efficient method to make your pitches sound organized. The formula is straightforward: "There are the items I want to discuss, they are: No.1... No.2... No.3...". This habit also creates an impression of MECE , a key principle in solving case interviews.
• F ocus on the big problem : If you feel like you're "derailing," check your progress on the issue tree and get back on track right away. Make sure that whatever you do, doesn't deviate from the main problem.

To learn more about how to keep structured, and different frameworks to approach case interviews, check out our Case Interview Guidebook .

Hypothesizing

To solve the client's issue, you must now develop a working hypothesis , which is an educated guess based on evidence and available data. Since you will be gathering information and testing your idea continuously, it need not be the final, definite solution to the problem. Along the way, your hypothesis will be refined and most answers the question.

A closing pitch is the summary of all your findings and delivery of recommendations to the client CEO. Your final pitch, regardless of the wording, must include these 4 factors:

• Introduction / Lead-in
• Summary of the root causes
• Summary of the solutions

Throughout the solving process, you can apply some helpful tips below to optimize your performance:

Bain case interview practice example

To excel in Bain case interview, you should familiarize yourself with common question types, especially candidate-led case interviews. Below is a comprehensive candidate-led example case from our Case Interview End-to-End Secrets Program , which thoroughly examines sample cases and uncovers step-by-step guidelines!

Bain also provides official case interview practice materials in their website. Let’s try out some of examples from the company:

• Coffee Shop Co.
• Associate Consultant Mock video

If you want to practice more example cases, discover instant-result tips and techniques for Bain case interviews, check out our Case Interview End-to-End Secrets Program . Besides mock cases and video guides, we also provide fundamental theory and intuition exercises to develop your case interview expertise!

Bain written case interview

Bain written case interview is an extension of the regular case interview. In this case interview, you will be given 20+ powerpoint slides that provide a client's situation. Before the interview begins, there will be about 55 minutes to review the slides, highlight key information, and script your suggestion(s) into slides. Then you'll have about 40 minutes to pitch your ideas.

Bain written case interview is required for applicants to specific roles . Bain uses this case interview format to assess your comprehension of written information , as a large amount of clients' data is in the form of reports and documents. Also, a written case interview requires you to summarize your results in slides and then deliver them logically , which are parts of consulting work.

How to prepare for Bain case interview

Familiarize with candidate-led case examples.

To become familiar with Bain candidate-led case interviews, you can watch official examples from Bain itself,

or practice further examples with MConsultingPrep’s coaching service. Book a mock case interview with former consultants from MBB and other prestige consulting firms. Our experts will provide you "quality" practice with reliable case interview resources and actionable feedback to help you ace every case!

Practice consulting math

Consultants need to deal with a huge amount of quantitative data, so consulting math skill is a must. Here are some tried-and-true methods for making math practice easier and producing better outcomes:

• Use Your Head : Do all your daily calculations mentally unless an EXACT answer is required.
• Flatten the Learning Curve : At the start, a piece of scratch paper and a 5% margin of error really help; once you are confident, discard the paper and narrow down the margin.
• Establish a Routine : Allocate some time for daily practice this may seem hard at first, but once you’ve overcome the inertia, you can literally feel the improvement.

Develop business intuition

Having business intuition makes you a much better candidate for case interviews. Improving business intuition is a gradual process; start early, practice every day and be patient. Step by step, these business insights will become ingrained in your instinct. There are 2 ways to sharpen your business intuition:

• Written Sources : It's a good idea to read business papers every day. You can also find excellent articles on the McKinsey , Bain , and BCG websites. Be careful, though, because the important thing is not how many pages you read but what you learn from them.
• First-hand Experience and Observations : Don't just show up to work; try to figure out what the senior managers are doing, the reasoning behind each decision they made, and how it has affected the organization.

Learn the basics and frameworks

To ace Bain case interviews, it is crucial to have a good grasp of the basics and structured approaches. Case interview principles like hypotheses , MECE , issue tree , and other frameworks are the backbone of any case, so make sure you master the use of those fundamental knowledge.

Equip yourself with basic terms, concepts, and problem-solving fundamentals in our in-depth Case Interview Guidebook .

Perform mock interviews

To familiarize yourself with common question types and improve your performance in case interviews, one proven way is to practice as many mock cases as possible. Find a former consultant to support your practice; they've been through numerous case interviews, both real and mock, so apparently understand what's expected of a candidate. Book a coach now to ease up your practice process!

During your practice, take time to study and review your cases thoroughly. Along the way, ask consulting experts for reliable feedback on your performance, take careful notes of your coach’s comments, and focus on the areas of improvement.

Bain Fit interview

What is bain fit interview.

Bain fit interview covers a wide range of questions designed to assess a candidate’s experience, skills, motivations as well as personality fit . The questions are divided into 2 types: traditional resume questions to better understand the candidates, and behavioral questions examining past experiences and how candidates handled them.

Long ago, consulting fit interviews were viewed as "just procedure" by interviewers and were only a small component of the consulting recruitment process. However, Bain fit interview is now drawing a lot of attention as it can demonstrate personal motivations and soft skills , the secret ingredients of a successful consultant.

Bain fit interview questions

Bain fit interview questions are classified into 2 common types: Why-our-firm questions and Personality questions . Let's look at several samples and learn how to ace each question type!

Why-our-firm questions

This question type can be asked under the form of:

• Why are you joining the consulting industry?
• Why are you interested in Bain?

Almost any employer, not just consulting firms, would ask you something like that. They want to ensure you won't leave once you've become helpful to the company. The ideal response should cover 4 characteristics: unique, specific, authentic, and appropriate . You can check out our comprehensive article about Bain Fit Interview to learn how to best demonstrate each factor.

Personality questions

Personality questions is the least predictable and can vary from interview to interview; however, there are 3 topics that do come up repeatedly: Hobbies and interests; Workplace preferences; and Values & plans/traits & skills . Below is a table including examples and suggested approaches for each topic:

Scoring in the McKinsey PSG/Digital Assessment

The scoring mechanism in the McKinsey Digital Assessment

Related product

Case Interview End-to-End Secrets Program

Elevate your case interview skills with a well-rounded preparation package

The Bain SOVA test is a tailored aptitude test used by UK/EU Bain offices to measure numerical, verbal, and logical reasoning, as well as your personality

The Bain Online Test is a collection of unrelated pre-interview tests used by Bain & Company, most of which are standardized tests with varying difficulties.

At Bain & Company, entry-level consultants may earn up to $120,000/year, while senior ones have salaries up to $230,000 (bonuses and profit sharing included)

The Bain Case Interview: Everything You Need to Know to Pass

• Last Updated January, 2024

Former Bain Consultant, Founder of My Consulting Offer

Bain is one of the consulting firms that our case prep clients are most interested in working with and for good reason. The company tackles some of the toughest business problems for top global corporations and has a significant presence in the private equity market. But passing the Bain case interview and the personal experience interview is tough.

As a former Bain consultant, I can tell you what the Bain interview process looks like and what their interviewers look for in candidates. Read more to find out how to prepare so you have the best shot possible at landing that Bain offer!

In this article, we’ll discuss:

• What sets Bain apart?
• What does Bain look for?
• The Bain interview process.
• The Bain case interview, including a case interview example.
• The Bain personal experience interview.
• The Bain written case.
• 5 tips for passing your Bain interview.

Let’s get started!

What Does Bain Look for in Candidates?

A bain case interview example, the bain interview process.

The Bain Fit Interview

The Bain Case Interview

5 tips for passing your bain interview, what sets bain apart.

Though Bain is the youngest and smallest of the top 3 strategy consulting firms (referred to as MBB which is short for McKinsey, BCG, and Bain), it has managed to set itself apart and is rated as one of the best places to work .

Relentless focus on delivering results. Bain aims to “set new standards of excellence” in their clients’ industries through the work they do. As a Bain consultant, you’ll be taught to drive your clients to a decision and to take action, not to just provide them with nice research and fancy charts.

Strong work and professional relationships. At Bain, people help each other out, within and outside peer groups. An unofficial Bain philosophy is “ A Bainie never lets another Bainie fail. ” This means if you are up late debugging your model and need help, someone will answer your call whether from within your team or outside your team. Regular training led exclusively by fellow Bainies around the world and firm-wide events like the Bain World Cup (the annual global soccer tournament) build a strong firm culture.

Local staffing model. At Bain, you work largely with people from your home office. This can make it easier to build tight, long-term relationships. This is distinct from McKinsey’s global staffing model or BCG’s regional model.

Growth & development opportunities. Bain has a generalist staffing model. Consultants typically don’t specialize in a particular sector or function until well after business school, though if you are especially interested in one area there may still be an opportunity to dig in, especially if your home office serves that industry. This generalist approach provides an opportunity to learn to crack any problem in any industry, function area, and business model.

Because of this, if you are set on focusing on a specific sector or function, have a candid conversation with your recruiter to see if that is realistic to expect in the office you are recruiting into. Also keep note that due to the local staffing model, you will likely be serving the industries in your region, so make sure the region you select is aligned to your interests.

Strong Private Equity practice. Getting exposure to Private Equity is easy as a Bainie.  A rotation in the Private Equity practice will provide you with hands-on experience and sharpen your business and research fundamentals super fast. Bain is also known for having great exit opportunities and can help you springboard into private equity or investing.

For more information on what sets Bain apart read Why Bain? What Bain’s Culture Is Like & Why Work There . For more information about Bain’s culture check out Bain’s Career website .

Nail the case & fit interview with strategies from former MBB Interviewers that have helped 89.6% of our clients pass the case interview.

Similar to the other top management consulting firms, Bain hires people who are passionate about solving transformative challenges for industry leaders and disruptors. Bain generally looks for candidates who possess analytical , interpersonal , creative thinking , business management, and leadership skills .

If you want your application to stand out, ensure that you highlight the following skills that Bain specifically looks for.

• Entrepreneurial spirit: You don’t have to have started your own business venture while attending college, but you do need to be relentless in your pursuit of “the answer” and maybe a little scrappy when the data’s not available. A great way to demonstrate this in an interview is to tell a story of when you led a team through uncertainty or had to make a timely decision with limited information.
• Ability to lead and work with a team: Bainies invest a lot in ensuring team members understand each others’ working styles and are set up to support each others’ success. They want to see that you’ve been an involved member of your community, ideally in a leadership role. This does not have to be a business leadership role. It can be a university sports team or club.Bainies look to hire folks they genuinely want to spend time with and they are known for building lasting friendships outside of work. They look for people who are smart and hardworking AND well rounded — candidates who excel in their studies and other interests.
• “Nose for value”: Bain looks for candidates who can spot the critical path issues, and know when the information is sufficient to make a decision or recommendation. You should possess analytical skills but know when “good enough is good enough” and understand when to stop and transition to synthesis and recommendation.
• Results/impact-oriented: Candidates should be able to infer the “so what” of any conclusion for the client. As you generate interim insights on your cases, tie them back to what that implies for the emerging answer and therefore for what you might expect to recommend to the client when the case wraps up.

Bain’s interviews are designed to stimulate productive discussions and help your interviewers get a better sense of you as a candidate. The type and number of interviews will vary depending on the office. Typically, Bain’s interview process consists of 2 – 3 rounds of interviews:

• First round: 2 back-to-back interviews with consultants
• Second round: 2-3 back-to-back case interviews with partners

There is sometimes a third round of interviews that’s comprised of one interview with a partner.

These interviews consist of case interviews, experience interviews, and in some offices, Written Case Interviews . In the following sections, you will get insight on how to prepare for each of these interviews. 

At Bain, all consulting role candidates (and some non-consulting roles) can expect a case interview, regardless of which office they apply to. The Bain case interview is an open conversation around real issues facing their clients. It provides your interviewer an opportunity to understand your approach to problem-solving and how you communicate your ideas.

Bain case interviews are challenging and to pass them, you’ll need to start practicing early. Bain is less focused on getting the “right answer” and more focused on having a structured approach to solving the problem. This is because with a structured approach, you can solve any problem.

Here are 4 steps to help you structure your approach to case interviews:

• Step 1: Opening – Understand the client’s problem. If you do not understand the client’s business and the problem they are trying to solve from the start, you may spend a lot of time answering the wrong question. Repeat the case problem to your interviewer after they have described the case to ensure that you understand it. Ask initial questions to deepen your understanding.
• Step 2: Structure – Outline your approach to solving the problem. Take a moment to consider your approach to solving the case and use this time to write down any additional information you’ll need. You can leverage business frameworks or, better yet, develop your own structure for solving the problem. Share your approach with the interviewer. Suggest an area of your approach to focus on first and seek your interviewer’s feedback on that starting point. Listen for feedback from them on any other part of your approach as well.
• Step 3: Analysis – Drill down on issues in your structured approach & do case math. Start your analysis by going through the issues you outlined in step 2 one by one. Ask questions of your interviewer and identify insights based on the information you receive. Be proactive, driving towards a solution to the client’s problem.
• Step 4: Recommendation – Summarize your recommendation for the client Conclude the interview with a logical summary outlining the case problem, the synthesis or “so what” from your analysis, and your key conclusions. Remember that you have to convince your interviewer that these conclusions will solve the client’s problem or provide an opportunity, so be persuasive and use the case information.

For more information on preparing for a case interview, read our Comprehensive Guide to Case Interview Prep .

Key Characteristics of Bain Case Interviews

Bain case interviews are interviewee-led (or candidate-led). The interviewer presents an open-ended case situation to the candidate and the candidate drives the approach to solving the case in a structured manner. You’ll be expected to structure the key topics to be analyzed, then pick where to start the analysis (unless the interviewer suggests a different start point), and drive the case all the way to final recommendations.

Read more about interviewee-led case interviews in our article, Interviewer vs. Interviewee-Led Case Interviews: What’s Different?

Additionally, Bain case interviews have a quantitative focus and typically involve market entry or profitability.

Client background: Your client is a Private Equity firm that specializes in investing in eCommerce primarily in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. They are interested in expanding into Africa due to the growth in the number of eCommerce firms in the region and customer demand. In particular, they’re considering acquiring the third-largest general eCommerce company in the region. The African market shows a lot of potential but there is uncertainty about profitability in the market and the growth potential.

Bain Case Interview Step 1: Opening

Repeat your understanding of the client’s business and problem to the interviewer. Make sure to ask any clarifying questions, for example:

• “ What countries in Africa would the firm want to look at? ”
• “ What is the target company’s business model and what countries does it do business in? ”
• “ What does success look like for entering the regional market ? For the acquisition? ”
• “ Other than uncertainty about profitability in the market and potential for growth, are there any other concerns? ”

Bain Case Interview Step 2: Structure

Take a moment to think about your approach and how you would structure your analysis of this problem. Before reading ahead, write down your approach and compare it to our solution.

Here’s one potential approach:

Strategic considerations

• Current market size
• Historical growth
• Projected growth (projected market size)
• Is the market fragmented vs concentrated?
• Is there a way to clearly differentiate yourself?
• Other trends (e.g., delivery infrastructure, consumer preferences, penetration of credit cards/debit cards/mobile money)
• Historical trends
• Are product(s) differentiated vs competitors on aspects customers care most about?
• Does the customer base view the products favorably?
• Is the customer base sticky (high switching costs)?
• Is it positioned well in the most attractive African markets?
• What is our exit strategy and potential ROI?
• Is there a strategic reason to bring them into our portfolio?
• Do we have specific expertise that can drive value from this acquisition?
• Are there any synergies with other companies already in our portfolio?
• Is this a sector we want to learn something specific about?
• e.g., regulatory, macro-economic, etc.

You typically only have a few minutes to come up with and lay out your structure and it’s not expected that you cover all aspects. However, it is good to demonstrate that you have covered the most important ones in a structured manner.

Bain Case Interview Step 3: Analysis

After you’ve laid out your structure, the interviewer will prompt you to dive deeper into the various strategic considerations you’ve mentioned. Ask relevant questions, make logical assumptions about the market, and tie back what you learn to the main question you’re trying to answer. While it’s not necessary to have industry-specific knowledge to pass Bain interviews, if you do have content knowledge that can help you draw relevant conclusions, do draw on it. (E.g., “I know that in a lot of emerging markets, credit card penetration is low, but I’ve also read that Africa has a high adoption of mobile money. For this reason, I would expect the consumer behavior trends to be in our client’s favor.”)

Remember, you are driving the interview. Once the interviewer is happy with your structure, move on to the next logical step. In this case, it is to analyze how big the market is. You can ask the interviewer if they have any data on the market.

Suppose your interviewer tells you that total household consumption in Africa is $1.5 trillion and asks you to size the market for eCommerce purchases in Nigeria, Egypt, and East Africa based on that. Before you look at the answer, take a moment to consider how you would approach this calculation.

There are different ways to calculate the current market size and the above is just an illustration. The key thing is to remember to have a methodical and structured approach to your analysis and to verbally “show your work.”

A potential follow-up analysis could look at the target eCommerce company’s attractiveness and map its operations to the countries where the African eCommerce market is growing.

Bain Case Interview Step 4: Conclusion

Say that from further analysis you identify that the African eCommerce market will have an annual growth rate of 15%, that the client’s target company is attractive, and that the target operates in two of the three countries where eCommerce is growing most quickly. So what? When your client comes back and asks you about your findings and recommendations, what will you tell them?

Your conclusion should start with your recommendation to the client and provide evidence from your analysis that supports that recommendation. You should also consider any risks of pursuing this course of action that the client should be aware of as well as next steps to pursue this path.

A sample conclusion could sound like this:

“I recommend that assuming favorable deal terms, you invest in this target to expand into Africa, specifically into Nigeria, Egypt, and East Africa initially, because those are the largest economies, before expanding to the rest of the continent. The target is attractive because it has a growing market share and a highly-differentiated product. The market is attractive because the expected growth of eCommerce is 15% in these three regions and the target is well-positioned in the strongest country-level markets. There is potential for even higher growth given that household consumption and internet penetration are low and expected to grow at a very fast rate due to the growing middle class.

“One risk to be aware of is that last-mile logistics infrastructure in the region is more nascent than in many of the markets where our client has invested in the past. A next step I would focus on is the target’s operating model and whether they have an approach that serves customers well in the local context and has the flexibility and creativity to deliver in markets where infrastructure is still being built.”

The Bain Fit Interview (a.k.a Bain Experience Interview)

Bain’s fit interview provides an opportunity for the interviewer to learn about your accomplishments, understand your motivations and passions, and understand why you want to be a consultant at Bain. Bain wants to understand who you are so that they can assess whether you will fit in with the organization and succeed as a consultant.

Here are some tips for preparing for Bain’s experience interview:

• Read their website to find out what they look for in candidates, view consultant profiles, and go through the sample Bain experience questions.
• Prepare your stories to answer common experience questions before your interview.
• Keep a healthy balance between talking about “me” and talking about “the team” in questions about team results. It’s important to show where you led the work, but equally important to show you are happy to work as a team and share credit where it’s due.
• Expect follow-up questions to your stories. Be prepared to go into deeper detail.
• Practice your stories to ensure they are tight, that your answers are structured, and that you are confident in your storytelling.

For common experience interview questions and more details on how to prepare, read our article The Bain Experience Interview .

The Bain Written Case

At Bain, several offices use written case interviews as part of the consultant and summer associate interview process. They’re used mainly in European and Asian offices, not in North America. They are used for final round interviews and not first round interviews.

The written case interview is an extension of the traditional interview; you’ll receive key questions, facts about the case, and be given some time to develop your recommendations before you meet with your interviewer.

• Bain will provide you with 20-30 PowerPoint slides describing a client’s situation.
• You will have ~55 minutes to identify key insights and write recommendation(s) before the interview.
• You will have 40 minutes to present and discuss your recommendation(s) with your interviewer.

Similar to a traditional case interview, the interviewer may challenge your assumptions or interpretation of the facts in order to see how you might handle a real client situation.

Read our article on Written Case Interviews for more information. You can also visit Bain’s career website .

1. Don’t Be Afraid to Use Your Own Structure

Don’t use rote case structures to solve Bain case interviews. Bain interviewers like to see a little original thinking and creativity, so be sure to tailor your framework to the case. A Bain interviewer would rather see a simple framework that shows you thought about this case specifically than something “fancy” you memorized from a book. Read our article on Case Interview Frameworks for tips on using and developing frameworks.

2. Be Authentic

Bainies care about who their colleagues are outside of work. During your experience interviews, don’t be shy about speaking about your non-academic accomplishments and interests. Be sure to be friendly and collegial with the interviewer. (This can actually help calm nerves.) They are looking not only for poise and polish but also whether you will be an enjoyable, positive teammate – even if you have to pull an unexpected late evening in the team room. And Bain interviewers really want to see candidates succeed. Going in with that knowledge also builds confidence.

3. Make Sure You’re at the Bar on Each Part of the Bain Interview

Always ask your case partners for detailed feedback on the various parts of the case and act on that feedback. Review past cases you’ve done and rehearse with a live partner. Practice! Practice! Practice! Get comfortable doing math fast and accurately, reading exhibits, and coming up with structured answers on the go.

4. Embody a Bain Consultant

Demonstrate your ability to solve a business problem in collaboration with someone. During your interview, walk your interviewer through your thought process and any assumptions you make. Imagine that this is a real-life consulting project and act as though they are your teammate.

5. Consider “80/20”

Don’t be so detail-oriented or perfectionistic that it slows you down. When time and information are limited, an important skill is to know what information is most important and invest your limited time in digging for that. Feel empowered to round numbers where you need to, make assumptions, and take your interviewer through them. Remember you don’t “need to boil the ocean” find a sound answer or approach.

  – – – – –

In this article, we’ve covered:

• Bain’s unique culture, growth and development opportunities, and client focus set the firm apart from other management consulting firms.
• Skills that Bain is looking for in candidates.
• Bain’s interview process, including the traditional case, written case interview, and experience or fit interview.
• MCO’s top 5 tips on acing your Bain case interview.

Still have questions?

If you have more questions about the Bain case interview, leave them in the comments below. One of My Consulting Offer’s case coaches will answer them.

Other people prepping for the Bain interview process found the following pages helpful:

• Our Ultimate Guide to Case Interview Prep .
• Bain Online Assessment .
• The Bain Experience Interview .
• Answering the “Why Bain?” Question .
• Written Case Interviews .
• Extensive Q&A with Davis Nguyen, MCO Founder, about His Bain Experience .

Help with Case Study Interview Prep

Thanks for turning to My Consulting Offer for advice on the Bain case interview. My Consulting Offer has helped almost 85% of the people we’ve worked with to get a job in management consulting. We want you to be successful in your consulting interviews too. For example, here is how Arjun was able to get his offer from Bain & Company.

© My CONSULTING Offer

3 Top Strategies to Master the Case Interview in Under a Week

We are sharing our powerful strategies to pass the case interview even if you have no business background, zero casing experience, or only have a week to prepare.

No thanks, I don't want free strategies to get into consulting.

We are excited to invite you to the online event., where should we send you the calendar invite and login information.