I applied through an employee referral. I interviewed at Charles River Associates in Mar 2021
Interview
The role I interviewed for was with the life sciences team. Got my interview through a referral. They had a 2 round interview process:
Round 1: Spoke to a Senior Associate from the office the position was located to be at. It was a 30 min Zoom call. Pretty standard case. Got shown a 3-4 slides deck, with a small case problem and graphs and was asked to interpret and suggest solutions. Felt it was easy!
Haven't heard back for a month after that. So, I wrote an e-mail that I have other interviews in Final rounds going on. Then they were gracious enough to conduct a second interview. They asked me to prepare a presentation ahead on a topic of my own which demonstrates my analytical thought process and recommendations.
The second round had 4 back to back interviews:
1. A casual interaction with another senior associate about my interest for the role, background and future career ambitions.
2. It was followed by a behavioral round with a Principal I guess. Standard questions Eg: What was a mistake that you have done and how did you handle it?
3. Had to deliver the presentation prepared ahead, to a couple more senior associates. Both of them didn't quite look into the screen. I was not sure, if they were working on something else or they had a second screen. It distracted me, which I didn't like.
4. Case interview with a Assc principal and Sr Associate. Gave a pdf deck with graphs in it and a excel sheet with data. Had to analyze data for the questions and update the relevant graphs. This was on a remote computer whose access they gave me. But it was super slow to maneuver between screens. Then 15 to 20 min of explaining the graphs and support recommendations. I felt it went well.
Ultimately, I didn't get the offer, though I felt I did well. I felt they wanted to look at more candidates.
Otherwise, the experience was smooth!
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Why CRA, Consulting
Any primary market research experience?
How do you rate your data skills?
I interviewed at Charles River Associates (Brussels)
Interview
Interviews based on case studies covering competition theory and damages estimation. Had 3 different interviews, first with juniors and 2 with seniors, and one written test. Basic game theory and econometrics required
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How would you estimate damages in a cartel setting?
I applied online. I interviewed at Charles River Associates (London, England)
Interview
3 stages:
1. Simple test with maths/ comprehension
2. 1 hour 30 interview. 30 minutes reading information / slides on a case. 10 minutes presenting then the rest of the 50 minutes discussing the case/ general questions.
3. 1 hour interview with more senior staff. Mostly case-based.
I applied in-person. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Charles River Associates (London, England) in Nov 2023
Interview
3 rounds, including a 2 hours in the office interview. Finally did not get the job in the final round. But overall the interview process is not very complicated and very insightful, I recommend.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How would you organise a research if you needed to assess the gene therapy challenges ?