Opera笔试经历（含笔试题）--2007

吃吃

　　While you may find that doing a straightforward math problem in the context of an interview

is a bit tougher, you can see that it is just a matter of breaking the problem down. We are

looking for both your ability to set the analysis up properly and then to do the math in real

time.

　　Question

　　Q: In order to decide whether to reduce costs at the least efficient schools (i.e., those

with an average cost per hire of $2,000), what else would you want to know?

　　A: Some of the possible answers are given below.

　　Basic questions:

　　· What are the components of costs at these schools (why is it so expensive to recruit there)?

　　· What opportunities exist to reduce costs?

　　· How much cost savings would result from implementing each of the opportunities?

　　· What consequences would implementing each of these opportunities have on recruiting at

the least efficient schools?

　　Questions demonstrating further insight:

　　· Why is the cost lower at more efficient schools, and are there best practices in

resource management that can be applied to the least efficient schools?

　　· If we reduce costs at the least efficient schools, what will we do with the cost savings

(i.e., what would be the benefit of spending the money elsewhere vs. where it is currently

being spent)?

　　We would not expect anyone to come up with all of these answers, but we hope some of your

answers head in the same direction as ours. Yours may bring some additional insights. In either

case, be sure that you can clearly explain how your question will bring you closer to the

right decision.

　　Question

　　The McKinsey team conducts some analysis that indicates that increasing spending on blanket

advertising (e.g., advertisements/flyers on campus) does not yield any significant increase in

hires.

　　Q5: Given that increased blanket advertising spending seems to be relatively ineffective,

and the client doesn\'t want to increase overall costs, what might be some other ideas for

increasing the candidate pool on a specific campus?

　　A: We are looking for at least a couple of answers like the ones given below:

　　· Improve/enhance recruiting messages (e.g., understand target candidate group, refocus

message on this group, understand competitive dynamic on campus)

　　· Utilize referrals (e.g., faculty, alumni)

　　· Come up with creative ways to target specific departments/clubs of the school

　　· Rethink advertising spending - while increasing blanket ad spending doesn\'t seem to

work, advertising might still be the most efficient and effective way to increase the number of

candidates if it is deployed in a more systematic, targeted way


　　This question is a good one for demonstrating creativity because there\'s a long list of

possible ideas. Additional insights into how a given idea would be approached and how much it

would cost are helpful.

　　Question

　　For simplicity\'s sake, let\'s say we\'ve conducted market research and found that there

are two types of people on each campus, A and B. Historically, our client has also used two

types of recruiting messages in its advertising. The first, called "See the World," gets one

percent of type A students to apply, but three percent of type B students. The second,

called "Pathway to Leadership," gets five percent of Type A students to apply, but only two

percent of type B students.

　　The chart below lists the breakdown of types A and B students at some of our major

campuses, and the message our client is using on campus.

　　School % of Type A Students % of Type B Students Recruiting Message Used on Campus

　　University 1 80% 20% Pathway to Leadership

　　University 2 48% 52% See the World

　　University 3 70% 30% Pathway to Leadership

　　University 4 60% 40% See the World

　　Q6: Assuming there\'s no difference between the costs of each message, what can you tell me

from this information?

　　School % of Type A Students % of Type B Students Recruiting Message Used on Campus

　　University 1 80% 20% Pathway to Leadership

　　University 2 48% 52% See the World

　　University 3 70% 30% Pathway to Leadership

　　University 4 60% 40% See the World

　　A: According to these numbers, the client should use the "Pathway to Leadership" message

across all four universities. The "See the World" message is preferable only if more than 80%

of the students at a given university are of type B.


　　An even more insightful response would mention that the ultimate answer depends on the cost

of each message, whether the cost increases depending on the number of students at the campus,

and how interested we are in students of Type A vs. Type B (e.g., will one type be more likely

than the other to get an offer and to be successful on the job). One could imagine using both

messages on some campuses if the additional cost were justified by the resulting increase in

hires.

　　Question

　　University 4 graduates 1,000 seniors each year.

　　Q7: How many new candidates might be generated by changing the recruiting message at

University 4 to Pathway to Leadership?

　　A: The answer is 20 candidates (i.e., an increase of over 100%).

　　Number of each type of student at University 4:

　　1,000 seniors x 60% = 600 Type A students

　　1,000 seniors x 40% = 400 Type B students

　　Candidates attracted be See the World message:

　　(1% x 600) + (3% x 400) = 18 candidates

　　Candidates attracted by Pathway to Leadership message:

　　(5% x 600) + (2% x 400) = 38 candidates

　　Increase in candidates resulting from change in message:

　　38 - 18 = 20 more candidates (an increase of over 100%)

　　Question

　　Q8: What sort of next steps should we tell our client we\'d like to take based on what we

have discussed today?

　　A: The ability to come to a logical, defensible synthesis based on the information

available at any point in an engagement is critical to the work we do. Even though we\'d

consider ourselves to be very early in the overall project at this point in the case, we do

want to be able to share our current perspective. The ideal answer would include the following

points:

　　FINDINGS

　　· There appears to be an opportunity to significantly increase total applicants of the

same quality that we are getting today at the same or reduced cost:

　　· Increasing blanket advertising is ineffective and costly, but changing the advertising

message on some campuses could increase applicants significantly without increasing costs. At

one of the campuses we\'ve looked at, University 4, the number of applicants would go up more

than 100 percent

　　· The cost-per-hire varies dramatically from school to school. This suggests that there

may be opportunities to reduce costs in certain places or reallocate resources more efficiently

　　NEXT STEPS

　　· We plan to explore further ideas for increasing quality applications by changing the mix

of schools, beginning with a more detailed review of the opportunities to reduce costs at certain schools

　　· After looking at levers to increase total applicants, we will be analyzing opportunities

to improve the offer rate (i.e., ensure we\'re not turning down quality applicants) and to

increase the acceptance rate

　　· We will examine additional methods for attracting more applications from our current

campuses (e.g., referrals, clubs) in addition to assessing the impact of improved messaging on

campus