Hi there, I am changing the department in Big4 to Deal Advisory Strategy.

Hi,
there are 2 aspects of the application process you have to focus on:

• Personal Experience Interview: fit and CV questions to assess your personal impact, leadership skills, and entrepreneurial spirit. You should prepare impactful stories about your experiences that cover these 3 main pillars.
• Case Interview: typical business case to evaluate your structure in approaching problems, problem-solving skills, and business sense. This is the most time-demanding aspect to work on. I recommend reading Cosentino's Case in point to fix the theory. Then, what will be really important is practicing mock cases with other candidates here on Preplounge.

Hope it helps,
Antonello

Hi there,

I would recommend to reschedule if you can. A total of 2 weeks is really not much if you are starting from zero – many candidates need 100 hours to be offer ready.

In terms of preparation, this is what I normally recommend to prepare (you may have already covered some of the points):

1. Define a calendar for your preparation. Identify how many hours you have before the interview and allocate a time slot for preparation in your calendar for each day, working on the points below. As mentioned, many candidates need 100+ hours to be ready before the interview so you can keep that as a benchmark.
2. Read Case In Point or Case Interview Secrets for a general understanding of what a consulting interview is. Don’t focus on the structures proposed in the books, as they are not good enough nowadays.
3. Start reading good MBA Consulting Handbooks – you can find several for free online (Insead is a good one to start). Read the cases and try to apply your structure to solve them. Whenever you see there is something missing, upgrade your structure with the new insides. Try to read at least a new case per day – in this way you will absorb better the information with constant learning.
4. After the first 5-10 cases in books/handbooks and basic theory, start to practice live. PrepLounge can be helpful to connect with other candidates for that. There is a relevant part of the interview score that is based on your communication, which you cannot practice at all if you read cases only. Keep track of your mistakes and see if you repeat them. If so, try to identify the source of the mistake (feedback of experienced partners would be particularly useful for this). Be sure to focus on both the PEI and the case part. The latter should also cover math and graph analysis.
5. Before the interviews, be sure to prepare your questions for the interviewer – great way to show you prepared in advance and to connect with the interviewer for a good final impression.

If you want to spend few hours only instead of 100+ and cover everything mentioned above, I developed a program precisely for that.

You can click on the following link to learn more:

https://u.preplounge.com/63phuq

For other questions please let me know.

Best,
Francesco

Hi there,

2 weeks gives you very little time. I'm afraid that it will be near impossible to get ready in time on your own. As such, I highly recommend coaching. A coach is essentially a time lever.

In terms of your plan, I have a few tips:

1. Take time off from work (request a few vacation days)
2. Make sure you've solidified your casing fundamentals: fast math + key math formulas (ROI, NPV, Breakeven, etc.), chart/exhibit reading, industry knowledge, case types/frameworks
3. Build up your casing skills: Read a few cases, then dedicate yourself to casing with others as much as possible
4. Prepare your fit/behavioral questions: The 3 Whys (Why me/Resume Walkthrough, Why Deal Advisory, Why the department), and 5-7 personal stories

Doing the above will be incredible difficult without a coach, so, again, I highly recommend you get one and meet with them ASAP! (Today or tomorrow)

Best of luck and feel free to reach out with any questions!

Have you considered taking 2-3 coaching sessions? Could be useful and speed things up for you. Feel free to send me message if you wish to discuss further as I come from Big4 and know the process well.

Otherwise please search the Q&A forum broadly for tips on case preparation.

Feel free to contact me, then we can have a call on this topic :)