I will start my internship at MBB in a few months. What should I learn/do in these few months before the internship so that I can perform well on the job and secure a return offer?
I will start my internship at MBB in a few months. What should I learn/do in these few months before the internship so that I can perform well on the job and secure a return offer?
Hi there,
Really great question!
MOST IMPORTANTLY: Know that no-one can perfectly prepare for the job and that's the point: You will mess up, you will learn, you will be trained and supported. That's OK!
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First: Read the 25 tips in my consulting handbook here: https://www.spencertom.com/2018/01/14/consulting-survival-guide/
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Second: Attend an academy
There are so many great training programs that prepare new graduates for the consulting world! I'm part of a few myself. Feel free to shoot me a message and I can point you in the right direction!
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Third: In terms of things you can learn/do to prepare beforehand:
1) Daily Reading
2) Industry deep-dives
3) Analytics tools
4) Excel
5) Powerpoint
6) Presentation skills / sharp communication
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Fourth: In terms of doing well in your role when you're there:
1) Understand the context/prompt (what role are you in, what company, who's watching, etc.)
2) Understand the objective (what, specifically, is expected from you...both day to day, and in your overall career progression)
3) Quickly process information, and focus on what's important - Take a lot of information and the unknown, find the most logical path, and focus on that.
4) Be comfortable with the unknown, and learn to brainstorm - think/speak like an expert without being one
In summary, there will always be a flood of information, expectations, competition etc. and not enough time. Find out which ones matter when. (i.e. be visibile and focus efforts on the things that people care about)
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Fifth: Here are some great prior Q&As for you!
https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/how-hard-is-it-to-excel-in-top-consulting-firms-6762
Hi there,
Congrats on getting the internship!
The first thing to do is take some time to celebrate and rest :)
To perform well at MBB you need to focus on improving different skills that will help you become a top performer:
Think about your weak points and how you can fix them. You could also find courses online to improve some of them.
Also, the first couple of weeks are probably gonna be stressful for you. Here's what can help you prepare and go through them in a calmer way:
In case you are looking for a coach to be your guide, friend, sounding board, best practice advisor, feel free to get in touch with me. I have been a coach during the 'First 100 days in consulting role' for several candidates from PrepLounge who have made it to MBB. Happy to support you as well.
Some other useful pieces of advice you can find here:
https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/job-at-mbb-now-what-5993
https://www.preplounge.com/en/consulting-forum/books-related-to-management-consulting-5208
Hope it helps! Hit me up if you have any further questions.
Cheers,
GB
(edited)
Hi there,
Congratulations on your offer!
These are the tips I usually recommend for MBB prep:
Below you can also find a list of things that could be useful to practice during your first weeks:
Hope this helps,
Francesco
The interns that were most valued were ones that could contribute most to a project. To contribute the following is most desirable
All the best with the internship!
Udayan
(edited)
Having been a McK summer intern as well as having had many summer interns on my team as a manager, I agree with Udayan. Perhaps my personal bias but I would much rather have fun and easy going intern on my team than one who is intense and overly prepared. In that regard, I would actually avoid worrying about how to prepare and just make sure you are fully engaged with the team during your internship, being proactive, contributing and listening to feedback. There is no expectation that you have prior experience and you typically will be staffed on a team with a manager and/or senior consultant who has the capacity and ability to coach you from scratch.
I can only speak for McKinsey but the interns who I've seen not get an offer after the summer were either those that had behavioural issues and/or really didn't listen to the feedback they received (i.e., uncoachable). Being some what familiar with Microsoft PowerPoint and Excel is a bonus but not a strong prerequisite.
Being an intern was one of the best times at McKinsey having spent over 6 years. It's your chance to decide whether the specific MBB is the right place for you. People typically go above and beyond to make you feel welcome and comfortable. It may not feel like it but it's genuinely a risk free way as MBBs (unlike investment banking) hire interns with the intentions of recruiting strong talent early.
Good luck!
(edited)
Hi, first of all, congrats on the offer!
I would work on excel and PowerPoint but be relaxed about all the rest, you'll learn the most by doing
Best,
Antonello
Hello!
Congrats of that offer!
If there is one thing I wish I had done before joining McKinsey, that would have been Excel. It can really be a game changer, so I would really focus on that (more than pptx, industry knowledge, etc., that are nice-to-have, but not deal breakers).
Excel skills are part of the core skill-set of consultants, and it´s great that you want to practice them. PFB a list of the most popular commands:
Basic operations: SUM, SUMPRODUCT
Text transformations: CONCATENATE, LEFT, RIGHT, & operator,
Connecting different datasets: VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, INDEX(MATCH(),MATCH())
Conditional-based operations: SUMIF, COUNTIF, SUMIFS, COUNTIFS, COUNTA
Learn how to analyze data using Pivot Tables
There are plenty of online materials:
Microsoft Support: https://support.office.com/en-us/excel
Kubicle: https://kubicle.com/personal (go for the 7 days free trial - Excel for Business Analytics)
Hope it helps!
Cheers,
Clara
Hi,
the other coaches have provided very useful input - I ll try to keep it short and very PRACTICAL:
Best,
Denis
Hey there,
Congrats on your offer!
Since there is already some good advice posted by my fellow experts I thought I'd give you my perspective as well.
When I got the full-time offer some years ago I did the same. I reached out to people I knew in McKinsey and people who interviewed me to ask: what can I do to make the start easier? how can I prepare?
The answer from everyone was: Relax! Enjoy your time before you start and don't think about it. You will figure it out on the job. I followed that advice and it made sense to me once I joined.
When you start at an MBB there are 2 ways to learn:
Knowing that, if we now go back to square one in your MBB journey it makes perfect sense to enter the firm with a blank slate with a lot of curiosity and eagerness to soak it all up and quickly learn the ropes.
No book, no training, no coach can prepare you for your first day, your first week, your first engagement. Nothing matches the experience and the learning and this is a good thing (also the reason why ex-MBBs are valued highly on the job market).
You will learn everything you need to master while doing it. You will be thrown in the cold water and need to swim. However, your colleagues will always be happy to help you and mentor you. And for the rest, you will figure everything out along the way. The key here is always to ask for tips, shortcuts, feedback, etc. Don't be quiet if you get stuck.
Also, if you start at McKinsey for example, for every technical problem (IT, Excel question, etc) there is a Global Helpdesk and the rule is to call them for every problem you can't solve within 5 minutes. They will fix your computer, guide you through Excel formulas, etc. I guess BCG and Bain have similarities here.
Lastly, if you have no domain knowledge about a certain industry or topic, read through the internal library of documentation (which is endless) and call some of the firm experts on the topic. Usually, they are happy to offer you a short call to get you up to speed.
Don't sweat the small stuff and enjoy the ride!
Florian