Non-business undergrad breaking into consulting
I am a recent graduate of a state university in the Boston area looking to break into consulting. I have spent the last five months finishing my degree in South Africa and though my major was journalism I have realized that the business sector is where I want to be. I have looked at firms like BCG and Bain but those seem to be unobtainable for a non business major. I do however have very strong writing, research and analytical skills and was hoping I could get some advice on the likelihood of landing an entry level consulting job with a worthwhile firm before pursuing my MBA. What firms should I be looking at and what should be my first steps to getting in the door?
Thanks!
I've personally met so many consultants with non business/engineering UG backgrounds (one had an English literature major). and they're pretty high up in the food chain atm so.. i'd say it's definitely possible if you work hard
Get ready for some cold calling/emailing....
Definitely possible. Have manyyy friends with non business UGs in good firms. Undergrad focus sits back seat to GPA and relatable experiences. You'll have to sell the biz aspect of your experiences in SA and other internships you may have. Cast a wide net when networking.
No reason you can't get in with a Liberal Arts degree. Might be a little tougher to get over the first hurdle of resume screening (which emphasises the importance of networking) but once you're into the case interviews, everyone has to kill it the same way.
I see that being my issue for sure. I am not trying to be arrogant but I know that if I can get the interview I can put everything into letting whichever firm know that I have what it takes (I am quite good at selling myself). My main concern is my resume and background not standing out. I have really tried to sell my analytical and communication skills in the few cover letters that I have submitted.
So far I have applied to McK and Oliver Wyman with a few others still in the process. What are the recommendations on following up? Should I be patient on waiting for replies or should I be punning the pavement making calls and showing my interest?
Thanks again!
Try not to be overconfident on your chances if you get an interview... I've never seen that pan out well.
For what my perspective is worth, the cover letter is essentially ignored unless you have significant outstanding circumstances. Following up with recruiting will do little to nothing for you, but feel free to do so if it will make you feel better.
Your best chance is to talk with consultants at the firms and see if you can get them excited enough about you to push for you to get an interview.
I'd echo and say that don't ever be over-confident. You may as well be very good at it, but there are hundreds of other people who are just as good at it as you. Also, doesn't matter what you said in your cover letter--99 times out of 100 it won't get read.
And you should absolutely start e-mailing and calling. Start with alumni/family friends/friends from home who are working in consulting already. You should have good contacts at each of the firms by the time you submit your resume.
Your best approach is to find a connection to a current consultant (preferably mid-senior level) who you can build a connection with. That person can then personally email your resume to HR which dramatically increases your chances of getting an interview.
You really need to exploit every connection you've got...no matter how tangential. Think about friends of family members, alumni that you're still in touch with from uni, people you met at an NGO, potentially even consultants who've come to do work at a company you currently work at. Any vague connection you can find you should exploit....get them to meet up with you for a coffee because you're really interested in consulting and want to learn more. If they reconnect with you and like you, they'll send your CV to HR and that's your foot in the door.
You'll have a much better chance of breaking in if you've got pre-existing connections with the firm, as opposed to every mug who puts in an online application.
"punning"? not sure how that one slipped in there ***pounding
Thanks Dorsk. Not trying to be overconfident I just meant I feel like I have a much easier time selling my ability in person than on paper at this point. Thanks again for the advice.
Pound the pavement. Find a friend of friends or family friend who knows someone who knows someone. Applying the old fashioned way is a dead end.
Well you are right to certain extent. Maybe "dead end" wasn't the best choice of words. For you, coming from a target school, you probably had on-campus recruiting which lead into the standard application process - which should work fine in theory. However, in my case (non-target state school), when I was a new graduate I found that applying on a company's career page was much less effective than networking w/ HR or senior level employees. I was convinced that my applications were just going into a black hole. That might say more about my school than anything else. But at any rate, I was able to develop a fine career...so I guess in conclusion, your experiences will vary on case by case basis.
Thank you all! Your advice has been great I now have a much clearer picture of what I need to be doing.
I would look at Big 4 consulting with your background.
^^^in reference to my above post, I may add that the OP is from a state school with a degree that doesn't necessarily translate into consulting. It is for this reason I was implying that traditional career site applications may be a dead end. OP may need to forge his/her own path and get creative.
Breaking into Management Consulting without much experience. (Originally Posted: 02/17/2016)
Hi guys, I am currently a senior at a Texas public university and I am pursuing an integrated masters in accounting with the graduation date of May 2017.
Currently, I am facing a career dilemma and need your help. I was always a business major, but I also pursued the pre-dental track. But in junior year, I realized that I am not 100% sure about dentistry and I wanted a dynamic work life so I decided to pursue accounting to develop business expertise in it. But I am realizing more and more that accounting is not a career I want to pursue. As I learn more about management consulting, I am continually attracted to how I will be able to grow in the career. I will start recruiting for the consulting firms starting this fall when I am in my first year of my masters program. My resume may be impressive for a pre-dental or an accounting student, (GPA 3.92 and work experiences) but I have no case competition experience aside from MBA-styled case projects that I did in my management classes. I also do not have much connection though I have heard that connections are not as important in management consulting as finance in terms of landing an interview.
Please give me any advice as to how I could best prepare myself for management consulting and the recruiting process as I have not gone through it before and as I would be applying for a full-time position.
Thanks!
Get a Fortune 100 internship to give your resume credibility. Network with consultants and find out what they would suggest you develop. Build a professional network and get a referral into a firm. You're obviously a smart kid- just show genuine interest in consulting and put that noggin to use!
Agree with StateUG, you need to get an internship for this upcoming summer. I'm assuming that you're MAcc won't provide a business core of classes from different business disciplines, so I would go over some basics from different fields (i.e. Finance --> TVM, Econ --> Economies of scale, Ops --> Procurement/Supply Chain) and then start digging into frameworks and cases. The accounting courses should provide a good starting place for you as well.
You are lucky that you have a lot of time on your hands. I wouldn't be worried about cases. Just make sure you prep as much as you can. I didn't do any practice cases until a week before my interview and got a FT offer at a solid T2 firm.
Do you attend a target school (I'm pretty sure UT-Austin is)? If not make sure you start networking now.
Move to consulting with non-business background (Originally Posted: 10/26/2017)
Hey guys, I've been researching on management consulting lately and felt quite interested in the field. However, the problem is I don't have any background related to consulting or even business. Since Ive graduated college, I've always worked in content marketing (Ive graduated for 4 years). So is there any chance if I apply for McKinsey or BCG? If so, can you guys suggest some business-related materials that I should dive in to understand all the business concepts? Any materials directly related to consulting I'm really looking forward to some suggestions from you guys. Thanks in advance!"
Hey Arosthenes, I'm the WSO Monkey Bot...do any of these help:
More suggestions...
Hope that helps.
Unforunately, the truth is that it's a disadvantage. Here is a fact I collected from a McKinsey info sessison held in my local areas several months ago: At McKinsey right now, 60-70% consultants come from an economic background. This fact must have told you something. - The good thing is that it's not really difficult to overcome this shortcoming. Consulting firms require you to know no more than some basic business terms, which you can grasp in less than a day or so (assuming you apply for a position of entry level). Rather, they evaluate your business mindset in a more intuitive way at the same time with other aspects. By ""intuitive"", I means... By ""other aspects"", I means... For basic business terms, you can find some good collections on mconsultingprep, consultingfacts, just do a little search on google.
Explain other skills: You do not need to attend a b-school to learn problem-solving skills, to do quick math or to learn how to explain things in a clear, simple way.
Compare students from different backgrounds: MBA, liberal of arts What you should do to prepare?"
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