Hello!

Indeed, if you had some weeks before starting to prepare, you should use them to prep! There are 2 core skills that, if you dominate them before hand, will save you multiple hours of sleep:

• Excel: be proficent with formulas, pivots and, if possible ,basic macros.
• PPTX: particularly in terms of speed and functionalities -even tough most likely you will be using ThinkCell in MBB, what makes you life much easier.

On top of that, classical admin stuff like getting up to date all your airlines cards, etc. (that you will be using quite a lot).

Good luck!

Cheers,

Clara

Honestly don't worry too much about trying to learn any technical skills ahead of time. You'll learn more in an hour on the job than in an entire day on your own. As well, expect a week or two of new consultant training, and a manager who's job is it to teach you how to do Excel and PowerPoint in the way of that firm. General familiarity is good, so if you never opened Microsoft Suite before, then do so, but learning VBA or something is not really necessary.

The biggest thing I'd consider is that, once you start, you'll have very little free time or mental space to do anything that isn't work. So see your friends, make sure you've a few decent outfits to wear to work, your apartment is in order, and exercise a bit, as it'll be a while before you've a chance to do these thinsgs again.

Hello there,

On top of the great suggestions provided by others, I would just add several points that you could prepare on to be better prepared:

• Practice consulting style speaking / communication skill (pyramid structure / inductive style) - read Barbara Minto's 'Pyramid Principle' to undrstand how inductive structure looks like
• Practice refining your storylining skills ahead of the time - how to present an issue in a flowing manner from background issue to the recommendation and next steps
• Keep practicing your problem solving skills such as breaking down problems into issue trees and synthesizing them - do this even when you already started working in projects if you have the time to keep the skill polished

By doing these things, you should be adequately prepared to jump on your first engagement.
Above all, enjoy your time in the firms and celebrate your acceptance.

Hope it helps.

Kind regards,
Nathan

(edited)

Hi,

The most important thing you need to understand is that consulting is a client business and the client is always first. Here is my subjective view of what's needed to succeed on different levels of hierarchy. Pls take into account that it's the ideal state and getting these skills is a journey.

Analyst / associate level

• Having a good DGL / career counselor, etc. (Each company has different names). This is a person who guides your development in the company, collects the feedbacks on you, and presents your case to a promotion committee. Make sure to have a person who is organized enough to collect the feedbacks in time, who is a nice person in general and who has enough authority in the company (i.e. Senior partner - the more power he has - the better)
• Choosing the project you work on smartly (i.e. collect the feedbacks on each and everyone prior to accepting the project)
• Perfect technical skills (Excel, PPT, Problem Solving)
• Good feedbacks on you from the client. Thus try to make friends with your clients (Both senior and non-senior role. Even a bad feedback from a blue collar can ruin your career)
• Ability to manage your own standalone workstream with minimum supervision. TOP performers bring the end products that impress others
• Being proactive - helping the team with daily routine, scheduling, etc. Participating in the office initiatives
• Establishing relationships with your managers and partners. Ideally, you should have multiple senior partners to be excited about you and to support you)
• Being lucky!

Manager level

A lot of the above, plus:

• Having your client happy - this is the most important! If the client is happy - everything else will work
• Managing multiple partners who have different opinions. Since partners have a busy schedule it becomes very tricky to synchronize them and to align the viewpoints
• Good feedbacks from your team - having a happy team is important. Unfortunately, sometimes it's a trade-off between having your client and partner happy
• Telling about your success on projects to others - I'm personally not a fan of this kind of selling, but I know many people who made a career using this skill

Principal level

A lot from the above, plus:

• Having multiple clients happy
• Having a long list of partners supporting you (More than 10)
• Contributions to the development of the company (Knowledge, office ops, etc)
• Selling the projects. If you manage to sell to existing clients or even bring the new clients - you are the champion.

Partner level

A lot of the above, plus:

• Sales, sales, sales

Best,

I would only refresh the knowledge of Excel and ppt, but do not worry about all the others. After your 1st project, you will reach full speed.

Hello,

Don't worry abouthe the general business knowledge, becuase you will learn it on the field. The most efficient thing that you can do is to learn how to use powerpoint and excel for consulting scopes.

Best,
Luca

Hi,

Before starting the job, get yourself up to speed on the hard skills - excel, ppt, etc. On the job, other than the hard skills, take initiative and ownership of your work, keep a good communication loop with your managers, learn how to handle client counterpart well, and deliver good quality work on time.

Best,

Emily