Question:
Dear,
I want to apply to McKinsey, Bain, BCG, AT Kearney and Roland Berger. I guess you can say that I have been an outstanding student, with a good set of extra-curricular activities as well. Could you explain me what an excellent management consulting resume should look like like?
My reply:
I personally spend a good amount of time optimized my resume (and cover letter) I applied to Bain & Company, McKinsey & Company, BCG, Roland Berger, AT Kearney and AD Little. I ever got a first round case interview invitation at each firm (and got an offer at all but one).
By now, I have screened quite a good amount of resumes at Bain & Company, so I will share my ideas on how to write a compelling management consulting curriculum vitae. Needless to say that these ideas do not apply apply for Bain, but but apply for McKinsey, BCG and the like. regardless of you are an undergraduate applying for a business analyst position, or an MBA applying for an associate position; in the end the below tips and tricks are very true regardless on which entry level you are applying to).
In the end, each consulting firm is more more less than a conservative resume is the most important thing. When I receive a resume, the first thing I always do, is simply check whenever all key elements are demonstrated (backed with with numbers).
The next question is then: "what are these & # 39; elements & # 39; that in the following I will give you an overview of each of these elements, and afterwards discuss why each one is important to a management consulting firm, and how can you best demonstrate your strong capability for each aspect.
The leading management consulting firms are looking for five key elements in resumes:
Top employers and / or renovated cities
Excellent academic performance
Strong analytical skills
Evidence of leadership and strong social skills
Extra-curricular activities
1. Top employers or renovated universities
In the end, a management consulting firm will be billing you out for its clients for several ten-thousands of dollars a month, If the firm then can you know you have a BA from Yale and an MA from Harvard, the price tag will of course be easier to justify. Regardless of this, you do not not have a difficult selection process to get in the specific school, which of course too well too demonstrate your competencies. I will have studied at an Ivy League university to get a job in management consulting. to be really convincin g, and to clearly show your determination to work in management consulting.
Next to restructured universities, the management consulting firm will also be looking for your CV. In case you are a young graduate, this will moreover be an internship at a top-employer, and in case you an experienced hire, They will definitely be looking for previous (high-profile) work experiences at some of the world & # 39; s top employers. Examples of such top-employers are include Google, Microsoft, Apple, P & G, Exxon Mobil, Merrill Lynch , etc. Again, you do not needlessly need to have worked at one of these companies to land an interview at MBB, but it would definitely give you an advantage in getting it important first interview. For this reason, if you are thinking to work in management consulting, try to do at least one internship in a leading corporations, as it will be a great experience, but also look very good on your resume.
2. Excellent academic performance
A management consulting firm will be looking for the strongest students of the year there is a student of a year, then you have studied at Harvard or Yale. to focus their recruiting efforts on. The management consulting on the end, recruiting is cost. The management consulting It will definitely look at your result for each year, but the weight (of importance) is definitely higher for your last years at university. Keep in mind that even if you apply for MBA to get a position as an industry hire, your university results ___ ___ ___ 0 ___ ___ 0 ___ ___ ___ 0 ___ ___ ___ 0 bett er).
3. Strong analytical skills
For this reason, a management consulting firm will will be on the lookout for the lookout for people look good for analytical skills, for instance through excellent grades for math / science courses These tests such as SAT, GRE or GMAT. These tests make it easy for the firm to compare your score with other applicants, and obviously they will be looking for those with scores For those reasons, it is important to have resume include these scores, and demonstrate your strong analytical skills.
4. Evidence of leadership and strong social skills
You will also have a top university, or having had a top position, together with continuous strong performance and excellent analytical skills will make you an interesting candidate for a management consulting firm. need to demonstrate strong social and leadership skills on your resume to make you a good candidate. to demonstrate your leadership skills, as the fellow also wants to steal a client team or (put it a later stage) your collections. For this reason, you should definitely include projects / events where you demonstrated strong leadership and social skills. This can be an (important) event that you have organized, a (small) business you had set up with your friends while you were a student, etc. Keep in mind t hat if you have a very technical background, you should even more more proof your skills on your resume.
5. Extra-curricular activities
Regardless of this, try to think (further) about the ten most important / impressive achievements / projects If you feel it would be valuable to discuss it, you should include which good on ten. Other than that, you may include a case interview (or have your interviewer be aware of it) Olympics ice skating team, a (prominent) summer course you participated in, etc. These do not really fall under the four categories above, but would nonetheless be good additions to your resume.
Other things to keep in mind when developing your resume:
1) Keep in mind that your resume should show excellent performance in each single year. If you had one weaker performance during one or two particular years. year at university, think about specific things you realized that year to compensate for the weaker marks.
To make a simple analogy; Imagine buying a beautiful diamond ring for your fiancé, and putting it in a A management consulting firm is looking for a well - structured and a resident does not say something about you. It should be easy-to-read (or skim-through) and appealing to the eye. Keep in mind but that an intense The most important thing though is that your major accomplishments are easy to read.
3) Lastly, definitely keep in mind to have your language proficiency. Where in the US It is always good to to master English, it is always great to be able to show you also speak Spanish or even Chinese. In European countries it is generally required in management consulting to at least speak two languages (native language & English), and more languages are even more a bonus in Europe.
