How to prepare for the "industry knowledge" required in free flow case interviews?

Question

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!

Answer 1

#1 The more we know already, the easier a case is. You can 100% solve a case without knowing the industry/business model before the case begins (more on this in point #3). However, if you already know the industry, doesn't that make the case a lot easier? I always encourage my candidates to do industry deep-dives AND get exposed to a lot of unconventional case types. This is because, the more you already know/see, the less you have to work in the case. I spent about 30 hours during my prep to do industry deep-dives - it 100% paid off

#2 You do not need to know anything about the industry/case type BEFORE the case, but you better know it DURING the case. What do I mean? You need to ask questions! Clarifying questions are about figuring out the answers to things you don't know. Don't understand how mRNA vaccines are made? Ask! Don't understand the supply chain to produce them? Ask! As a strategy consultant you are going to be put onto projects you have no prior knowledge of (heck, I was put onto an LNG project!) However, you need to identify your unknown unknowns, (make them known unknowns), then ask questions that turn them into known knowns. Practice here is critical. Coaching helps immensely as well

So, in summary, knowing as many industries as possible (through industry deep-dives and daily reading) is super helpful. However it is not necessary...a good caser/consultant can solve any problem on any topic without any prior knowledge!

#3 How to learn them

I have a template, so feel free to reach out if interested!

Some key tips:

List all the major industries that you'll need to learn
Create a template that you can fill in with research. This would include things like
1. Industry summary
2. Total market size
3. Major players
4. Cost drivers
5. Revenue drivers
6. Major trends
7. etc.
Fill in the template for each industry one by one. Use google to find the relevant information and piece it together. Over time, you'll get more and more efficient as you see which sites are good for what

Answer 2

Hi there,

Ian already gave a quite comprehensive answer - here some additional thoughts..

Be targeted - understand - in detail - the requirements of the role and then identify your knowledge gaps & plan to close it accordingly. It is also helpful to do your research on the interviewer upfront so you can understand his/her focus areas and specializations
Build comprehensive knowledge - be curious, get obsessed with the topics you need to understand to learn them from different angles - market data, trends, key players / competitors, value chains, key M&A activities, cost structures, innovation on the space - try to get exposure to a wide range of topic and try to connect the dots. Spend a few hours and summarize your learnings in writing to better synthesize
Make your existing experience relevant - emphasize the areas that best overlap with the requirements of the job. Be able to offer concrete examples of the work you have done and show how they are relevant to the job at hand. The more overlap - be it functional, industry-wise, from a technical standpoint or culturel-wise - the better will be the fit with the role.

Hope this helps. Feel free to reach out if further questions.

Regards, Andi

Answer 3

Hi there!

This is a very good distinction that you're making.

Yes, indeed, GENERALIST interviews test for skills, not knowledge.

However, if you're applying for any sort of specialist, expert or even industry focused role, then they will basically expect that you have some knowledge that is specific to that area.

For instance, if you are applying for a role with a consulting firm and you will be a ‘pricing consultant / analyst’, they will surely test for the ‘consultant' skills, but they will also be looking deeper into your ‘pricing’ knowledge.

In terms of preparation (and assuming that you actually do possess the knowledge from that specific area), think back to your most important 3 projects in that area. Try to remember them at a decent granularity so you can share them with the interviewer. It's similar to preparing stories for the personal fit part of the interviewer, only that here the purpose will be to share your actual technical knowledge and skills in that particular situation.

Best,
Cristian

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Answer 4

Hello,

If you are applying for specialized positions, I would definitely suggest reading up on the industry you are specializing in. The depth of knowledge required should be commensurate with the role (e.g., someone applying for an entry-level position in the private equity practice would be expected to know how to read a financial statement and build financial models).

You might have some of this knowledge already through your professional experience. If not, I would suggest dedicating some time each day to reading up on it.