Breaking into consulting is competitive, and the “Why LEK?” question is one of the easiest places to lose ground.

I’ve worked with countless candidates with strong resumes and solid casing skills, but still stumbled when asked this deceptively simple question.

Why?

Because they gave answers that sounded rehearsed, generic, or interchangeable with any other firm. That’s not what LEK is looking for.

Interviewers want to know that you get LEK, not just that you Googled them the night before. They’re listening for signs of authenticity, depth, and real alignment with the firm’s values and approach.

I’ve helped dozens of candidates craft answers that didn’t just sound good; they made interviewers nod.

In this blog, you’ll learn:

• What LEK interviewers are really listening for
• A step-by-step method to craft your personal “Why LEK?”
• Mistakes that quietly derail even strong candidates

Let’s break down how to get this answer exactly right.

Why the “Why LEK?” Question Matters More Than You Think?

If you think this question is just a warm-up, you’re already behind.

“Why LEK?” isn’t a soft question; it’s a litmus test.

I’ve seen countless candidates nail case interviews but lose momentum because their answer here felt generic or shallow. Interviewers don’t need you to recite what’s on the website. They need to know why LEK makes sense for you, and whether you’ve thought critically about the fit.

In fact, based on internal recruiter data, over 60% of rejections at LEK happen before or during the fit portion of interviews, not during the case. That means your answer to this question can be make-or-break before you even get to showcase your problem-solving skills.

A strong “Why LEK?” response does three things:

• Signals that you understand what makes LEK different (e.g., strategy-only focus, fast-paced staffing model, deep analytics).
• Shows that you’ve done your homework beyond surface-level research.
• Builds early trust that you’re not just applying to every consulting firm with a pulse.

This is where you plant the flag: “I’m not here by accident.”

Treat this answer like a first impression that you can’t redo.

Because in many interviews, especially at firms like LEK, that’s exactly what it is.

What Interviewers Are Really Listening For?

Most candidates make one subtle but critical mistake: they focus their answer on what they admire about LEK, not on what LEK is actually evaluating in them.

Here’s the truth: Consulting interviewers aren’t grading you on flattery. They’re listening for clues that show whether you’ve done the deep thinking required to make an intentional career decision. If your answer sounds like it could be copy-pasted into a McKinsey or Bain interview, it’s a red flag.

To stand out, you need to reverse-engineer your response.

Think like an interviewer. What would you want to hear from a candidate if you were hiring someone to join your project team next week?

From my coaching experience, here’s what LEK interviewers are genuinely tuned into:

• Clarity of motivation: Why do you want consulting, and why LEK specifically?
• Understanding of the firm’s culture: Do you get how LEK operates differently from broader firms? (Think: leaner teams, faster client exposure, strategic focus.)
• Thoughtful decision-making: Did you choose LEK for clear, experience-backed reasons or just because it’s “top tier”?
• Self-awareness and fit: Can you articulate how you, specifically, align with LEK’s fast pace, analytical rigor, and teamwork-driven model?

Your answer doesn’t need to be dramatic or dazzling.

It needs to be genuine, precise, and intentional.

Interviewers aren’t expecting perfection, but they are looking for signals that you’ve done your homework, reflected on your goals, and can already think like someone they’d want to work with.

Also checkout: Are Certain Consulting Offices Harder to Get Into? BCG, McKinsey, Bain Compared

How to Craft a Standout “Why LEK?” Answer: 5 Steps That Actually Work

The best “Why LEK?” answers aren’t memorized scripts; they’re clear, personal, and strategically structured to show real alignment. If your answer sounds both honest and intentional, you’ll instantly stand out from the crowd.

Here are the five steps I’ve seen top-performing candidates follow:

1. Start with your consulting motivation and LEK hook
2. Highlight specifics that show you’ve done your homework
3. Link your background to LEK’s approach
4. Show self-awareness and fit
5. Close with a signal of long-term interest

Let’s break each of these down so you can build a response that actually earns you credibility.

Step 1: Start with Your Motivation for Consulting and Why LEK Stood Out

Your answer should begin with CLARITY.

Not noise. Not clichés.

Saying you love “problem-solving” or want to “work with smart people” puts you in the same bucket as every other candidate. Instead, lead with the real reason consulting, and specifically LEK Consulting, made you pause and say: “This is where I want to grow.”

Here’s what that might look like:

• Maybe you were drawn to consulting because of its steep learning curve, but LEK stood out because of its strategy-only focus and rapid-fire case exposure, which compresses your development timeline.
• Maybe it’s LEK’s analytical intensity that resonates with you; a firm where data isn’t just decoration, but the backbone of client recommendations.
• Or perhaps you’re excited by the structure of LEK projects: shorter timelines, leaner teams, and the chance to see a broader range of industries early in your business career.

Interviewers are listening for two key things at this stage:

1. Did you explore your options thoughtfully before choosing LEK?
2. Can you articulate your decision like someone who already thinks like a consultant?

That means skipping the fluff and leaning into specifics.

Maybe a conversation with a LEK associate revealed how quickly new hires take ownership. Or perhaps you were intrigued by LEK’s heavy involvement in private equity and market entry work, where fast insight is everything.

Pro tip: The most compelling candidates often reference how they learned about LEK, not just what they like. Mentioning a real conversation, project, or personal research creates signal strength. It tells the interviewer you didn’t make this choice lightly.

Whatever your angle, make it personal, thoughtful, and relevant to your thinking. The interviewer wants to hear what genuinely clicked for you, not what you think they want to hear.

LEK doesn’t just hire smart people. They hire self-aware professionals who’ve made a clear, intentional choice and can explain why they made it.

That begins with how you open.

Step 2: Highlight Specific Things LEK Does That Resonate with You

Now that you’ve established why you want to pursue consulting, it’s time to show why LEK Consulting specifically stands out to you.

This is where most candidates fall into the trap of name-dropping values from the website: “collaborative culture,” “high-impact work,” “smart people.”

These phrases are overused, vague, and ultimately forgettable.

What works instead is this: Name specific aspects of LEK’s structure, project style, or culture that genuinely excite you, and explain why they align with your goals, working style, or interests.

Ask yourself:

• What aspects of LEK’s projects or structure genuinely excite you?
• What did you learn from conversations with real LEK consultants?
• How does LEK’s way of working reflect your own strengths or preferences?

Here are several traits that consistently resonate with successful candidates:

• Shorter project cycles → Fast exposure to different industries and client problems.
• Data-driven culture → Real ownership of quantitative analysis, even at the associate level.
• Strategy-only focus → Depth over breadth; fewer operations-heavy or implementation projects.
• Faster responsibility timeline → Early client interaction and a steeper development curve.
• Sector depth in healthcare, private equity, and education → Strong fit if your interests align.

If you’ve spoken with LEK consultants, and you should, this is the best place to integrate what you learned. Referencing specific conversations or stories instantly increases the credibility of your answer.

For example:

“After speaking with two LEK consultants, one from the SF office and one from London, I realized how consistently they emphasized LEK’s analytical rigor and short case cycles. I love the idea of moving quickly from problem to insight and being trusted with meaningful client-facing work from the start. That’s exactly the environment I’m looking for.”

Choose just two or three themes that feel most authentic to you, and build your answer around them.

Don’t try to mention everything; depth beats breadth.

When you show that you understand how LEK operates and that you’re genuinely excited to work in that environment, your answer becomes stronger and believable.

Step 3: Connect Your Background to LEK’s Values or Approach

Interviewers aren’t just listening for what you like about LEK; they’re looking for signs that you’d thrive in the environment they actually operate in.

That’s why this step is critical.

After showing that you understand how LEK works, you need to demonstrate how your own experience, strengths, or decision-making style directly align with how LEK delivers client value.

Here’s the mindset shift that separates top candidates:

You’re not applying to LEK as a fan. 

You’re applying as a future teammate.

Start by identifying parts of your background that mirror LEK’s core values or working model, such as:

LEK Value / Trait	What It Looks Like in You
Analytical depth	“Led a market research project, built financial models, or published data-driven reports.”
Thinking clearly under pressure	“Delivered results under tight timelines, led problem-solving in high-stakes environments.”
Curiosity across industries	“Explored multiple domains (e.g., finance + healthcare), or quickly picked up new business topics.”
Early ownership and leadership	“Took initiative in a student org, startup, or internship without waiting for instruction.”
Insight from ambiguity	“Solved unstructured problems without a defined playbook, like consulting projects require.”

Once you’ve identified those connections, make them explicit.

Here’s what that sounds like:

• “In my research role, I was responsible for taking fragmented information and turning it into actionable insights. That ability to distill ambiguity into clear thinking under time pressure is exactly what drew me to LEK’s client-facing model.”

• “I co-led a student consulting project for a local nonprofit where we had to drive results each week with little guidance. That experience showed me how much I enjoy tackling open-ended problems in small, fast-moving teams, something I know is core to LEK’s culture.”

You don’t need consulting experience to show consulting traits. Think like a consultant, then show where you’ve already acted like one.

This is where your answer moves from “I like LEK” to “I belong at LEK.”

And that’s exactly what interviewers want to hear.

Step 4: Show Self-Awareness in Your Fit

This is where your answer gets personal and powerful.

Praising LEK for its fast-paced environment, flat teams, or deep analytical work only gets you halfway. To truly stand out, you need to show that you’ve reflected on yourself: how you work, think, and learn, and why that makes you a natural fit for LEK’s consulting model.

This kind of self-awareness is rare.

And it’s one of the most underrated ways to earn trust early in an interview.

Ask yourself:

• How do you handle fast deadlines and high expectations?
• Do you thrive in environments where junior team members take initiative?
• Do you prefer structured logic over vague brainstorming?
• Have you sought out growth even when it wasn’t comfortable?

Now connect those insights directly to what you know about LEK’s culture.

Here are some examples:

• “I’ve always gravitated toward high-pressure environments where performance matters more than seniority. From everything I’ve read and conversations I’ve had with LEK consultants, that’s exactly the kind of merit-based team I want to be a part of.”

• “I know LEK places a premium on analytical depth and concise thinking. That really aligns with how I approach problems. I tend to distill issues quickly, then pressure-test my logic before diving into execution.”

• “When I learned that LEK teams are smaller and faster-moving than most other firms, it clicked for me. I’ve always thrived in lean groups where you can’t hide, where ownership is the default, not the exception.”

Pro tip: Strong fit answers don’t oversell; they reflect. It’s not about saying, “I’d love to work at LEK.” It’s about showing that you’ve taken an honest look at how LEK operates, and at how you operate, and found a natural alignment.

Interviewers are far more likely to trust someone who says,

“Here’s what I know about how LEK works, and here’s why I think that fits me well,” than someone who simply says, “I really admire the firm.”

This step turns admiration into insight.

That’s the mark of someone who’s prepared and ready to contribute.

Step 5: End with a Confident Signal of Long-Term Interest

Too many candidates treat “Why LEK?” as a short-term sales pitch, focused only on what they hope to gain in the next 12–24 months. But interviewers are quietly asking themselves a bigger question:

“Is this someone we could see thriving here long-term, not just surviving the first year?”

That’s why your closing line matters.

It’s your chance to shift from what you want to learn to who you want to become, and why LEK Consulting is the place you’ve chosen to grow into that version of yourself.

You don’t need to overdo it.

You just need to sound like someone who’s thinking beyond the offer.

Here are strong ways candidates I’ve coached have wrapped up:

• • “I’m drawn to LEK not just for the quality of training, but because I want to build a career solving the kinds of strategy problems LEK specializes in.”

• “The more I’ve learned about LEK, the more it feels like a place where I’d not only learn fast but contribute early, and that’s the kind of team I want to grow with.”

• “What excites me most is the opportunity to build real decision-making skills, and LEK seems like the kind of firm that accelerates that growth.”

Or simply:

“I’m excited about LEK not just for the learning, but for the kind of teammate I’d get to become.”

This kind of close sends the right signal:

 ✅ You’ve thought carefully

 ✅ You’ve looked ahead

 ✅ You’re not just chasing prestige, you’re choosing a path that fits

If your answer ends with clarity, not polish, you’ll come across as someone who’s mature, intentional, and grounded in the right reasons. Because ultimately, LEK isn’t hiring a perfect answer; they’re hiring a REAL person with strong potential.

“Why LEK?” Examples That Actually Work

By now, you understand the anatomy of a strong “Why LEK?” answer: clear motivation, firm-specific insight, personal alignment, and long-term intent.

But even with the structure in hand, many candidates still struggle to bring it all together.

So let’s look at a few short, effective sample answers that apply this framework in action. These examples are based on real candidate profiles I’ve worked with, from undergrads to career switchers, and show how to tailor your story based on your background.

Example 1: Analytical Undergraduate With No Consulting Internship

“I’ve always been drawn to roles where I’m expected to break down ambiguity and build clarity from scratch. That’s what I loved about my economics research assistant role: I was given messy data and asked to find answers. LEK’s data-driven consulting model and fast project cycles stood out to me early on. I also spoke with a recent alum from my university who joined LEK and shared how associates are trusted with real ownership early. That’s the kind of high-trust, high-responsibility environment I want to grow in.”

Example 2: Career Switcher From Finance

“Working in corporate finance taught me to make fast, high-stakes decisions under pressure. But I realized I wanted to move from execution to strategy, to shape decisions before they’re made. LEK stood out because of its focus on rigorous strategy work, especially in private equity and due diligence. I spoke with a consultant in the New York office who described how much exposure junior team members get on those deals, and it really confirmed that this is where I can bring my analytical strengths while learning to think more strategically.”

Example 3: Engineering Graduate With Technical Depth

“My engineering background gave me a strong foundation in structured problem-solving, but I’ve always been drawn to challenges that combine data with decision-making. That’s why I’m excited about consulting, and LEK in particular. The firm’s emphasis on analytical rigor and short case cycles really aligns with how I work: quickly break down a system, identify leverage points, and deliver clear insights. From what I’ve seen, LEK values people who can go deep and fast, and that’s exactly how I like to operate.”

Related: Do Consulting Firms Hire Engineers? Yes, If You Think Like One

Example 4: Non-Target School Candidate Focused on Strategy Exposure

“Coming from a non-core recruiting school, I knew I’d have to take initiative, and that mindset is part of why LEK’s culture appeals to me. I’ve followed the firm’s work in healthcare and education and was particularly drawn to the way LEK tackles sector-specific strategy questions. I connected with a former non-target candidate who’s now at LEK, and she spoke about how the firm’s meritocratic environment allowed her to stand out based on performance, not pedigree. That’s the kind of team I want to earn my place in.”

Example 5: Liberal Arts Student With Client-Facing Experience

“During a semester-long consulting project with a local nonprofit, I found myself excited by the ambiguity. We had to define the problem, test assumptions, and present recommendations to drive real decisions. That experience led me to consulting. I was drawn to LEK because of its reputation for training associates in strategy fundamentals from day one. I also love that LEK emphasizes clear thinking and concise communication, which I’ve developed in fast-paced, client-facing roles.”

Don’t memorize these.

Adapt them.

Use your own voice, your own experiences, and your own rationale. When your “Why LEK?” sounds like it could only come from you, that’s when it works.

What to Avoid in Your Answer (Most Candidates Miss This)

Even smart, well-prepared candidates fall into traps that quietly weaken their “Why LEK?” response.

The mistake isn’t usually a lack of effort; it’s relying on assumptions. Candidates say what they think the interviewer wants to hear. They use polished language, generic praise, or recycled content from other applications. And it backfires.

Let’s make sure that’s not you.

Here are some of the most common mistakes, and what to do instead:

Weak Answer Element	Why It Fails?	What to Say Instead?
“LEK is a top-tier firm.”	Too vague, could apply to BCG or Bain	“LEK’s strategy-only focus and lean teams really stood out to me.”
“I want to work with smart people.”	Generic and says nothing about the firm	“I’m drawn to LEK’s fast responsibility model and analyst-driven work.”
Copy-pasting your “Why McKinsey” answer	LEK culture and project model are different; they’ll notice	Show you understand LEK’s short project cycles and analytics-driven style
Buzzwords like “impact” or “collaboration” with no context	Feels like filler	Tie values to specific experiences or conversations you’ve had with LEK consultants
Overuse of firm website language	Sounds rehearsed, not real	Use your own words and connect insights to your career goals

Before finalizing your answer, ask yourself this:

“If I replaced ‘LEK’ with ‘Bain’ or ‘EY-Parthenon,’ would this still make sense?”

If the answer is yes, it’s not specific enough. Your goal is to make your “Why LEK?” answer unmistakably about LEK. That’s how you signal preparation, intentionality, and real fit

Specificity builds credibility.

Vague language creates doubt, even when your delivery sounds confident.

Also read: Why You’re Not Getting Consulting Interviews (and What to Do About It)

Final Interview Prep Tips for Delivering Your Answer Under Pressure

You could have a perfect “Why LEK?” answer written out on paper, but if it crumbles under pressure, it won’t land.

In high-stakes interviews, your delivery matters just as much as your content. You’re being assessed for what you say and how clearly, confidently, and concisely you say it. That’s why this final phase of prep is crucial.

Here’s how to make sure your answer performs when it counts:

1. Practice Out Loud (Repeatedly!)

Writing your answer is just the starting point. Speak it aloud. Get used to hearing it in your own voice.  This helps you identify awkward phrasing, improve flow and pacing, and make your delivery sound natural, not memorized.

2. Get Feedback From Someone Who Knows the Consulting Tone

Not all feedback is created equal.

Practicing in front of someone familiar with consulting interview expectations, an ex-consultant, coach, or serious prep partner, will help you:

• Spot vague language or weak logic
• Trim unnecessary setup
• Sharpen the parts that signal fit

3. Keep It Under 90 Seconds

LEK interviewers have limited time, and they value clarity. If your answer runs longer than 90 seconds, you risk losing their attention or sounding unfocused.

Use this rule of thumb:

• 20% motivation
• 50% LEK-specific insights and alignment
• 30% forward-looking fit and closing signal

Record yourself. Then tighten anything that sounds bloated.

4. Tie It to Your Behavioral Stories

The best “Why LEK?” answers don’t live in isolation.

If your motivations and strengths are consistent with the stories you’ll tell in your behavioral interview, you create narrative momentum and build trust.

5. Rehearse Transitions

Your answer won’t exist in a vacuum. It will often lead directly into questions like:

• “Tell me about yourself.”

• “Walk me through your resume.”

• “Tell me about a time you worked on a team.”

Practice transitioning naturally between “Why LEK?” and other common questions so you don’t sound like you’re reading from a script.

Ready to Make Your “Why LEK?” Answer Unmistakably Strong?

You don’t need a perfect background to impress LEK, but a well-crafted, authentic story that shows you belong. The difference between a decent answer and a standout one often comes down to clarity, specificity, and how you deliver it under pressure.

And that’s exactly what I help candidates do every day.

If you want help refining your answer for your upcoming interviews, I’ve coached many candidates through exactly this, and we can make sure your answer is as compelling as possible.

At High Bridge Academy, our team of 60+ former McKinsey, BCG, and Bain consultants has helped hundreds of candidates land offers at top firms, including LEK. From crafting your personal story to tightening your delivery, we focus on what actually moves the needle in real interviews.

If you’re ready to bring structure, strategy, and polish to your prep, let’s talk.