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Casebook 2024

SOM Consulting Club

Acknowledgements This first edition of the Yale SOM Casebook was made possible by the collaborative effort and hard work of many individuals in the SOM community; we would like thank the Yale SOM Consulting Clubs of ’23/24 and ’24/25 for their unwavering support in making this a reality. Advesh Jalan ’ 25 Ayushi Kumar ’ 25 Bikesh Dahal ’ 24 Bobby Davis ’ 25 Claudia Wu ’ 25 Danning Gu ’ 24 Dorothy Chen ’ 24 Fabio Kammler ’ 24 Grant Hufham ’ 25 Katherine Wong ’ 25 Norris Blossom ’ 25 Rohit Gupte ’ 25 Shivansh Chaturvedi ’ 25 Shreya Arora ’ 25 Zach Humrich ’ 24 A special thank you to our case writers, without whom this would not have been possible Bikesh Dahal ’24 Shivansh Chaturvedi ’25 Zach Humrich ’2 4 And to our editorial team for helping bring it all together

Contents

• Introduction to Consulting
• Recruiting for Consulting
• The Case Interview
• Case Math
• The Behavioral Interview
• Industry Primers
• Cases

Introduction to Consulting

What do consultants do? How to sell more product How to price products and services How to cut outsized costs How to digitize old systems What new products to develop Whether to enter new markets, and which ones How to make operations more sustainable How to direct organizational change management How to make acquisitions or sell business lines How to improve supply chain health Management consulting firms advise their clients on how to address the challenges they face , including:

Consultants work across…

Industries

Healthcare Energy Public Sector Nonprofit & Philanthropy Financial Services Technology & Media Telecom Utilities Retail & Consumer Metals & Mining Consumer Industrial Goods Manufacturing Organizational Design Digital Change Management Sales & Marketing Human Capital Operations Sustainability

Functions

Summer internship recruiting roadmap Step September October November December January Research Coffee Chats Corp. Engagements Networking Calls Casing Behavorials Drop Deadlines 1 st^ Rounds Research (^) Engagements^ Corp.. Coffee Chats^ Networking Calls Casing Prep Behaviorals Cover Letters^ Resume + Interviews

Understanding the process

• Determine if consulting is a fit for you
• Research about different firms and their offerings, staffing models, and previous work.
  • Google / self-guided research
  • Case Books
  • 2Y Coffee Chats
• Develop preferences for office locations to narrow down priorities for networking
• Create a firm engagement tracker/Excel list

Research

Understanding the process

• Attend coffee chats for all firms you’re considering
• Chats give a strong sense of firm culture and fit
• You MUST ATTEND all coffee chats you register for!
  • No-shows result in harsh penalties (e.g., ineligibility to be considered for any role at the firm) and reflect poorly on SOM
• Take notes after the chat
  • Useful for cover letters and behavioral questions
• Follow up with a personalized thank you note
• If the rep is not from an office you’re looking at, ask to be connected

Coffee Chats

Understanding the process

• Target firm reps within the offices or affinity groups that you’re most interested in
• Connect with people you met at corporate engagements, or alumni from SOM, Yale University or your undergrad
• Email to find a good time to chat, try to work around their schedules
  • Send confirmation invites or calendar holds
• Write out and ask meaningful, specific questions
• Follow up with a personalized thank you note
• Again… quality over quantity!

Networking Calls

Understanding the process

• Learn about the format for behaviorals at the firms you will be interviewing with
• Practice a behavioral question at the beginning of each case
• Write out and practice stories to commonly asked behavioral questions
• Keep a behaviorals log
• Schedule time with friends to practice behaviorals back-to-back

Behavorials

The Case Interview

What does a case look like? Recommendation Case prompt Clarifying Questions Framework Exhibit Brainstorm Math 30s 1 - 2 min 30 sec 90s to write 2 - 4 mins to present “The drive,” timing varies (10-15 min total Can occur in any order & varies case-by-case Can I synthesize the important parts? Can I understand the problem without jumping into the solution? Can I build a structured and customized approach to solve the problem? Can I draw insights from evidence? Can I be creative and structured at the same time? Can I clearly convey how I set-up and execute quantitative operations? Can I demonstrate executive communication skills? Timing Case Section Skills Tested

Case Math