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

Hello there,

I'm sorry to hear about your predicament.

I have to agree that you would need to excel on the interview in order to be considered for any roles within the MBB firms. Culture fit is indeed one of the more tricker aspect of the case interview. However, it is a crucial element of management consultant recruitment.

As a client facing role, a consultant needs to make sure they are acting in accordance to the client's preferred culture, else the firm is risking their reputation. Merely solving the case and completing the project is one half of the equation, managing the relationship is the other.

Typically, MBB firms are background-agnostic. Especially if you are an undergraduate or recent fresh graduates, as long as the prospective candidates displayed strong performance in the case interviews and showcase cultural fit with the firm (passing the "airport test"). Hence, I would presume it is either the case performance or culture fit which was the key reason that underlies the final decision.

With regards to applying for internship, there are 2 types of internship. The structured summer internship program as well as the unstructured project-based internships.

• For the first one, it might be challenging to request for consideration to be included within the program, given that they would cross-reference your previous performance. Even if HR is willing to consider, you will likely need to go for another round of interviews.
• The second one is generally more flexible than the first one. I know some people who have been rejected on full-time basis that underwent project-based internship. Later on, they leveraged their experiences and managed to get a full-time offer. Mind that not every office / region offered this type of internships.

In summary, I would suggest trying to inquire about the second internship type to the HR as well as see if there are other offices that might be more suitable to your communication style / culture. It would work best to rethink of why are you particularly interested in this particular office, which as you said is located on a different region, with different cuture than what you are used to.

Feel free to DM me if you wish to discuss further on the matter.

Hope it helps and all the best for your last 1 year in university.

Kind regards,

Nathan

Hi Anonymous,

unless you perform extremely well, it is unlikely the interviewer will ask if you are interviewing with others - although he/she may ask why would you chose Company X over others.

If the interviewer indeed asks about other options, you can simply mention you are in the process with some other consulting companies – there is no need to provide details on the fact you signed a contract at this stage.

Hope this helps,
Francesco

Hi R,

I would consider BCG or McKinsey only for the choice - the brand name difference is too strong to consider Deloitte at this stage of your career given an MBB option.

Both the options are obviously great. I would not consider salary, perks and locations as not critical for the reasons mentioned by Vlad - unless you are very strongly linked to a group of friends in one of the two cities which are absolutely essential for you.

I would instead base my decision on the following factors:

1. Where do you want to be in 10 years? Based on that, look for how many alumni are more present in that field. It is not relevant that McKinsey has more Alumni, if they are not related to what you really want to do in your life. If you still don't know, everything equal the McKinsey brand is stronger
2. If you average the consultants/partners you talked to in each company, which one you would like to be? As Jim Rohn said, you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. And you will spend a lot of time with your colleagues in the next years. Be sure you chose a company where people are close to the person you want to become.
3. What is your gut feeling telling you? Our gut feeling is able to catch elements we cannot rationalize, most of the time aligned to what we really want. If you still cannot find a clear answer after the rational analysis of all the other factors, I would follow what this is telling you.

Best,

Francesco