Best way to break in MBB after undergrad

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consulting MBB

Recent activity on Feb 19, 2019

3 Answers

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Anonymous A asked on Feb 17, 2019

I am looking to break into MBB, however have missed the summer internships and full time openings as I wanted to go to grad school. I am now looking to break into MBB and not sure what my chances look like.

Target school. GPA 4+. Econ major. Significant international experience - 5+ countries. Limited internship experience. Starting full time on wall street in a big name bank, not in IB though. Looking for an opportunity to move to consulting. Will this be possible and what is best strategy? thanks!

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Answer 1

Best answer

Francesco

Expert

Content Creator

replied on Feb 19, 2019

#1 Coach for Sessions (4.500+) | 1.500+ 5-Star Reviews | Proven Success (➡ interviewoffers.com) | Ex BCG | 10Y+ Coaching

Hi Anonymous,

you can definitely target MBB with your background; as mentioned by Vlad a referral could be very helpful to increase your chances to be invited for interviews.

In order to obtain a referral, I would suggest going through the following three-step approach:

1. Identify who are the people that can more easily help you

2. Write them a customized email

3. Have a call with the consultant, and indirectly ask for a referral

As general tips:

Don’t use LinkedIn for your communication – emails work a lot better. There are several tools nowadays that allow to find very quickly the email of basically anyone. You should target at least 30% conversion for your messages – if you are not achieving that there is space for improvement in your message.
When you write to your target connections, your goal should not be to ask questions, rather to organize a call. Then in the call you should ask the right questions to create a link with them.
Whatever questions you ask during the call, you should have a closing question to ask (indirectly) for the referral. Don’t leave that to chances.

You should prepare three main things before the call:

Your own pitch, highlighting who you are in 3-4 key sentences. Previous experience with relevant brands/companies would be great to show you are qualified
3-4 questions, focused on the personal experiences of the person (and not on the company only). Ideally you should try to learn as much as possible about the contact before. You can also discover relevant information with the first questions. Your goal here is to have a conversation and not a Q&A session.
Closing question for referral. You should ask (in an indirect way to avoid to be too pushy) a referral at the end of the call. If you correctly introduce yourself, do a good job with the questions before and have something in common (eg former alumni, common connections…), you can increase by a relevant amount the likelihood of a referral. If you don’t ask, they may not volunteer to offer one.

Before the call, it would be useful to review your CV and Cover, to be sure they are updated and structured properly for your MBB application, so that you can forward them without delays if needed.

If you are interested to know more about the exact steps to maximize conversion for referrals, please feel free to PM me.

Best,

Francesco

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Answer 2

Vlad

Expert

replied on Feb 18, 2019

McKinsey / Accenture Alum / Got all BIG3 offers / Harvard Business School

Hi,

You still can apply. I know many people who applied off-cycle and got their offers.

The best way is to get a referral. There are certain criteria for the referral:

The consultant makes you a reference in the system and uploads your resume. Usually, he has to indicate why he thinks you are a good candidate
You skip some steps in the recruiting process (CV screening at McK, Test at Bain)
The consultant gets a referral bonus ($) if you get a job offer

As you can see simply mentioning a person in your CL does not change the process at all.

The conversion to reference will be higher among consultant / manager level people who are still interested in the referral bonus. The basic idea is to ask these people for a mock interview.

Here are some tips on how you can do that:

1) Leverage your own network - find friends or friends of friends who can practice cases with you or make you a reference.

2) Attend company events. Consulting companies do a lot of events both for graduates and experienced hires. Find the social network groups related to consulting or websites, subscribe to newsletters and stay tuned. Also, check if they have events in your University since you are a PHD.

While some of the events will be open to everyone, others will require a resume and a cover letter, so make sure to prep.

3) Talk to people on the events and send Thank You notes. After each event, there is a Q&A session where you can talk to consultants 1 on 1 or in a group. Ask for contact info or send a thank you note after the event ("I just wanted to thank you for visiting our University... It was especially interesting to hear about... Would be happy to keep in touch and apply in the nearest future.). Alternatively, you may use linkedin for that. If you are an experienced hire I strongly suggest to ask for a 1 on 1 meeting in a thank you note.

4) 1 on 1 meetings. All people like giving an advice. So don't hesitate to ask consultants for a career advice. Tell your story and ask how consulting fits into it

5) Mock interview Depending on where you are in your prep process you may ask a consultant for a mock interview. Consultants are very much opened to help even if it is a cold call e-mail. The main problem is a lack of time on their side. So don't be afraid to remind about yourself if the consultant has already committed but finds it hard to find the time

6) Talking to partners If you are an experienced hire I suggest to talk directly to the partners in your industry or the partner responsible for experienced hires (in consulting partners also have additional roles). Get an intro from the HR or from your friends working there. Partners care a lot about experienced hires with relevant industry expertise. Chances to get referral are much lower though. They also will not be interested in giving mock interviews.

7) If you are an MBA graduate Just talk to your section mates and ask for a reference or a mock interview - they will be happy to help. Make sure you attend all the consulting events.

Good luck!

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Answer 3

Guennael

Expert

replied on Feb 18, 2019

Ex-MBB, Experienced Hire; I will teach you not only the how, but also the why of case interviews

- Easiest next step will be to reapply after an MBA / Masters at target school with good GPA & leadership roles in student associations

- Second best will be to apply in 2-3 or more years once you have shown good career growth. You may need to do some networking then however, and will not be able to rely on your school's recruiting center or the materials they make available to students. Definitely possible though

- Third main option is to end up working for a regular MBB customer, and be staffed on one of their projects as the liaison + show them the quality of your work. This is how I got in incidentally, but definitely requires some luck on the staffing front

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