All questions tagged CV - Consulting Q&A - PrepLounge.com

Hello Ishani,

Consulting CV typically have specific characteristics which are standardized across all firms.

When you have a tailored CV for one of the MBB firms, the same document can be used effectively across all other consulting firms, with the exception if you are applying to a specific practice or as an expert in a particular industry or function.

Kindly find below an example of a CV structure which is suited for consulting:

1. Display achievements across 3 key areas:

• Academics: competitive GPA, test scores (e.g. GMAT, GRE, SAT), scholarships/ fellowships, dean list, research publications, other and academic awards
• Extracurriculars: experiences on winning a variety of competitions and leading several organizations / initiatives (showcasing your interests and flexibility across different topics, which simulates consultants ability to work across industries and functions)
• Professionals: internship experiences, full-time work experiences, part-time projects

2. For extracurriculars and professional experiences, state the following information:

• Work description in active verbs
• Results quantification (e.g. 20% increase in EBITDA)
• Stakeholders involved

3. Includes additional information / interesting skillset which might differentiates you from other candidates (e.g. hobbies, language skills, etc)

• Consulting firms like candidates that is active not only at work, but have life outside of it
• Including this will assure them that you have a comprehensive profile as a person and will aid in excelling the 'airport test'

For specific expertise applications, emphasize experiences on the particular industries and functions within your CV while retaining similar structure.

Hope it helps.

Kind regards,

Nathan

Sure - send it over!

Hello Sandro,
Sure, send it to me and I will review it.
I hope that helps.
Best
N

Hi Fabio!

You might also want to post your documents here in the question directly to get a broader feedback! (As usual I recommend to do so in a sanitized way .. you never know and it's better to be safe than sorry)

Hope this helps - if so, please be so kind and give it a thumbs-up with the green upvote button below!

Robert

Shoot

Hello!

Don´t worry at all!

You are overthinking this one, so message of tranquility here :)

You must include all your degrees, if not it´s when you will call attention to it, precisely what you don´t want.

However, you don´t need to include the grades, particularly from the 1t ones. Only the Master and PdH, since they are significant, and even so it won´t be a needle mover.

Don´t worry, since the last education is the one that matters most. You are covered with the M and PhD.

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara

Hi

I just answered a similar question, which I will just copy here

The evalatuion criteria can be divided into hard and soft criteria, where hard criteria are e.g. grades, required languages, a minimum of work experience, and work permission and soft criteria relate to e.g. particular industries you have worked in, extra-curricular activities etc.

From the situation you describe, it seems very likely that you do not fulfill one or more of those hard criteria. Some advice on what this means for you:

1. Grades: If your grades are not sufficient, top strategy consultancies will not invite you, however, smaller consultancies may do so. The grade aspect becomes a bit less relevant the more work experience you have. So you should definitely give it a shot again.
2. Work experience: Top consultancies require you to have gathered relevant work experience (i.e. in consulting or in large and well-known corporates) - if you lack this experience, it may make sense to complete an internship in a smaller consultancy or in a corporate before applying to top strategy consultancies. You now gathered very relevant experience, so this should not be an issue.
3. Language: Most offices require you to be fluent in the local language. So assuming you are fluent in English, this is less of an issue in the UK.
4. Work permit: Do you have a work permit for the UK? If so, mention it on your CV. If not, this will be something that will prevent you from being invited. In this case, consider applying for other offices. You already did work in the UK, so I assume this is not an issue as well.

Additionally, you have "soft facts", which is everything from extracurricular activities to additional languages and interesting hobbies. Anything you can convince MBB with?

Anyways, if you still would like to work for MBB, you should give it a shot - however, if they now invite you (because it was the relevant work experience you lacked after graduation) you will probably have to go through the regular interview process again and you will be only offered a regular entry position.

Best

Dorothea

Dear [ ],

I would say that for the Tier I firms (MBB), it is not necessary to include either your passport photograph of your date-of-birth. I would not imagine that either would lead to bias at the screening stage; however, any process that has human involvement is prone to bias, but it would likely be impossible to prove just how much.

My advice: if applying to MBB, or other consulting firms with the majority of their operations in the United States, or the United Kingdom, feel free to leave off your passport photograph and date of birth. :-)

I would hide anything below 700. If English is your first language or you went to English speaking institutions I would not put anything below 730.

Hope it helps,

Andrea

Hi Anonymous,

I am German, have worked in consulting in Germany and have seen my share of CVs, so I hope I can help.

So first of all: None of the three examples are total no-gos.

I would consider No 2 best / safest. It looks clean and modern, is well structured and you can find everything you're looking for.

No 1 looks good, but you really need to nail the "About me" section and the Skill-Thing with the stars is somewhat superfluous, and also kind of ridiculous to rank your skills on a 10-increments scale.

There's nothing wrong with #3, it's just a bit bloodless and less clean than #2.

Just one hint: The photos for 2 and 3 are no-go though. Suit and dress shirt (and probably tie) for a guy, similar standard for a girl.

Hope this helps.

Elias

Agree with Guennael! This appears quite average (or, frankly, in an MBB context this looks weak). Would try to focus on other areas where you can hopefully showcase outstanding achievements.

Cheers, Sidi

Hi,

It would be useful if we had more context, but what I can advise is that you should keep this in your CV as international work experience is valuable. You can position this as an internship or contactor/freelancer work (instead of a full-time job).

Best,

Deniz

Hi there,

Firstly, I presume you meant Feb 18 - Aug 18: Sabbatical?

Whether you can leave it off depends on what you were doing in that period and the reason for the sabbatical. It would be fine if there was a clear reason why you wanted to take time off and the fact your boss brought you back would be a good signal. Equally, it would be important to demonstrate what you were doing at that time - studying, working, travelling etc.

With both of those, I think you can should highlight it on the CV (for example I highlight a gap year taken), especially if out of university and you were travelling for example. If not then don't worry about leaving it off, in my opinion, but be able to voice it over.

Best

Raj

Hi,
I confirm that problem-solving will be assessed during the case resolution.

Best,
Antonello

Hi Marc,

It depends on whether such courses compliment your current education background and working experience or not. If you have no business/management background or experience so far, then putting those courses could be a plus point, as it shows you have real interest and is willing to pay the extra effort to develop yourself.

Of course the courses should be from a credible organization.

Hope it helps,

Emily

Hi Joseph,

based on what my coachees shared, in some geographies hiring is already on-hold for MBB for some roles.

I would recommend you proceed as follows:

• Find connections for a referral for your application - they are even more important now!
• Investigate if in your target office they are hiring
• Apply for that office only if hiring is active, otherwise target a different office (if possible)

If you apply blindly at this stage without insider information, there is a chance you will be rejected or delayed to a further date, while you may have a chance to be interviewed for another office - don't make that mistake.

You can find more information on how to find referrals to verify that at the following link:

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

Hope this helps,
Francesco

Josephine,

I don't want to rain on your parade, but as this platform should also serve for some tough feedback (how else would you learn?), I am going to deliver some.

What are consulting firms looking for when they hire junior people?

I would say, it boils down to four major things:

1. Raw intelligence

2. Ability to analyse problems, come up with hypotheses for a solution and a plan how to confirm these hypotheses.

3. Ability to structure both the analysis and the suggested solutions

4. Sellability - i.e. the necessary demeanor (behavior, language, style, appearance) to be able to send this young person to a client and charge a ton of money for it.

And unless you are a totally different person "in the real world" I seriously doubt that you would make the cut.

Why?

Because your posts exhibit a total lack of points 2 through 4.

• I assume that you are highly intelligent, so base 1 is covered.
• On 2: you have started to come up with ONE hypothesis why your applications are failing - your resume. What about others? How have you confirmed this hypothesis? You have tried to come up with a solution (amendments following V.C. advice), but you have no clue whether your resume is actually the problem. Besides that, your post also shows that you haven't done your homework - basic research. I mean, come on, as a member of this platform it should not be so hard to figure out what MBB means?
• On 3: Structure? Your posts are random ramblings, incomplete sentences, typos, littered with "...", and no clear line of questioning or argumentation.
• On 4: Closely related to No. 3 - which client is going to pay for someone who shows embarassing knowledge gaps, does not observe basic etiquette in writing and communicating with others and basically expects others to do their work for them?

Sorry to be so harsh.

Now you might say "hey, this is just a social network, we're all "pals" here, when it's about work I am a lot more serious".

But guess what: Wrong! This is serious, and we're not all pals here, we're professional advisors who happen to share some of their time, knowledge and advice for free. Maybe because some like helping, maybe because some expect help in return, maybe because it's good for business. It doesn't matter.

What matters is that time of everyone who you are asking for help is valuable, so it is just plain inconsiderate to expect major help (" Please I need more of your advice"), when you yourself could have probably a ton more beforehand. You show up for training with your running shoes on, not still in pyjamas!

Accept the fact that no one can do the work for you, or you will get eaten alive first week on the job. We can just try to lend a helping hand once in a while.

Hope that helps,

Elias

PS: Please don't understand this as criticism against you as a person - after all, we don't know each other, so who am I to judge. I may also be completely wrong in my assessment based on your posts here - you might just be a totally different person in real life. Then ignore everything I said ;-)

Best of luck!

Hey Elena,

This is an opportunity for you to take charge and highlight key points you want to get across, so use it wisely. There are a few potential topics you can address when asked this question.

• Explain your motivation in your career transitions; make a coherent story of what drives you to interview for a consulting career
• Tell your key strength areas or your working style; make sure they fit the culture of the firm
• One hobby or activity outside work that can showcase your determination and resilience

Hope it helps,

Emily

Hi Mike, feel free to share it!

Hey A,

feel free to share it with me.

I will review it and get back to you with feedback and recommendations to improve.

Best,

André