麦肯锡全球招聘负责人解答求职者最想知道的5个问题：最佳时机、面试过程、实习经验以及最喜欢问的问题!

面试常见的5个最棘手的问题面试是求职过程中非常关键的一环，而面试官通常会问一些棘手的问题，以了解求职者的思维能力、应变能力和适应能力。

以下是五个面试中最常见且最棘手的问题，以及针对这些问题的解决方案。

1. "请介绍一下自己。

"这是一个常见但让许多求职者感到困惑的问题。

首先，求职者需要注意在回答该问题时的时间把握，通常需要在两到三分钟内完成。

其次，求职者需要概括地介绍自己的工作经验、教育背景和个人特点。

最重要的是，求职者应该在回答时突出与该职位相关的技能和经验，以强调自己对该职位的适应性。

2. "您为什么想要离开现在的工作？"这个问题看似简单，但实际上它往往是一个棘手的问题，因为求职者需要在表达对现任工作的不满时注意不要过于负面。

求职者可以采用积极的方式回答该问题，例如提及个人发展的机会、对新挑战的渴望或对公司文化的不匹配等原因。

此外，求职者也可以突出自己对新职位的职责和挑战感兴趣，以表达对新机会的追求。

3. "请描述一次与同事或上级之间的冲突，以及您是如何解决的？"这个问题旨在考察求职者解决问题和处理人际关系的能力。

求职者需要在回答时注意避免指责他人，而是侧重于表达自己如何主动与其他人沟通和解决问题。

同时，求职者可以用实例来说明他们的沟通技巧、解决问题的能力和团队合作的态度。

4. "您在以往的工作中取得的最大成就是什么？"这个问题需要求职者在短时间内概括自己在过去的工作中取得的最大成就，并解释该成就对公司的影响。

求职者可以通过提供具体的数据和事实来支持自己的回答，以突出自己的能力和贡献。

另外，求职者可以采用STAR法则（Situation, Task, Action, Result）来组织自己的回答，以确保回答清晰、有条理。

5. "您为什么选择我们公司？"这个问题需要求职者展示他们对该公司的了解程度，并解释为什么认为自己适合该公司。

麦肯锡解决问题的７步骤如果说到全球最具声望的企管顾问公司，那就一定是「麦肯锡」。

这家收费昂贵、却从不作广告的明星企业，长年位居美国MBA最想进入工作的企业榜首，长久以来，全球顶尖大企业付费给麦肯锡的顾问，为他们思考问题，提出解决方案。

到底这家以思考闻名的企业，如何破解问题？如果说到全球最具声望的企管顾问公司，那就一定是「麦肯锡」（McKinsey）。

这家收费昂贵、却从不作广告的明星企业，长年位居美国MBA最想进入工作的企业榜首，长久以来，全球顶尖大企业付费给麦肯锡的顾问，为他们思考问题，提出解决方案。

到底这家以思考闻名的企业，如何破解问题？管理大师大前研一曾将顾问工作简述为：为企业找出他们自己无法解决的问题，并且提供解决对策，然后再对委托的企业进行提案。

他又以较为幽默的口吻说，「顾问公司的业绩，来自企业缺乏解决问题的能力」。

曾任职于全球首屈一指的顾问公司麦肯锡（McKinsey & Company）长达20余年的大前研一，根据自身曾为数千个企业个案进行指导、诊断及进言的经验，创造出解决问题的逻辑思考法，写成了《思考的技术》一书。

他认为，有了的逻辑思考方法，不但可以导出正确的解答，而且对于任何性质的工作都是有效的。

在1990年代空降IBM、带领蓝色巨人转亏为盈的路‧葛斯纳（Louis Gerstner），也是麦肯锡出身，他在《谁说大象不会跳舞》（Who says elephants can’t dance?）一书中写道，他在麦肯锡学到了人人都可自由参与解决问题，不问位阶为何的做法，但在离开顾问业，进入大型企业组织后，却发现这种开诚布公地交换意见的风气并非易事，因而立志要「建立一个既允许层级的存在、又能汇集众智共同解决问题，而且不管参与者位阶为何的组织。

」虽然一般人在一生当中，可能根本碰不到一次被迫要解决攸关公司生死大问题的机会，但类似的疑问，却时常会在工作中或生活上发出。

麦肯锡台湾分公司副董事林璟骅就说，麦肯锡的顾问常常得在第一天接触到客户的问题时，就被上司要求提出「首日答案」（Day 1 Answer）。

用“麦肯锡七步成诗法”的套路，解决面试中遇到的疑难杂症面试中最可怕的事情，大概就是面试官问了一个在你知识领域之外的问题。

其实，在面试中遇到自己陌生的行业与领域是很正常的：学习英语专业的去面试银行，群面中要求给银行的一款理财产品做一个市场营销的方案；或者学理工专业想要进入咨询公司，在面试中需要解决某家公司毛利率下滑的问题等等。

有时即使遇到熟悉领域的问题，大多数人、包括清北人贸的毕业生并不懂得如何站在职场人士的角度思考问题。

他们所呈现的思维叫做“学生思维”，但却不是面试官想要的。

现在网络上很多“真题case”的解题方法其实也是不正确的。

没有一个标准答案可以回答所有的问题，但有一种“麦肯锡七步成诗法”，是麦肯锡、贝恩这些最顶尖咨询公司的咨询顾问用来快速理解并解决一个陌生行业复杂问题的套路。

麦肯锡七步成诗法是一个系统的、完整的、稳定性强的问题解决指导方案。

参照此方式来灵活的对问题进行分析总结将会容易许多，不会有毫无头绪的感觉。

它的核心思想在于面对问题，面对本质问题，分裂问题，依据数据来解决单个问题，对问题的归纳，对解决方案的故事化。

首先看到本质，然后再逐个击破，最后归纳总结，获得解决方案。

在有限的面试答题时间中，“麦肯锡七步成诗法”顾名思义，可以用套路为你节省思考的时间；当你对答案毫无头绪时，用这个方法可以帮你说出面试官想要听到的内容，或者为你从面试官口中争取到更多的有效信息。

这个神奇的“麦肯锡七步成诗法”，具体包括了下面7个步骤：第一步，陈述问题；第二步，分解问题；第三步，问题排序（也就是用漏斗法，消除非关键问题）；第四步，制定详细的工作计划，也就是你要按什么顺序，怎么进行分析；第五步，对关键的议题进行分析；第六步，归纳总结并建立有结构的结论；第七步，整理你的结果，形成一套清晰明了的文件。

下面以麦肯锡第二轮面试的一个case为例：假设你现在是麦肯锡的咨询顾问，一家印度的高端冰箱制造商是你们的客户。

这家冰箱厂在两年前实现了有史以来最高的收入增长，尽管这家厂商对市场规模和市场增长情况都有着非常正确的认识，但现在却出现了毛利下滑70%的情况。

转】麦肯锡咨询面试经验汇总贴肖承浩 2012-07-16 14:48:35同行热帖•[普华永道会...]非常详细的普华永道PwC本科和研究生薪...•[普华永道会...]2014普华永道暑期实习•[中国专利信...]专利审查协作中心薪酬待遇•[尼尔森公司]尼尔森应届生薪酬待遇揭秘6.1 麦肯锡精彩面经分享马拉松归来~~刚刚进行完McK的面霸之旅，虽然是第一次面试经历，不过这样一番折腾，自觉都快成面霸了。

在回来的火车上，信号拉拉差，反正没事干，决定积攒 rp，乘热打铁，写写面经，也算总结经验，回头再战….（我承认第一段看完我就可以直接被淘汰了。

）基于本文的初衷除了找回自己的中文，更重要是记录这个过程，以便后人及后几参考，决定采用流水账形式。

第一部分，面试前首先当然是投简历啦，没什么好说，要注意投的时候资料完整，即使你觉得很简略的几行实习证明，也起码证明你简历的真实性，事实上，根本没人有兴趣你的实习鉴定是什么样的，重要的还是简历。

我投的时候因为还没收到美国的实习证明，就没附上，之后HR基本第二天就来信说要加上缺的材料。

之后因为网申的账号已经进不去了，我就投了email，一次加上之前投过的材料，重投了一次。

在这部分里面，我特别注意了将附件统一文件名，在email里申明之前缺材料的原因，写了一份附件的清单附上注明是英语、德语或者中文。

一个礼拜不到就收到消息，约时间面试。

收到确认信，关于MDay (Marathontag就是面试的那天，马拉松我没跑过，无从比较，但是体力确实要跟上)的流程，酒店地址，前一天自愿的非正式晚宴的邀请，(说是自愿，大概没有人敢没有理由的拒掉，不过其实对于放松心情还是挺管用的) 还有就是笔试的练习题了。

消息插播，准备的3个礼拜过程中，经历了另外两个企业的电面，主要关于简历的，虽然最后也不是Ha ppyEnding，但是对于练习面试德语有一定效果，至少在后面MDay的简历部分比较自信。

麦肯锡求职指南！作为咨询公司的龙头老大，有很多同学都对麦肯锡心向往之。

因而，经常有很多想进咨询行业的人询问- “麦肯锡的招聘要求是什么？”“麦肯锡的工作风格是什么样的？”“我是XXX行业的，转行进麦肯锡对我以后的职业发展怎么样？”......我们把这些常见问题记录了下来，并从麦肯锡官网找到了官方答案。

最后总结整理成了一篇关于麦肯锡招聘&职业发展的完整版干货，想申麦肯锡的同学们可以收藏起来啦！申请麦肯锡的常见问题Q1：麦肯锡的职业路径是怎么样的？麦肯锡是一个non-hierarchical的组织，组织扁平化。

职业路径如下：Business Analyst - Associate - Engagement Manager - Associate Partner - Partner在麦肯锡，顾问是根据绩效而不是背景或任期来晋升的。

因此，如果表现良好将考虑提早晋升。

Q2：如果我要申请generalist consulting position，在学历背景和工作年限上有什么要求？如果你正在攻读硕士学位，并且获得的本科学位少于4年，那么你将被考虑担任business analyst的职位。

如果你拥有学士学位并且具有至少4年的工作经验，或者你在获得学士学位后的4年内已经完成或希望完成硕士课程，那么你将考虑作为associate加入。

Q3：一定要有商业背景才能进入麦肯锡吗？无需具备商业背景即可尝试申请麦肯锡。

麦肯锡顾问中有超过三分之一的人没有business degree，约有一半的人不是MBA.Q4：通过校招进入麦肯锡有什么需要知道的？•如果我有兴趣申请特定的麦肯锡业务，是否有单独的申请流程：不，只有generalist或者practice preferences的申请。

提交申请时，你可以选择列出最多四个办公室惯例首选项。

•如果我申请暑期实习但未被选中，还能在麦肯锡申请全职职位吗：可以。

如果对实习生对麦肯锡的全职工作感兴趣，麦肯锡希望在秋招收到所有实习生的来信。

麦肯锡面经[面试]【面经】麦肯锡一面，多亏了面试官的提示引导发表于2018-10-41.麦肯锡一面是什么流程？两个面试官，背对背面试，每个人一个小时。

每一轮面试都很标准，15分钟行为面试，35分钟案例面试，还有10分钟，面试官会说：你还有什么想问我的？2.行为面试是怎么问的？行为面试也很标准，就是一个自我介绍，再讲一个故事。

第一个面试官让我做一个五分钟的自我介绍，第二个面试官直接说，你用一分钟介绍你自己吧！算是比较有挑战了。

第一个面试官让我讲的故事是你碰到的最大的挑战是什么？怎样解决的？第二个面试官问的是，你有没有碰到那种跟人起了冲突、需要想办法解决的情况，是怎么解决的？这个回答的不是很顺利，面试官觉得我讲的是事情太小，让我临时换了一个有点影响力的事情。

3.案例面试难不难？首先，案例面试的形式也很标准，没有那种很神奇的、很开放的案例，还是那种有打印好的图表的形式。

但是我的两个面试都比较凑巧，都是政府类型的case，客户都是贫穷地区的地方政府，要提升交通和住房状况。

做题的顺序也很标准，第一题就是框架，基本上我讲完之后都会问我还有没有什么需要补充的，然后问，那你觉得从哪里开始？然后就到图表分析了。

我觉得第一题讨论结束大概就有10分钟了。

我的两个case都有很多图表，第一个case里面是以图表分析为主，要我从里面找出结论。

我其实没有做好！一个图表通常可以从横向和纵向两个维度去分析，但是我当时漏掉了纵向的分析，所以就少了一个结论。

于是面试官就用比较挑战的方式不断地问我问题，我至少花了五分钟才明白他想引导我去做的是什么分析，然后赶紧做完这个结论才往下走。

第二个case也有很多图表，但是以计算为主的。

因为一共涉及四个图表，很多数字，光是梳理和讲清楚计算的思路就花了三分钟。

其实计算这里，我也犯了一个错误。

我在计算完之后就开始讲，我觉得这个结果还可以通过几个方式进一步改善。

面试官立刻挑战我，也算是提醒我，说你现在已经开始给建议了吗？我们现在还没到时候，你现在只需要回头看看这些数据，告诉我你有什么发现就好了。

面试官最想了解的5个问题
面试官最想了解的5个问题
1、你为什么来这里?意思是：你为什么来这里应聘?这个问题可以通过询问你的离职原因、你的职业规划、你对公司及职位的了解等一些方面求得答案。

2、你能为我们做什么?意思是：你具备哪些经验、技能?你对行业、对职位有多少了解?面对工作中的问题你如何解决?
3、你是哪种类型的人?意思是：你是否认同公司的文化理念，是否能融入这个环境?
4、你觉得你的竞争优势在哪些方面?意思是：相比其他的应聘者，你有哪些方面做得会更突出?
5、我们雇得起你吗?意思是：你的期望薪水是否在我们的预算之内?
看过“面试官最想了解的5个问题”。

麦肯锡面试经验我是南京大学商院05级的,已经毕业一段时间了,这期间一直希望进入一家国际一流咨询企业,经历了很多面试和挫折,虽然都以失败告终,但收获还是有的。

我写下来一是想和现在找工作的同学互勉；二是为了给以后想进入全球顶尖咨询和投行的师弟师妹们一些经验和教训。

E-mail通知面试麦肯锡很奇怪,是E-mail通知面试的。

一共56个人被选出来参加第一论面试。

在第一轮面试之前有一个笔试,叫mckinsey caselets,居然是ETS出品的。

里面的很多case与几大咨询公司网站上提供的case比较相似,只要你能融会贯通,做题不难,但是阅读量挺大。

我考过gmat,提前20分钟做完。

考完笔试会有一个pre－interview reception,这和笔试一样都不影响你是否进入下一轮面试。

这个reception就是有些麦肯锡的大中小“牛”们出来和同学们见个面,介绍一下麦肯锡的case interview是什么样的,还有就是做广告。

个人觉得麦肯锡这样很人性化,很重视applicatant。

这时会发给你一张interview schedule,我看了一下,上面一半以上是海归,还有好多是什么牛津,剑桥毕业的,吓死人。

第一轮面试感觉良好我是第二天下午一点多面试的。

麦肯锡的面试一共3轮,每轮两个面试官。

每轮都包括behavior interview和case interview。

第一个面试我的是一个全球副董,聊的时候她很严肃,我就没话找话,把能说的都说了。

然后她就给我做了一个关于mobile phone manufactuer进入中国市场的案例,整个过程还算不错。

第二个是一个资深顾问,我觉得他是我在所有面试官面前发挥得最好的一次。

我先聊我的经历,期间他问了一些很tough的问题,我回答得非常好,而且让他觉得我非常“牛”,现在回想起来都不好意思。

因为聊得太久了,所以做了一个brain teaser的case。

他问我如果石油可以无限了,世界会怎样。

盘点五大敏感面试问题及参考回答一、请谈谈你最大的缺点？回答提示：这个问题企业问的概率很大，通常不希望听到直接回答的缺点是什么等，如果求职者说自己小心眼、爱忌妒人、非常懒、脾气大、工作效率低，企业肯定不会录用你。

绝对不要自作聪明地回答“我最大的缺点是过于追求完美”，有的人以为这样回答会显得自己比较出色，但事实上，他已经岌岌可危了。

企业喜欢求职者从自己的优点说起，中间加一些小缺点，最后再把问题转回到优点上，突出优点的部分，企业喜欢聪明的求职者。

二、你对加班有什么看法？回答提示：实际上好多公司问这个问题，并不证明一定要加班，只是想测试你是否愿意为公司奉献。

回答样本：如果是工作需要我会义不容辞加班，我现在单身，没有任何家庭负担，可以全身心的`投入工作。

但同时，我也会提高工作效率，减少不必要的加班。

三、说说你对薪资的要求回答提示：如果你对薪酬的要求太低，那显然贬低自己的能力;如果你对薪酬的要求太高，那又会显得你分量过重，公司受用不起。

一些雇主通常都事先对求聘的职位定下开支预算，因而他们第一次提出的价钱往往是他们所能给予的最高价钱，他们问你只不过想证实一下这笔钱是否足以引起你对该工作的兴趣。

回答样本一：我对工资没有硬性要求，我相信贵公司在处理我的问题上会友善合理。

我注重的是找对工作机会，所以只要条件公平，我则不会计较太多。

回答样本二：我受过系统的软件编程的训练，不需要进行大量的培训，而且我本人也对编程特别感兴趣。

因此，我希望公司能根据我的情况和市场标准的水平，给我合理的薪水。

回答样本三：如果你必须自己说出具体数目，请不要说一个宽泛的范围，那样你将只能得到最低限度的数字。

最好给出一个具体的数字，这样表明你已经对当今的人才市场作了调查，知道像自己这样学历的雇员有什么样的价值。

四、如果你的工作出现失误，给本公司造成经济损失，你会怎么办？回答提示：①我本意是为公司努力工作，如果造成经济损失，我认为首要的问题是想方设法去弥补或挽回经济损失。

McKinsey1st Round:1) We are back in the 80s, and Daewoo wants to enter the Italian market. They approachyou and say that they want to sell 100,000 cars after one year. What do you tell them?Its own productivity and the Capacity of the local market2) A steel producing company wants to cut costs. It currently operates 2 large mills at 75% capacity and four small ones at 100% capacity. It is experiencing profitability issues. What action would you recommend it takes?Compare the Cost/Profit index---Fixed Cost---Operating Cost---3) Our client is a retail brokerage. We have seen our customer base decline over the past 18 months. Why this happening is and what can we do about it?Why--- Market Change(New Suppliers, New Policies, New Products immerge)Competitors(New One/ Old one grew fast)Inside Operation(Strategy/Process/structure/system/人员流失……)4) The client owns mines that produce high and low grade ore and processes it into an alloy that is then sold as an additive to strengthen steel (sold directly to steel manufacturers). A new foreign competitor has shown up in the market and the company is losing profits. A general manager of one of the processing plants asks what he should do to maintain profits.Find our characters and position5) The past few years a Health Insurance Company has been growing at a rate of about 15%a year. This past year it only grew by 1%. Costs are rising 12% each year. What is the problem and what should the company do?6) Company X is a chemical manufacturer. They make a product that is very similar to Company Y’s product. Company X and Y are direct competitors in many geographic markets, but each also has unique areas in which the sales forces do not face direct competition. Company X buys Company Y. How do you integrate the sales forces?7) You are working for a Brazilian soda manufacturer that is experiencing declining profits over the last two years. Why is this occurring? [competition from generics] What is the size of the market for canned cola? What are the company's options for improving profitability? What are the possible effects of a change in the cola's price?8) Our client is a mid-Western HMO. They have 300 doctors and 300,000 subscribers. They handle mostly checkups and routine visits. The HMO outsources specific cases to local specialists. Over the last two years the HMO has seen their profits decrease. They've called us in to find out why.2nd Round1) A European iron mining company bought a piece of land in ffice:smarttags" />Australia with a high content of iron. Should they proceed with extraction of the ore or not? /2) A PC manufacturer wants to add a new line of pocket PCs. Should they do it? What doyou tell the CEO?3) A health and fitness center, a chain of gyms, like Bally's is considering building more tennis courts. The cost of the land development isgh occupancy rates averaged 80 percent. - charts given3) a music company is bringing out a cd for a new artist. how would you market and price, knowing that you''d like to charge a premium for the cd?final round (nov. 2002)1) you are consulting to the manufacturer of airplane engines (2 main engines: for wide body planes and narrow body planes ——> regional and low cost airlines, which are growing, use the narrow body planes). the client is considering entering the airplane leasing market, because one of its competitors (ge) is already there, and the client hypothesizes that ge''s presence in leasing helps its engine sales. what do you tell him?2) last year, lawsuits cost corporations $200 billion compared with $70 billion in 1990. how would you advise a roundtable of ceos to attack tort reform?3) the u.s. post office lost millions last year. how would you advise the new ceo to turn the post office around?4) we have been hired by a mexican company that has a dominant position in all of its markets but one: ketchup. although its ketchup sales have been increasing, its market share is stagnant (10%) and its profit margin remains below that of its competitors. what do you think might be happening? what would you suggest the client do in order to increase market share and profits?a small pharmaceutical research company is about to start clinical trials for a new and promising molecule. the trial process has three phases, with different associated costs and probabilities of success:costs (million) pr. success- phase 1 $10 .40- phase 2 $5 .2- phase 3 $80 .105if the process is successful and the new drug is introduced in the market, it would generate total income flows of $300 million.+ draw a graph showing the income stream for the next ten years (assume that full adoption is reached in year 7)+ the pharmaceutical company is looking for a buyer. how much should it ask for?booz1st round1) our client is a magazine publisher. they are considering a new pricing program where the price for subscriptions would increase every year. evaluate how such a decision would impact their business. would you advise they do it?bain1st round (nov. 2003)1) our client is apple publishing, the largest publisher of children’s fiction in the industry. seven years ago the ceo became concerned that childhood literacy rates were low and decided to make a difference. he entered the telemetry textbook market. he thinks they are the best now, but hasn’t been rewarded. seven years later he has 70 million dollars in sales and 20 million dollars inlosses. they are less than 5% of the market, but the ceo wants to stay in the market, how can he do it?2) our client produces 2-inch wrenches. they sell to home depot and also toauto-mechanics directly. if you were a store manager at home depot, how many varieties of wrenches would you display to sell and at what price points? how are the home depot wrench buyers different from the auto mechanics? if you wanted to provide discounts to the auto mechanics, which of them would you target and why? what information would you want from them first?3) university town has a population of 40,000 students. currently there are nine restaurants. you''re client is thinking about opening up the tenth. is this a good idea and should she open up a fast food or a specialty restaurant?4) a major airline is thinking about going head to head with the discount airlines by offering "cheap" fares. does this make sense? estimate the size of the european "discount" airline market.5) your client sells coffee on the five japanese bullet trains (high speed trains). estimate the size of the market. how would you advise them to increase sales?6) our client, a private equity firm, is considering an investment in a manufacturer of digital inkjet printers (printing large billboards). the manufacturer wants to enter the screen printing market (printing signs and point-of purchase posters, e.g. for supermarket sales). how big is the screen printing market? which particular segment is the most attractive?7) estimate the market size of printers in hong kong. a u.s.-based pc manufacturer now wants to get into the printer market. assess the opportunity.8) we have been hired by a global wealth management company that has 2 divisions: asset management and private banking. our asset management profits have been decreasing, and our private banking profits have been increasing. we need to help our client determine strategy to increase all his profits.9) we have been hired by the board of a company that is loosing money. the board has asked us to determine whether any of this loss can be attributed to the leer jet that the management team uses.10) we have been hired by a company that has just finished making the millennium eye,a large ferris wheel that will be placed in the middle of london. our client wants to know how big the market is and how much we should charge per ticket.a.t. kearney1st round (oct. 2003)1) the cfo of a top 3 retailer wants you to evaluate the viability of developing exclusive contracts with distributors. the three questions you should address are:1. pro''s and con''s of pursuing exclusive contracts2. identify the categories that should be explored for exclusive contracts3. how would you operationalize these contracts?2) case setup (facts offered by interviewer):your client is a u.s. basedq oil refinery. the refinery has a single location and is a small to medium-sized refinery. your client, although profitable, believes it is lagging behind the competition and could improve. you are brought in as part of a joint consultant-client team that will review overall operations and make recommendations on ways to improve the bottom line.you have been assigned to work with the maintenance division. the maintenance depa rtment’s primary objective is to prevent equipment failure and to repair equipment when it does fail. understanding of its organization is important. it consists of three primary areas: nine assets areas, one central maintenance area and one group of contractors. the first two areas are employees of the client, the third an external source of labor. an asset is a physical area of the plant that contains various pieces of equipment (pumps, heat exchangers, etc.). there are nine assets. each asset has a maintenance supervisor who is responsible for all maintenance to be performed in his/her asset. working for the maintenance supervisor in each asset is, on average, eleven “craftsmen”. the craftsmen are the actual workers that perform the maintenance. the craftsmen are unionized and divide into twelve different craft designations (e.g. electricians, pipefitters, welders, etc.). each craft designation has a defined set of skills they are qualified to perform. they are not allowed to perform skills outside of their defined craft, or help in the performance of activities involving skills beyond their craft. collectively the twelve different crafts can perform any maintenance job that might arise at the refinery. the maintenance supervisor and his/her assigned craftsmen are “hardwired” to their asset. that is, they work only on equipment in their given asset.central maintenance is a centralized pool of maintenance supervisors and craftsmen, who are dispatched to support the different assets during times of high workload. they are employees of your client and fit the description contained in the above asset explanation. the only difference is that they may work in any of the different assets as determined by workload. there are a total of 11 maintenance supervisors and 100 craftsmen that comprise central maintenancecontractors are a group of outside supervisors and craftsmen who support your client during times of high workload. they also are capable of performing any maintenance job that may arise, but differ f rom your client’s craftsmen in that they divide the collective skills required into five designations rather than twelve. thus, the craftsmen of the contractor are capable of performing a broader set of skills. they, like your client’s craftsmen, don’t per form skills outside of their defined craft but do allow different craft designations to help each other. there are an average of 7 contractor maintenance supervisors and 140 contractor craftsmen at the refinery on any given day.question:whatq opportunities exist to increase profits?what recommendations can you make to capture savings related to the identified opportunities? what is the cost savings associated with your recommendations?suggested solutions:the first question involves identifying opportunities to improve profits. the candidate must start with either revenues or costs. although one could make the argument that maintenance supports revenue by maximizing the operating time of the refinery equipment, maintenance should be seen to be a support function. thus, it is more appropriate to focus on costs and cost reduction. the following questions will help the candidate gain insight into cost reduction opportunities.how does the maintenance department track its costs?if the candidate phrases the question about material or overhead costs, the interviewer would inform the candidate that detailed reviewed showed no major opportunities. the candidate would be steered toward labor costs and given the following tables regarding maintenance labor costs forthe past year.to support understanding of the following tables, turnaround work is long term preventive maintenance (e.g. complete rebuilding of a boiler) that may be performed once every few years. all other work (short term emergency repairs, small scale preventive maintenance, other routine work, etc.) fits into the category of daily workcraftsmen daily work turnaround totalclient $ 8mm $ 2mm $ 10mmcontractor $ 5mm $ 9mm $ 14mmtotal $ 13mm $ 11mm $ 24mmsupervisor totalclient $ 1mmcontractor $ 0.5mmtotal $ 1.5mmsince the craftsmen table represents a larger dollar amount than the supervisor table, it is logical to pursue cost savings opportunities in this area first.what is the utilization of craftsmen in the assets?in central maintenance?and for contractors?assume each area is utilized 100% of the time, 50 weeks per year, 40 hours per week.how does the labor cost of craftsmen ($24mm) on a refinery-sized basis (i.e., $cost / per barrel of crude oil processed) compare with industry averages?consulting your industry data base shows that costs appear to be about 20% above the average of peer refineries.this is an important question to determine if there is a problem with costs (don’t assume there is, the client may be performing better than industry average!)is there any particular reason why turnaround work is so heavily skewed toward contractors? turnaround work tends to be more cyclical. an external workforce is used to absorb some of this additional work. keep in mind that both client and contractor craftsmen are capable of performing any maintenance job at the plant.after further analysis of the tables the key fact that should become appear odd is the large difference in the cost per unit of labor between your client’s craftsmen and the outside contractor’s craftsmen. often candidates will ask for the hourly wage rates of these two groups. there is sufficient data to calculate these numbers. the calculation is:annual cost of client craftsmen = $10mm/ (11 craftsmen/asset x 9 assets + 100 craftsmen in central maintenance) = $50,000 / yearannual cost of contractor craftsmen = $ 14 mm/ 140 contractor craftsmen = $100,000 / year again, this difference should provoke a series of questions to understand the difference.is there any difference in the work performed by the client and contractor craftsmen?no, other than the different levels of turnaround work vs. daily work performed as noted in the previous table. both groups are capable of doing any job with roughly equal levels of quality.is there any difference in efficiency between the two groups of craftsmen?the candidate would at this point be asked how they would measure this.after reaching an understanding of the difficulty involved in measuring the efficiency of aworkforce (especially a unionized workforce), the candidate would be told that through a series of interviews with maintenance supervisors, there is a consensus that contractor craftsmen are roughly twice as productive as client craftsmen.this is a critical point in the case. the candidate must recognize that in the present environment the client is largely indifferent about units of labor. you can have a client worker who is half as efficient or a contractor worker who is twice as expensive. the key now is to determine if there are ways to create an opportunity where the client would no longer be indifferent.what is cau sing the inefficiencies associated with the client’s labor?again, the candidate would be encouraged to offer their own ideas.after some discussion the candidate would be told that many of the maintenance supervisors complain endlessly about restrictions placed on them by the existing union labor contract and the tightness of craft designations.the interviewer would probe to ensure the candidate understands why the present craft designation creates the inefficiencies. essentially work is too finely divided. it makes planning and supervision extremely cumbersome. as an example, if one of six crafts required to perform a job is absent or late, the entire job must shut down, as craft designations are not allowed to support other craft designations.is it possible to change the existing union contract?the present labor contract is a three year contract that is due to be renegotiated/renewed in six months.will the union resist changes to the existing contract?indeed!!at this point, the candidate should recognize a major (albeit difficult) opportunity to reduce labor costs. the client would essentially like to have its own employees look and function like its contractors, but continue to get paid at present rates. in reality, management will need to make wage concessions in order to change present work practices. however, through planned negotiations a scenario can be created which presents a favorable opportunity for your client to begin to replace outside contractors with its own craftsmen.there are several ways to address the third question of the case, the actual savings that might be achieved. one quick method is to assume that these changes would bring maintenance costs back in line with industry average. utilizing the cost benchmark mentioned earlier, one could assume costs could be reduced to $24mm/1.20 = $20mm, a $4mm savings.a second, and more detailed, method would be to take the extreme scenario where the client’s craftsmen is paid its present rate, but is made as efficient as the contr actor’s craftsmen. in this case, you begin with the present level of 200 client craftsmen who are functioning as 100 equivalent contractor craftsmen (they’re one-half as efficient). by improving their efficiency, you are effectively “creating” 100 equivale nt contractors. thus, you are immediately able to replace 100 contractors and save $10mm. this could be taken one step further by assuming you would want to replace all contractors. this would save an additional $2.5mm ($4mm existing contractor expense - $2mm required to hire additional client craftsmen + $0.5mm in contractor supervisors). as noted earlier, in reality, this approach would require wage concessions to the union, so actual savings may be something significantly less.key takeaways:this case requires the candidate to quickly digest a large amount of organizational issues and then quickly check some ratios to uncover the basic problem (the client workforce is inefficient). creativity must then be used to structure a recommendation that would create a more favorable situation for the client. as in other cases, acceptable solutions need not follow the exact method above nor cover all of the above points.mercer1st round1) a new england telephone company is thinking of entering the home security market. what is the potential market size and what would you recommend they do?2) if i gave you $10 million dollars to invest in any one business, which would it be?3) should kraft foods expand and incorporate ice cream into their product mix? if yes, how should they enter this market?4) you are starting a new business, a gourmet coffee shop. the shop is located next to a train station. you''re building the business with the hope of selling it within two years. what is your strategy?5) how big is the market for window display marketing books?2nd round(nov 2004)：we have been hired by a client to help her evaluate his product mix and determine the best one going forward. refer to graphs.。