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Transitioning from the luxury industry to consulting

Change Career strategy consulting
Neue Antwort am 1. Mai 2022
7 Antworten
742 Views
Anonym A fragte am 28. Apr. 2022

Hello everyone,

I recently graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration from EDHEC Business School (one of the top BS in France) and I am now enrolled in a Master in Fashion Management with an apprenticeship in one of the leading luxury groups Richemont.

My actual position and past internships experiences were mainly focused on Product Management (6 months at Hermès and 6 months at a French maison). My passion for fashion lead me to this path, however, after careful consideration, I realized this career path was not a good fit for me. After learning about consulting, my goal is to transition towards strategy consulting.

Do you have any advices on how I could make the transition to consulting and become a good profile for entry-level jobs? Where should I start, knowing that I have no past experience in consulting? My interests lean towards MBB and tier-2 firms, however, I am also open to others firms.

Thank you!

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Beste Antwort
Francesco
Experte
Content Creator
antwortete am 28. Apr. 2022
#1 Coach for Sessions (4.500+) | 1.500+ 5-Star Reviews | Proven Success (➡ interviewoffers.com) | Ex BCG | 10Y+ Coaching

Hi there,

I assume your question is mainly related to getting the interview (how to prepare is a different beast).

If you want to get invitations you need to work on 3 things: CV, Cover Letter and 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

The fact you don't have consulting experience is not a problem if you structure your CV correclty.

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 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 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:

▶ 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

Best,

Francesco

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Anonym A am 30. Apr. 2022

Thank you for your detailed answer Francesco! This will definitely be helpful as a starter.

Andi
Experte
antwortete am 30. Apr. 2022
BCG 1st & Final Round interviewer | Personalized prep with >95% success rate | 7yrs coaching | #1 for Experienced Hires

Hi there,

thanks for sharing your story - fairly common realization and relevant to many candidates here.

How to make the transition happen? Think about what consulting firms are looking for and then solve for that. Starting with what gets you through screening, it will typically be along the lines of...

  1. Strong academics (top 10-20% student, good grads)
  2. At least 1-2 relevant brand names in your work experience - doesn't have to be in consulting at all
  3. Some international experience
  4. Solid extracurriculars / demonstrated drive

Once you made it through the screening, congrats, now it's just a matter of preparation - good work ethic and listening to experienced people (coaches or not) to guide you on the way.

Feel free to reach out via PM, if you'd like to understand in detail, where you stand with your profile, how you can tailor your CV and network to optimize your chances of getting interviews, and later on, how to best prepare. Focus on getting interviews first though - rest will follow. Will be happy to help.

Cheers, Andi

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Ken
Experte
antwortete am 28. Apr. 2022
Ex-McKinsey final round interviewer | Executive Coach

I think you're already doing the right things by getting meaningful experience at established organisations and learning what you want to do.  You're still so early in your career and with a strong educational background (grande école), I would imagine that most firms would definitely consider you.  In terms of building your profile, within your existing role, trying to have tangible impact through transferrable consultant skills (e.g., quantitative analysis, stakeholder management, customer/client relationships, communication, etc.) is an important way to stand out from the crowd.

Bonne chance!

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Anonym A am 30. Apr. 2022

Bonjour Ken! Thank you for the tips. I will definitely highlight consultants skills on my profile.

Lucie
Experte
Content Creator
bearbeitete eine Antwort am 29. Apr. 2022
10+yrs recruiting & BCG Project leader

Hi there, 

from my experience as a trainer of a newly joined BCGers, I would estimate half of the candidates are not coming from a business background or business education and it is precisely the strength of MBB. 

You just need to come up with an appealing CV and cover letter making sure telling the right stories to stand out and be the 5%  of candidates that pass this steps. 

If you would like to understand better the process and help with the CV and Cover letter please feel free to reach out as I have successful experience as coach with very diverse profiles and my own experience transitioning from travel to strategic consulting with 0 prior consulting experience.  

Lucie

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Anonym A am 1. Mai 2022

Hi Lucie, thank you for your feedback. It is really reassuring to know candidates come from diverse background!

Ian
Experte
Content Creator
antwortete am 29. Apr. 2022
#1 BCG coach | MBB | Tier 2 | Digital, Tech, Platinion | 100% personal success rate (8/8) | 95% candidate success rate

Hi there,

It's quite straightforward at the end of the day!

1) Build up your experience in consulting (there are a ton of academies, and programs that let you do pro-bono consulting and get experience this way)

2) Change your resume so that it “sounds" and it much more pivoted towards consulting skills

3) Network, network, network

Good luck in the transition!

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Adi
Experte
Content Creator
antwortete am 29. Apr. 2022
Accenture, Deloitte | Precision Case Prep | Experienced Interviewer & Career Coach | 15 years professional experience

Seems like you have all the right things going on. Get your CV in shape, network and start applying. Be patient during the process and dont get disheartened by rejections.

Needless to say, prepare well for the interviews. 

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Clara
Experte
Content Creator
antwortete am 1. Mai 2022
McKinsey | Awarded professor at Master in Management @ IE | MBA at MIT |+180 students coached | Integrated FIT Guide aut

Hello!

I also come from an unusual path, architecture, and had a similar realization than the one you described. If you play it well, your profile being different can be a big asset. 

Feel free to PM me to discuss. 

Cheers, 

Clara

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Francesco gab die beste Antwort

Francesco

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