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Is it ok to talk about my work experience at the family company?

Case Interview experience fit interview The Boston Consulting Group
New answer on May 15, 2020
4 Answers
3.4 k Views
Anonymous A asked on Aug 19, 2019

Hi!

I am going to apply for a BCG internship next week, and I want to know whether or not it would be a good idea to talk about the experiences I have had working at the family company (medium sized pallet company).

Additionally, I have been structuring a sustainable reforestation project as my bachelor thesis that is going to help solving one of the biggest problems in the family company, (securing the access to raw materials – wood- at a competitive price in the long term.), but that will also become my first business in the upcoming months.

I want to know if it would be a good idea to talk about it in the cover letter and in the fit interview, even though it is only under development.

Thanks in advance

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Anonymous replied on Aug 19, 2019

Hi,

In my opinion absolutely yes!

It shows your commitment to your family business, your passion for the job you have done, your entrepreneurial skills, ...

If it's under development / not finished yet, you can talk about the achievements you reached so far, your plans for the future, ...

It's a great experience to have in such an environment to stand above other applicants!

I would definitely encourage you to mention it in your application!

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Anonymous replied on May 15, 2020

Dear A ,



Yes. This is also a very relevant experience. If you can use it for story telling. If you can share the stories of our leadership, of your problem solving activities, team work etc. All the skills which are necessary to consulting, feel free to use this experience and also to your entrepreneur spirit.

Hope, it helps.

Good luck,
André

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Robert
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Aug 21, 2019
McKinsey offers w/o final round interviews - 100% risk-free - 10+ years MBB coaching experience - Multiple book author

Hi Anonymous,

If it was a family-owned company or not does not really matter - what does matter is what exactly you did in this situation in terms of how much value you personally brought to the table.

So yes - it's definitely ok!

Robert

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Egor
Expert
replied on Aug 19, 2019
Collected McKinsey & BCG offers/ Ex-McKinsey consultant/Harvard/WBS/MSU

Hi A,

It is good that you have family-business experience.

Please use the following format to prepare your personal stories for BCG.

Use the top-down approach while communicating your stories. I recommend using the STAR framework:

  • SITUATION. Provide the context, usually in 1 or 2 sentences
  • TASK. Task usually includes 2 or 3 sentences describing the problem and your objective.
  • ACTIONS. Provide a list of specific actions you took to achieve the goal. It should take 1 or 2 sentences per action (Usually 3-4 actions). Note that the interviewer can stop you any minute and ask for more details.
  • RESULTS. The results part should have 1 or 2 sentences describing the outcomes. This part is finalizing your story - make sure it can impress the interviewer and stay in the memory.

Please make sure that you have stories prepared for each of the BCG’s values.

Kind regards,
Egor

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