Consulting projects differ in topic, length and team size, but the arc they follow is remarkably consistent. Once you know it, you will see it everywhere, including in every case interview you ever do.
Nearly every project runs in five stages
Take a regional grocery chain, Harbor Grocers, whose profit fell while its sales grew. The leadership cannot agree on why, so they bring in a consulting team. Here is how the project runs.
- The kickoff. The client's leadership explains, broadly, what they are bringing the team in to help with.
- The first days. The team sits with the executives and asks high level questions they can answer off the top of their heads: how the business makes money, what success would look like, what is in scope.
- The blueprint. The team decides which areas to examine, splits them into workstreams and picks where to start.
- The months in the middle. This is where the data, the interviews and the charts live, each one a deep dive on a single branch of the blueprint.
- The final meeting. The team presents its recommendation, the reasons behind it and what happens next. Then the client decides.
The order matters
The team understands the business before it builds anything, and it builds the blueprint before it gathers the facts. Skipping ahead is the most common mistake on a project, and in a case.
The five stages of a project are the five parts of a case
This is the single most useful idea for anyone preparing for case interviews: a case interview is a consulting project compressed into about thirty minutes. Each part of the case stands for one stage of the project.
| In the project | In the case |
|---|---|
| The kickoff: the client explains broadly what they need help with | The prompt |
| The first days: high level questions the executives can answer off the top of their heads | Your clarifying questions |
| The blueprint: the areas to examine, split into workstreams, and where to start | Your framework |
| The months in the middle: data, interviews, charts, deep dives on specific branches | The analysis: usually two or three questions, a mix of sizing, math, an exhibit or a brainstorm, depending on the case |
| The final meeting: the team's recommendation and the reasons behind it | Your recommendation |
In the interview, the interviewer plays the client. The prompt is the kickoff, where the client explains what they need. Your clarifying questions are the first days. Your framework is the blueprint. The analysis stands in for the months in the middle, except the data is handed to you in seconds. And your recommendation is the final meeting.
Once you see the match, each part of the case stops being a ritual and becomes a piece of real work, which is exactly how the interviewer sees it. (For what the interviewer listens for in each part, see What a Case Interview Actually Is.)
The team advises; the client decides
How a project ends is the part candidates most often get slightly wrong.
- A recommendation is advice, never an order. It comes with the reasons, the risks the client should weigh and the next steps if they go ahead. The decision belongs to the client, who knows their organization, their people and their constraints far better than any outside team.
- The final meeting is rarely a surprise. The client has been hearing the team's emerging answer throughout, so the final meeting is the end of a conversation that has been running for months, not a reveal.
- Many projects continue past the recommendation, with the team helping the client carry the change through.
What this means in a case interview
The interviewer plays the client and listens for the same shape: a clear recommendation, the reasoning that supports it, and a sense of what comes next. That is why a recommendation that only recaps what you did falls flat. The client wants to know what to do, and why.
Advise well, and let the client decide.
Where to go next
- The job behind the project: What Do Management Consultants Actually Do?
- Who runs each stage: The Consulting Career Path shows what Analysts, Managers and Partners each do on a project.
- How you are judged on each part: What MBB Interviewers Are Actually Testing
- Learn the case, part by part: Learn Level 1 is free and is built on this exact map.
Run the whole project in thirty minutes: your first case is free at The Case Room.