Hi there,

Your profile seems solid. In terms of CV, the main things I would try to add are:

• Relevant work experience (the startup experience is good, but would try to add a big brand name if possible)
• Experience abroad

 You will still need to:

• Prepare a good CV
• Prepare a good Cover Letter (not always required)
• Find a referral

Here are some tips for them:

A) CV

The key elements they will look for and that you have to 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

B) COVER

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.

C) REFERRAL

To find a referral, you should follow three steps:

1. Identify the people that 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 the steps here:

https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/hey-everyonehope-all-is-well-3176

If you need help to be invited please PM me, I do a session where we can optimize everything you need for an invitation (referrals included).

Best,

Francesco

Hi there,

# 1 and 7 are promising, but there are a number of things I would advise here.

1) Try to get additional internships - I need to see real work experience here

2) Make sure to spend a lot of time on your resume. The better it looks, the better your odds!

3) Make sure to network - a referral is one of the best ways you can improve your odds.

Good luck!

1. Positive

2. Neutral. This tells me consulting may be your back up option, if it is related to a different career path, but it is not negative.

3. Negative

4. Slightly positive. This depends on whether they are there to observe you (i.e. can it be equivalent to a referal? or not?)

5. Slightly positive, assuming this is a relevant team

6. Irrelevant

7. Positive 

Overall, 2., 5. and 7. (i.e. founding a club + active in sports + launching a venture) compensate for 3. (good, but not great, GPA).

So you have a chance, but it's not a “done deal”. But this is more about getting a referral to make sure you get the interview, than anything else.