How to prepare for A&M's case study interview (strategy team)?

Question

Hi everyone,

I am currently preparing for an interview for a strategy team role at Alvarez & Marsal (A&M). I've been informed that the format will be a written case study, where I will be given a packet of materials to analyze, followed by a presentation.

Since this format differs quite a bit from a traditional conversational case interview, I would love to hear your advice on the best preparation approach. Specifically:

Does the preparation strategy differ from standard case interview prep?
What resources or practice materials would you recommend utilizing for a presentation-style case?
Are there specific case types I should focus on, and any specific technical knowledge I need to brush up on (e.g., specific financial or operational metrics)?

Any insights or tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Written cases are very prep-able. Same thinking as a live case (structure, hypothesis, recommendation), but the game is triaging a packet fast, finding the exhibits that matter, and presenting top-down.

To practice, take any case with exhibits, give yourself 45-60 minutes, and force out 3-4 slides plus a recommendation. Drill exhibit reading hard, and rehearse presenting answer-first.

A&M is a turnaround firm, so expect operational themes: cost reduction, margin improvement, value creation. Brush up margins, cost-to-serve, capacity, utilization, EBITDA, and cash flow basics.

Same core thinking, different delivery. Lean into the operational flavor.

Answer 2

Hi,

Congrats by securing the interview.

For a written case, I recommend to prepare in two steps.

1) Focus on preparing for an interactive case interview to gain the typical case consulting skills (framework drafting, top down communication, quick math, graph reading...).

2) When you master the skills for a case interview, you can prepare specifically for the written case interview. The most important skills are time management and fast reading/scanning data.

When solving a written case, first step is to quickly go through the materials, draft a framework (for yourself), put action titles on the slides and back-up your action titles with data/calculations.

Good resources are the BCG written case mostly used in the past. Let me know if you are interested in practicing together.

Kr,

Mattijs

Answer 3

Hi there,

From your description, this is the standard format for a written case.

Typically, you receive the materials up front along with the case prompt. You're then given some time to formulate the answer. Some firms require you to also build powerpoint pages or a page in Notion. You are then expected to present your content (in most cases; some firms instead ask you to just email it to them) and engage in a Q&A with the interviews.

Written cases are actually closer to how consulting work is in practice, because you get more time to think through it and conduct research and prepare the presentation. What matters a lot more than in live cases is how the presentation goes.

I've worked with many candidates on written cases, so if you need help on this, reach out.

Best,
Cristian