Preparing for a case study interview
Case studies are designed to assess your ability to work in our management consulting environment i.e. work with our clients to identify key challenges impacting their organisation and develop effective solutions that successfully achieve their goals.
Meet Leticia, a Senior Consultant in our Deloitte Talent Acquisition team who specialises in recruiting talent within our Climate & Engineering Consulting practice.
She has been with our Deloitte team for the last four years and has over 15 years of recruitment experience combined. She has recruited across several business areas at Deloitte, including Tax & Legal, Audit & Assurance, and Enabling Areas.
1. Practice
In most cases, you will be asked to complete a case study based on a real or theoretical business scenario and resolve it verbally, in writing, or both.
We recommend spending some time in advance to understand this style of case study interview and the range of issues you may be asked to address. This will ensure you feel comfortable and confident.
2. Explain your thinking
It's not so much the answer but the process you use to get there. We're looking to understand how you reached your conclusions, rather than the solution itself.
Extra tip (for Analyst/Consultant job levels): Ensure you can apply your commercial awareness with a basic understanding of key business concepts, such as revenue, profit, market share, customers, competitors, and stakeholders.
Extra tip (for Senior Analyst/Consultant levels and above): Suggest data you need to prove/disprove any hypothesis you develop to support your recommendations.
3. Ask questions
In some circumstances, you may have the opportunity to ask clarifying (or qualifying?) questions during your case study interview. This can help prevent you from making assumptions and provide you with critical information you may need to structure the problem and form a framework for your solution.
Extra tip: We recommend asking broad, open-ended questions.
4. Engage with your interviewer
Our verbal case study interviews are intended to be conversational. Hence, we encourage you to interact as much as possible with your interviewer/panel as though they were your client.
Extra tip: use positive body language and try to explain your reasoning as clearly and concisely as you can.
5. Relax and have fun!
Be prepared to respond to further requests by the interviewer/panel. Positive energy, initiative and enthusiasm are great indicators that you will thrive in a professional services career, so we encourage you to be yourself and enjoy it.
Good luck!
Leticia
What's next?
Read our follow-up blog: 'Curating your personal brand'
Back to 'Our recruitment process'