The worst thing you can do is give bland, generic answers to the interview questions.

Now actually, that is really two different mistakes; however, both fall into the “not going the extra mile” category. You must provide distinctive responses.

If you don’t include a few anecdotes, you will give a lousy interview. Here is an example of an answer without an anecdote.

Why do you want to be a management consultant?

I like to work with smart people and face difficult business and intellectual challenges.

Well, that’s dull. There is certainly nothing special in that response. What’s the story behind your desire to be a management consultant?

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So what’s wrong with that?

If you tell a little story or an anecdote about why you want to be a management consultant, it will stick out in the interviewer’s mind. If you just give a run of the mill, plain answer, it will just blend in with all the other run of the mill plain answers. You won’t get a job offer, and neither will anyone else who answered that way.

At the end of the day, the consultants usually have a meeting to discuss all the applicants. If you said something that really stuck with your interviewer, you are likely to be discussed favorably. If you just gave a dull, unimaginative answer, your interviewer probably won’t even think to mention you.

Here’s how you can add an anecdote or a takeaway.

An anecdote would tell a story and draw a conclusion. It would tell the interviewer about something you have done and something you learned from it.

In the answer that was given, there was no takeaway. No conclusion was given.

Here is an example of how to add a takeaway to that answer. By adding personal experience, that answer becomes much stronger, leaves a conclusion, and more important, leaves an impression.

What is it about management consulting that interests you the most?

I love to work with smart, ambitious people facing intellectual challenges and solving difficult business problems. When I did my internship in asset management, I really enjoyed my smart, hard-working colleagues, but I did not feel challenged, myself. I think consulting will challenge me and give me the opportunity to work with people who will inspire me to do my best. I want to move up in the business world. I have come to realize that the best way to do that is to become a top member of a smart team and seek out the toughest challenges.

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