Charles River Associates Interview Questions
& Process

It was pretty weird. The first round was a video call with a consultant. They asked simple questions about my background and experience, which were pretty easy. Then there was a small market sizing question like 'estimate the total market for this drug in the UK'. The second round was an in-person assessment day. It was advertised as a mix of individual and group activities, but it turned out to be entirely group-based and felt quite awkward. There were groups of 6. We did a 'problem solving' task that was basically math questions where we had to state and justify our answers out loud. Then there was an individual case study where we were given two graphs and a few bullet points and had to recommend a course of action for a company. Finally, there was a group task using a table of data to make a recommendation. It was unclear what they were looking for, and the fact that it was all done in a group made it very awkward. The final round involved interviews and individual case studies.

Dataset analysis+Interview: So before the interview, about an hour before we meet, we'll send over this case in an Excel sheet. The first tab will tell you the background of the case study, what you need to do, and what questions you need to answer. Just do your best on this analysis before we talk. The Excel file has 3 sheets of data for you to work with. After you check out the Excel sheets, you'll present your findings to someone on the Forensics Services team during the interview and we'll have time to chat about the exercise.

I applied online for the full-time entry level analyst position in Oakland Antitrust & Competition Practice. They got in touch within two weeks for a 45-minute first round interview with a Senior Associate (PhD) and an Associate. The first 15 mins, the PhD asked me basic questions about my resume and asked me to walk through my projects. Then, for 25 mins, the Associate presented a case through a shared Word doc on screen. It had three figures: a table, then two graphs. They left 5 mins for my questions. It was a good experience overall, but the case was way harder than the internship first round case last year.

The interview process had two main rounds. The first round was a 45-minute interview with two employees where they asked about your interest in economic consulting and CRA, your past empirical/quantitative analysis projects, and some behavioural questions. They also wanted to see if you could explain economic/statistics concepts. The second round was a Superday. It started with a 45-minute interview that was mostly behavioural, focusing on your past experiences. Then, there was a 45-minute case interview where they walked you through interpreting and analyzing data tables and graphs. The last interview, which was 30 minutes, involved a detailed discussion of your writing sample, specifically your econometric/research approach, and explanations of concepts from it.