OC&C Questions for 2024 Associate Consultant

Question

Hello everyone,

Has anyone applied to the OC&C associate consultant position in the UK?
I recently received an invitation for an Applied test, and one of the question involves synthesizing and summarizing information while giving my opinion.

The questions I get are the following (specificity removed to not leak Applied content):

"Please write an email to the team that answers the below 2 questions by summarizing key information from the expert notes. Please format your response as one bullet point for each answer to the below:

How has the overall market profitability changed and what is a key factor that has led to the change?

Please also include your opinion (with reasoning based on the interview notes) on the following question related to the interview topic. Please format your response as one bullet point:

How would you expect [SPECIFIC ASPECT OF COMPANY]?"

I have a word limit of 250 words in total for both questions, and I'm curious about the level of freedom I have when expressing my opinion based on the interview notes. Is anyone familiar with how to approach this?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Hi there!

I've recently helped a few candidates with these sorts of written answers. It seems like more and more firms are trialling this format as part of their screening process.

Basically, try to keep your opinions to the side. Lead with the data that you're provided and make inferences that are based on the data. Caveat anything beyond that, but clarify what would be the steps you'd take in order to increase your level of confidence in the answer.

Last but not least, make sure that you take advantage of the full word count and be as concise as possible.

Best,
Cristian

Answer 2

Hi there,

I love this type of test! Forces the candidate to not only desmonstrate their business knowledge but their writing communication as well.

If you want to optimize your chances, consider getting a coach to support you!

When answering, you need to be calorie-dense. Be very structured/logical in your response, don't waste words, and bring in facts/knowledge to support your answer.

Good luck!