Economic consulting is the more analytical but lesser-known sibling of management and strategy consulting. The industry comprises global players like Analysis Group, Cornerstone Research, and Charles River Associates that help hundreds of clients each year with complex economic problems that often require a lot of expert-level testimony and data analysis. This space provides a perfect opportunity for individuals interested in a consulting career but who prefer a more data-focused work environment and who would rather pursue a PhD or law degree than an MBA.
One area that is quite different for economic consulting is the interview phase. While for management consulting you can expect a few behavioral questions followed by a business case, economic consultants favor different types of questions to determine whether you are a good fit.
In this post, I will share 5 tips on how to ace your economic consulting interview.
1. Pre-interview: Polish your Resume and Cover Letter
Even though you might be inclined to submit the same resume and cover letter to all consulting companies, you are strongly advised to change a few things when targeting economic consulting firms.
Make sure to highlight any data-intense projects that you have worked on in your cover letter, and include at least one sentence about the impact of each project in your resume. Similar to management consulting, teamwork and leadership skills are highly valued. However, make sure you quantify your achievements and highlight what you accomplished, rather than merely recount the tasks you completed.
2. Be prepared to talk about past research projects
The most common question you can expect to be asked is, “Tell me about the most important research project you have worked on”.
You can also expect the interviewer to ask a series of follow-up questions to understand how you tackled the research question, what kind of data you looked into, how you usually work with data, and how you presented your findings.
If you have multiple interviews at the same company, then ideally you should have the same number of research projects to talk about. For example, if you have 4 interviews for the final round at Cornerstone, you should be prepared to talk about 4 different research projects. While repeatedly talking about the same project will not absolutely skuttle your candidacy, it’s always best to showcase multiple assignments when a firm is evaluating your application.
3. Know why you’re passionate about economic consulting
The second most common question you can expect is, “Why economic consulting?”.
In answering this question, it’s important to highlight your desire to:
- Work with data – over 80% of the projects you will work on will involve extensive data analysis
- Be part of a collaborative problem-solving work environment – the job can be likened to “working with classmates on solving difficult homework problems”
- Work on multiple projects at once
- Work with experts who have PhDs in economics
- Improve your programing, communication, and data visualization skills
4. Highlight specific strengths
You are being tested as to whether you are a good fit for the company with each question they ask.
The best practice is to talk to someone from the firm before the interview to get a sense of the culture of the firm, and the skills they are looking for. However, there are a few general attributes that almost all economic consulting firms look for.
Firstly, it’s important to show teamwork skills. You will never be working on a case all by yourself, and so the interviewers want to make sure you are able to succeed in a collaborative environment.
Secondly, they are looking for people who can juggle multiple projects at once. Prepare a story that highlights a past project you worked on when you were busy with several tasks at the same time.
Thirdly, find a way to highlight how meticulous you are when working with data. With litigation, even the smallest detail can change the outcome of your client’s case.
5. Practice economic consulting cases
Cases in economic consulting interviews are not like the ones for management consulting.
While the exact type will depend on the company you are interviewing with, most cases generally include an issue relating to antitrust and competition, intellectual property, M&A, or transaction advisory.
The prompt might appear similar to ones you find in management consulting, but your approach should differ. The main issue of the case is usually related to litigation, such as determining the best defense for a lawsuit, rather than determining the source of a decline in profit.
In preparing for your economic consulting case interview, the best practice is to look at examples provided on the company’s website. It’s also important to be aware that some economic consulting companies do not rely on case interviews and will only utilize behavioral/fit interviews.
The bottom line
Economic consulting is one of the most rewarding yet difficult career paths for recent college graduates to pursue.
If you decide that you want to join one of the prestigious companies in this industry, it’s important to tailor your application for economic consulting, know why you’re passionate about the industry, prepare yourself to talk about multiple research projects in detail, practice showcasing specific strengths in your answers, and make sure you go through the practice cases provided on the company’s website.
Good luck!
Tringa Krasniqi holds an MBA degree from The George Washington University. She is the founder and consultant at Ivy Journey, an educational consulting firm for gaining admission to universities and winning scholarships.
Image: Unsplash
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