Hi,

This is a common question, and one I faced myself when I was preparing for consulting interviews. I studied History in college, and had zero exposure to business. 

A couple of key pointers I can share (assuming you are applying for entry level):

• It's important to realize that consulting firms are not testing you in terms of technical business knowledge, nor industry knowledge, at the entry level
• What you are expected to demonstrate is critical thinking and strong logic combined with ‘business sense’
• But business sense, at the entry level, is more of ‘common sense’ than technical knowledge. This means the ability for you to recognize logic/patterns that happen in everyday life that you highly likely have either observed or experienced
• The 2 most helpful things for me was to:
  1. Critically read and take apart well written articles, if you have been trained in a rigorous research based college degree this would be 2nd nature to you 
  2. Build up my own ‘library’ of interesting business nuggets that I could use as ‘analogies’ for reasoning or solutioning during the case. 
     • This will never be exhaustive however, and I saw this as a ‘good to have but not critical’
• End of the day, its far more important to build up your core problem solving skills

All the best!

(editiert)

Hi there!

It's great that you're interested in building your knowledge for the interviews. 

But realistically speaking, consulting interviews test for skills, not knowledge. 

So unless you are applying for an expert role, I wouldn't spend too much time polishing my knowledge. I'd focus instead of skills such as structuring, approach to maths questions, brainstorming, top down communication, etc.

In terms of building on your knowledge, I'd recommend you just do cases and look up new terms and new industries as they come up. This way you'll build your knowledge organically based on the sort of topics that actually show up in cases. 

You can also leverage ChatGPT for this, prompting it to give you the top X trends in industry Y, or to give you a sort of digest of that industry.

Best of luck!
Cristian

Hello,

Personally, I’m a big fan of business newsletters that curate the news for you. Some examples: Axios Markets, Axios Macro, Accelerated, Market Snacks, Morning Brew, GRIT capital, Money Stuff. WSJ, Bloomberg, FT, and Axios also have a host of other newsletters you can subscribe to based on your interests.

Alternatively, you could also read the front page of Bloomberg / Economist / FT / WSJ each day, and see what catches your eye.

Regarding reading effectively, my best advice is just to be engaged when you read. Don’t just skim an article to check it off your list – make sure you’re understanding what’s going on, look up things if something is unclear, and so on. Some people like to take notes, but I don’t think this is strictly required for good reading. 

Regarding time, how much time do you have? There’s always going to be more content out there than you have time to read, so I wouldn’t worry too much about this. 30 min / day is a good baseline, though!

Certainly, effective daily reading to build business knowledge and business sense is a valuable habit. Here's a structured approach:

1) Selecting Material:
  - Prioritize articles that align with your areas of interest or expertise.
  - Diversify your sources to get a well-rounded perspective.
  - Focus on quality over quantity – it's better to read one in-depth article than skim through several.

2) Effective Reading Techniques:
  - Start by skimming the article to get an overview.
  - Identify key points, main arguments, and the 'so what' factor.
  - Take notes on critical insights or interesting facts.
  - After reading, reflect on how this information fits into the broader business context.

3) Time Dedication:
  - 30 minutes a day is a reasonable starting point.
  - Adjust based on your schedule and how much depth you want.
  - Consistency is key, so stick to your daily routine.

Remember that building business knowledge takes time. It's not just about the quantity of information but also your ability to connect the dots and apply insights to real-world situations. Over time, your business sense will naturally develop.

Warm regards,
Frederic

Hi there,

I run through all of this in my coaching/course!

But, in general, I recommend the FT, the Economist, a number of podcasts, McK+BCG insights, and Robinhoodsnacks.

^what I asign/advise chancges on the individual and is based on what they need to learn + how they learn best