Hi there,

Congratulations on the offer!

I can’t help much with the specific situations in Munich, but in terms of general preparation tips, you can find some suggestions below.

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IT TOOLS

You are probably ok with the basics of Excel and PowerPoint, if not you can take a quick course to review the basics. You can check in advance with your office if they recommend training on any other tool, such as Alteryx or Tableau and if so, do some prep on that.

One of the most important things you can learn with any IT tool is shortcuts – they will increase substantially your productivity.

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INDUSTRIES

If your office specializes in specific industries where you would like to work, it would be good to get a minimum knowledge of them in advance. You will still learn the most during the job so this is not strictly necessary.

You can find some tips on recent consulting trends here:

▶ 11 New Consulting Trends You Should Know

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READING LIST

In case you have time before starting, a good way to invest it is to… read. You won’t have much time to do this later and reading is one of the most undervalued growth opportunities available today.

Personally I don’t have much time to read, so I listen to books – Audible is great for this. You can easily listen to a book per week with minimum effort. You absorb books differently when you listen, so you have to check if this works for you.

The following are some books I would highly recommend to develop a growth mindset – key in any industry with high pressure. You can expand the list with anything you want to learn – just try to find a few really good books on that topic.

• The Compound Effect – Darren Hardy (great book on long-term planning)
• Tiny Habits – BJ Fogg (excellent, science-based book on habits formation)
• The Mediations – Marcus Aurelius (written ~ 2000 years ago but incredibly actual – the personal diary of the most powerful man in the world at the time)
• The 80–20 Principle – Richard Koch (very smart life tips from one of the founders of LEK)
• Peaks and Valleys – Spencer Johnson (crisis management tale – from the same author of the famous “Who moved my Cheese”, I personally found this book a lot more interesting and applicable)
• The Gap and the Gain – Dan Sullivan and Benjamin Hardy (excellent book in terms of mindset for happiness)

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FIRST WEEKS

Below you can also find some tips for the first weeks I usually recommend – you are probably familiar with most of them, but could be good to review:

1. Take notes during meetings/discussions with your manager – this will help you to remember details and will show you care about them to the team.
2. Always double-check. The first impression is very important when you join a new company: if you show you are reliable from the beginning, you create a reputation of a reliable person. Double checks should be done on expectations for your job, your Excel analysis, your slides – basically everything.
3. Define priorities before starting any set of tasks. The majority of the results usually come from a subset of activities – this is true also for your tasks in consulting. You have to identify which they are and prioritize them – the application of the so-called 80-20 rule or Pareto Principle. Alignment on priorities and expectations is particularly important with your manager at the beginning of the project.
4. Socialize with your colleagues and start to build a network. You should build a good network within the company. A good start is key to develop good relationships long-term. More difficult to do during COVID – but there may still be opportunities for virtual gatherings. Try to take advantage of as many as possible to build connections.
5. Organize your private life activities. You want to organize your calendar to leave some space for personal activities (sport/ friends/ family). This is not easy but can be managed if you organize well, and long-term will be critical to keep a balance between work and private life. Also, it is better to align with your manager/teammates from the beginning on your core needs, so that there are no surprises later­ on.
6. Ask for feedback every two-three weeks – this will show you are proactive and willing to learn.
7. Ask for help when you don't know what to do – better to let know you are in trouble with meeting a deadline than missing the deadline.
8. Be social and respectful with the support staff – these people are great and influential as well in the company.

Best,

Francesco

Hi there,

Nice work and good on you for trying to prepare!

In my mind, you can only prepare for the interview stage. Once you get an offer, you can't really prepare in any meaningful way for the actual job.

Expectation is for you as an intern is ultimately to demonstrate a good attitude and a steep learning curve throughout your projects and OTB assignments.

You're not expected to come with a ton of knowledge or skills beyond what you already demonstrated during the interview stage.

As for COVID, it's pretty much back to the client again!

Best of luck!

Hello!

Happy to help here, since I was an intern for McK in Madrid, and then continued full time after graduation. 

Something that surprised me is that what they expect from the intern is to really be one more person in the team, adding value almost from day0. 

As with other consultants, there is no knowledge expectation or anything like that, but there is the expectation that you absorb everything from the very beginning and start adding value soon. 

The great thing is that they will give you a lot of coaching and a lot of training. 

Hope it helps!

Cheers, 

Clara

Hey there ,

It will depend on the project that you are staffed on. For interns they will not expect you to have much advanced knowledge on any topic but have a conscientious work ethic and be open to learn and be coached. Typically most projects do involve some type of modeling and slide design so would be good to brush up your Excel and powerpoint skills 

Thanks 

Ashwin 

Expectations of interns are usually very low on most dimensions, except for how quickly you learn.

It will be OK if you do not have specific knowledge or are not an expert on specific types of modelling. They will expect you though to:
- Absorb what they teach you quickly
- Address any feedback (e.g. try to only get told to do something once)
- Show initiative to get up to speed on relevant topics to your case proactively

If you do have time to prepare, I would say just getting familiar with excel and powerpoint would be the most useful thing you can do. This will allow you to execute tasks you are given pretty quickly and will allow more time for the learning curve on the content

Hi there, 

I wrote an article on this here: https://www.preplounge.com/en/articles/entry-level-consultant-what-is-it-like

Hope you find it useful!

Best,

Cristian