Transitioning from the luxury industry to consulting

Question

Hello everyone,

I recently graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration from EDHEC Business School (one of the top BS in France) and I am now enrolled in a Master in Fashion Management with an apprenticeship in one of the leading luxury groups Richemont.

My actual position and past internships experiences were mainly focused on Product Management (6 months at Hermès and 6 months at a French maison). My passion for fashion lead me to this path, however, after careful consideration, I realized this career path was not a good fit for me. After learning about consulting, my goal is to transition towards strategy consulting.

Do you have any advices on how I could make the transition to consulting and become a good profile for entry-level jobs? Where should I start, knowing that I have no past experience in consulting? My interests lean towards MBB and tier-2 firms, however, I am also open to others firms.

Thank you!

Answer 1

Hi there,

I assume your question is mainly related to getting the interview (how to prepare is a different beast).

If you want to get invitations you need to work on 3 things: CV, Cover Letter and referrals.

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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

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

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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.

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3) REFERRALS

To find a referral, you should follow three steps:

Identify the people that can help you
Write to them a customized email
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 managed to get an invitation you need to find out how to pass the interview. You can find more on that at the link below.

▶ How to Prepare for an MBB Interview

Best,

Francesco

Answer 2

Hi there,

thanks for sharing your story - fairly common realization and relevant to many candidates here.

How to make the transition happen? Think about what consulting firms are looking for and then solve for that. Starting with what gets you through screening, it will typically be along the lines of...

Strong academics (top 10-20% student, good grads)
At least 1-2 relevant brand names in your work experience - doesn't have to be in consulting at all
Some international experience
Solid extracurriculars / demonstrated drive

Once you made it through the screening, congrats, now it's just a matter of preparation - good work ethic and listening to experienced people (coaches or not) to guide you on the way.

Feel free to reach out via PM, if you'd like to understand in detail, where you stand with your profile, how you can tailor your CV and network to optimize your chances of getting interviews, and later on, how to best prepare. Focus on getting interviews first though - rest will follow. Will be happy to help.

Cheers, Andi

Answer 3

I think you're already doing the right things by getting meaningful experience at established organisations and learning what you want to do. You're still so early in your career and with a strong educational background (grande école), I would imagine that most firms would definitely consider you. In terms of building your profile, within your existing role, trying to have tangible impact through transferrable consultant skills (e.g., quantitative analysis, stakeholder management, customer/client relationships, communication, etc.) is an important way to stand out from the crowd.

Bonne chance!

Answer 4

Hi there,

from my experience as a trainer of a newly joined BCGers, I would estimate half of the candidates are not coming from a business background or business education and it is precisely the strength of MBB.

You just need to come up with an appealing CV and cover letter making sure telling the right stories to stand out and be the 5% of candidates that pass this steps.

If you would like to understand better the process and help with the CV and Cover letter please feel free to reach out as I have successful experience as coach with very diverse profiles and my own experience transitioning from travel to strategic consulting with 0 prior consulting experience.

Lucie

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Answer 5

Hi there,

It's quite straightforward at the end of the day!

1) Build up your experience in consulting (there are a ton of academies, and programs that let you do pro-bono consulting and get experience this way)

2) Change your resume so that it “sounds" and it much more pivoted towards consulting skills

3) Network, network, network

Good luck in the transition!

Answer 6

Seems like you have all the right things going on. Get your CV in shape, network and start applying. Be patient during the process and dont get disheartened by rejections.

Needless to say, prepare well for the interviews.

Answer 7

Hello!

I also come from an unusual path, architecture, and had a similar realization than the one you described. If you play it well, your profile being different can be a big asset.

Feel free to PM me to discuss.

Cheers,

Clara