​​How to Answer Hypotheticals

Now that you what interviewers are evaluating you on when they ask you about hypos (your subject matter expertise, analytical reasoning, and presentation skills), here are 5 ways to excel in answering the hypo: 

1. Lay out your reasoning systematically. Even if your answer doesn’t end up to be absolutely correct (or if there is no clear-cut answer), you could get credit for your analysis.
2. Understand the audience. Get a sense before the interview of the company’s risk tolerance and sensitivities so you can frame the answer appropriately. You can also explain how your answer could change depending on the company’s priorities and hot buttons.
3. Make sure you understand the question and the interviewer’s assumptions, e.g., about the product, landscape, regulatory scheme, factual situation, etc. Don’t get judged for your answer if you and the interviewer are talking about different things.
4. Don’t take a wild guess. If you don’t know the answer, explain where you would go to find the answer and what questions you would ask. You can analogize how you researched something similar.
5. Prepare examples of challenges you overcame, paying attention to themes and approaches so you can recycle at least parts of this analysis depending on the question.