I am putting the finishing touches on my resume for recruiting season, and I am at a bit of a loss as to what to do with the "skills" section on my resume. I feel somewhat obligated to include one (seems like everyone does), but I don't really have any specific technical skills that would impress (or be useful as) an MBB consultant.
Below is what I have been using:
One bullet: " Computer Skills: Java, C++, SAS, STATA, SPSS, R, Word, Excel, PowerPoint"
My questions include:
1) Do my programming or stats package skills mean anything? My skills are pretty basic (especially with SAS/STATA ect.), and I was under the impression that MBB consultants don't use much more than excel for statistical purposes.
2) Am I better off listing intangibles like leadership, communication skills ect? My issue with this is that I try to make these things shine through elsewhere on the resume, and I think that such a list is weak without experiences and examples as backup.
3) I feel stupid listing Word, Excel and PPT as skills, everyone knows this shit, should I just drop it?
4) Would anyone advocate just dropping the whole section all together? The only reason I have one is convention, and I am seriously wondering it is necessary at all.
5) Other comments/reccomendations?
Any thoughts appreciated!
I always thought that the relevant skills would come through in your work experience section. There are three sections on mine: education, experience, and interests/recognition.
i recommend you keep it, it looks fine. Maybe put your skill level in them if they differ dramatically (otherwise i assume you are good with all)
you can also not make it an entire "section" (not too sure what your definition of that is) but i also might include like interests, awards, relevant classes, extra circulars that weren't good enough to make it onto your resume as a full category
1) Leave programming languages on. Its an indication you probably know excel/access better than 75%+ of your peer and won't be the guy who just can't handle the model. Be prepared to be quizzed on sas/stata though, if you remember the more common command line functions, leave it on, if not, take it off
2) No. You're right.
3) Yes. See 1 for how you can communicate this value without sounding dumb
4) No. Languages should go here. I wouldn't mix it with awards, they are meant to cater to different types of interviewers (person A asks, is this person excellent, person B asks, what can this guy do for me)
5) Also have interests on there. Makes that awkward 5 minutes at the end of interview once you crush the case much less weird.
If I say under interests "Interests include cooking and wine" does that make me sound like I'm a hedonistic drunk?
No. But I don't think your interests are that large of a concern for MBB. I think they mainly care about leadership (and experience).
OP: what tier university do you attend?
I wouldn't put stat packages on there unless you feel confident using them on a client study with limited support. There are plenty of studies that require tools beyond excel (especially in marketing / strategy, particularly because of excel's limitations with respect to data volume), and if a partner thinks he can leverage you rather than getting specialist analytics support that's money in his pocket.
When I interview candidates, the interests section is the first thing I look at. If you think about the process, by the time you get face to face, things like GPA and University are not going to distinguish you (probably the same for programming languages, but depends who is interviewing you). If you don't make it past the case, it doesn't matter, but if you do, I want to know if you're someone I want to work with. Every class of analysts has its ugly duckling, but interests help to weed those out.
Well, I think having something that catches the employer's attention at the bottom of the resume is good. For some people, it might be skills (perhaps you just have an exceptional technical skill that would really come useful for the firm). For most people though, I think it would be easier to think of certain interests that are more unique to them. For instance, I included a pretty unique fun fact in my resume, and a lot of my interviewers always began the interview by asking me to elaborate on it. It helped me establish a good connection with the interviewer before diving into the case.
For MBA Hires, what 'skills' do MBB look for? Is undergrad GPA looked at? (Originally Posted: 02/12/2012)
So first and straight to the point -- my undergrad gpa was rather shit -- 2.71 (insert on my own since 17 and etc crazy fam issues story ive gone into before) but ive done an alternative transcript with a 3.76 for pre-MBA for my applications -- how heavily do MBB look at ugrad gpas esp with extenuating circumstances vs what youve done and are doing since then?! Or do they not care so much for MBA
SECOND -- I know I've heard that consulting firms tend to look at people with relevant industry or consulting experience pre-MBA to hire on, but how much do they care about this? Main reason Im asking is because I'd be coming from an equity trading background which largely has no relevant industry background (financial services?!) but I think the type of thinking associated with trading (extrapolating ideas and actions out to other things to solve problems and situations) will be very helpful in cases but how much of a handicap will I be to an engineer from Boeing or a marketing person from General Mills?
Third, what variations in personality type/skills do MBB tend to look for? I know the cultural differences but how does that play out in recruiting -- someone 'joked' that BCG wants the nerdy quant who knows 8 languages so I was just curious as a result of that comment
tytyty
Most important is to get into a top MBA. after that, I know people that got hired into consulting with all different types of backgrounds. you have to kill the interviews.
Just looked through the resumes of our incoming summer MBA class.
1) Undergrad grades and schools: About half Ivies, a few top LACs, the rest Top 50 ish major universities and LACs. Most had honors or otherwise strong GPAs. Many people don't have their actual undergrad GPAs on their resume, though.
2) Doesn't seem like a big thing. A few with finance backgrounds, a bunch with non-profit, a couple former consultants, generally focused on other geographies/public sector/other things not MBB, a family business, an engineer, and military. The finance people were from both IB and S&T.
3) Between firms, it's hard to say...people get cross-offers from two or three places all the time so it can't be that specific. There's a wide variety of skills coming in...after all, they hire MDs and JDs as well as MBAs. You have to be well-rounded, and global is never bad, but no one is strong everywhere coming in. If you're a quant star, you'll probably end up on a highly quant case on day one, so you get your feet under you, make a positive contribution, give yourself a good reputation...then they'll push you to work on something you don't do as well.
top mba like elite eight or sweet sixteen that has strong MBB recruiting? :P hrm i went to uconn and did my postbacc at NYU..
Can't really answer your questions about recruiting, but I can tell you about the stereotypical consultant at each of MBB. Bainies are young-ish, outgoing, good-looking, and all drink the company Kool-Aid. Brainies (BCG) are slightly geeky, and come up with a lot of papers that the other two look to for advice. And the Vainies (McK) work a lot, and are very proud of their firm's prestigious name.
most of the filtering regarding gpa is done by the admissions committee for the b-school. i don't think i've met anyone who actually got offers that was asked about a gpa
you want to give up trading for MBB?
WHY?
absolutely true about BCG, btw.
Lol I've been far too volatile in my earnings over the past four years and dot want to end up like my boss at 40 with a huge mortgage and family and struggling and unable to transition to other career fields basically
i'm not sure about BB but M has a financial advisory practice in NYC and DC that is pretty significant. i'd play up your industry knowledge.
yeah -- i have a connection (assistant principal at McKinsey who interviewed me at CBS) that likes me @ McKinsey ny and just recently found that out, trying to look into the practices a lot more now. im pretty noobish and trying to devour as much as i can so apologize for the asinine questions haha
When do you find out/decide where you're going to BSchool?
next two weeks for UT and cornell then yale and duke month after
Modelling and other skills for MBB besides cases (Originally Posted: 06/25/2011)
Any specific modelling, financial, or other skills looked for at MBB besides case abilities? I am pretty heavy on financial skills so is there anything that I should focus on to round out my skill set (like IT)?
Depends on the level you're coming in at. I would argue that at the entry level, it's all about case abilities. The financial skills are a plus, but there is absolutely no way around the case. A guy who has 0 financial skills but kills the case will get the job.
Nope.
Being able to case will get you the job.
Financial skills might help if you're joining corporate finance (MIGHT)
No hard skill requirements whatsoever.
No. It might help buffer your resume and potentially get you in the door, but those skills can be eventually taught if your hired. Its all about how well you interact with your interviewer(s) and your case-solving skills.
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