Hi Anonymous,

it is very difficult to provide an answer without additional information on your CV. Possible reasons include:

• Bad structure for CV
• Lack of referral
• Lack of big brand for your internships/education
• Low GPA

As a suggestion for next steps, I would recommend the following:

• Apply to BCG and Bain. Even if your final goal is McKinsey, another MBB is still the best place to be to do a transition there
• If that doesn’t work, if your current consulting company is a tier 2 (RB, Strategy&, ATK, OW) stay there until the end of the ban with MBB then reapply; otherwise try to move to a tier 2
• If that still doesn’t work, join a top MBA and reapply after it

A Master in Finance won’t be particularly useful, I would rather try to join BCG/Bain/tier 2 or apply for an MBA.

Best,

Francesco

Hi,

Of course, it's not that easy to answer without having seen your cv. It could also be that all your experiences are great but they are not enhanced enough in the cv.

Another reason could be the online graduation. I have experience in Italian offices and without an internal referee, you can only be called if you have a summa cum laude marks in all of your degrees AND the degrees are from a "physical" university (meaning you attended lessons, did in-person exams, ...).

Hope it helps!

Hi,

It might be just competition. I would not invest in education just because of MBB. I would recommend the following:

• Try applying to the other MBB companies
• Try getting a referral

Here are certain criteria for the referral:

1. 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
2. You skip some steps in the recruiting process (CV screening at McK, Test at Bain)
3. The consultant gets a referral bonus ($) if you get a job offer

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.

Best!

Hey there,

1. After reading your description I would bet that the reason you have been rejected is due to your educational background. Generally online universities are not really considered by MBB, and if you are saying it is not well-known, the truth is it's possible that nobody ever even read your CV and it was auto-rejected by the pre-screen - not every CV could possibly be reviewed, so a large number are automatically filtered out based on some simple criteria - university, grades, potentially years of work experience, etc.

2. Unfortunately I don't think this will help. A part-time degree while you are still working is unlikely to offer you any significant advantages as far as recrutiing goes.

If you are serious about moving to MBB then I basically see two alternatives for you:

i) Network, hard. Try reach out on linkedin, or attend events, or leverage existing network. If you get someone senior enough to refer you / have your back, that should enable you to skip the pre-screen phase and go straight to interview / quantitative tests

ii) Apply for a proper full-time masters (or MBA) at a reputable University - e.g. HEC, London Business School, INSEAD.

Sorry if it's not the answer you wanted to hear, but you will need to work very hard to make the transition - definitely not impossible though. Good luck!

To second Alessandro, I believe the biggest reason for your rejection is your educational background. MBB is meticulous about the schools it goes to and very rarely hires outside of them. The exception being if you have global expertise on a high demand topic for their clients.

In terms of next steps. Outside of networking which may be helpful, your best next step is to go to a top European University from where MBB actually recruits (e.g., Bocconi in Italy). Make sure you do your homework on this. It is very difficult to get in if the school is not an active feeder school for MBB. Additionally, make sure you choose a degree that is known to place people in MBB (e.g., MBA). In general it would have to be a full time program, I have not seen any part-time admits to MBB in my experience thus far purely based on the degree.

(edited)

Sorry to hear your situation. I've posted it in another thread about an article I read some time ago that is very detailed on How a resume is screened at major consulting firms. Hope it will be helpful.

https://www.firmsconsulting.com/quarterly/consulting-resume-mckinsey-bcg-deloitte/

(edited)

Hi there,

It’s difficult to assess.

Could you please send me the full version of your CV?

All the best,

GB