Acing the Fit Interview — Motivation Questions

Acing the Fit Interview:

• Strategy and Approach
• Motivation Questions
• Effective Storytelling
• Finessing Negative Stories

In the second article of this series, you will learn about the often-underestimated motivation questions like “why consulting?” and “why this firm?”.

“Why” Questions

Innocuous as they might seem, it’s important to answer them well because they contribute significantly to your interviewers’ first impressions of you. They are also the most common questions asked in fit interviews because they give interviewers the opportunity to:

• Gain deeper insight into a candidate’s motivations,
• Assess a candidate’s understanding of consulting and the firm to which they are applying, and
• Evaluate the clarity and structure of a candidate’s responses

Naturally, these are precisely the points that a powerful response must fulfil. The interviewer will be expecting a few concise and well-supported reasons.

“Why consulting?”

While there are indubitably many aspects of a career in consulting that are attractive, the point of this motivation question is not to elicit a laundry list of advantages. Instead, you should pick out the points that are most personally salient to you. After all, interviewers want to understand your motivations, not those of anyone else. Further, these points must be personalized. Your response should be one that cannot be authentically replicated by anyone else. For example:

“Firstly, I enjoy the challenge of drawing insights from a sea of ambiguity. As a Philosophy and Linguistics undergraduate, I frequently encounter philosophical ambiguity and complex sets of linguistic data. Nothing beats the satisfaction of solving these puzzles and drawing key insights about the way we conceive of knowledge or language.

I experienced something substantially similar in my time at PwC, where we sought to improve the experiences of employees in a global audiology company. The first step I took was to analyze the sentiments of over 100 employees in order to identify the key moments that mattered to them. From there, I knew which processes to prioritize to maximize their satisfaction. It was almost magical seeing the mess of data transform into concise and powerful insights, and I enjoyed every moment of it.

I believe that working well with ambiguity is a key part of a consultant’s job, and I’m honestly excited to do so.”

By establishing clear links between my motivations and my university degree and past internship experience, I am able to personalize my response and demonstrate that my motivations for application are well-considered. By alluding to my previous experiences, I also show that I am aware of what a job in consulting might entail: while ambiguity might scare others, I thrive on it.

“Why this firm?”

As above, you want to offer a personalized and well-informed response. Consider the following example tailored to Bain and Company.

“Firstly, Bain stands for results, which resonates with my outcome-oriented work ethic where I push myself to do my best and overperform whenever possible. In the recent Bain Webinar for US/UK students applying to SEA offices, a speaker shared that Bain’s clients see an average of 15x performance improvement return on the project fees they pay, which is certainly impressive. What I was truly taken aback by, though, was the fact that Bain regularly rejects clients and projects when the team is unconfident to provide a return of greater than 8x. To me, this represents a true commitment to delivering real value to their clients that goes beyond selfish profit maximization.

I encountered something similar last year when a friend invited me to jointly participate in a case competition. Even though it was a great opportunity, I turned down the invitation as I was already committed at that time and wasn’t confident of giving the competition my full effort and attention. It was important to me that I fulfilled my existing commitments and delivered the best results I possibly could.

I seek a workplace where everyone is equally results-driven, and I’m convinced that Bain is such a place.”

While I have anonymized the webinar speaker’s name in the above example to preserve their privacy, it’s useful to name drop to bolster the credibility of your story as the interviewer is likely to know them.

Structure, Structure, Structure

Lastly, your responses to these questions should be well-structured and sign-posted. Interviewers expect you to have given these commonplace questions due consideration, so make the most of this opportunity to communicate in a structured way. Recalling the Pyramid Principle, be sure to begin by outlining your key points before diving into elaborations. For instance: “My key motivations for applying to this firm are X, Y, and Z. Firstly… Secondly… Thirdly… In summary, this firm offers strong support in terms of X, Y, and Z, and I sincerely hope to experience first-hand what it’s like to work at this firm.”

In summary, motivation questions demand personalized, well-informed, and structured responses. There are of course personal experience questions where you will be expected to relate an extended story, such as of a time when you pushed yourself to overcome a huge challenge. More on these types of questions in the next article!

Lucas Foo is a Philosophy and Linguistics Undergraduate at the University of Oxford. He enjoys drawing insights from ambiguity to create real and positive impact.

Image: Unsplash

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