OC&C

Hi there,

I'm sorry to hear about the rejection.

Now, remember that the greatest accomplishments come from temporary defeat!

For applying, make sure:

1. Your resume is as good as possible (get it professionally reviewed)
2. You have networked optimally
3. You have as strong a cover letter as possible

Hi,

Sorry to hear about your rejection. A couple of pointers:

• Firms typically have a ban period before you can reapply - do check on the specific ban period for the BCG and Bain offices you plan on trying again in
• Try your best to get -some- feedback on why you did not receive the offer (not sure when you got rejected - if application or interview etc). This is the key point, to address the current weaknesses before your next application
• I hope you have been networking with someone in OC&C - run through your CV with them to stress test it again

Hope this helps and all the best!

Hi there,

Sorry to hear about the rejection. In terms of your question:

Q: I would like to apply to OC&C strategy consultant in Milan. Do you have some advices / feedback about it?

If you want to get an invitation from a consulting company, you should work on 3 main things.

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1) CV

The key elements they will look for and that you can 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

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2) COVER LETTER

You can structure a cover with 4 key 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.

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3) REFERRALS

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 networking and referrals here:

▶ How to Get an MBB Invitation 

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BONUS: INTERVIEW PREPARATION

After you get an invitation you need to prepare for the interview. You can find more on that at the link below.

▶ How to Prepare for an MBB Interview

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If you need help with OC&C specifically please feel free to reach out, I helped a few candidates for OC&C and know some of the questions they asked.

Best,

Francesco

You have to know why you failed. If you don't, you don't know where and how to improve…

Hi there,

First of all, I am sorry to hear about the rejections!

I think this is an interesting question that may be relevant for many people. I would be happy to share my thoughts on it:

• First of all, I would highly advise you to work on the feedback you have been provided, even if you should take it with a grain of salt.
• Moreover, OC&C is not any different from BCG and Bain, and as such, there is no specific practice required to succeed in the interviews. Since you have been invited to interviews but failed, it seems that you require more practice with either personal fit, case studies, or both. Therefore, I would advise you to continue practicing the way you have been, since it does not seem to have been completely wrong.

If you would like a more detailed discussion on how to address your specific situation, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Best,

Hagen