Hi Soumya, 

When applying to consulting firms, you should ensure you are well-prepared, meaning you have practiced cases, polished your CV and cover letter, and have a good understanding of the firm's values and the requirements of the role you're applying for.

As a general rule, it's wise to start preparing for your application well before you wish to start your new job, to ensure you present the best version of yourself to potential employers. 

Furthermore, it can be beneficial to reach out to your network and try to connect with someone already working at the firm to inquire about their experience and ask for a referral.

Cheers, Sidi

_______________________

Dr. Sidi Koné 

(🚀 Ex BCG & McKinsey Sr. Project Manager, now helping high potential individuals join the world's top Strategy Consulting firms (McKinsey | BCG | Bain))

Hi Soumya,

Q: How to get an interview and get my CV short listed?

If you would like to get an invitation from a top firm, you can work on 3 key things. I have listed them below.

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1) CV

The key elements they will look for and that you can optimize are:

• University brand
• Major
• GPA
• Work experience
• Experience abroad
• Extracurriculars and volunteer experience

Red flags include:

• Low GPA
• Lack of any kind of work experience
• Bad formatting / typos
• 3-4 pages length
• Lack of clear action --> results structure for the bullets of the experiences
• Long paragraphs (3-4 lines) for the bullets of the experiences with irrelevant details
• Long time gaps without any explanation

You can compensate for possible red flags with a referral (see point #3 below).

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2) COVER LETTER

You can structure a cover in 4 parts:

1. Introduction, mentioning the position you are interested in and a specific element you find attractive for that company.
2. Why you are qualified for the job, where you can report 3 skills/stories from your CV, ideally related to leadership, impact, drive and teamwork.
3. Why you are interested in that particular firm, with additional 1-2 specific reasons.
4. Final remarks, mentioning again your interest.

In part 2 you can write about experiences that show skills useful in consulting such as drive, problem-solving, leadership, teamwork and influencing others.

It is important that in part 3 you make your cover specific to a particular firm – the rule of thumb is, can you send the exact same cover to another consulting company if you change the name? If that’s the case, your cover is too generic.

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3) REFERRALS

To find a referral, you should follow three steps:

1. Identify the people who can help you
2. Write to them a customized email
3. Have a call and indirectly ask for a referral

You can find more information on networking and referrals here:

▶ How to Get an MBB Invitation 

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BONUS: INTERVIEW PREPARATION

After you managed to get an invitation you need to find out how to pass the interview. You can find more on that at the link below.

▶ How to Prepare for an MBB Interview

Good luck!

Francesco

Hi Soumya,

in addition to what was already listed, I would propose that once you have put your application documents together, you get them professionally reviewed first. Especially your CV is significant as you will need that also when you are searching for internal referrals.

In my experience, you should be at an 80% readiness level for consulting interviews when you submit your first applications. Because from the time you hear back to the (potential) interview, there is often not a whole lot of time left to prepare.

So definitely start familiarizing yourself with the case interview format as early as possible and keep practicing cases. Depending on what you CV looks like, you might want to consider filling some potential “gaps” during the time you have remaining until you applications (in case that is feasible).

Best

Hi Soumya,

• Research recruiting events
• Optimize your CV
• Gather referals 
• Apply (preferably events, otherwise internship or full-time)

Best, Gero

Soumya, 

Welcome!

I've put together a step by step guide here on how to prepare your application strategy that you can find here:

• Expert Guide: Build A Winning Application Strategy

Do reach out if you have additional questions.

Best,
Cristian

Hi there,

A couple of steps that take anywhere from 1 year to a couple of weeks depending on where you are exactly:

1. Stellar resume (grades, work experience, time abroad, leadership)
2. Networking with consultants from the target office for referrals
3. Polished application with stellar documents
4. Prep for aptitude and recruitment tests
5. Case prep and fit interview prep

Cheers,

Florian

You have to be a top 10% candidate. That means being a strong candidate regarding academics, work and non-work experience, networking, etc. 

On top of that your CV should ideally be able to show some “spikes” in terms of your skills (i.e. well round profile + spikes)