Advice for upcoming interview with OC&C

Question

Hi,

I have been invited to the final round for the Associate Consultant role at OC&C in London early in January. I am a humanities student (Cambridge University, History), and since I don't have much time to prepare, what are the key business and finance concepts that I will most probably encounter in a case interview (beyond the obvious - profit and revenue etc.)?

In short, and in the spirit of the 80/20 principle, what few business concepts should I know to give myself an advantage in passing the case?

Many thanks.

Answer 1

Not familiar w/ OC&C; if they are like most consultancies however, they will understand you do not have a business background and won't assume your knowledge in that area is extensive. Still, you are right to want to become familiar with a few concepts. Here are some that should be easy to grasp:

1. Difference between assets & revenue; cash & cash flow; balance sheet & income statement

2. HIgh level understanding of profitability driver. Think here of the structure Revenue = (Price x Quantity) - (Fixed Cost + Variable Cost)

3. Know how to calculate the break-even

4. What type of divisions are in a typical company: Finance, Marketing, Operations / Back Office, Custoemr Service, Legal, Communication. What does each do?

5. General business environment knowledge, read the Times & whatever other economics paper you get your hands on

Last but not least - have you prepared case interviewing? If not, I strongly suggest you kick it up into gear and get busy on this. This will be the most important skill you can display, by far. Victor Cheng's 6 hours of YouTube video is a good place to start, PrepLounge also has some very solid material. Given how little time you have left, I'd also strongly suggest you work with a coach: doing cases with fellow candidates will not be enough without pointed and actionable feedback adapted to your specific needs.

Congrats on scoring the interview, good luck now in the prep.