Huron case interviews are the most difficult part of the interview process. You will need to ace every single Huron case interview in order to land a job offer.

 

Huron case interviews are asked in every single round of interviews. Typically, there are two rounds of interviews at Huron:

 

• Huron first round interview: Consists of case interviews and behavioral interview questions (e.g., tell me about a time when you led a team, give an example of a time you used data to solve a problem)

 

• Huron final round interview: Consists of case interviews and fit interview questions (e.g., why consulting, why Huron)

 

If you have an upcoming interview with Huron, we have you covered. In this article, we’ll cover exactly what you need to do to crush your Huron case interview and land the job offer. In this article, we’ll cover:

 

• What is a Huron case interview?

 

• What does a Huron case interview assess

 

• How to solve a Huron case interview

 

• Huron case interview examples

 

• Huron case interview tips

 

• Recommended Huron case interview resources

 

If you’re looking for a step-by-step shortcut to learn case interviews quickly, enroll in our case interview course. These insider strategies from a former Bain interviewer helped 30,000+ land consulting offers while saving hundreds of hours of prep time.

 

What is a Huron Case Interview?

 

Like most consulting firms, Huron uses case interviews to assess candidates.

 

A case interview, also known as a “case” for short, is a 30 to 60-minute exercise in which you and the interviewer work together to develop a recommendation or answer to a business problem.

 

These business problems can be anything that real companies face:

 

• How can Walmart increase its profitability?

 

• What can Netflix do to increase customer retention?

 

• How should Tesla price its new electric vehicle?

 

• Where should McDonald’s open another McDonald’s franchise?

 

Huron case interviews simulate what the consulting job will be like by placing you in a hypothetical business situation. Cases simulate real business problems that Huron solves for their clients. Many Huron case interviews are based on actual projects that interviewers have worked on.

 

While consulting projects typically last between 3 to 9 months, Huron case interviews condense solving the business problem into just 30 to 45 minutes.

 

Huron case interviews can cover any industry, including retail, consumer packaged goods, financial services, energy, education, healthcare, government, and technology.

 

They can also cover a wide range of business situations, including entering a new market, launching a new product, acquiring a company, improving profitability, and growing revenues.

 

Although Huron case interviews cover a wide range of industries and business situations, no technical or specialized knowledge is needed.

 

Nailing your Huron case interviews is critical to getting a job offer. You will need to pass every single one of your Huron case interviews.

 

What Does a Huron Case Interview Assess?

 

Huron case interviews assess six different qualities or characteristics: analytical ability, ability to think logically and organize answers, thought process and structure, tolerance for ambiguity and data overload, poise and communication, and the ability to make a positive impact.

 

1. Analytical ability: Consultants work with a tremendous amount of data and information in order to develop recommendations to complex problems.

 

• Can you read and interpret data well?

 

• Can you perform math computations smoothly and accurately?

 

• Can you conduct the right analyses to draw the right conclusions?

 

2. Ability to think logically and organize answers: Consultants need to be organized and methodical in order to work efficiently.

 

• Can you structure complex problems in a clear, simple way?

 

• Can you take tremendous amounts of information and data and identify the most important points?

 

• Can you use logic and reason to make appropriate conclusions?

 

3. Thought process and structure: Consultants need to think before acting and be able to structure their thoughts in a coherent and organized way.

 

• Do you think before speaking or answering a question?

 

• Is your thought process clear and coherent?

 

4. Tolerance for ambiguity and data overload:

 

• Can you handle broad, vague, or unclear problems?

 

• Can you handle tremendous amounts of data and information?

 

5. Poise and communication: Consultants need strong communication skills to collaborate with teammates and clients effectively.

 

• Can you communicate in a clear, concise way?

 

• Are you articulate in what you are saying?

 

• Are you calm under pressure?

 

6. Ability to make a positive impact: Are you driven to make a significant, tangible impact?

 

• Are you ambitious?

 

• Do you aspire to make a real difference in the world?

 

• Do you have resilience in the face of adversity?

 

All of these six qualities can be assessed in just a 30 to 60-minute case interview. This is what makes Huron case interviews so effective in assessing consulting candidates.

 

How to Solve a Huron Case Interview

 

There are generally six steps to solving a Huron case interview. Step four and step five may happen in a different order depending on the case you receive, but all the other steps will occur in the same order each time.

 

1. Understand the case

 

Your Huron case interview will begin with the interviewer giving you the case background information. While the interviewer is speaking, make sure that you are taking meticulous notes on the most important pieces of information. Focus on understanding the context of the situation and the objective of the case.

 

Don’t be afraid to ask clarifying questions if you do not understand something. You may want to summarize the case background information back to the interviewer to confirm your understanding of the case.

 

The most important part of this step is to verify the objective of the case. Not answering the right business question is the quickest way to fail a case interview.

 

2. Structure the problem

 

The next step is to develop a framework to help you solve the case. A framework is a tool that helps you structure and break down complex problems into smaller, more manageable components. Another way to think about frameworks is brainstorming different ideas and organizing them into different categories.

 

Before you start developing your framework, it is completely acceptable to ask the interviewer for a few minutes so that you can collect your thoughts and think about the problem.

 

Ideally, you want your framework to be as MECE as possible. MECE stands for mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive. You want each element of your framework to have zero overlap with the other elements. Additionally, you want the sum of the elements of your framework to cover all of the important issues or areas of the case.

 

Once you have identified the major issues or areas that you need to explore, walk the interviewer through your framework. They may ask a few questions or provide some feedback.

 

For a complete guide on how to create tailored and unique frameworks for each case, check out our article on case interview frameworks.

 

3. Kick off the case

 

Once you have finished presenting your framework, you’ll start diving into different areas of your framework to begin solving the case. How this process will start depends on whether the case interview is candidate-led or interviewer-led.

 

If the case interview is a candidate-led case, you’ll be expected to propose what area of your framework to start investigating. So, propose an area and provide a reason for why you want to start with that area. There is generally no right or wrong area of your framework to pick first.

 

If the case interview is interviewer-led, the interviewer will tell you what area of the framework to start in or directly give you a question to answer.

 

Huron case interviews are generally interviewer-led, but you may occasionally be given a candidate-led case.

 

4. Solve quantitative problems

 

Your Huron case interview will most likely have some quantitative aspect to them. For example, you may be asked to calculate a certain profitability or financial metric. You could also be asked to estimate the size of a particular market or to estimate a particular figure.

 

The key to solving quantitative problems is to lay out a structure or approach upfront with the interviewer before doing any math calculations. If you lay out and present your structure to solve the quantitative problem and the interviewer approves of it, the rest of the problem is just simple execution of math.

 

When doing case interview math, make sure to talk through your thinking and calculations out loud. The interviewer should be able to easily follow what you are doing in each step of your calculations. Once you have calculated the answer, explain how your answer impacts the recommendation that you are beginning to form.

 

5. Answer qualitative questions

 

Your Huron case interviews will likely also have qualitative aspects to them. You may be asked to brainstorm a list of potential ideas. You could also be asked to provide your opinion on a business issue or situation.

 

The key to answering qualitative questions is to structure your answer. When brainstorming a list of ideas, develop a structure to help you neatly categorize all of your ideas. When giving your opinion on a business issue or situation, provide a summary of your stance or position and then enumerate the reasons that support it.

 

When you finish answering a qualitative question, connect your answer back to the case objective. How does your answer impact the recommendation that you are beginning to form?

 

6. Deliver a recommendation

 

In the last step of the case interview, you’ll present your recommendation and provide the major reasons that support it. You do not need to recap everything that you have done in the case, so focus on only summarizing the facts that are most important.

 

It is also good practice to include potential next steps that you would take if you had more time or data. These can be areas of your framework that you did not have time to explore or lingering questions that you do not have great answers for.

 

Huron Case Interview Examples

 

Huron has provided the following case interview examples in a presentation given to a school.

 

There are four types of Huron case interviews:

 

1. Business operations: Scenarios may include solving basic business problems such as how to increase revenue or how to cut costs

 

Example: Our client is a retail brokerage. We have seen our customer base in the Northeast region decline over the past 18 months. Why is this happening and what can we do about it?

 

Example: New Media is an Internet provider that has had three straight quarters of high profit gains followed by a 50% drop in profits this quarter. What has happened?

 

2. Business strategy: Scenarios may include how to compete in the market, how to meet business goals, or how to grow the company

 

Example: Should Kraft Heinz expand and incorporate ice cream into their product mix? If yes, how should they enter this market?

 

Example: You are the head of a large corporation. Your company must build a new paper plant. You must decide what country to build the plant. What factors would you consider?

 

Example: A big healthcare company hired you to determine a strategy for improving profitability through growth. The company hopes to reach its goal in three years. What would you advise?

 

3. Brainteaser: Expect questions that are far-fetched. Can you logically and creatively think through the question and arrive at an answer?

 

Example: How many checking accounts do you think there are in the United States?

 

Example: How many quarters are there in the Mall of America?

 

Example: How much does a Boeing 747 weigh?

 

Example: How many chopsticks are sold in the US each year?

 

Huron brainteasers are essentially consulting market sizing questions. For a full guide to these types of questions, check out our article on consulting brain teasers.

 

4. Mathematical: Typically consists of basic mathematical problems and may require you to extract data from a word problem or table.

 

No examples of this type are provided by Huron.

 

Huron Case Interview Tips

 

Huron provides the following case interview tips to help navigate a case interview:

 

Huron case interview tips for clarifying:

 

• Ask clarifying questions

 

• Take notes on the background of the case and the client

 

• Paraphrase the main points back to the interviewer

 

Huron case interview tips for structuring:

 

• Identify the main issue

 

• Brainstorm your thoughts aloud to keep transparency with the interviewer on your thought process

 

• Clearly write out the structure you will follow

 

Huron case interview tips for analyzing:

 

• Determine the relevant data to be used

 

• Formulate a hypothesis

 

• Identify your key takeaways

 

• Be willing to shift your structure as new information is introduced

 

Huron case interview tips for recommending:

 

• Summarize your findings

 

• Formulate a recommendation

 

• Revisit the problem to be sure your recommendation aligns properly

 

• Be sure to defend your stance as it relates to other possible recommendations

 

Recommended Huron Interview Resources

 

Here are the resources we recommend to land a Huron consulting offer:

 

For help landing consulting interviews

 

• Resume Review & Editing: Transform your resume into one that will get you multiple consulting interviews

 

For help passing case interviews

 

• Comprehensive Case Interview Course (our #1 recommendation): The only resource you need. Whether you have no business background, rusty math skills, or are short on time, this step-by-step course will transform you into a top 1% caser that lands multiple consulting offers.

 

• Case Interview Coaching: Personalized, one-on-one coaching with a former Bain interviewer.

 

• Hacking the Case Interview Book (available on Amazon): Perfect for beginners that are short on time. Transform yourself from a stressed-out case interview newbie to a confident intermediate in under a week. Some readers finish this book in a day and can already tackle tough cases.

 

• The Ultimate Case Interview Workbook (available on Amazon): Perfect for intermediates struggling with frameworks, case math, or generating business insights. No need to find a case partner – these drills, practice problems, and full-length cases can all be done by yourself.

 

For help passing consulting behavioral & fit interviews

 

• Behavioral & Fit Interview Course: Be prepared for 98% of behavioral and fit questions in just a few hours. We'll teach you exactly how to draft answers that will impress your interviewer.