Hello,I have a final round interview coming up with Charles River Associates in the London office for business consulting (oil & gas). I would be very grateful if anyone could provide me with information on what to expect or any general tips. Many thanks.

Here's a tip: wait until our financial results are out in Jan before deciding whether you really want to come work here.

Thanks for the reply.I am quite suprised ! I was told that CRA had to hire more grads than usual this year due to new projects coming through. Although I am aware that the energy division is having one or two problems.I assuming that you are from the business consulting practice and I would be grateful if you could advise me whether it would be wise to stick with oil & gas or look towards the chemicals division. Thanks in advance.

Hi Grad,First of all congrats for getting to the final round. A key question I suggest you ask yourself is this: do you want to join CRA C&P practice because of your interest in the energy industry? Or your interest in the consulting profession? Which comes first?Would be happy to provide some thoughts on the C&P final rounds.

As far as I know, their Oil & Gas and Chemicals divisions are essentially one and the same, there are no distinctions. It's all part of the petroleum consulting package.Am quite interested to know about the problems you mention regarding the CRA energy group.

Hi Sudoku,With regards to your question, I am actually genuinely interested in working in the energy industry and I believe the oil & gas division would give me some broad (yet relevant) experience. General consulting doesn't hold the same appeal to me, although I am not ruling out any options as yet.Looking much further ahead, I am particularly interested in moving into a business strategy position in an oil & gas firm. However, I believe the prerequisite for this is a top MBA and some marketing experience (which I feel would be best gained in chemicals consulting). Oh well, my interview is next week so I'll probably be able to make up my mind after a asking a some questions at the interview.......

Hi HarveyBalls,It is my understanding that some of their large electricity and utilities projects are drawing to a close and they haven't been able to replace the work. I think this has had some minor impact on the revenues of that particular division, but nothing too serious....

Hi Grad,If you are genuinely interested in the energy industry, then the CRA chemicals and petroleum practice is a great place to join. It is industry driven, so it's definitely not general consulting, you get to learn heaps about the oil and gas industry in a very short space of time. But you also get to learn the consulting craft skills, which is the same to any consulting practice really. I know this for a fact because I used to work for them.If you are thinking of moving into industry at a later stage in corporate strategy, there are opportunities around but breaking into industry from consulting is slightly harder than the other way round. This is because oil companies tend to promote lifers from within rather than parachute in new joiners, unless they are very similar or have unique required skills.If you want to discuss further I would be happy to drop you an email.