Hi there,

Q: What are the things that I can realistically do to pivot into consulting? 

From what you shared, your profile doesn’t look particularly strong but there are still ways to increase your chances of getting an invitation. I would recommend the following:

• Prepare a CV/Cover in line with the consulting format. You can find more on that in points #1 and #2 below
• Find referrals from alumni of your school. You can find more on referrals in point #3 below
• Apply to a wide range of consulting firms, including Tier 3/Boutique
• If it doesn’t work, target a strategy role and apply again in 2 years/after the ban to the consulting firms
• If that also doesn’t work, you can work for 2-3 years and then target a top MBA (eg INSEAD) and apply again after that

In terms of the application, I would recommend working on 3 main things to increase your chances of an invitation. I 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

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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 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