Hi there,

Just from what you shared, you can definitely have a chance.

If you are not getting invitations, possible improvements may be on CV, Cover and/or referrals.

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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

For you, work experience will be a lot more relevant given you are an experienced hire.

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

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2) COVER

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 and contacts

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

▶ https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/networking-as-part-of-the-management-consulting-preparation-process

If you need help to be invited please feel free to PM me, I do a session where we can optimize everything you need for an invitation (referrals included).

Best,

Francesco

Hey there, 

This is something I am very familiar with. I worked 7+ years in O&G as a Geoscientist before transitioning and joining McKinsey as an MBA/Experienced Hire (to work on non-O&G projects).

There's absolutely a way but it's not always easy nor obvious. Let me know if you'd like to discuss!

Dear candidate, 

yes it is possible. In such cases it always helps to storyline perfectly and polish your application. Some things you could do in addition:

- widen your firm selection, so consider also firms that are of a lower tier than what you are applying to

- networking via LinkedIn

- seeing whether you could work on projects with clients in the same industry that you were working in

- gain some consulting experience next to your work (if you can)

Best regards,

Charlotte

Hi there, 

most of the consulting company hire candidates with your profile as long as you fit their specific need and pass the recruiting process. I would suggest you to check what role for experienced hires are available, or reach out to some of the MBB directly to ask where your profile may fit. 

I am myself lateral hire with 13 years of non-consulting experience prior joining BCG. 

If you want to find out more, please feel free to reach out directly. 

Lucie

Was this answer helpful?

Please clarify if you meant that you are not getting past the 1st round interview stage?

If you are not getting past CV screening stage, then either your CV is not compelling enough and/or you are applying for the wrong type roles. I suggest, spend some time & effort to get your CV refined if you havent already done it. Many coaches here offer CV review service or you can post in Q&A forum to get some quick high level comments.

Regarding finding the right role & getting a referral, this will require networking + your own research. Please search the Q&A forum for threads on Networking and getting referrals. There is tons of advice already.

Also, FYI..Big 4 companies are investing massively in their engineering services & O&G specific offerings. Read up about this online.

All the best.

Hi there,

May I know which company you are applying for?
I myself is an engineer with 5 years of experience (currently attending business school) and would like to shift to consulting. This would be very helpful. Also if you can share at what level I can enter with such experience? 

Best of luck

 

Hi there, 

I also have an engineering background in the O&G industry and worked as a consultant at McKinsey. I will be happy to help you, message me and we can talk about it.

Hello!

Depending on how your CV looks like, you could perfectly be a fit for multiple consulting firms. 

Cheers, 

Clara