Consulting Recruitment Questions
2nd year at a T10 wanting to go into consulting. Have a great GPA (~3.90), got into two selective consulting clubs, and got promoted all the way to a project manager/executive board member (meaning I help lead teams of analysts and help recruit new ones). Leadership in one more club. Got accepted to study economics and management at a HYPSM-equivalent abroad this fall, although this probably does not matter much. My internships could be lacking. I had a very lowkey one in my hometown freshman summer, interned for a boutique political consulting firm, and will likely now intern for a innovation/startup nonprofit this summer (in a big city with the nonprofit having many T10 workers and execs, but still not super businessy/strategy or consultingish as my role is mainly searching, judging, and interacting with companies to enter into startup competitions). Will my mediocre employment history hold me back? Assuming I am competitive for recruitment, I am still confused about networking. I will case like crazy until the June/July application date and do behaviorals. However, I am pretty new to networking. How many people should I network with at each firm? And, most importantly, my T10 is very strong in the Midwest so almost all of my club/college contacts interned and are working at the Chicago office. I am deadset on NYC, so what do I do? Ask my contacts to direct me to NYC consultants? Will networking with Chicago/SF/LA consultants not help me at all or not lead to good referrals? Thank you so much!
IMO, your work experience is better than most at this stage. As long as you can tell compelling stories with your experiences, you are on the playing field.
You shouldn't be area-locked based on your school. Network with everyone you can, with an emphasis on NY+ school alums if that's what you want. At the end of the day, only getting a referral is what matters since many of the applications ultimately allow you to choose which office you want to be in for your summer. You just need to get your foot in the door.
Also if you're a top 10 school, some firms may recruit directly from campus and you won't need a referral. I would ask around to see which firms those are and focus your networking on firms at which you are not a target (although do still network a bit with target firms). Upperclassmen at your school are your best friends. They will give you a better idea of what you need to work and focus on.
How would you recommend networking and forming connections? Getting 15-minute coffee chats is one thing, forming those into meaningful relationships that can get you the interview is an entirely different situation.
Not OP - I know I have the qualifications on paper and the ability to practice and get better at casing, but networking has been a challenge for me.
It's going to be different per person. However, what's worked for me is:
1. Asking inherently interesting questions. None of the: walk me through a day in the life stuff, they get that all the time. More like: what's one thing that surprised you most about entering consulting that no one told you? They're just more fun to answer.
2. School alums are most receptive to staying in touch.
3. Asking at the end of the interview if they are willing to case you for practice. It gives you a good reason to reach back out to them a few weeks later.
4. Generally just be upbeat/extroverted and excited to talk to them, but not in an annoying way. No one wants to be around a downer or a yapper.
My school has OCR for most of the big consulting firms and holds lots of events. I still want to network to solidify my chances (also because many of the recruiting events happen during class time or club meetings/ even if I do attend which I do for many firms, it is hard to stand out among like 30 kids etc.).
IMO not worth it, I networked with bcg and they didnt interview me. Both McK and Bain I hadn’t talked to a single person there and both got interviews. If you have campus recruiting networking is pretty useless
Went through recruiting myself and have friends at MBBs. What will hold you back is not writing a resume well. Name brands matter but honestly most of my friends interned at random no name places before hand.
What is important is doing the pymetrics and games well. I’m pretty sure they autofilter based on that. Also do have some back up plans because it’s really easy to miss MBBs and end up with a T2 - it’s really a crapshoot even at the MBB level. Know many people that had an offer with one while not even passing resume with the other.
Also once you pass the resume round it’s all about casing - it doesn’t matter whether you were at GS or BX previously, if you can’t case well you won’t pass. Recruiting is coming soon so start getting prepped - Bain recruited first last year (resume mayish) with BCG (iirc a few weeks after) second and McK (I think it was an Aug deadline) last. Also do note that intern classes will be heavily skewed towards diversity (I’d say above 75%) so don’t be bummed if you left without an offer. Good luck!
I am totally fine with going to a T2 (I hope that I do not end up at a T3 though). I will try equally hard for the T2s. Your timeline seems concerning. My school is on the quarter system and it seems like almost all of the deadlines are in mid to late June to July. Are you suggesting that it is earlier this year? Or that I should apply as soon as it opens? I am not sure if this is the best strategy since I want to really ramp up my casing when I have more time (between my last classes and the application deadline). I also want to get some internship experience my sophomore summer to add as additional bullets. I guess this could be a harder quarter and my GPA could tank by as much as 0.03-0.05 so maybe in that sense applying earlier with a better GPA on the resume would be prudent.
Yes if you’re a sophomore apps open when your spring quarter ends. By your info it seems like you’re probs at uChicago or something so take advantage of on campus recruiting and just submit your resume - like above no need to network. Make sure your GPA is good, no need to include sophomore experience just write your resume well. If time permits then can include but should submit within first few days of apps opening. Bain way like early June I think and McKinsey was outlier in being late. In terms of T2s some do it before any MBBs so stay on the look for those. IMO not worth going to T2 and would recommend trying to find other opportunities unless you’re really sure you want to be in PE or smth.
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