Deloitte Case Interview Prep: Everything You Need to Know
Deloitte interviews are comprised of case interviews, a group case interview, and behavioral or fit interview questions. In this article, we’ll cover exactly what to expect in your upcoming Deloitte interview and how to best answer all of the different types of questions you may be asked.
Although most case interviews follow a similar structure, each consulting firm runs their interviews in a slightly different way.
We’ll cover in detail:
- The Deloitte interview process
- The 5 steps to solving Deloitte case interviews or case study interviews
- The 3 types of Deloitte case interviews
- 6 examples of Deloitte cases
- 8 Deloitte case interview tips
- How to ace the Deloitte group case interview
- The 10 most common Deloitte behavioral and fit interview questions
Deloitte Interview Process
Deloitte is a massive company with over $46B in annual revenue, with about 40% of that coming from their consulting practice. They are the largest and arguably most prestigious firm of the Big Four. Some consider Deloitte to be the next best consulting firm after McKinsey, BCG, and Bain.
Given its size, Deloitte interviews may vary depending on the country of the office that you are interviewing for. However, the most common interview process consists of two rounds of interviews.
In the first round of interviews, you will have one 30 to 45-minute behavioral interview and one or two 30 to 45-minute case interviews.
In the second or final round of interviews, you will have a 30 to 45-minute behavioral interview, a 30 to 45-minute case interview, and a one hour group case interview.
We’ll cover exactly how to answer each of these types of interview questions in the following sections.
Deloitte Case interview
Deloitte case interviews are candidate-led. You will be in the driver’s seat of the case interview and will be expected to ask the right questions, probe for data, and propose each next step to solve the case.
In a Deloitte case interview, you are not assessed on whether or not you have the correct answer. Instead, Deloitte uses case interviews to assess six different qualities:
- Problem solving: Can you decompose a problem into smaller, more manageable questions?
- Analytical ability: Can you draw the right insights from data and information?
- Strategic thinking: Do you have a sharp business acumen and practical business judgment?
- Logical thinking: Are you structured, organized, and rational in the way that you think?
- Creativity: Can you generate interesting or unique ideas and solutions?
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Professional demeanor: Are you calm, confident, and articulate?
The Five Steps to Solve a Deloitte Case Interview
Deloitte recommends taking these five steps to solve a case interview:
1. Understand the issue and ask clarifying questions
The most important part of the case interview is to make sure you understand the business issue and the objective of the case. The quickest way to fail a case interview is to answer or address the wrong business problem.
Therefore, if either the business issue or objective of the case is unclear, make sure to ask clarifying questions.
2. Identify the underlying assumptions
Next, you’ll need to decompose the overall business problem into smaller, more manageable issues. Identify what would need to be true in order for you to recommend a particular course of action.
To do this, it will be helpful to put together a framework, which is a tool that helps you organize your ideas and thoughts into different categories. To learn how to create outstanding frameworks, review this comprehensive case interview framework guide.
3. Summarize specific issues and findings
Afterwards, you’ll begin investigating different issues or areas of your framework. After investigating each one, it is important that you summarize the key takeaways or insights that you uncovered.
Connect these findings back to the overall business problem and explain how your findings impact your potential recommendation.
4. State your recommendations
Once you have gathered enough evidence and support for your recommendation, you will need to present your recommendation in a clear and concise way.
Start by giving a firm recommendation. Then, provide the three major reasons that support your recommendation. This should summarize most of the important findings from the case.
5. Outline next steps and the expected results or impact
After delivering a recommendation, you should propose potential next steps that you would take if you had more time or data. What would you need to know to further strengthen your recommendation or make you more confident in your answer?
You can also talk about the expected results or impact of your recommendation. This may also have implications on potential next steps, such as analyzing the risks or quantifying the financial benefits.
Types of Deloitte Cases
Deloitte consulting is broken down into three groups:
- Strategy & Operations: primarily focused on corporate strategy, supply-chain improvement, business model transformation, and process improvements. The work that this group does is most similar to the work that McKinsey, BCG, and Bain do
- Technology: primarily focused on digital strategy, delivery of information technology programs, and building tech-based solutions for clients
- Human Capital: primarily focused on organization transformation, change management, corporate learning and development, and diversity and inclusion
The type of case that you get depends on what group you are interviewing with.
For example, If you are interviewing with the Strategy & Operations group, you’ll get a strategy or operations case. If you are interviewing with the Technology group, you’ll get a technology or IT case.
Deloitte Practice Cases
Below are practice cases created by Deloitte. We recommend working through these so that you know exactly what to expect in your Deloitte case interview.
Strategy & Operations cases:
- Retail strategy practice case: Business strategy case focused on helping a warehouse club retailer decide between two different business models. This case provides great practice for interpreting charts and graphs and practicing case math.
- Finance strategy practice case: Non-profit case focused on helping a Federal Health Agency manage the financial activities related to eliminating Ebola.
- Extreme Athletes World Games practice case: General business strategy case focused on helping an Organizing Board develop a strategic plan for hosting the Extreme Athlete World Summer Games.
- Footloose practice case: Strategy case focused on helping a footwear company decide whether to focus on growing in the work boot sector of the market or the casual boot sector of the market. This case provides great practice for interpreting multiple different pieces of data simultaneously.
Technology cases:
- Green Apron practice case: Operations case focused on helping a grocery chain redesign and implement a new e-commerce platform
Human capital cases:
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Technology Institute of the West practice case: Post-merger integration case focused on helping an educational institution realign employee and leadership roles after merging six sister institutions.
Deloitte Case Interview Tips
Deloitte provides the eight tips below to help you improve your case interview performance.
Tip #1: Take notes
While the interviewer is providing you with the case background information, take notes on the most important pieces of information. Pay particularly close attention to the context, company, and case objective.
Tip #2: Make sure you understand the case question
Answering or addressing the wrong business problem is the quickest way to fail a case interview. The most important thing is understanding what the business issue is and what overall question you’ll be expected to answer at the end of the case.
Tip #3: Ask questions
Do not be afraid to ask questions. You will not be penalized for asking questions that are important and relevant to the case.
Great questions to ask include asking for the definition of an unfamiliar term, asking questions that clarify the objective of the issue, and asking questions to strengthen your understanding of the context or company.
Tip #4: After you develop a framework, develop an initial hypothesis
A hypothesis is an educated guess on the answer based on the data and information that you have so far. It helps guide your analysis and keeps you on the right track.
After developing a framework, try to develop a hypothesis to help you decide what area of your framework you should explore first.
Tip #5: Take time to structure your thoughts
When asked a question in a case interview, don’t always start answering immediately. Instead, take the time to process the question and develop an organized and structured way to answer it. It is acceptable to ask the interview for a brief moment to collect your thoughts.
Your answer will likely be much stronger if you give yourself time to think.
Tip #6: Present a clear, logical story for your recommendation
Remember that consultants need to convince clients to follow their proposed recommendations. Being articulate and persuasive are necessary skills for consultants.
When you deliver your recommendation, try to make it a coherent story. This will make your recommendation easier to follow and more compelling.
Tip #7: Walk the interviewer through your thinking and explain assumptions
You do not get any points for the ideas and thinking that you do not communicate. Therefore, you should make every effort to talk through your thoughts out loud.
Walk the interviewer through what you are thinking. Explain why you have made particular decisions. State your assumptions. This makes it easier for the interviewer to provide feedback or hints to help you out.
Tip #8: Engage the interviewer in a business conversation
Remember that a case interview is a collaborative exercise. You should not be dismissing the feedback and suggestions that the interviewer provides you. They may be trying to help steer the case in the right direction or provide you with hints when you get stuck.
Treat the interviewer as your teammate and turn the case interview into a business conversation.
Deloitte Group Case Interview
Deloitte is one of the few consulting firms that uses group case interviews in their final round of interviews. They conduct group case interviews because Deloitte’s work culture has a huge emphasis on teamwork and culture fit.
Here’s what to expect:
- You’ll be put into a group with 3 to 5 other candidates
- The interviewer will hand out case materials
- You’ll be given 10 minutes to review the case materials and prepare
- The group will have a discussion for 20 minutes
- During this discussion, interviewers will be observing candidates and will not interfere
- Afterwards, the interviewer will ask the group specific questions for another 20 minutes
Group case interviews can be challenging to prepare for because it is difficult to replicate the exact conditions to practice them. However, if you prepare for case interviews well, you will be in a great position to succeed in group case interviews.
Your goal in a group case interview is to add value to the group. There are six different ways that you can add value:
- Lead or facilitate the discussion: You can propose what topics to discuss, the order they should be discussed in, and how much time should be allocated towards each topic. If the group gets off track, you can bring the group’s focus back together.
- Expand upon other people’s ideas: If a group member suggests a great idea or raises a good point, build upon it and make it even better.
- Synthesize information: You can summarize information that other people have said and reconcile different viewpoints and ideas together.
- Keep track of time: You can volunteer to keep track of time and make sure that the group is on track.
- Play devil’s advocate: You can help your group develop strong ideas by testing the team’s thinking by considering potential risks or downsides of their ideas.
- Take notes: You can keep track of what other people are saying so that you can recall what has been discussed if any group members have questions.
Deloitte Group Case Interview Tips
Follow these five tips to shine during your Deloitte group case interview.
Tip #1: Treat your group members as teammates, not competition
The group case interview is not an exercise in which you are competing with others. Interviewers are trying to assess whether you would be a great teammate. Multiple people or even all people in your group can receive job offers.
Therefore, focus on adding value to the group rather than making yourself look better than your teammates.
Tip #2: Don’t speak too much, but don’t speak too little
If you speak too much, this may be seen as being too aggressive or controlling. If you speak too little, you may come off as shy or timid.
If you were to rank all of the members in your group by how much each person spoke, you would want to be roughly in the middle. This would be the perfect balance of speaking and listening.
Tip #3: Don’t interrupt or talk over your group members
Interrupting others when they are speaking is rude and disrespectful. You do not want to be inconsiderate or a jerk. Be nice and respectful to your group members.
Tip #4: Involve other people
If you observe that someone has not spoken much, ask them for their thoughts or opinions. If you notice that someone has been cut off when they were speaking, ask them to finish their thoughts after the person interrupting them has finished what they have to say.
These are easy ways to show interviewers that you are a considerate and helpful teammate.
Tip #5: Speak only if you are adding value to the group
Just because you are speaking a lot during the group case interview does not mean that you are doing well. Interviewers are not assessing you purely on the quantity of what you say. They care more about the quality.
Great teammates know when to speak and when to listen. Therefore, you should speak only if you are adding some kind of value to the group. Interviewers can tell when people are speaking for the sake of getting air time.
Deloitte Behavioral and Fit Interview Questions
In addition to case interviews, you will likely be asked a few behavioral or fit interview questions. There are ten questions that are most commonly asked.
1. Why Deloitte?
How to answer: Provide your three biggest reasons why you’re interested in working at Deloitte. You could mention that you loved the people that you have met from Deloitte so far. You can talk about Deloitte’s massive global presence, their expertise in nearly any industry or function, or their professional development opportunities.
2. Why consulting?
How to answer: Again, provide three reasons for why you’re interested in consulting. You could mention the fast career progression opportunities, the learning opportunities to develop soft and hard skills, or the level of impact that you can make right away in consulting.
3. Walk me through your resume.
How to answer: Provide a concise summary of your work experience, starting with the most recent. Focus on emphasizing your most impressive and unique accomplishments. At the end, tie your experiences to why you are interested in consulting and why you would be a great fit for Deloitte.
4. What accomplishment are you most proud of?
How to answer: Choose your most impressive, unique, or memorable accomplishment. Structure your answer by providing information on the situation, the task, the actions you took, and the results of your work. Explain why the accomplishment is so meaningful to you and what qualities that reveals about you as a person.
5. Tell me about something that is not on your resume.
How to answer: This is a great opportunity to highlight an accomplishment that is not related to your professional work experience. Perhaps there is a non-profit that you volunteer at, a side project or business that you work on, or a hobby that you have won awards or recognition for. Select an accomplishment that is impressive and interesting.
6. Tell me about a time when you had to lead a team.
How to answer: If possible, choose a time when you directly managed a person or a team. For this question and the following similar questions, make sure that you structure your answer. Provide information on the situation, the task, the actions you took, and the results of your work. This is known as the STAR method and is the most common way of answering behavioral or fit interview questions.
7. Describe a time when you faced conflict or disagreement.
How to answer: When answering this question, focus on emphasizing the steps you took to resolve the conflict or disagreement. Speak about the interpersonal skills you had to use in order to mediate the situation. Interviewers want to know that you can handle conflict in a constructive way.
8. Give an example of a time when you successfully persuaded someone.
How to answer: Choose a time when you were able to change someone’s mind who originally disagreed with you. Focus on emphasizing the steps that you took to persuade that person and what impact this had on the organization. Interviewers want to know that you are a great communicator and have strong people skills.
9. Tell me about a time when you failed.
How to answer: Choose a time when you failed to meet a deadline or did not meet expectations. You do not want to pick a failure that is too big or embarrassing. Focus on emphasizing what you learned from the experience and how you used that experience to deliver even better results in the next opportunity that you got. Interviewers want to see that you strive to learn from your past failures and are always working to get better.
10. Are there any questions that you have for me?
How to answer: This is a fantastic opportunity to get to know the interviewer on a more personal level. Ask them questions about their experience in consulting. Ask what their favorite case was or what they are looking to do next in their career. The more you can get the interviewer talking about themself, the more likely they will be to have a positive impression of you. People love talking about themselves, so make sure to listen attentively and ask follow-up questions.
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