Case Interviews for Non-Consulting Roles

Case interviews are not limited to consulting firms. Bank strategy and management-trainee roles, product-manager roles at technology companies, and corporate operations or financial-analysis roles may all ask you to analyse a business problem on the spot. Batch 2, no. 16, covers general consulting cases. This guide explains how cases for non-consulting roles differ, how to break down common questions and how to practise.

1. How these differ from consulting cases

1. They are closer to the employer’s own business. A consulting case can cover any industry; a case for another role is more likely to reflect a problem the interviewer’s team faces, such as a fall in online account-opening conversion for a retail banking product or low use of a particular feature.
2. Execution matters more. Interviewers may ask who would carry out your proposal, how much resource it needs and how you would measure success, not just whether your structure is complete.
3. A case may be combined with another exercise. CUHK’s Career Planning and Development Centre says assessment-centre case exercises may involve a business project or workplace problem, with an individual or group presentation to assess industry awareness, problem-solving and presentation skills. A case may therefore be part of a group interview or presentation; see nos. 8 and 9 in this batch.
4. Data may be incomplete on purpose. The interviewer may be testing what you ask and what assumptions you make.

2. A general method for breaking down a case

1. Restate the problem and confirm the objective. For example: “I understand that online account completion has fallen over the past two quarters. We need to find the causes and recommend improvements. Is success measured by completion rate or the number of accounts opened?”
2. Ask clarifying questions about scope (market and customer group), time period, available data and constraints such as budget, compliance or systems. Have a reason for each question; do not ask just to fill time.
3. Set out a structure. Break the issue into distinct parts that together cover the problem, then state the structure before analysing it.
4. Form and rank hypotheses. Decide which cause is most likely and easiest to check, and investigate that first.
5. Say what data you need and why.
6. Make recommendations in order of impact and feasibility, and say what you would do first.
7. Explain risks and measures. State possible side effects and which metrics you would track.

3. Common cases for bank strategy and management-trainee roles

1. Growth: how to grow a business such as wealth management or cross-border payments in Hong Kong or the Greater Bay Area. Segment the problem by customer group, product, channel and pricing. For cross-border business, mention regulatory and compliance constraints, but do not invent specific rules. If unsure, say that the relevant requirements need to be checked.
2. Falling profit: break down revenue (volume × price) and costs (fixed and variable). In a bank, revenue can be split further into interest and non-interest income.
3. A new product or market: consider market size, competition, the organisation’s capabilities, regulation, investment and return.
4. Operational efficiency: map a process that takes too long, identify the bottleneck, and separate possible causes into people, systems and rules.
5. Do not single out a real institution’s practices for criticism. If you need an example, say “an institution” or make your assumption explicit.

4. Common product-role cases

1. Improving a product: if a feature is underused, first define the user and use case, then find where users drop out of the journey and propose changes.
2. Designing a product: for a given user group, start with the user and their pain point, describe the core feature, then explain how you would validate demand.
3. Metrics: explain how you would measure a feature’s success. Separate the main metric from guardrail metrics; for example, usage should rise without a marked increase in complaints.
4. Estimation: estimate a market size or the number of users for a service. Write down each assumption, show the calculation and finish with a reasonableness check.
5. Trade-offs: if resources allow only one of two requests, explain your criteria, such as user impact, commercial value, cost and risk.

5. Common cases for operations and financial analysis

1. Variance analysis: if this month’s costs exceed budget, break costs down by category, then by volume and price.
2. Process improvement: if the monthly close takes too long, list the steps and dependencies, then find work that could be parallelised or automated.
3. Simple data questions: when given a table and asked about trends or anomalies, check units and definitions before stating your conclusion.
4. These cases demand accurate arithmetic. A calculation error may cost more than an incomplete structure, so slow down and talk through your working.

6. How to present your thinking

1. State the conclusion first, then the reasons. If time runs short, the interviewer will still have heard your answer.
2. Signpost with numbered points: “I would look at this in three areas: first … second … third …”
3. Put your structure on paper or a whiteboard so the interviewer can follow your thinking. In an online interview, ask before sharing a simple page of notes.
4. When challenged or corrected, take the new information and adjust your answer instead of defending your original assumption.
5. If you do not know an industry fact, say so and explain how you would check it.

7. How to practise

1. Find questions in the target employer’s public materials, such as annual reports, results announcements and product pages. For example: “What might explain slowing revenue growth in this business?”
2. Practise under time limits of 20–30 minutes. Record yourself or ask a classmate to act as the interviewer.
3. Ask your practice partner to probe “why?”, “how would you implement it?” and “how would you measure it?”
4. After each case, note what you missed and any calculation errors, then build a personal checklist.
5. Your university career centre and alumni mentors may be able to run mock interviews; see no. 18 in this batch.

8. Common ways to lose marks

1. Jumping to a proposal without clarifying the question.
2. Applying a template that does not fit, such as a market-entry framework to a process problem.
3. Analysing without making a recommendation.
4. Giving recommendations without priorities or a first step.
5. Ignoring compliance and risk, especially in a financial-services case.

Sources

• CUHK Career Planning and Development Centre, “Assessment Centre and Interviews”, checked 20 October 2026.
• Prospects, “Interview tests and exercises”, checked 20 October 2026.
• The remaining material is a general method note and does not contain official data.