Behavioral and fit
Your past experience, personal, academic and otherwise, and why Bain.
- Questions
- The same for every candidate for a role
- Come ready
- To connect your skills to the role
- Know
- Your CV and Bain's operating principles
Bain interview questions, fit and case
Bain says some roles include a behavioral interview and others add behavioral questions about work, academic or personal challenges. In all cases it wants you to explain why Bain specifically. Consulting roles add a case interview, which Bain calls a structured conversation about a real business problem, usually after a digital assessment. Bain says every candidate for a role gets the same questions. To rehearse both out loud, Soreno, an AI voice interview practice app for consulting, investment banking and other finance candidates, runs Bain-style fit questions and cases with follow-up questions and scored feedback.
Updated
- Same questions for everyone. Bain gives every candidate for a role the same questions, to reduce bias.
- Why Bain, specifically. In all cases, Bain says, it looks for people who can explain it.
- Behavioral questions. At least one behavioral interview for some roles, and behavioral questions in others.
- A case for consultants. A structured conversation about a real business problem, with no single right answer.
- You hear how it went. Bain says you learn how each interview went, scored on an objective system.
How Bain interviews
Each role has its own process, Bain says. For most, its team reviews your application, you might have a call with a recruiter, and you have several rounds of interviews. For consulting roles that usually means a digital assessment, if required, and then case interviews.
Case interview
For consulting roles only: a structured conversation about a real business problem.
- Bain looks at
- How you think, structure and build on ideas
- Right answer
- Not a single one, Bain says
- In person
- Bring pen and paper
Digital assessment
Some intern and full-time consulting applicants take it first, depending on role and office.
- Provider
- Sova or TestGorilla, named in your email
- Length
- About 30 to 40 minutes
- Calculator
- In the assessment only, never in interviews
Bain's two sample casesOn its case interview page
Bain publishes two practice cases. The case questions below follow the same two shapes, in our own words.
A new business
Coffee Shop Co.
Help a friend decide whether opening a coffee shop is a good idea. A new business: the market, the money and whether it can win.
Bain: case interview prepA diagnosis
FashionCo.
Advise a fashion company on why its revenue has declined for five years. A diagnosis: where the decline comes from before what to do.
Bain: case interview prepTwelve cases
12 Bain-style cases to work
Bain's two cases plus ten of our own, with a full worked example and its math.
Bain case interview examples
From Bain: our hiring process, Bain: interviewing and Bain: what to expect.
What Bain looks for
Bain does not publish a scoring rubric. Its careers pages and its values page say this much:
Curious problem-lovers
People who are intellectually curious, entrepreneurial and ambitious about results for clients. Bain says that ambition can be the quiet kind.
Why Bain, specifically
In all cases, Bain says, it looks for people who can explain why they want to join Bain in particular.
Its four values
Passion and Commitment, Honesty and Openness, Practical, and One Team, plus True North, its commitment to always do the right thing.
In the case, a clear structure said out loud
Clarify the objective, structure your thinking, think aloud through the math, and listen and adapt to the interviewer's cues.
From Bain's interviewing page, What We Believe and its case interview page.
17 Bain interview questions
Bain doesn't publish its questions, so these are in our words, built on what Bain says it looks for. Each note says what a strong answer does.
Your background and why Bain5 questions
Bain says it looks for this in every candidate. Follow-ups are ours.
Walk me through your resume.
What a strong answer does
Bain asks you to know your CV. Two minutes, in order, with the choices you made and why, ending on why Bain now. Practice it, see a model answer
Why consulting?
What a strong answer does
Two reasons backed by things you have done, and what you want to learn in the job. Practice it, see a model answer
Why Bain, and not another firm?
What a strong answer does
Something specific you learned from a Bain person or its own pages, tied to the work you want to do. Bain says it looks for this in every candidate. Practice it, see a model answer
- “Who have you spoken to at Bain?”
- “What would make you choose another firm?”
Which of our values means the most to you, and why?
What a strong answer does
Pick one of Passion and Commitment, Honesty and Openness, Practical or One Team, and back it with a time you lived it.
What questions do you have for us?
What a strong answer does
Bain says you should be interviewing it too. Know your interviewers and ask about their own work. Practice it, see a model answer
Behavioral questions7 questions
About work, academic or personal challenges, as Bain's interviewing page puts it. Follow-ups are ours.
Tell me about a time you achieved something difficult.
What a strong answer does
Ambition, the quiet kind counts. The goal, the obstacle that nearly stopped you and the choices that got you past it. Practice it, see a model answer
- “What was the hardest moment?”
- “What would you do differently?”
Tell me about a time you made sure a teammate didn't fail.
What a strong answer does
One Team. Bain's hiring page promises your colleagues will never let you fail. Show you do the same: what you saw, what you did and how they came out of it. Practice it, see a model answer
Tell me about a time you told someone a hard truth.
What a strong answer does
Honesty and Openness. How you said it, plainly and with evidence, and what happened next. Practice it, see a model answer
Tell me about a time you turned a decision into action.
What a strong answer does
Practical. Bain's values page says it turns decisions into action. Show the steps, the deadline and the result. Practice it, see a model answer
Tell me about a time you started something new.
What a strong answer does
Entrepreneurial, in Bain's words. What you started, who you had to convince and what it became.
Tell me about a time you received tough feedback.
What a strong answer does
What you heard, your first reaction and the change you made. Practice it, see a model answer
Tell me about a time you failed.
What a strong answer does
Own the mistake in one sentence, then what you changed and where it showed up later. Practice it, see a model answer
Case questions5 questions
Our own prompts in the shape of Bain's two sample cases. For full cases, see our Bain case interview examples.
Should our client open a new coffee shop?
What a strong answer does
The shape of Bain's Coffee Shop Co. Ask what success means, then the market, the costs and the competition, and give a clear yes or no. Practice it, see a model answer
A fashion brand's revenue has fallen five years in a row. Why?
What a strong answer does
The shape of FashionCo. Split revenue into price and volume, then by customer, channel and product, and test the biggest branch first.
How many dentists are there in the US?
What a strong answer does
Say your assumptions out loud, keep the numbers round and sanity-check the answer at the end. Practice it, see a model answer
Should a private equity firm buy a regional chain of dental clinics?
What a strong answer does
Bain works with private equity firms. Market, the business, price and exit, with the risk that could sink the deal named early. Practice it, see a model answer
The client asks for your answer now. What do you recommend?
What a strong answer does
The answer in one sentence, two or three reasons with numbers, the main risk and the next step. Practice it, see a model answer
Mistakes and how to prepare
Where Bain candidates slip
A "why Bain" that fits any firm
Bain says it looks for people who can explain why Bain specifically. Name something only Bain gave you.
Reciting a memorized framework
Bain says it never asks you to memorize and recite, and that there is no single right answer. Build the structure for the case in front of you.
Doing the math silently
Bain's tips ask you to think aloud through your calculations. There is no calculator in the interview.
Not knowing your interviewers
Bain suggests learning about them ahead of time so you can skip surface-level questions.
How to prepare for Bain's questions
Bain's own advice first. The last step is our suggestion.
Bain's advice
Know your CV and the role
Be ready to explain every line and why it matters for the job.
Bain's advice
Read about Bain and your interviewers
Its values page, its operating principles and the people you will meet. Write your questions down beforehand.
Bain's advice
Work Bain's two cases
Coffee Shop Co. and FashionCo., out loud, before you read the answers.
Our suggestion
Rehearse fit answers with follow-ups
A partner or an AI interviewer who asks the second and third question, so your stories hold up.
Rehearse Bain's questions, out loud
Soreno's AI interviewer asks fit questions and runs Bain-style cases one step at a time, follows up like a real interviewer and scores every answer.
Questions people ask
What questions does Bain ask in interviews?
Behavioral questions about your experience, why you want Bain specifically, and for consulting roles a case interview about a real business problem. Bain says every candidate for a role gets the same questions.
Does Bain have a fit interview?
Bain says some roles include at least one behavioral interview and other interviews may include behavioral questions. Come ready to discuss your past experience and Bain's operating principles.
How many interview rounds does Bain have?
Bain says you'll have several rounds of interviews, and each role has its own process. It does not publish one number for every office.
What does Bain look for in candidates?
People who are intellectually curious, entrepreneurial and ambitious about results for clients, and who can explain why they want to join Bain specifically.
Can I use a calculator in a Bain interview?
No. Bain allows a calculator in its digital assessment only, not in the interviews that follow.
Does Bain give feedback after interviews?
Bain's hiring page says that after each interview you'll learn exactly how it went, and that feedback is based on an objective scoring system.