My chance with MBB?

Hi Maddy,

Q: Any advice on whether I stand any chance if I apply to MBB again now no longer being a fresh grad and what should I do to improve my candidacy?

From what you shared your profile looks good, but it is difficult to judge without further info. You can either post an anonymized CV or get one-to-one feedback from current/former consultants to get a clear answer.

In general, to get an MBB invitation for interviews you will need to work on 3 things: a great CV, a great Cover and a referral.

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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 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:

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
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.

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3) REFERRALS

This is probably the most important point. In your case, would be great to connect with current consultants with experience in the industries you worked in.

To find a referral, you should follow three main steps:

1. Identify the people that can help you (most of the time, the best bet is Alumni of your university)
2. Write to them a customized email
3. 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

Hi Maddy, 

The firms are all hiring from the industry and I would definitely think that you have a chance. I think you will need to apply to the junior position at the firms - Associate consultant / Analyst / etc. Beyond that, you will need to explain why you want to apply to and move to Stockholm quite clearly in your cover letter (unless you are already based there). 

• Focus on writing an impactful CV 
• Explain your motivations well in your cover letter 
• Prepare for your interviews 

If you need help through any of your prep and journey, I am happy to help. Feel free to reach out to me, I can also do a quick review of your CV. Good luck with the process! 

Best, 
Eishan 

Hi there,

MBB consulting firms typically recruit talent from so many different backgrounds. You have a chance of making it for sure but I would advise following the typical prep journey (getting the CV and cover letter right, ideally getting a referral, practicing cases, practicing fit, preparing your Q/As, nailing the interview).

Mario 

Hi Maddy,

If you got invited to interview 2 years ago, then you definitely have a chance now! Here's what you need to do:

1. Get last minute additions to your resume (e.g. part-time pro bono consulting…there are a million programs out there)
2. A “perfect” resume (look to get it professionally reviewed)
3. A strong cover letter
4. Extensive networking (and ideally a referral)

Good luck!

P.S. As you start your case prep keep in mind the following: https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/pitfalls-case-interview-preparation

Not being a fresh grad can be quite advantageous - you've got more experience under your belt to help with the PEI questions and you've probably developed more business acumen to help with the case. 

It's quite hard to tell whether you are likely or not to get an interview from the information that you've provided. But what I will say is that it's always worth a shot - you never know what's going to happen. They'll still be looking for the same things - academic achievements, analytical capabilities, leadership. 

Good luck!  

You already passed the written screening 2 years ago and only “failed” at the last interview stage. Based on your track record, I don't see a reason why you should not at least get invited to the interview rounds again.

• Update your resume and try to highlight things that might be relevant to consulting despite you not having worked in consulting thus far
• Make sure to clearly describe in your cover letter why pursuing consulting is still your goal and how the experiences in the last two years have actually prepared you for that
• Learn from what went wrong in the last interview round 2 years ago to brush up on your consulting interview skills and prepare for another run at it
• Use your network wherever possible to ideally get referrals

Best of luck