Identify common interview mistakes and learn practical fixes to improve clarity, confidence, and outcomes.
Read MoreCommon Interview Mistakes Experienced Candidates Make and How to Fix Them
- Dec 31, 2025
- Interview Mistakes
Meet the Mentor
Paritosh Jaiswal is a seasoned leader in the consulting and energy sectors, currently serving as a Manager at KPMG India. With over 14 years of professional experience, his career spans pivotal roles at NTPC Ltd and Mercados EMI. An alumnus of IIM Lucknow (IPMX) and NIT Surat, Paritosh brings a rare combination of deep technical expertise and high-level strategic insight. He leverages his extensive industry background to help professionals master the commercial logic and structured thinking required to excel in senior consulting roles.
Many professionals assume that their industry experience will naturally carry them through a high-stakes interview. However, there is a significant divide between possessing technical knowledge and communicating it in a way that meets the expectations of a top-tier consulting firm.
For most candidates, the hurdle is not a lack of work history, but a lack of structured communication and situational awareness. A recent online mock interview session between a student from a top-tier B school with eight years in renewables and Paritosh Jaiswal, a GoCrackIt Mentor, illustrates how even an experienced candidate can struggle to move from “knowing the work” to “consulting on the work.”
Reframing the Professional Narrative
The online interview practice opened with the most common hurdle: the self-introduction. When asked to walk through his background, the mentee provided a strictly chronological history:”I have around 8 years of experience in the renewable energy sector. I did my bachelor’s in electrical engineering. Then I joined Torrent Power in 2015 in the renewable energy department. I was looking after all the project-related things starting from BIM, project reports, and bidding. Then I switched to Stride Climate Investments in 2018. It was a Macquarie Group investment where we had around 22 plants—about 400 megawatts—and there I was looking after performance management and MIS”
After listening to the summary, the mentor asked if a formal elevator pitch had been prepared. When the candidate admitted he hadn’t, the mentor emphasized that “having an elevator pitch prepared is mandatory.” He advised moving away from a dry timeline toward a structured narrative: “starting with the latest role where you were employed, then going back in time… when you’re done with the broad strokes of the companies and roles, you go a level deeper into what exactly your role was.”
The mentor noted that this “level deeper” requires using industry-specific language to help an interviewer categorize a candidate’s expertise. “The way you told me was mostly bullet points—you worked here, this was the role—that’s it. But an introduction has to be flowing… you should add business terminologies of your target industry so that the person in front of you can connect. For example, when you say ‘bidding,’ it is essentially advisory. Using terms like ‘bid advisory’ or ‘sell-side’ helps the interviewer immediately connect your experience.” By adopting these terms, a candidate ensures their past work is immediately relevant to the functional needs of a consulting practice.
Defining Your Place in the Industry
When the mock interview practice shifted to future career goals, the mentee expressed a desire to move into consulting.The mentor asked for more specificity to help the candidate refine his focus. He explained that for a candidate with eight years of experience, a broad ambition can be a disadvantage; at this seniority, firms look for specific sub-sector expertise rather than generalists.
To help the candidate visualize where he might fit, the mentor mapped out the organizational structure of a Big Four practice. He explained that the overarching group is Business Consulting, which is then divided into sector-aligned practices. Within the Power and Utilities practice that aligns with the mentee’s experience, the work is narrowed into specific pockets: the traditional power value chain—covering generation, transmission, and distribution—and new energies, such as hydrogen, fuel cells, and battery energy storage systems (BESS).
This detailed breakdown served a specific purpose: to show that a candidate at this stage of their career must know exactly which “pocket” of the practice they are targeting. To be taken seriously in a senior-level interview, one cannot simply aim for “consulting”; they must demonstrate how their specific background in the value chain aligns with a firm’s specialized sub-groups.
The Requirement of Situational Awareness
To test the mentee’s depth beyond his daily operational tasks, the mentor posed a technical scenario: calculating the “landed cost” of power for a customer in Uttar Pradesh sourcing from a solar plant in Gujarat. While the mentee could identify the basic tariff, he struggled to detail the specific components of Inter-State Transmission System (ISTS) charges. The mentor emphasized that for a candidate with eight years of experience, this technical gap is a significant hurdle because interviewers “will be keen to ask” about these commercial nuances during a senior-level interview. He pointed out that the candidate must move beyond his previous job scope to develop a broader awareness of the sector, noting that “the best starting point to understand these things will be these regulations.” He recommended studying the CERC (Central Electricity Regulatory Commission) regulations for both ISTS and local transmission to understand how these charges are applied in a real-world commercial context.
This feedback highlights a critical transition: moving from knowing a specific job to understanding the broader regulatory environment that governs the entire business. In a high-stakes interview, it is not enough to know how to run a plant; one must demonstrate a grasp of the frameworks that determine how power is priced and moved across the country.
Structure as a Strategy
As the practice interview transitioned into strategy—specifically regarding how Solar IPPs (Independent Power Producers) should improve performance—the mentee suggested adopting data analytics and renegotiating with module manufacturers. While the ideas were sound, the delivery was scattered. The mentor used this moment to introduce a structured communication framework: “Summarize your answer first. Provide a statement like, “I will suggest three strategies,” then state the challenge and the corresponding strategy one by one.” This “one-by-one” pairing ensures the interviewer can follow the specific business logic behind every recommendation.
To maintain control over the discussion, the mentor suggested concluding the response by asking: “if there is anything specific you would like to go into I can delve into that.” This avoids the common mistake of over-explaining and allows the interviewer to direct the deep dive toward the firm’s specific interests.
This structured approach requires a corresponding shift in vocabulary. When discussing payment delays from state-run utilities (DISCOMs), the mentee suggested that a company might need to “put up a case against the client.” The mentor corrected this, noting that a consultant should instead speak in terms of “contractual alignment” or “regulatory compliance.” This shift transforms a blunt observation into a professional, solution-oriented recommendation.
The Case Study: Solving Problems with "Skin in the Game"
The session culminated in a case study regarding a public sector undertaking (PSU) struggling with 2,000 EV charging stations that were underutilized and frequently broken. When asked for a turnaround strategy, the mentee’s first instinct was to ask a series of disconnected questions as they occurred to him: “How many charging stations do they have in total? Do they have data on current EVs present in those areas? What cost are they getting electricity at?”
The mentor immediately corrected this, advising the candidate to use silence to build a structured framework rather than rushing into asking questions
When the discussion moved to solutions, the mentee suggested hiring third-party vendors to fix the broken equipment to increase technical availability (the percentage of time a charger is powered on). The mentor challenged this logic, noting that for a company already facing losses, committing more Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) to mere repairs is difficult to justify. He steered the mentee toward a Service Level Agreement (SLA) based on a “success-fee” model, shifting the objective from simply having a working charger to having a profitable one.
The mentor explained that the solution must align the vendor’s profit with the PSU’s revenue: “If I increase my charger utilization, the actual usage by customers, from the current 6% to 20% or 30%, the vendor will get a certain percentage of it, so that the “skin in the game” is also involved.”
By ensuring the service provider has “skin in the game,” the candidate moves from suggesting a repair expense to proposing a revenue-sharing partnership. This ability to tie operational fixes directly to the client’s bottom line—moving the needle on utilization rather than just maintenance—is the hallmark of a senior consultant.
The Prepared Mind
The learning continued until the final moments of the mock interview preparation. When asked if he had any questions for the interviewer, the mentee had none. The mentor highlighted this as a missed opportunity to show engagement, advising: “Always keep a question ready to ask when offered the opportunity.”
In a consulting interview, the final minutes are a chance to pivot from a candidate to a future colleague. Having a thoughtful question ensures the conversation ends on a note of active interest rather than a passive exit.
Conclusion
The session demonstrated that while years of experience are vital, they aren’t enough to clear a high-level consulting interview. Transitioning to a senior role requires a specific structure, the right industry terminology, and a consultant’s mindset. Success depends on proving you can solve complex problems with commercial clarity rather than just technical knowledge.
GoCrackIt’s mock interview preparation service is designed to bridge this gap. By practicing with mentors who lead practices at top tier firms, you get a direct look at the expectations of the person across the table.
Does your interview style reflect your years of experience? Book a session with an industry mentor on GoCrackIt to refine your approach.
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