If you apply for expert track in consulting, will the cases be only in finance as a track or any case from any industry? Also is the bar higher for industry experts or same?
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Hi there,
I would prepare as if your case could come from any industry. Expert candidates are sometimes given a case inside their own domain, but that is not something you can plan around, and preparing on finance alone is the version of this that goes wrong. The track narrows what you are hired to do. It does not narrow what you are asked in the interview.
On the bar, a few distinctions I would make:
- The case bar is not lower. Expert candidates are not scored more gently on structure, math or communication, and assuming otherwise is the most common preparation error on this track.
- What is genuinely added is the expertise scrutiny. Expect technical questions or a conversation about your own work outside the case, and expect it to go deeper than a generalist would face on any subject.
- The test underneath both is whether you are credible in front of a client quickly. A generalist is hired on potential. An expert is hired on what they already know, which is why the depth questions carry weight they would not carry elsewhere.
- Practise finance cases last. It is the one area where you will not be caught out, so it is the worst use of your remaining preparation time.
The thing I would check before building a plan around any of this is which firm and which practice you are applying to, because how much the case leans on your domain varies between them. Ask the recruiter directly. It is a reasonable question and the answer changes what you should practise.
