Deloitte Strategy and Operations Consultant Interview Questions, Process, and Tips

Interview preparation tips for other job seekers - Case preparation and CV justification should be prepared. Practice guesstimate

Round: Other Interview
Experience: Started off with Kamesh asking me to walk through my profile. I clarified whether he wanted to know about only those things mentioned on my resume. He said whatever makes this whole thing interesting. I spoke about all those things which weren’t there on my resume, things like background, hobbies and about what made me opt for MBA.

He then asked me about my work-the two companies I worked with. It revolved around what were my
responsibilities and what was my learning at each stint. Why I switched from Consulting to a PMO etc. It then went to my Autumns Project and Foreign internship.

Prior to me some of the students were asked to solve a guesstimate. He asked me whether I attended the case Workshop by Deloitte. I said I could not attend it. (Actually my shortlist came only at late night; before the interview day – but I didn’t explicitly mention this). He asked about how I went about guesstimate and case preparation. I saw this as an opportunity to take this interview towards something I really wanted highlight and which could be a differentiator. I mentioned that apart from doing the regular guesstimates, cases etc. and forming Consulting Interest Groups – as I lacked any industry background decided to study an industry – “Telecom” – right from how
it works, value chain, players, competition, M&As, regulations etc. and this recently culminated in a research paper that I co-authored.

Kamesh got interested here (being from TMT background) – and this gave me a chance to describe the research paper in detail. I think this was a real differentiator. And I probably got away from solving a guesstimate.

It ended with me asking a good question, which I feel impressed Kamesh as it made him reveal an internal statistic to answer it.
Tips: 1. Good speaking skills.
2. Confidence.
3. Be articulate and crisp about your work experience and proects.
4. Well rounded CV – be thorough with every point at least 5 levels deep (i.e. prepared to face 5 levels of follow up questions).
5. Case/Guesstimate Preparation – Form a consult group – (4-6 members), 2 months of effort including 30+ different cases and ~40 guesstimates.
6.Ask intelligent questions to the interviewer. Well researched. Go through your interviewer’s profile if possible.

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: I first looked at exploring all opportunities within US. I visualized the Ansoff matrix (again did not explicitly mention I was using a framework; as I don’t think it’s a good idea to state frameworks during interviews unless asked to do so).

1. Market Penetration-Ruled out because market was saturated.
2. Market Development-Possible
3. Product Development-Sushant mentioned the client is not keen on going outside healthcare insurance.
4. Diversification -As new product development was ruled out; it was only going to be market development.

I then asked; whether the client has pan US presence, they said “Yes”. Now it was clear they had to go outside US.
They asked me what would be the considerations for the client to go abroad:
My response:
1) Country’s insurance sector
a. Operating Model and Value Chain-: Whether it is developed or not. As in, India till some time was still relying on the agent model where the agent commission was a significant cost head. Since US is a developed country, it was more likely for them to have very high reliance on the online model (which has come to India only recently, with the likes of Policy Bazaar and company websites). Does it sync well
with the client’s model.
If the companies in host country own or outsource distribution, and how is it different from the client’s current presence in insurance value chain.
b. Healthcare expenditure: Spend on healthcare and insurance as % of total expenditure.
c. Market Size and Growth of sector
d. Competition
e. Regulations – (extent of FDI allowed, modes of entry allowed etc.)

2) Target country’s development metrics
a. Per capita income
b. Ease of Doing Business

2. After having a small discussion about some of the headers above, they seemed satisfied with the response and handed over the second data sheet: This sheet had 4 tables; comparing 6 countries on various parameters. They gave me 2 minutes to go through the table and
make decision which country would I choose and Why?

Now they asked me to look at some of the entry modes and the considerations for each entry mode.

My response:
Entry Modes- As it was a service (Insurance); I obviously ruled out exports. Licensing and franchisee modes were also ruled out with due reasoning considering client’s business model. We were left with JV, Brownfield or Greenfield.
I laid out the following considerations for the mode of entry:
Initial Investment and Returns, Time to market, Risk Appetite, Regulatory barriers, Impact on brand and Complexity involved

I asked them that which was the most important aspect for our client – and they said time to market was key. This made me recommend
brownfield (acquisition of an existing player in Australia).
They then handed me over the 3rd data sheet. Which had data on companies in Australia. This gave me some confidence, as my first decision was right to go with Australia.
As closing remarks – I added that the client would have to work on post integration issues like culture and explore synergies which were not available as part of data provided.
Tips: The analysis given the time frame was quite comprehensive. I guess my preparation – Consulting Interest Group (4 members including me) – where we practiced more than 20-25 different case types, over 30 guesstimates and sector study helped big time. The case practice helped me state most of the considerations/headers without much effort.

Round: PRESENTATION
Experience: This was just a presentation of the case in the 2nd round Was pretty straight forward – it was about stating the client’s problem statement, scope of work, assumptions, and logical steps towards the entry strategy (and a miniM&A) backed by rationale. The usual structure that we follow for Corporate competition presentations like TBLA,TSMG.

I had prepared slides on a piece of paper as I had got close to 45 minutes before this round. But while presenting I was told not use the whiteboard and not to refer notes. So it was more of a 10 min presentation where the panel continuously interrupted and even started discussions on random topics. But I tried to bring back the discussion on the entry strategy case each time.
Tips: 1. Be patient and focussed.
2. Be calm.

Skills: Patience, Calmness, focussed, Speaking Skill, Confidence, Articulation Skills
College Name: S.P. Jain Institute Of Management And Research

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: Case brief was given and first question was what information is needed to get started. Important to justify why you need the information and how you plan to use itAvailable data was shared and question was what approach I would take (i.e. profitability can be based on % or absolute numbers)Post calculations, I had to make a recommendation
Do the profitability framework (found in all case books) but what will set you apart are the following-1.Mention both % and absolute ways of doing profitability (I started with absolute and on cue from interviewers also did %)2.Do calculations smartly and correctly; double check your values before making recommendation3.Leverage qualitative information (ex: if your numbers are similar for profit % for India and China..how do you choose one over the other)
Tips: Deloitte cases are easy to crack if you have practiced enough and keep your cool. Most Deloitte cases are similar in structure; hence form groups after shortlist and share mock cases with each other (some cases can even be found online on the Deloitte website)

Skills: Case Analysis
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)

Round: Case Study Interview
Experience: The interviewer gave me the question and asked me to take a couple of minutes and asked me to write down the various factors that I should consider. I broadly asked about the existing supply chain details, various cost details, customer details.I made 3columns in the sheet of paper that was given to me . I wrote down the 3 categories and started listing down factors. After I asked him about the cost details and questions about the existing supply chain (How many distribution centers, distance to dealersfrom DC/facility etc. etc.), I was handed a sheet with all the information.
Tips: The ultimate game was to figure out which supply chain option led to the highest profits. The way to go was to figure out costs and revenues for each optionand recommend one. 1. Be very structured. I was informed that what you write on the paper, how you write are looked at by the recruiter.2. Don't ask all the questions at a stretch. Give the big picture of what you are trying to do and then list down howyou plan to do and then start asking questions.3. Be prepared for some number crunching. Nothing tough but basic quantitative analysis will be needed. You will be expected to be good with arithmetic

Skills: Case Analysis
College Name: Indian School Of Business (ISB)