Deloitte Interview Experience

 By a candidate

Deloitte Case Study Topic

There is a chemical factory(for fertilizers) in Goa set up with foreign collaboration, which is releasing waste to sea. The atmosphere is getting polluted and fish are dying. People of the region who are fishermen raise a lot of hue and cry about this. Other than killing fish, it is also contaminating the agricultural lands. The State government supports the fishermen. However the central government feels that state should view the full country’s food situation and fertilizer requirements and not close down the plant. What are your views about the case?

Number of Evaluators 3

Number of Participants 8-9

Time Duration 25 mins

My GD went Very cool. Not a fish market at all. Out of 9 members 5 of them are my friends, so, not very aggressive, everybody put forward points and linked them to reasons (perhaps because of this, from the group, 5 got through finally). As it was an analytical case study, so anyone could talk and look at issues from different perspectives. Evaluators were pretty cool – no interference from them – they were watching and standing in a circle.

Comments on my performance in the GD
I got a chance to speak whenever I wanted to. Put forth 2-3 strong points which I made(e.g. for a foreign collaboration to shut down, it could send wrong signals to the whole investor community) Spoke 4- 5 times., and was satisfied with my participation. In IIT-M GDs, there is no need to dominate, as professors want active participation and aggressiveness is not required. Make sure when you speak, others are listening – also listen to the others points to be aggressive. It is important to listen clearly in the GD as it would help you summarize later

Deloitte Interview Experience

Number of evaluators 3
Time duration 20 mins

Q: Draw an Iron Carbide(FeC) phase diagram.(since I am Metallurgical Engg, this is a usually asked question)
A: I was well prepared and could draw the same easily.

Q: what is stainless steel, what is their composition?
A: Answered correctly.

Q: Find a stainless steel object in this room.
A: Looked around the room – then showed them the watch base which is made of stainless steel.

Q: Suppose a ladder is sliding down when it is leaning against a wall. What is the maximum area it will enclose during falling?
A: I was able to solve this using calculus- but the answer is really simple, greatest area enclosed is when the 2 sides(the wall and the bottom) in which ladder leans are the same. If length of ladder is "L" max. area enclosed would be : (L^2)/4)

Q: The second questioner asked me a very vague question about suns and stars which did not make any sense at all and was very abstract. Whatever I answered, he said no.(maybe he wanted to check out whether I am open to others points of views when I am not sure)
A: After sometime, I admitted that I did not really understand the question.

Q. "What are ' the three most quality conscious companies of India ?" (After a few futile attempts)
A. 'Sorry sir I don't know.'

Q. 'Don't you read business magazines like Business India ?'
A. Sorry sir I don't (Apologetically). But I am trying to develop this habit."

Q. "Can you tell us the equation of a rectangular hyperbola ? Please come to the board and draw the graph of a Rectangular Hyperbola on the Cartesian co-ordinate system.'
A. I went to the board and drew the diagram of a general hyperbola They gave me a hint by asking me to draw the same within the first quadrant . Then they gave me another hint by saying that it was same as that of an average fixed cost curve . From this hint , I came to the right answer
"XY = Constant.

Q. What do you believe that "Consulting is all about talking nonsense in big language" to clients?
A: I am not in a position to truly defend or support the statement as I am neither in a senior position in an organization, not am I a consultant. But the very fact the consultants are called on to solve critical problems in an organization proves that all they say is not nonsense, but is based on industry knowledge and deep insight.

At last they asked, if I have two options of joining in Deloitte company or doing my PHD in reputed collage . I told them that I had already applied for 4 foreign universities. I told them that I’ll go for PHD. I think this had effected for not getting the job.

I was very tense – so messed up some very easy questions. But they seemed to realise it, and did not pressurize me at all. The interviewers were usually with expressionless faces and did not show much interest in the selection procedure. At the end of the day I was not selected. Out of 9 members they took only 1.