Deloitte Consulting cases are candidate-led and implementation-aware. Confirm whether you are interviewing for core Consulting or Monitor Deloitte before you practise.
Deloitte is not one interview. Core Consulting (Strategy, Risk and Transactions; Technology and Transformation; Human Capital) runs a different case mix from Monitor, the strategy practice built from the 2013 Monitor Group acquisition. This page is the core Consulting process: online screens, candidate-led live cases, a group exercise in many finals, and a five-step rubric Deloitte publishes itself. For pay by practice, including the Monitor premium, use the Deloitte consulting salary guide. CoachNed is independent and not affiliated with Deloitte.
What Deloitte actually runs
Read the invitation. US campus routes often sit the Cappfinity Immersive Online Assessment, then a later Job Simulation, before live interviews. AptitudePrep describes the Immersive as 35 questions across five sections, untimed but designed to take about 60 minutes. CaseBasix and JobTestPrep put the Job Simulation graded portion at about 40 minutes, with situational ranking and video answers. Those stages are values and judgment screens, not cases. Details live in the Deloitte assessment test guide.
| Stage | Typical format | What it scores | Confirm in the invite |
|---|---|---|---|
| Online Immersive Assessment | Cappfinity scenarios, charts, voicemails | Values fit and reasoning | US campus; not every experienced-hire track |
| Job Simulation | Video, written reply, ranked actions | Judgment on a live project | Later stage; separate from Immersive |
| Live case | Candidate-led, 30–45 minutes | Structure, math, recommendation, next steps | Practice group (S&A, Tech, Human Capital) changes the prompt |
| Group exercise | Shared packet, observed discussion | How you move a team to one answer | Common in many finals; not every office |
| Behavioral | STAR stories, often in the same slot as the case | Integrity, teamwork, client impact | Deloitte values language, not a McKinsey PEI script |
Deloitte's published case and scenario interview tips name five steps: understand the issue, identify underlying assumptions, summarise findings, state recommendations, and outline next steps and expected results. The same page says you are not expected to provide the "right" answer, but to convey logic. Treat next steps as a scored step, not a polite close.
The official practice library at caseinterviewprep.deloitte.com is the best free mirror of the book of business. A striking share of published cases name federal clients: Engagement Strategy: Federal Agency V, Strategic Vision: Federal Benefits Provider, Finance Strategy: Federal Health Agency, Architecture Strategy: Federal Finance Agency, Talent Management: Federal Civil Cargo Protection Bureau. Recreation Unlimited and LeadAuto are the closest to a generic commercial growth case. Cyber, forensic, and valuation cases (XFintech ransomware, industrial warehouse valuation) do not decompose into revenue minus cost. Decode that library in Deloitte practice cases.
How a Deloitte case differs from McKinsey interviewer-led and BCG candidate-led
McKinsey is interviewer-led: exhibits and questions arrive in a scripted sequence, and PEI is a separate structured story. BCG (and Bain) are candidate-led: you propose the tree, ask for data, and synthesise. Deloitte's live case is candidate-led in that BCG sense. You are not waiting for the next McKinsey exhibit.
The difference is what earns points after the tree. McKinsey grades whether you answer the question that was asked. BCG grades whether you drove a clean, quantified so-what. Deloitte's own rubric adds a fifth move McKinsey does not isolate: next steps and expected impact. Ending on "I would recommend defending the segment" without a number, a risk, and a Monday test is skipping a named step. The client mix is also different. An MBB-trained candidate who has never structured a federal agency mandate will spend the first thirty seconds of Engagement Strategy: Federal Agency V translating the prompt into a consumer profitability tree. That is the wrong object. Public-sector cases often have a budget, a statute, or a service-level constraint instead of a profit maximand.
Group cases are another split. McKinsey and BCG rarely use them as a primary final-round filter. Many Deloitte offices do. Assessors watch whether you integrate someone else's exhibit, name a disagreement without dominating, and close on one recommendation. Practise that separately in the group case playbook.
Worked snippet: federal claims cycle time (implementation flavour)
Prompt. A federal benefits agency processes 2.4 million claims a year. Average cycle time has moved from 28 days to 41 days in two years. The statute requires 30 days. Congress will not raise headcount this year. What do you do, and what should leadership expect in 90 days?
Clarify. Success is cycle time back under 30 days, not cost cutting for its own sake. Headcount is frozen. Ask whether overtime, contractors, and process change are in scope.
Structure (candidate-led). Three peer branches, first test named: (1) intake quality and rework, (2) process bottlenecks after intake, (3) workforce utilisation given the freeze. Test rework first because it inflates cycle time without adding productive hours.
Math. 2.4 million claims / 250 working days ≈ 9,600 claims a day. If 22% of claims bounce for missing evidence and each bounce adds 12 days, that is 0.22 × 12 = 2.64 days on the average, which does not explain a 13-day deterioration on its own. Suppose first-pass yield fell from 88% to 70% while the specialist queue grew from 6 days to 18 days. The queue, not the mailroom, is the problem. A 30% first-pass-yield recovery (70% to 91%) on 9,600 claims saves 0.21 × 9,600 ≈ 2,000 specialist touches a day. If a specialist handles 25 touches a day, that is 80 specialist-days of capacity without hiring.
Recommendation. Do not hire. Stand up a 90-day evidence-complete intake checklist and pull 40 specialists onto the aged queue for six weeks. Expected result: cycle time from 41 days toward the low 30s if first-pass yield recovers 15 points. Risk: veterans' groups contest a stricter intake. Next step: sample 400 aged claims this week and report the top three missing fields to the operations lead on Friday.
That close is Deloitte-shaped: a decision, a number, a constraint respected, and a next test with a date.
How to prepare this week
- Confirm the practice on the invitation. Human Capital and cyber cases will punish a profitability template.
- Sit one candidate-led case and force a next-steps sentence with an expected result. Run it on CoachNed.
- If the Immersive or Job Simulation is named, prepare those formats on their own terms, not as extra cases.
- Prepare two STAR stories that end in adoption, not analysis. Deloitte implementation work is the story shape.
Do not quote a single "Deloitte salary" in the fit round. Core Analyst total cash is estimated near $100K; post-MBA Senior Consultant near $195K; Monitor pays about 10 to 20 percent above core at the same level, per the Deloitte consulting salary page. Official postings are role-specific ranges (one Strategy Growth and Transformation Consultant posting listed $84,400 to $140,600). Confirm the letter.
Sources
- Deloitte case and scenario interview tips (five-step approach)
- US recruiting case prep hub and caseinterviewprep.deloitte.com library
- Deloitte FY2025 aggregate global revenue US$70.5 billion, more than 470,000 people, as cited in CoachNed's Deloitte practice-cases note (firm-wide, not Consulting-only)
- AptitudePrep, CaseBasix, JobTestPrep on Immersive and Job Simulation timings (checked in the assessment guide, June 2026)
Frequently asked questions
Is a Deloitte case interviewer-led like McKinsey?
No. Live cases are candidate-led. You still must follow the question if the interviewer takes control.
Is this the Monitor interview?
No. Monitor adds a written case and a harder "why Monitor, not Deloitte" filter. See the Monitor Deloitte case interview guide.
Do all candidates sit the Immersive Assessment?
No. Confirm the invitation. Experienced-hire and some specialist routes skip it. CoachNed is independent practice, not affiliated with Deloitte. Cases on CoachNed are AI-simulated. Formats vary by office and year.