Hi all, currently I'm interviewing for a few corporate strategy roles & consulting roles.
By “free flow”, I mean being asked a few questions instead of going through a full case interview. Commonly, the single most critical question will be my thoughts on a project that the manager is currently working on.
While it is indeed important to follow the case interview principles (such as MECE, structured), the major point that I would like to seek your help with is how to prepare for the “Industry Knowledge” required under such “free flow” scenario?
Experts on this platform say that case interviews test “problem-solving skills”, not “business knowledge”, so candidates shouldn't over-invest time in accumulating business knowledge. I do believe this holds true for MBB & most typical strategy consulting firms which tend to do a full case interview. But for corporate strategy & some specific firms that focus on specific topics (such as Accenture - focus on digital), in order to be “insightful” enough, I felt that having a sufficient knowledge base is crucial. Perhaps I would need to study more on the industry & related topics? What is the depth of knowledge required in such interviews?
For example, in my interview with Accenture, I was asked about how to design a specific Pharma Digital Program. It was just a free-flow question without much chance to ask too many questions. Without understanding how the underlying mechanism & ecosystem works, it's hard to provide a structure that is “deep enough” and insightful.
Any tips on how to deal with these situations and to prepare the required knowledge? Thanks in advance!
Thanks Ian for the detailed response, very helpful indeed. Actually, I was asking more on the “corporate strategy roles” and “consulting roles with more focused topics”. For the interview of these roles, there isn’t too much room to ask questions, and the interviewer would expect you to have enough knowledge already (this is based on my feeling). For instance, if I’m interviewing with a Biotech strategy consulting role, or a pharma practice at BCG, wouldn’t it be weird if I asked what’s mRNA? I’m trying to understand (1) is it critical to understand industry specific knowledge for the 2 roles I’ve mentioned (2) if yes, how can I further focus on a topic/ industry and build my knowledge? Thanks!
Hi there, yes, you're absolutely right! You need to have knowledge in this domain if you are applying to specialize in that domain. Essentially the more specialized, the higher level the role, and the more work experience you have, the more they expect you to be knowledgeable in the area.