Tom SpencerThe coronavirus epidemic has rattled the planet. Universities are shutting down or going to online learning, California has issued a mandatory lockdown for its 40 million residents. The UK has 3,500 known cases of the virus and London will probably be shut down in the next week, if not before. Commerce has ground to a […]
When you walk into an interview, even before you speak, shake hands or talk through your resume, something else is doing a lot of talking in your behalf: your appearance. Even though your clothes do not speak, they communicate a lot about you. Whether you like it or not, physical appearance has an effect on […]
Dear University Student Seeking to Enter Consulting, Let’s be honest. Due to the global economic and health impacts of COVID-19, getting any job offer just got a lot harder. The consulting industry at large has scaled back hiring, and so securing a consulting opportunity will be difficult. For many of you, the realistic challenge is […]
Dear university seniors, I really sympathize with the senior year recruiting grind. It’s not easy, and I would argue that for many of you this will be one of the most challenging points in your career. Why? I’m going to painfully lay out your situation. You have no full-time work experience except university, which has […]
As a consultant you’ll have plenty of things to think about as you build your career. This article looks at some of the key questions to consider as you pursue a career in the management consulting industry. Is consulting for you? Probably a good question to ask upfront. When wondering whether consulting is for you, […]
Consulting is a career where you hit the ground running. Having a clear direction and strategy for your career early on can grant you amazing advantages, but so can keeping your options open and exploring the opportunities offered by consulting. This article identifies what lies ahead for graduates considering a future in consulting, and highlights […]
First of all, I am not going to presume that I can see the future, but I’m going to base my thoughts upon two broadly appreciated assumptions about COVID-19’s impact on the future. Any recessions brought on by COVID-19 will have effects that persist at least through 2020. Aspects of social behavior initiated as part […]
You might have been given an opportunity to have a coffee chat with a firm representative or with a Partner at your dream consulting firm. However, one observation that I have made as both a potential hire looking for a job and as a consultant guiding others is that oftentimes, we are not prepared for […]
Applications can be a stress inducing process when pursuing a consulting career or opportunities from consulting firms as a student. Especially when you are competing against your peers who offer a diverse pool of skills, experiences, and backgrounds for consulting firms to cherry pick from. Selection criteria for candidates may differ from firm to firm […]
The question of how to join a management consulting firm as an experienced hire from another industry or another consulting firm is one that is often asked. The traditional route is to apply and go through the standard interview process as an MBA summer intern or post-MBA consultant. However, there aren’t a lot of sources […]
Throughout the consulting career recruiting process, I found it memorable that in both informal conversations and formal presentations, the issue of personal life management did occur as a poignant topic of conversation. The unifying message that was put forward was that the consulting lifestyle can easily strain any relationship if it wasn’t properly managed. I […]
As with most other competitive professions, breaking into consulting roles has a lot to do with networking. Unfortunately, candidates get one chance to make a first impression. Meeting people early before you are polished will end up burning a lot of bridges. For example, after a very disorganized meeting the consultant will come back and […]
When I started graduate school three years ago, I had only a marginal interests in pursuing a management consulting career. Low and behold, I’ll be starting my first day in management consulting in New York City a month from now. I sometimes chuckle in reflecting on my unlikely path into this field. My story is […]
Being a product manager requires taking responsibility. You are the ambassador of the product. You’re responsible for it from its first fuzzy idea, to concrete concept, through production, launch, and all the way to maturity stage. In order to successfully get there, you need to have a good understanding of the market as well as […]
Associate Product Manager (APM) positions are well known in Silicon Valley as rotational, mentorship-focused programs designed to accelerate the careers of young aspiring product managers. Typically, they feature perks like rotations on various teams, face-time with leadership at the company, and strong alumni communities with robust networks. But how do you filter and come down […]
Is a job in consulting really what you expect it will be when you are a student, knee-deep in case prep and coffee chats? In this series, we hear from new consultants who were recently in those shoes, and what their experience has actually been like during the transition from the dream to the day-to-day […]
For those of you who signed a consulting offer, congrats! The hard part is over. Now there are just two more important decisions that you need to make. What start date should be requested and what should be done with the soon to be very scarce free time prior to starting? Post-graduation start-dates generally range […]
As a business major in college, I became familiar with the world of consulting early on. But for those who come from non-business majors (science, engineering, arts, law, etc.), the path to consulting may seem daunting. Here are 4 tips that I’ve picked up over the years which will help you pursue the consulting track. […]
Box Car Social on the Harbour front in Toronto, Canada I recently sat down with my friend, Jesse, over a cup of coffee to learn more about his experience as a Deloitte consultant over the past 5 years. Jesse completed his HBA at the Richard Ivey School of Business and upon graduating accepted a job […]
When fortunate enough to have more than one consulting offer, a common sentiment is to go for the firm that is more prestigious or pays the most (oftentimes those go hand and hand). However, I always recommend that anyone who gets more than one consulting offer should think beyond prestige and pay. It is wise […]
This post is a continuation of my look at what you need to know to succeed in the consulting application process. From asking several of my friends for advice, who have all had internships and job offers from the Big Three and Big Four consulting firms, it’s clear that there is a common denominator to […]
As Alexander Graham Bell once uttered: before anything else, preparation is the key to success. The saying may sound clichéd, but there is still much truth in it almost a century later. In a competitive field like consulting, it’s important to stay ahead of the game if you want to have an advantage over the […]
As a former advanced degree candidate who applied to consulting while finishing medical school, I would like to share my experience with those of you who are in the middle of making a similar jump out of academia. As I stated in part 1 of this series, many of my M.D. and Ph.D. colleagues had […]
Are you an aspiring management consultant? If you are reading this, then there is a good chance you are. Management consulting is an industry that offers its professionals a range of attractive benefits such as the opportunity to solve challenging business problems, network with senior executives, receive a high salary, and gain access to attractive […]
Introduction With the 2018 application cycle in full swing for a number of top-tier consulting firms, many of my MD and PhD colleagues have been inquiring about how they can leave academia, if only for a few years, and pursue a career change in management consulting. Because many of my piers have very similar questions […]
Welcome back to the data driven recruiting series! Please refer to the first article in this series for the first five findings and more details on the data sources and methodology behind the analysis. As I mentioned in my first post, the following findings show correlations only and should not be interpreted causally. Now, time […]
We’re flooded with information on a daily basis. As consultants (or those recruiting to be consultants), we’re asked to handle and analyze vast amounts of information. However, while recruiting, how many of us actually pursue a data-driven approach to getting an interview? I know I didn’t. Despite all of the rumors, pieces of advice, and […]
This is part 2 of my posts on cold emailing. If you have not read part 1, check out “How I used cold emailing to land an internship in Mongolia”. By the end of this post you should understand three things: How to find professionals to contact How to write a strong cold email How […]
Leading up to the summer before my senior year of college I was searching through Google for my next travel destination when a pop-up ad directed me to a website about Mongolia, the land of nomadic culture and once the largest contiguous empire founded by Genghis Khan. After some reflecting, I decided maybe I could […]
Consulting firms are very good at selling themselves to potential recruits. But, like any sales pitch, there’s a degree of exaggeration behind the polished smiles. In this post, I explore the other side of the value propositions presented by consulting firms during the recruiting process: “You will be exposed to a wide range of problems […]
During my senior year, I had a final round interview with one of the MBB. As it is close to nearly impossible to even receive an interview from these companies coming from a non-target school (only two students received an interview that year from my school), I really wanted this offer, and I had been […]
Have you ever felt guilty about travelling extensively? Have you ever wished that the money spent traveling could somehow pay dividends? Well, I believe it can pay dividends, so you shouldn’t feel guilty about your past and future travel. I think that personal travel and strategy consulting go hand-in-hand, and I would even posit that […]
Like most who find their way into medical school I was the prototypical student. I finished at the top of my class in high school, then as a pre-medical student I navigated all the pre-requisites for applying to medical school (i.e. standardized test, personal statement, shadowing, research, etc.). Going through the interview process, I became […]
Whether you’re recruiting for consulting via a graduate program or going it alone, the process is extremely time-consuming and chaotic. Effectively managing the flood of information on companies, contacts, and case-prep is half the battle. In this piece, I will arm you with a few simple tools (templates) that will help to keep your recruiting […]
Well, let’s embark on the journey. First things first, your consulting application is the most important part of the recruitment process for two reasons. Firstly, it is your very first touch point with the firm. The HR person will look at your Resume, Cover Letter, and Transcript and decide whether you are qualified to attend […]
Before starting your application journey, the very first thing is to understand the recruitment process and selection criteria of those management consulting firms. I assume that you have carefully considered those four critical factors outlined in my first article and really committed to the management consulting position that you are targeting, since the consulting application […]
Are you applying for consulting jobs, or thinking about it? Applications can be time consuming, and really difficult. Your task will be much easier if you have a few useful templates and guidebooks to point you in the right direction. We have taken the time to put together 14 consulting resources that you can download […]
Whether I was talking to graduates, MBAs or experienced professionals, as a consulting club president at business school, I was frequently asked the same question, “What is the most efficient and quickest way to transform into a consultant?” Honestly, this could be one of the toughest questions one can ever answer. First let me be […]
As an aspiring management consultant who has also been working as a music producer for several years, composing, arranging, and producing songs for multiple artists, I get a lot of questions about this seemingly strange combination of interests. “If you love music so much, why don’t you do it as a full-time job?” “If you […]
So you’re interested in being a management consultant? Great! But what is it that they actually do? If you’re still not sure of the answer then read on, as I bust the myths and reveal the realities of what it truly means to be a “management consultant”. 1. Consulting only pertains to the business sector- […]
Every year, recruiters get hit with waves of resumes from newly graduated college students looking for internships or starting positions at top firms. In order to make an impact with your potential employer, your resume has to stand out. To help you do this, we made a helpful guide on applying to and landing jobs […]
In today’s world, the lives of fresh grads are meant to revolve around their careers and professional advancement, and so it is obviously no surprise that so many of us struggle to commit to a specific field, out of fear that it’s not THE perfect job for us. Much like dating, job-hunting is a game […]
The first piece of advice I was given when I started my Master’s in Management at London Business School was to beware of the mirage of consulting. On the first day of orientation, we were told that we should start applying yesterday, especially if we wanted to get into consulting – but not to put […]
“Commercial awareness” is a buzzword that employers like to toss around a lot nowadays, but what is it and how do you get it? Thankfully, gaining “commercial awareness” is a lot less scary than you think – all it really means is to have an awareness of what’s going on in the world and in […]
So you’ve decided you want to be a management consultant? Congrats, you’re now one of thousands competing for the same job! And there’s your first problem: how do you stand out? The first step is always the hardest and sadly the most important, so here’s my guide on how to tackle your first consultancy job […]
Every now and then, I meet students in their final year at university who are worried about applying for graduate jobs in consulting. “It seems like a great job – but I just don’t think my CV is good enough” is something I have heard many times. True, graduate schemes at top firms are very […]
Three significant aspects in the life of a management consultant: travel, training and mentorship. Travel When it comes to travel, different consulting firms have different policies. McKinsey consultants often spend Monday to Thursday at the client site with Fridays in the office. Bain and BCG often spend a lot of time with the client at the beginning […]
It is common for top consulting firms to subject consultants to a rigorous “up or out” policy. What this means is that consultants are required to advance to the next level of responsibility within a certain period of time or leave the firm. Consultants normally receive regular performance feedback and so have frequent opportunities to […]
A consultant who enjoys a successful career progression within the consulting industry will be promoted up through the ranks and hold various different roles along the way. Job titles will vary by firm. An entry level consultant may be called a business analyst or junior associate. New recruits who hold an advanced degree (e.g. MBA, […]
The traditional consulting career model employed by top consulting firms like McKinsey was to develop generalist consultants who could apply general business principles and frameworks across different industries, sectors and functional areas. Clients increasingly value industry experience and specialized knowledge, and so firms are evolving the traditional consulting career model to accommodate these changing client demands. […]