Can’t land Strategy Consulting Interviews - Need Advice!
As the title says, I’m unable to land any consulting interviews and would appreciate any advice on how to improve my profile ahead of reapplying this year.
Bit about my background: Final year Oxbridge/LSE Economics, on course for First Class Honours. Interned at a British management consultancy that’s fairly well known within consulting and got a return offer. I also have a short internship at a very well known consultancy, a couple of society leadership positions and a an AM internship in a smaller bank.
I’ve been rejected from MBB and some other T2 firms for the London full-time position. I quite enjoyed my internship so am happy to start there but ideally really wanted to get into MBB and would like to reapply next year. Does anyone have any advice on what I can do from now until then to improve my profile? I’ve got a bit of time after I graduate before I start work so have been looking at applying for summer internships/off cycles in banking and corporate strategy. Are there any specific experiences I should be targeting? Would greatly appreciate any advice :)
I'm at Oxbridge/LSE too, did a BB summer, on course for First Class as well and cannot land any interviews. Already been rejected from McKinsey Bain and didn't receive interview from OW and BCG. Can't tell if the CV isn't good enough or the market rn is awful
Can only comment on previous knowledge of a recruitment process for MBB consulting but they're essentially looking for these four things (generally):
At the end of the day, it's also just a market based thing right now. The market is rubbish for consulting and is likely not to recover until 25' when interest rates start to be cut so you're best off waiting or staying low for a bit until things warm up again.
This sort of thing is cyclical so give it some time before things pick up again and we adjust to a new normal. I know the pain because I'm going through it too so give it some time and the good times will come back for sure.
I'm considering doing a PhD to cool down the time so maybe that's something you might want to do.
It has to be the market, even applying for small roles at smaller firms on LinkedIn when they close the application I’ve checked after 2/3ish months and they don’t even hire anyone. Hiring rn seems to be incredibly slow. Getting depressing, at the point of giving up and going into PWM
This is entirely the market - I work at a T2 in London and we’re doing 20% of the hiring we did last year. Similar situation, if not worse, across MBB and the other T2s.
If I were you I would take whatever role I could get / take a gap year / do a masters.
In terms of boosting your profile, any strategy experience you can get would be beneficial, whether that be consulting or in-house. Other than that, get highest marks possible, get some leadership positions in societies, do some interesting things to talk about at interview.
Thanks for the reply! I interned at a British consultancy that's somewhat known within consulting (~2-3k employees) and got a return offer. My plan was to start there in Jan 2025 and look for experience in consulting/in-house strategy as you mentioned, and also some banking internships too, and then re-recruit next year. Would you say this is a good idea? I noticed that most of the people who join MBB a bit after they graduate have come from T2 firms (S&, EYP, LEK etc). I'm worried that once I start my career at a lower-tier firm that also has a focus on tech projects it'll then be difficult to move to strategy consulting.
Sounds like a reasonable plan. Not sure how the banking internships would help unless you want to join Private Equity groups. If you do these I would craft a good story as to why you chose consulting over banking. Corp strat internships or frankly any relatively competitive roles at large corporates would help you just as much, are easier to get, and tell a better story for consulting..
Regards to moving to MBB later on, you’re right in that most people that do it come from T2 firms but what your analysis doesn’t factor in is how much of this is self selection and ability to pass case interviews. Definitely not impossible, T2 firms would definitely be open to it. However if I were you, I’d be targeting grad roles again next year.
I remember recruiting for London when I graduated from LSE - consulting seemed totally impossible. Everyone I know who graduated from my class and landed MBB/T2 only managed to do so in their home countries, myself included.
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