10 November 2026 · Consulting Fundamentals and the Interview Process
The interviewer asks
Utilisation at that boutique then falls to 65%. What happens to profit, and what does it tell you?
Say your answer out loud first, then open the model answer.
Show the model answer
Billed weeks fall to 1,794, so revenue falls to 35.88m, while costs stay at 33.0m. Profit drops from 8.4m to 2.88m, a fall of about 66%, from a ten-point change in utilisation. Salaries are paid whether or not consultants are staffed, so every lost pound of revenue comes straight out of profit. That is why firms watch utilisation weekly.
What the interviewer listens for
Costs are fixed
Profit falls about two thirds
Small utilisation moves swing profit
Consulting Fundamentals and the Interview Process · INT.KF.1.c: Explain how a consulting firm makes money through utilisation, leverage and fees, and describe the travel and hours that come with the work.
Get the full deck when it opens
The full deck has hundreds of cards, one for every technical an interviewer asks, brought back just before you would forget them. Leave your email and we will write to you once, when the strategy consulting track opens.
One email, when it is ready. Remove yourself any time with the link in the confirmation.
Written for Charta and not affiliated with any employer. A model answer is one good way to say it, not the
only one. A new card appears at midnight UTC.