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

Hi,

“Tell me about yourself” or “walk me through your resume”- this is how Consultants usually begin the interview. It's an opportunity for them to learn about you and to pick some interesting facts. "Tell me about yourself question" is similar to "Walk me through your resume"

I would recommend the following structure:

1. Start with a 1 sentence summary of your background, why you are relevant for the Firm and what's your unique selling point
2. Talk about 3-4 of your roles (may be professional, education, extracurricular), 3 sentences each. The more experienced you are the more you should speak about professional roles. It can be also the distinct roles within the same organization. Typical structure: 1) What was the company 2) What you were responsible for 3) Greatest achievement in that role, that will stay in the memory of the interviewer (E.g. While working at Adidas supply chain I was personally responsible for the delivery of soccer balls to the Worldcup in Africa)
3. The main reason why consulting (or particular Firm if you were a consultant before) is the next logical career step for you

Best!

Either is fine - just look professional.

Assuming you are not applying to specific positions like data scientist etc. I do not think they significantly strengthen your application considering you will already do an MSc Mgmt. You may want to focus more on networking, overall CV and CL prep to have a greater chance to get an interview invitation.

Cheers

Serhat

I am French native as well, and like you more comfortable in written English. Yes, i fear it would be a disadvantage to submit applications in English vs. French. Most clients will be French speaking, and i have heard more than once of a non-native consultant being shoved to the side because he/she couldn't submit a report in perfect French

Hi Anonymous,

in terms of your first question, it is difficult to provide a clear overview without knowing more about your performance at university, the employer brands you have in your CV and your extracurricular activities. Just from the information you provided, it seems your chances are low for what concerns top tier companies, unless you are able to find a strong referral that could push your application.

In terms of your second question, education and personal achievements not directly related to work could definitely be valuable in your cover letter. Your accomplishments should emphasize skills in terms of leadership, impact, teamwork and drive, with some variations according to the company you are applying to; so far that you use a story that shows one of such skills, it could work well for the cover.

Hope this helps,

Francesco

Hello Anonymous,

For sure you can add it, as long as you also add ''incoming intern" with the start and finish date.
Otherwise, for the action sentence on your result, you can add them based on the relevant experience you heard of (audit or strategy).
Best of luck in your upcoming interviews and let me know by personal message if you have any questions,

Best,

Norah

First, you need to define what kind of consulting you want to be part of. It is apparently not "IT Consulting" (which is consulting in name only, but you still have to clarify). Are you looking to join MBB? Tier 2? Boutiques?

Let's assume MBB for now, for argument's sake. Companies aren't going to put much weight on your actual knowledge, but you definitely have to show a career progression. Moving around every few months / year is a red flag since we don't know how well you performed or if you just couldn't work with the people around you

For boutiques, progression may be a little less important - but you will still need to show you can stay in a role for more than a year: it takes a long time and a lot of money to train a consultant, they aren't going to want to do this if you plan to move on a year later.

I understand where you come from, but think you may need to sit still for a little bit, and get promoted to show you are appreciated. Then your profile will look much stronger

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,

Hi, it's less about certificates, but more about various achievements and other factors:

1. University brand
2. Internships you had before
3. Extracurricular activities:

• Launching your own venture and entrepreneurial activities (even failing them is fine)
• Grants / scholarships - even better if related to some research or entrepreneurial projects
• Projects for companies - you may consider doing a free project for the company or a startup or writing a case that future grads will use
• Volunteer / social activities. I would aim at the activities where you can have a leadership role. Organizing some club may work as well.
• Case Competitions-especially the ones organized by your target company
• Researches / articles published in well-known sources

4. Career moves so far:

• Brand of the company
• Career growth and achievements
• Postgraduate extracurricular activities

Best,

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

Hi,
If you have time, it's indeed a good idea to crash test your interview at firm that you are not targetting directly. For the arguments,

- you can re-use some of the one developped for MBB (challenging environment, carreer opportunities), without reminding them they are not at MBB level...

- Some boutique firm offer higher salary to junior to appear more attractive

- In a boutique firm, you developped a deeper relationship with the teams. Since its smaller, you'll work more often together

- In-house consulting : good opportunity to combine consulting job profile (working as a team, in short engagement, variety of missions, etc.) with what one could argue as more concrete relationship with the company's activity since you're working from the inside. It then offer perspective for future development within the company / industry.

Hope this helps

Benjamin

I have not worked at Bain or interviewed there so this more of a general answer. I have worked at McKinsey and Deloitte. Did a ton of recruiting at Deloitte. This is how it used to be done

Who does resume screening depends on level.

• For Analyst level, an Analyst volunteer team used to do it and help HR
• For Associate level, then Assoicates volunteer used to do it
• For Experienced hires, HR does screening with guidance from consultants who volunteer their time to help. usually at the level or above what the applicant applies

Hi,

• Keep the languages within the languages section
• Keep the technical, statistical and financial modeling skills as a separate section (if you really has smth). If it is just power point - there is no sense to make a separate section
• Soft skills I believe are not needed since their evaluation is very subjective

Best!

If they are relavent for the job OR if they are highly differentiating, yes.

So if you did a Coursera course on SEO, that's not relevant for strategy consulting.

If you have (advanced) certifications in Reuters Terminal or a CFA, that's more relevant, especially if you go into M&A advisory.

If you completed (advanced) teaching certifications, like the Swiss Mountain Guide examination, are a certified sky diving instructor, have a German "Trainerschein" etc. that shows that you are A) a bad-ass, and B) you can take care of other people and are able to work in teams. So put it on your CV :-)

You can certainly follow-up with HR, but don't get too worried quite yet. BCG Dallas took a full month to get back to me when I applied years ago (as an experience hired, granted).

Having said that - don't stop applying to other companies just because "you really hope BCG will work out". Ah, and make sure you are ready & can crack cases because when the interviews arrive, you may not have but a few days ahead of you.

Good luck, let us know what happens.

Hi,

Neither of this will be checked. The outsourced security company will check whether you really worked / studied in the places that you've mentioned during these dates and whether you have any equity / securities. That's it.

Best

Hi,

Since you have to select multiple offices while applying, it's fine to have the CV and CL in English.

Best

Hi,

You can never lose if using Times New Roman.

Best

Hi,

I would strongly suggest that you do not leave out your grade from your CV. As a screener and a recruiter, I can tell you that a lower GPA CV is much better than a no-GPA one - it builds trust that you are not hiding anything. Trust is crucial for the start of any relationship - especially professional ones. If you do not provide your GPA, you are forcing the interviewer to focus on this specific point, whereas it could be just one of the talking points among many others during your interview.

Secondly, I don't think you need to convert your GPA to a 4-point scale. Leave it at a 10-point scale and back it up with strong points on your CV. Don't be defensive in your interview for a low GPA - instead, you should focus on what all you achieved while managing a decent GPA in your academic career.

I can review your CV as well as prepare you for an interview if you need the same. Feel free to get in touch. All the best!!