Market Specific Expertise as Entry Level Generalist

Hi there,

yes, if your target office has projects in your field of expertise for sure it will help.

Before the case interview, you can leverage your experience in three ways:

• Find alumni of your university who did projects in the same sector to target a referral
• Underline the experience in your CV
• Underline the experience in your Cover

The way you underline it in CV and Cover is different but still action – result based.

In the case interview, you can create a fit story based on some of your experiences, as mentioned by David.

Hope it helps,

Francesco

Hi,

When you are recruited as an experienced hire, you must indeed be able to bring something more than a very junior person.

Having an oil & gas expertise is a good example of course.

On the other hand, when you talk about this experience in your cover letter or during the fit, you need to find the right mix between technical expertise and the ability to have demonstrated consulting skills (e.g. problem solving, communication, ... ).

Focusing only on the technical part can be scary for the interviewer and thus be counterproductive

Best

Hi Anonymous,

The 3 years of work experience are a good asset in general if your target office(s) have many projects in your area of expertise (how to leverage implicitly included).

• Application phase/CV screening: In general it's always recommended to network your way into consulting firms, especially in current turbulent times - here your domain expertise might help you to connect to consultants and discuss in-depth about some domain-related issues (as opposed to some general networking bla-bla). With a referral you will basically jump over the CV screening phase, so that's an important point.
• Interview phase: chances are that some cases during your interviews are related to your domain expertise if there are many projects and thus many consultants working in that field. Still you need to perfeclty master the process of solving case interviews, but it's easier if you are familiar with the subject-matter related topics and don't hear about them first time in your life. So also a small edge here.
• Post-interview/consulting phase: with 3 years of experience you might already cover many of the basics and you can concentrate more on other (non subject-matter related) challenges when starting off your consulting career, if you are staffed in your area of expertise. So again a small edge here.

Hope this helps - if so, please be so kind and give it a thumbs-up with the green upvote button below!

Robert

Absolutely!

You should always apply to the most relevant office if possible. This means, where you live, the language you speak, where you have citizenship/work permission, and, of course, where you have relevant industry experience!

Hello,

Your previous work experience can help if you apply in specific office (like your example for ME), but don't focus too much on that. In most of the countries MBB have projects across all the industries and as Associate (BCG)/Business Analyst (McK) you are not required to have previous knowledge of the industry.

It could be more complex if you apply for tier-2 or tier-3 companies where you could leverage your previous work to enter as an experienced hire.
Feel free to write me if you want to discuss this more.

Best,
Luca

Hello!

Yes, for sure it helps. 

Make sure you share that with staffing once you are in, until you know the people from the industry and the CST -client service teams-. 

However, what seems a bit werid to me is that you are applying to entry level BA. WIth 3 years, I would say at least is Senior BA.

Did you discuss this with HR already?

Hope it helps!

Cheers, 

Clara