Ace the case! How to Succeed in the Preply Case Study
At Preply, we leverage business acumen and curiosity to investigate disparities between numbers and stories, unlocking meaningful insights to make our decisions. These principles guide our daily choices, driving us to consistently dive deeper into our work.
When preparing for candidate interviews, we reproduce real-world scenarios through case studies, putting candidates in authentic business environments complete with challenges, numbers, and objectives. The case study is not just a mere step in our process; it represents a real view of the Preply business. The in-depth preparation process is specifically designed to give you a chance to understand whether you’ll be motivated and driven to solve these types of problems for our learners & tutors and, ultimately, thrive and be happy at Preply.
After a series of case study interviews, with many highlights and equal amounts of constructive feedback, our Talent Acquisition team followed our principle of putting the candidate first by providing guidance to ensure you’re exceptionally well-prepared for the case study challenge. We want you to be successful!
APPROACHING THE CASE STUDY
We are looking for a solution that is scalable, implementable, and answers the problem. But what is the problem? And how do we achieve success? Don’t be afraid to ask follow-up questions such as, “What does ‘success’ mean to you? Is it turning a profit? Raising the company’s profile?” to guarantee you have a complete understanding of what the interviewers are expecting from you. When you work on a specific project, you need to ask questions to figure out what the problems might be, and the same applies here. The Talent Acquisition Partner is your biggest asset to help you during the preparation. They have the information you need to “solve the case” successfully. Use them wisely!
After the questions have been posed and you’ve gained a comprehensive understanding of the task’s scope, the next step is to familiarize yourself with the product. Our senior managers emphasize that this is a pivotal aspect of the entire preparation process.
Really understand a company’s product and competitor landscape — sample our product and try to understand our value proposition Vs what’s available in the market. By doing this, as a candidate, you can empathize so much more with our customers and better-identify pain-points, opportunities, and much more. Years ago, when I was interviewing for marketing roles, I used to do a full SEO audit, keyword research and ranking analysis, link analysis, and relative competitor analysis to showcase how the company I was interviewing for were doing. I was always seen as going above and beyond versus everyone I interviewed and showcased I had the core skills. It also showed me whether I was truly interested in working in this problem space.
Richard Lyne, Senior Director of CRM
Try the Preply product so you can understand firsthand the joys and challenges our learners and tutors experience. We do it for learners, so try to put yourself in their shoes.
Deepti Sahi, VP of Product
PREPARE PREPARE PREPARE
If you haven’t done it before, invest some time to dive deeper into our Principles. They serve as the cornerstone of our culture and play a crucial role in evaluating potential hires. As significant as what your accomplishments are, is how you achieved them — ensuring the way you work resonates with our principles based culture. Invest the time to comprehend each principle thoroughly and leverage them as a guide for shaping both your answers and presentations.
Before delving deeper into the preparation, put your hiring manager hat on. When reviewing the case study and the job description, ask yourself, “What is it that I would want to see if I were the one recruiting for the role?” This encourages you to think more deeply about what the business case is really asking; it stops you from delivering just the literal requirements of a question and encourages you to go deeper.
During our conversation with senior managers, two key tips emerged as being crucial from their perspective as you prepare to present your case:
Cover all the questions asked. This also appears to be an easy one, but you would be surprised how often it happens. Each question is designed to test a specific skill set criteria and so not answering one question means we need to infer from the overall interview. Getting the basics right is one of the highest return actions a candidate can do.
Emphasize the most impactful information to convey. While it’s important to address the questions asked in the case to allow for enough discussion, it’s best to keep the presentation crisp and focused on the most critical aspects of the case.
Jose Ferreira, Senior Director of Strategy & Planning
As you progress through the case, conducting your analysis and internal dialogue, consider how you will articulate this information during your presentation. As a big part of the case study interview is seeing you in action. (However, “see” really means “how you think”). Since the interviewer can’t hear your inner monologue, you’ll need to practice thinking out loud. While the interviewer wants to hear your solution, we also want to hear how you got there. So walk the interviewer through your thinking and explain your assumptions.
However, be mindful of the excess of unnecessary details during your presentation. As we truly believe in collecting diverse perspectives in our hiring process, you might be presenting to non-technical interviewers and cross-functional stakeholders, so be careful to make it clear for people with different backgrounds, and always remember to build compelling storytelling for your narrative, prioritizing what is most important for the case.
REVIEW & PRACTICE
Ensure you allocate ample time for addressing some fundamental yet often overlooked aspects:
- Visual Presentation. Pay close attention to the visual aspects of your presentation. Verify the correct use of branding, maintain consistency, and ensure alignment of all elements. Avoid overwhelming your presentation with needless text. Including additional documents or notes to support your points can be beneficial. You might discover a great chance to demonstrate your “Keep Perfecting” attitude through a simple yet deeply engaging presentation and compelling storytelling.
- Clarity and Conciseness. Make your points with clarity and concision, and ensure your conclusions are unmistakable. Be cautious not to provide an excessive amount of context or spend time on matters unrelated to the questions presented in the case prompt.
- Time Management. Another principle crucial to us is “Disciplined Execution”. We highly value purposeful actions in all our endeavors, aiming for optimal efficiency in outcomes. To reflect this principle in your presentation, aim to deliver it within the set time frame, allowing space for questions and discussions. Communicate with your recruiter to clarify the designated time for questions and whether they’ll be addressed at the presentation’s conclusion or during it.
- Applicable solution: We are usually looking for a solution that is applicable and correlated to the Preply business reality. When you start to build your case presentation, avoid shallow concepts or generic conclusions. Think about why this is right for Preply, focus on how your solutions will positively impact current and future learners on our platform
Don’t overlook the preparation part, as the case study provides the opportunity to demonstrate to the hiring team how you will closely address day-to-day tasks, handle challenges, and engage with the team. It’s also a chance for you to gain insights into our business reality, product, and the typical problems we encounter. So, relish the journey, invest ample time in preparation, and deliver a fantastic presentation!
We’re actively looking for talented candidates with a can-do attitude and a hunger for growth to join our ambitious journey at Preply. It looks like you know HOW to ace the case, so check out our open positions here.
