Government consulting firms: who they are and how they interview
Government consulting firms advise and build technology for federal, state and local agencies. The largest public sector practices include Deloitte Government & Public Services, Booz Allen Hamilton, Guidehouse and Accenture Federal Services, plus the government teams at KPMG, EY, McKinsey, BCG and Oliver Wyman. Most hire through behavioral interviews and a case or scenario interview, and some add a skills test. Every firm here tests how you reason through a client problem out loud. Soreno, an AI voice interview practice app for consulting and finance candidates, has a free public sector case with no sign-up and full mock cases with follow-ups and scored feedback.
Government specialists. Deloitte GPS, Booz Allen, Guidehouse and Accenture Federal Services describe themselves around government work.
Big 4 and strategy firms. KPMG, EY, McKinsey, BCG and Oliver Wyman each run a government practice.
Behavioral rounds everywhere. Deloitte asks for STAR answers, EY leans on behavioral interviewing, Booz Allen asks how you used technology.
A case or scenario. Deloitte's cases are fictional versions of real client projects, judged on your logic, not one right answer.
Tests for some roles. Booz Allen and Accenture add a skills test for some roles, McKinsey uses Solve for most consulting roles.
What government consulting work looks like, with a worked case
Public sector clients judge success by mission results, service times and budgets more than profit, so a strong case answer talks in those terms. The grouping and the case below are ours.
Three kinds of government consultingOurs+
Specialists
Deloitte GPS, Booz Allen, Guidehouse, Accenture Federal Services
Large teams built around federal, defense, health and state work, with a lot of technology delivery. Expect behavioral rounds, a scenario or case, and for technical roles a skills test.
A government practice inside a firm that also serves companies. Interviews follow the firm's main process, so a BCG public sector candidate still gets BCG's case.
Firms that advise companies on dealing with government do a different job, with different interviews. Everything here is about consulting to the agencies themselves.
Where they sit
Offices in Washington, DC
BCG lists its North America public sector lead in Washington, DC. Our guide to consulting firms in Washington, DC covers the offices there.
Our invented case. A state workforce agency gets 60,000 unemployment claims a month and has a backlog of 36,000. Its 150 examiners work 160 hours a month and take 30 minutes per claim. A software tool costing $1.2 million a year would cut that to 20 minutes. An examiner costs $70,000 a year. Should the director buy the tool?
Step 1
Clarify and state assumptions
Confirm the goal: stop the backlog growing, then clear it, within budget. Assume volume stays flat, every examiner stays, and the tool's cost covers licensing and training.
Step 2
Find today's gap
150 examiners × 160 hours = 24,000 hours a month. At 30 minutes a claim that is 48,000 claims, so 12,000 more claims join the backlog every month.
Step 3
Test the tool
At 20 minutes a claim the same hours handle 72,000 claims a month, 12,000 more than arrive. That surplus clears the 36,000-claim backlog in 3 months.
Step 4
Compare the other option
Hiring instead: one examiner clears 320 claims a month, so closing the 12,000 gap takes 38 more examiners, $2.66 million a year, and that only stops the growth. The tool costs $1.2 million a year, 45% of the hiring cost.
Step 5
Recommend and give next steps
Buy the tool. It costs less than hiring and also clears the old backlog. Next, pilot it with one team to confirm the 20-minute review time, check it meets the state's security rules, and track wait times for claimants.
What the firms' own pages say about their rounds. Read the page for your firm, since each one runs its own process.
Deloitte: a five-step case approach
Deloitte asks you to understand the issue, name the underlying assumptions, summarize the issues and findings, state your recommendations, then outline next steps and expected impact. Its tips say the goal is not the "right" answer but your logic. Entry-level Consultative Offerings candidates get a case interview prep tool, Audit & Assurance candidates a scenario tool.
Deloitte: STAR stories on four themes
Deloitte's behavioral tips ask for the STAR method and give four sample prompts: juggling many responsibilities, taking the initiative to fix a problem, a conflict with a team member, and a rush project without all the information.
Booz Allen: technology stories and identity checks
Booz Allen asks about your greatest challenge in your last role, a time you used technology to improve something, and how you chose a tool and what it achieved. It wants your camera on in virtual interviews and may take a screenshot to confirm your identity. Bring a valid photo ID in person.
Guidehouse: two interviews for students
Guidehouse's student process is to join its talent community through your school's career network, apply online, take an on-campus or virtual interview, then meet its teams in a final round, virtually or in person.
Accenture: test rules, firmwide
Accenture's online assessment is done in one sitting, typically within 72 hours of the invite, and most take about 30 to 90 minutes. External AI tools aren't permitted. If you don't pass, you wait at least 90 days before taking the same assessment again.
KPMG, EY, BCG, Oliver Wyman: mostly conversation plus a case
KPMG's early-career candidates have two live video interviews. EY says its process is one or more phone, video and in-person conversations and suggests preparing 10 to 15 stories. BCG lists a skills interview, a case interview and a team interview. Oliver Wyman mixes conversational and case interviews.
Each card comes from the firm's own pages: what its public sector practice says it does and how it interviews. The order is ours: government specialists first, then Big 4 and strategy firms.
Deloitte Government & Public Services
Team
15,000+ professionals in 75+ offices
Sectors
Civil, defense, federal health, state and local
Interviews
Behavioral (STAR) and case or scenario
Deloitte says its GPS team of 15,000+ professionals works in four sectors: Civil Government, Defense, Security & Justice, Federal Health, and State, Local & Higher Ed. It counts more than 50 years of serving these clients. Its cases are fictional examples of the real client projects it works on.
Booz Allen calls itself a private sector leader building advanced technology for government. Its five steps are application, review and screening, a technical assessment for some roles, interviews tailored to the role, and the decision. Its questions ask how you solve problems and use technology.
In a 2024 release, Guidehouse said it serves every federal cabinet-level agency and US state and local clients, with more than 16,000 professionals in over 55 locations. Early-career hires join a team aligned to their interests instead of a rotational program.
Accenture Federal Services hires for the US federal government across Cloud, Cyber, Data & AI, Platforms and Technology, with cleared roles and Advanced Technology Centers in San Antonio and St. Louis. The hiring steps and test rules below come from Accenture's firmwide hiring FAQ.
KPMG says it has more than 3,000 public sector specialists serving federal, state and local governments and education institutions. On its US early-career page, candidates who progress have two live video interviews with business leaders, and most decisions come within two weeks.
EY's Government & Public Sector group says it helps agencies transform programs and optimize operations to achieve mission outcomes, with services for federal agencies and for state and local agencies. EY says it leans heavily on behavioral interviewing and may ask for a written assessment.
McKinsey's interviewing page lists five practice cases. One asks you to diagnose problems in a country's national education system, and another is for the Gates Foundation. Client-facing candidates have personal experience interviews and problem-solving interviews.
BCG says its government consulting teams have completed more than a thousand public sector projects in the past five years, across areas from defense and security to digital government and education. Its North America Public Sector Practice leader is listed in Washington, DC.
Oliver Wyman, now part of the expanded Marsh brand, says it advises leaders across all levels of government on economic development, cost management, tax, security, labor and governance. Its interviews mix conversational and case interviews, and it asks you to treat the case interviewer as your client.
10 government consulting interview questions to practice
Six are the firms' own prompts, paraphrased and labeled. The rest are ours. The sample answer is written by our team and the applicant is invented.
Behavioral prompts the firms name6 questions+
1
Walk us through how you evaluated or selected a tool or technology and what result it drove.
Booz Allen's candidate resources page
Show the sample answer
Sample answer. At a city transit agency, our team spent 18 hours every Monday merging maintenance logs before we could flag overdue inspections. I set three criteria with IT security: daily automatic pulls, access by role, and no new license cost. I compared our existing dashboard license, a custom script and a $14,000 vendor tool, and piloted the first at two depots. Monday prep fell to 45 minutes, and the first month caught 11 overdue brake inspections.
Name the criteria you set, the options you compared and why you ruled some out, then one measured result.
2
Share a time you used technology to improve a process, product or outcome.
Booz Allen's candidate resources page
What a strong answer does
One process, what it cost before, what you changed yourself, and the before and after in numbers.
3
Describe how you addressed the greatest challenge you faced in your last role.
Booz Allen's candidate resources page
What a strong answer does
Pick a challenge with real stakes, show your own reasoning and actions, and end on what you'd repeat.
4
Give me an example of a time when you were juggling a lot of responsibilities.
Deloitte's behavioral interview tips
What a strong answer does
Deloitte says this tests how you balance priorities. Show how you ranked the work and what you let slip on purpose. Practice it, see a model answer
5
Tell me about a conflict you had with a team member.
Deloitte's behavioral interview tips
What a strong answer does
Deloitte says it shows how you lead and work with others. Take your share of the problem and end with the working relationship. Practice it, see a model answer
6
Think of a time you had to finish a rush project without all the information you needed.
Deloitte's behavioral interview tips
What a strong answer does
Say which assumptions you made, how you flagged them, and what you checked once more facts came in. Practice it, see a model answer
Public sector cases and fit4 questions+
7
A city wants to cut traffic deaths in half within ten years. How would you approach it?
What a strong answer does
Split by where and why deaths happen, rank the fixes by lives saved per dollar, and set a yearly checkpoint. Practice it, see a model answer
8
A state agency's benefits backlog keeps growing. Should it buy software or hire staff?
What a strong answer does
Work out the monthly gap first, cost both options, and remember that stopping the growth doesn't clear the backlog. Our worked case above runs the numbers.
9
Why do you want to work in government consulting rather than at a commercial practice?
What a strong answer does
One mission you care about, one way the work differs from commercial clients, and why this firm's sectors fit. Practice it, see a model answer
10
Why this firm?
What a strong answer does
Something only this firm says about its public sector work, tied to how you work. Our guides on why Guidehouse and why Booz Allen show how. Practice it, see a model answer
Mistakes, prep plan and FAQ
Mistakes to avoid+
Answering a public sector case with profit
Agencies care about service times, mission results and budgets. Recommend in those terms.
Mixing up Accenture Federal Services and Accenture
AFS hires for the US federal government, but the hiring FAQ with the test rules is Accenture's firmwide page. Read it and your AFS posting.
Using AI during a test or interview
Accenture doesn't permit external AI tools in its assessment, and McKinsey asks you to disable AI note-taking tools in virtual interviews.
Trusting a recruiter from a free email account
Booz Allen says its recruiters write only from @bah.com, @ne.bah.com or @recruiting.bah.com and asks you never to send money or goods. Check your status in the firm's own portal.
A two-week plan for government consulting interviews+
Our plan.
Days 1 to 3
Pick your firms and sectors
Read each firm's public sector page and map your resume to one or two of its sectors, such as defense, federal health or state and local.
Cover Deloitte's four themes and Booz Allen's three technology prompts. Keep each to about two minutes out loud.
Days 7 to 10
Practice public sector cases out loud
Use Deloitte's five steps and end every case on a recommendation and next steps.
Days 11 to 12
Prepare for any test
If your role has a skills test, block a quiet 90 minutes inside the window and close any AI tools.
Days 13 to 14
Set up and verify
Test your camera, keep a photo ID ready, and check every invite against the firm's own portal.
Practice the case, whichever agency it's for
Soreno's AI interviewer runs consulting cases and behavioral questions out loud, asks follow-ups like a real interviewer and scores every answer, quoting your own words. Our questions, worked case and sample answer are Soreno's own, not any firm's.
We don't rank them. Deloitte Government & Public Services (15,000+ professionals), Guidehouse (more than 16,000 in its 2024 release), Booz Allen Hamilton and Accenture Federal Services describe themselves around government work, and KPMG, EY, McKinsey, BCG and Oliver Wyman run government practices too.
What does a government consultant do?+
Helps agencies run programs, cut costs and modernize technology. EY, for example, describes its work as helping agencies transform programs and optimize operations to achieve mission outcomes.
Do government consulting firms give case interviews?+
Many do. Deloitte uses case and scenario interviews based on fictional client projects, BCG and Oliver Wyman include case interviews, and McKinsey has a problem-solving interview.
What does Booz Allen's interview process look like?+
Five steps: application in Workday, review and screening, a skills-based technical assessment for some roles, interviews that can be technical screens or individual or panel interviews, then the decision.
Does Deloitte accept candidates who need work sponsorship?+
Deloitte's FAQ says it accepts applications from candidates requiring work sponsorship and that your recruiter discusses the details during the process. Each posting lists its own requirements, so read it before you apply.
How long is the Guidehouse internship?+
Guidehouse's US summer internship is 10 weeks, for undergraduate juniors, first-year graduate students and penultimate-year PhD candidates.
Deloitte Government & Public Services
