Alternative internship strategies for: non-MBB consulting -> M7 MBA -> MBB?
Hello,
I am interested in hearing current/previous MBA consultants' point-of-views on how I could approach MBA summer internship recruiting. I will be attending an M7 program this fall after a few years of 2nd tier management consulting with the goal of MBB after graduation.
So, I basically have two options, namely:
a) go directly for the MBB summer internship and aim to convert to a full-time offer, or
b) do something "else" (e.g. banking, tech marketing) then recruit for full-time MBB afterwards
Of course, the natural path would be a), but I was hoping to get a point-of-view from someone that has already lived through it. My other considerations are the number of internship offers versus the number of full-time offers (and therefore competition?) that MBB gives as well as using the internship opportunity to learn and experience something new in order to differentiate myself, considering my pre-MBA consulting experience. I would love to hear additional considerations as well.
Even anecdotal data will be interesting. Thank you!
Hello,
I was not an MBA intern but I worked in a MBB consulting firm.
First, I think that in MBB they don't have a fixed number of offers for full time positions or intern positions. MBB are looking for talents and the turnover is high. I think they have a minimum they need to hire, and a range in their mind. But that's it, it not like they will only hire X full time positions. So even if the office might have some consultants on the beach, they know that they need to recruit now because it's the recruiting period of the year, and people will leave during the year.
In one project, there was a MBA intern , he was in a top 7 MBA in the US and had 4/5 years of experience in a big US company, lived in many countries, etc... He didn't perform well during the 10 weeks and therefore he didn't receive an offer. So the internship is also risky if you want a full time position. 10 weeks is a really short period! As an MBA intern you are expensive for the company and you need to perform well since day one. MBA interns with no previous consulting experience are worst than business analysts with one year of experience. (at the beginning of course) You have a lot of soft skills but you don't know how consulting really works and might have week excel skills (not mentioning that you might have to use VBA, Access or SPSS). I think in the office where I worked only 50% of the MBA interns received an offer and this number is low not because the office was not recruiting....
My point is: if you go for the full time position directly you will have time to improve your skills.
On the other hand, with your 2 years of experience from a top consulting firm, you should be ready to handle to summer internship. You might just ignore the previous paragraph. But you can still be in a project very hard where even with your previous experience it will be hard to deliver,or a project where you can't prove your talent (eg. no interesting task, no partner exposure, boring PMO)...
FYI: Another example, from another project: there was a girl who had 2 years of previous experience from another MBB. She was from TOP 7 US MBA. She was hired directly for a full time position. I think she did her internship in bank during her MBA.
During your summer internship, you should target big companies with a nice brand name. It can be in a BB bank or marketing at P&G. But I think brand names help a lot. I hope that If you consider banking it's because you like it and not because it is prestigious. Otherwise you will hate your internship and it is not worth it. Further, during an interview for a full time position, if you did your internship at P&G you will have more in common with the interviewer and more things to say than if you did S&T in BB bank.
I hope it helps... Sorry for my bad English.
Thanks @Nohelp2015
For my own context, are you referring to US offices when you mention the low FT offer rate to summer interns? After speaking with a few people in my network, I understood it was the opposite (ie non-offers are an exception to the norm).
Understood to your point on the number of FT versus internship offers - it is not exactly set. However, as you get closer to either bound on that range, I imagine the competition will become at least slightly more or less competitive.
I'd talk to the 2nd years (just graduated) and career center at your school. Typically, you simply go for internship and try to convert (plan a). Even if you don't get the internship, you get the experience of interviewing and networking, and set yourself up better for FT recruiting, as you'll be more comfortable and familiar with everything.
The only cautionary note is if there is a bias at your office about re-interviewing someone who failed previously. Its possible that they won't seriously consider you for FT recruiting because you failed previously, and they would make sure to give interview slots to people they haven't seen before. You can find out the likelihood of this by talking to the recent graduates who converted FT about whether they also tried for the internship. The career center can also help you out. I don't think this is a systemic issue, but I'd recommend exploring it.
Thanks. I have also heard that MBB offices can be tough on re-interviewing full timers that failed internship interviews - sometimes to the point where they will not interview them again.
Are there negative stigmas against those that intern at a BB bank but then recruit for full-time MBB consulting? I imagine you'd need a good story as to why you took that path, and that you simply weren't dinged after the internship and were forced to redirect.
The question I'd be prepared for is why you didn't simply apply for an internship if you wanted to do consulting. If there isn't a stigma against re-interviewing/people at your school have successfully made the switch, just do that. It'll also help you perform well when you start FT
Current MBB summer with previous consulting experience. I wouldn't overthink this so much - just recruit for consulting.
Previous consulting experience is good thing. You'll have a nice advantage when you start doing case interviews from the thinking process you learned at your previous job. Moreover, you have a layup answer to the question of "why consulting", and they won't have much doubt that you'll like the job (and thus convert to a full time signee) because you've done it before. Differentiation is fine ,but why differentiate yourself from a positive factor?
From what I know (my school/firm/office), there is little to no stigma against re-interviewing. Everyone bombs a case from time to time, so they're really not going to hold a previous year's failure against you. I know a ton of 2015 grads that re-recruited at Big 3 and got jobs (doing things over the summer from Tier 2 consulting to random shit).
You're in the drivers seat. You're going to a top school and have relevant work experience. Network, prep for cases, and have good answers for fit interview questions and there's no reason why you won't get an offer. Should you not, you definitely want a second crack at it if this is really what you want to do.
And seriously, I can't imagine anything worse than going through the banking recruiting process and hours over the summer if you know you don't want to do that after school. Just sounds awful.
Quia et rem molestiae. Rerum inventore est pariatur cum. Soluta tempore totam dolores velit est. Vel id deserunt et rerum doloremque. Assumenda delectus recusandae delectus. Eum omnis illum in veritatis.
Rerum beatae fuga perferendis natus sunt. Alias nesciunt eaque cum adipisci ratione rerum ab. Totam nam laudantium veritatis quidem est sed. Unde quo repellendus qui ipsa. Tenetur voluptatem sint impedit rerum. Consequatur iure quas sed aliquid sint error eos recusandae. Ipsa sit quia nam accusamus sed autem fugit.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...