Hi there,
Q: I am wondering what I should/can do between now and then?
Given what you shared, there seem to be two major areas of improvement:
- Improve the fit part
- Increase the number of invitations (i.e. manage to get interviews from the other MBBs)
In terms of the fit part, it is difficult to comment as we don’t know which questions were asked that you should improve.
In terms of the number of invitations, in case you didn’t pass the screening with the other MBBs, you can increase your chances next time by working on 3 things: a great CV, a great Cover and a referral. Most likely some of these are already good as you passed one of the screenings already.
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1) CV
The key elements they will look for and that you should structure correctly are:
- Work experience
- Education (university brand, major, GPA, experience abroad)
- Extracurriculars and volunteer experience
Common red flags include:
- Low GPA
- Bad formatting / typos
- 3-4 pages in 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 explanation
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2) COVER LETTER
You can structure a cover with 4 parts:
- Introduction, mentioning the position you are interested in and a specific element you find attractive for that company
- Why you are qualified for the job, where you can report 3 skills/stories from your CV
- Why you are interested in that particular firm, with additional 1-2 specific reasons
- 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
This is probably the most important point. To find a referral, you should follow three main steps:
- Identify the people that can help you (most of the time, the best bet is Alumni of your university)
- Write to them a customized email
- Have a call and indirectly ask for a referral
As general tips:
- Don’t use LinkedIn for your communication – emails work better. You should target 30% conversion for your messages; if you are not achieving that, there is space for improvement
- When sending emails, your goal should be to organize a call, not to ask questions – you can then use the call for the questions
- You need to close the call with an indirect request for a referral – don’t leave that to chances. There are specific ways to phrase it
You should prepare three main things before the call:
- Your own pitch. 3-4 lines should be enough
- 3-4 questions on the personal experiences of the person. Avoid to ask questions about the company
- A closing question for the referral. It should be an indirect request to avoid being too pushy
You can find more information on networking and referrals here:
▶ How to Get an MBB Invitation
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BONUS: CASE INTERVIEW PREP
In terms of the interview itself, you can find some tips below:
▶ How to Prepare for a Consulting Interview
If you need more help please feel free to PM me.
Good luck!
Francesco
