Should I consider consulting & could someone with my background get an entry job.

Question

Hello!

I have 2 questions and would truly appreciate some advice from people in the industry, especially those who know about consulting recruitment in the UK.

1. Should I do consulting?

Why I'd do it:

1. Incredible training. Hone solid thinking & learn from strong role models at the start of my career so I can become a high-performing individual for life. This is the most important factor for me. I'd learn about a large number of industries.

2. Intellectual stimulation. I enjoy watching the problem-solving in case interviews & want a job I can deeply commit to.

3. Exit opportunities that pay well & have decent work/life balance. I think after 1-4 years I'd move to a less intensive, competitive environment, but with great training under my belt. I've been told other first jobs (like in marketing) could lead to repetitive, dull middle management careers.

Overall, for training & exit opportunities.

Why I wouldn't do consulting:

1. I'd be happier in a less time-pressured environment. Though I don't mind a lot of time pressure for a few years – it's a great way to learn.

2. I'd be happier in a less competitive environment. I'm an INFJ, hardworking & ambitious but sensitive to criticism.

3. My mental maths isn't brilliant but I got A*s in GCSE Maths & all Sciences GCSE, so it isn't beyond me.

So my main reasons for not doing it are lifestyle related as opposed to the work itself – if I could perform well in consulting for a few years & grow, I'd definitely do it.

It might be a matter of finding the right kind of consulting for me – PWC's workforce transformation & Deloitte's Human Capital Management seem interesting at the moment.

2. If someone like me could do consulting, what should someone with my imperfect background do to get a role?

What I have/ positives:

Degree: Arts/ Humanities graduate from Oxbridge with a 2.1 (66%), graduated September 2021.

Extracurriculars and internships: 2 Marketing internships at startups & head of a publication.

Private tutor & traveled since graduating.

Negatives:

– 2.1 instead of 1st class degree.

– No Consulting internship

– Didn't dive into consulting straight from university.

Currently, I'm considering working for a year in something relevant and then applying to Big 4 grad schemes or roles.

Would appreciate any insights. Thank you!

Answer 1

Hi there,

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

1. Should I do consulting?

Your pluses show a good match.

In terms of the minus 1 and 2: even if now you don’t like pressure and competition, you may find out this is just out of your comfort zone right now, and you could be fine with it. The only real way you have to check this is to at least try it. The plus you listed are matching consulting too much to have the minus winning in this case.

In terms of minus 3: math can be learned so would not be worried about that.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

2. If someone like me could do consulting, what should someone with my imperfect background do to get a role?

You need 3 things to get into consulting: a great CV, a great Cover and a referral. Given what you listed, your CV may not be perfect, but you can compensate that with a strong referral.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

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

The fact you don't have consulting experience is not a problem if you structure your CV correclty.

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

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

2) COVER LETTER

You can structure a cover in 4 parts:

Introduction, mentioning the position you are interested in and a specific element you find attractive for that company
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
Why you are interested in that particular firm, with additional 1-2 specific reasons
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.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

3) REFERRALS

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

Identify the people that can help you
Write them a customized email
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

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

As a strategy to follow, my suggestion would be the following:

1) Work on your CV, Cover and find a referral

2) Apply to consulting now (not only Big 4, you can try all – worst case they ban you and can try again in 1-2 years)

3) If everything fails, work for 2 years (ideally in something related to strategy), do a top MBA (INSEAD is great as it is just 1 year and ideal for consulting) and apply again

For other questions please feel free to PM me.

Best,

Francesco

Answer 2

Hello,

Seems like you're thinking through this very rigorously, which is great!

For 1, this is going to be a personal choice based on your goals and preferences. However, based on what you've written here, #2 and #3 of your cons are not something I would worry too much about. Consulting is competitive yes, but good teams and managers provide actionable feedback instead of just criticizing. In other words, people aren't going to be looking to tear you down - your team will want you to succeed, and will try to help you along the way. For #3, mental maths is something that gets some attention in the interviews and something you don't have to do so much on the job. If you got an A* at GCSE maths and are a quick learner, your quantitative aptitude should be sufficient. You will learn everything you need on the job!

Of course, whether you want to work in consulting or not is ultimately a personal decision - at the end of the day, I'd advise you to do your diligence and ultimately pick what's right for you, but it seems like you are thinking about this in the right way. I also think your point about finding the right kind of consulting for yourself is very salient.

For 2, your profile seems pretty great! Not having prior experience in consulting is not a major setback - a lot of people who apply have not had prior experience. At your stage, I would advise you to go out and network. Leverage your Oxbridge connections if you can, go to events, and reach out to some people at the firms you are interested in working at. This will also help you better understand what the work looks like and whether it might be a good fit for you.

Hope this helps and let me know if you have any more questions!

Answer 3

Hi there,

You're thinking about this exactly right!

I highly suggest you network and have honest/open/frank conversations to figure out what makes most sense.

In regards to can you. Yes, you can. Get your resume as good as possible and network.

In regards to should you, I disagree with some of your “why I wouldn't”…that is Mental maths can be trained and isn't that important and, INFJ affects the company you join, not consulting period. You're also missing a big one: a boatload of work, long hours, and difficulty finding worklife balance…

Answer 4

For 1, it's great that you're being so thoughtful about this. I really like your angle around thinking about what type of consulting best suits your personality too. It it feels right, I would definitely give it a go!

For 2, I wouldn't be too bothered about this. It's hard to comment without knowing whether it's an upper funnel (getting invited for interviews) or lower funnel (nailing the interviews to get an offer) issue. If its upper funnel, then I would spend some time really working on your CV and developing a network at some of the firms you're excited about.

Good luck!

Answer 5

Lots of great feedback already. Just a few additional thoughts that came to my mind:

1) Should you do consulting?
- Those aspects are valid points to consider for yourself and the pros are certainly compelling to at least try out a career in consulting. If you do end up recruiting for a position and you are being asked in the interviews as to why you picked consulting, I would modify those reasons a bit in your “official” answers, however (emphasize what's in it for the consulting firm if they hired you rather than what's in it for you if you got hired)

- Concerns about the stressful and competitive environment: The team spirit amongst consultants has been extremely powerful in my experience. In most of my cases, the team environment was very supportive and the feeling of being all in the same boat together really helped to make even super stressful situations bearable. And if it ends up being not your cup of tea, nobody will hold it against you if you decide to pursue a different career after a while

2) Not a typical background
I would say diversity is strength. Consulting firms ultimately pride themselves on developing bespoke solutions for their clients and not just providing cookie-cutter type of answers. That only works if they don't have cookie-cutter type of people with all the same profiles. Yes, there are certain “standard” requirements that each candidate needs to fulfill of course, but being different from the herd of applicants can also turn out to be advantageous based on what I have seen

Answer 6

I agree with Ken, it’s great that you’re being so thoughtful.

In terms of your specific questions - you have a great background and would definitely be considered, and don’t worry about mental maths! You just need to be ok with numbers and more importantly have the logical thinking to go through a problem even if you can’t do the maths in your head.

I think the question is what your values and aspirations are - and what trade offs you‘re willing to make. You’re weighing up lifestyle with opportunities - only you can decide what is more important to you, but remember that you can always start and, if you hate it, leave!

Good luck!