Brief on Consult Job Preparation

The objective of this document is just to give you a glimpse of few important points relevant
for Consult preparation. It reflects my experiences from the process, aimed to give you a fair
idea of sem-long journey, but the document is not exhaustive.

Step 1: Drafting CV
• Prepare a ~1.5-page long CV with everything imp you have done during your stay at
IITD (don’t include achievements from school time in your schol. section unless you
don’t have enough good stuff to write from college duration. Avoid author mentions
in pay-and-publish journals)
• Distil your initial draft of CV to 1 pager, preferably 5 days before TnP deadline for CV
freezing. All 4 sections of CV are important and should be given nearly equal
importance to draft a well-balanced CV with peaks (highest level of achievement) in 2-
3 sections
• Reach out to seniors across firms for CV review (this part is very important as the first
1 pager that you prepare requires lot of iterations based on feedback from people
across firms. The more people you approach, the more diverse feedback you get but
you would need to take the final call. Make reqd. changes based your understanding
of what reflects your work in best possible manner. It is generally a good practice to
get your CV reviewed in steps – First reach out to seniors who’ve worked with you
closely and are willing to make extra efforts to refine your first draft, then start
reaching out to other seniors)
• Once you’ve prepared your final draft, make sure to get it reviewed by couple of more
seniors and double-check for any unnecessary blanks & typos

Step 2: Case Prep

Resources (in order of priority): Day 1.0 (revised version / hardcopy version with greater
number of cases than the softcopy which is generally circulated), Case Interview Cracked,
Case in Point and Buddy sessions. These resources are adequate to prepare you well for
buddy cases and final case interviews. If in case you are thorough with above material,
you can also refer to Victor Cheng Cases / Videos

• Go through the theory of Day 1.0 and CIC

• Avoid reading cases. Each member of job group read one case and make the others
do it. This way each member of group will end up doing 3 new cases for 1 read (given
there are 4 members in a job group)
• It is often recommended to do cases within your job group until buddy sessions, after
which you can start attempting cases with people across job groups
• Once the buddy sessions start, for first 2 weeks you will be doing cases with your
assigned buddy (both junior and senior buddy) and generally after 2 weeks, buddies
start referring their mentees to other people within the firm

Smarthveer Sidana
B.Tech., IIT Delhi - 2019
 Brief on Consult Job Preparation

• Keep noting the mistakes that you’re committing in cases and make sure to refine your
approach to not repeat those errors
• The recommended order of attempting cases – Guesstimates, Profitability, Market
Entry and Unconventional (hard to fit within already defined frameworks)
• Keep attempting guesstimates regularly so that you don’t get out of touch and being
good with numbers is always advantageous
• It is a good practice to make note of key takeaways from important cases. It will ease
your revision 2-3 days prior to final interview. Doing cases 2-3 days prior to Day 1, is
often not suggested
• A week prior to Day 1, make sure to adapt yourself for getting up early and attempt 3-
4 cases between 8 AM to 12 Noon. This will help you to be well versed for Day 1
• To do things for last 2 days of your prep - visit your notes (with key takeaways from
cases), prepare for generic HR questions (consult interviews don’t involve lot of HR
questions but being prepared is always preferred) and calm your nerves

Generic HR questions (the company ppts will help you understand what the
company wants in any candidate, so making notes during company ppts might be
helpful to draft cover letters and HR answers)-

o Where would you like to see yourself in 5 years from now?

o What is your proudest accomplishment?
o Give an instance where you faced a challenge and how did you overcome it?
o Give an example when you had to come up with an out of the box solution?
o Weaknesses/ Strength?
o How can you contribute to our company in ways other candidates cannot?
Why should we hire you?
o Tell me about yourself? (2 versions - 30s and 2 min)
o Walk us through your resume?
o Why our company?

During this process of interactions with buddies & other people across firms, try to gauge
which company aligns the best with your goals. Talk to people across years to understand
their experiences, their motivations to prefer their current firm over other options they
had / reason for staying back at the firm for so long, culture of the firm etc. All of this
would help you make a better choice for your preference list. During your preparation,
you will often hear words like Hotlist, Warm, Cold, Partner calls etc. - don’t distract
yourself with these. STAY FOCUSED!! It is the key to delivering your best on D-Day.
All that matters in last 2-3 days is your inner-strength and confidence. Be sure that you
can & you will!

Smarthveer Sidana
B.Tech., IIT Delhi - 2019
 Brief on Consult Job Preparation

Step 3: Slotting & D-Day

• You will be asked by TnP to fill in your preferences 1 day prior to final interviews.
It is often suggested that slotting is random in the way that your preference order
may / may not be entirely same as your slotting. There is no clarity on this but TnP
makes sure to consider (in some fashion) your preference for the slotting
• Don’t panic if your first slot isn’t with your Pref. 1 firm. While you are in LHC for
your interviews, you will get opportunities to optimise your chances for getting
into the firm. The key thing is to make a fair assessment of your chances in other
firms that you are/have interviewed and take the call based your judgement.
Being in touch with your buddies / POCs across firms on Day 1, helps optimise
your chances even if slotting is not in favour
• BE CONFIDENT, CALM & OPTIMISTIC!!! These ingredients
will turn odds in your favour
This sem-long journey will train you to deliver your best in time-crunched and pressure
conditions. Everyday is going to be a challenge - Minors/Majors/Quizzes/Assignments, Fests,
Board Responsibilities, Unexpected Illness, but few hacks that will make this journey
memorable and enriching for you –

• Prepare a weekly / monthly timeline of your goals (To do list)

• Go step by step – prepare a list of tasks that you need to compete daily & make
sure to finish all those by EOD
• Evaluate your performance every weekend, discuss your challenges within job
groups / buddies and aim for delivering better results next week. Never hesitate
to modify your ‘To do list’ if it is needed, but once set, follow it with complete
sincerity
• For case prep – make note of all your mistakes and learn from them to never
repeat any of those
• Doing more than 4 cases a day is generally not advisable. Take breaks when you
are exhausted. Though it is subjective and depends on individual but generally
number of cases might not matter if you are doing quality cases and making note
of all your takeaways from previous attempted cases
• Don’t stress yourself worrying about results, focus on doing your daily tasks
without considering the timeframe & form of reward. Results will follow

ALL THE VERY BEST!

Smarthveer Sidana
B.Tech., IIT Delhi - 2019