Hello Everyone
How can one prepare for the 'on the job' responsibilities for a first year associate/BA at MBB? If one has time (say 2-3 weeks) before joining one of these firms, how can one best utilize the time (besides partying :D) so that he/she is prepared for carrying out the job responsibilities? How about taking Advanced Excel, Power Point courses?
Thank you!
Dude, seriously, you don't need ANY preparation, there is a lot of training provided by those firms and you learn on the job most of the stuff anyways. I had one month before starting at MBB and took that time traveling through Europe and I believe that was the wisest choice I've made in years.
If you are THAT eager and don't have a clue on corporate finance/business strategy that is a place you can start. Read some books on the subject. But believe me, if you already know the basics on CF/strategy/marketing/ops don't worry and go travel/party please.
Thanks for the comments Nutry. I do not have a MBA yet, so am not familiar with the core marketing/ CF concepts. But while preparing for the case interviews I did do different types of problems faced by a firm seeking assistance from a consulting firm (Market entry, new product, M&A etc..). I hope the case interview practice comes in handy! :)
Thanks again!
ps: Can you please share the type of work a typical first year BA/Associate does when he/she joins a firm? I know that data analysis, research etc... are part of the job responsibilities, but if you could share something specific that you came across then it would be great!
I joined straight out of undergrad also. I was an equity research intern though, so I had some basic business concepts in mind already. You will do a lot of the following: modeling (not necessarily valuation, but mostly operating models/scenario models/business plans), powerpoint charts (of course, how can you be a consultant without ppt), problem solving (yes, even when you are a BA you help in the process of solving the clients problem).
One piece of advice I received from a partner was: "of course you want to excel at client skills, problem solving and all as a BA, but please, DO NOT SCREW UP THE NUMBERS on a model or analysis. It will hurt you A LOT if you do so"
Get a good set of luggage? Also: Scour Flyertalk.com forums for frequent flyer program information and for tips on how to pack all of your worldly possessions into a 21" TravelPro rollaboard. Oh, and practice completing your soft core strip tease through the TSA security circus in less than 3 minutes.
In all seriousness, shouldn't you just get some rest for the big first day?
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Preparation for Consulting full-time (Originally Posted: 03/23/2014)
Hi,
I'm a junior at a target school. My GPA is hopefully going to be a 3.5 at the end of the semester. Although I don't have a consulting internship this summer, my internship will give me skills applicable as a consultant. I was wondering what I could do to best prepare myself for full-time recruiting. Ideally, I'd like to work at MBB or Deloitte for strategy, but I don't know how feasible that is given my sub-par GPA. For example, are there any cases that I could do, etc.? Most seem to be over for the year.
Get through your current internship and see what happens.
MBB seems unlikely as most unofficial cutoffs are around 3.7. But you could make up for it with some networking and brand name internship (F500 or banking usually). Since you can't do anything about your summer internship at this point, keep networking throughout the summer.
Echo the above. If you haven't started already, network with alumni at MBB & Deloitte. Keep in touch with them throughout the summer and hopefully they will be able to help you land an interview. Unlike banking, the majority of consulting full-time classes are not made up of summer interns, so there are a lot of spots available. That said, there is the 3.7 GPA "cutoff" for MBB, so you might want to target some other firms besides MBB/Deloitte just in case (Oliver Wyman, Accenture, PwC, etc.). Good luck!
Okay I will continue networking until full-time. My internship is for commercial banking at a BB. Any other advice is appreciated! I'll continue to check this thread.
What should I learn to prepare for a move into consulting? (Originally Posted: 04/03/2015)
I graduated with an engineering degree from a T15 school last Spring and have had an engineering job since then. I've decided that I want to try and find an analyst position at a strategy consulting firm, starting late this year or early next year.
So, I have about 6-9 months to pick up some new skills before I plan to start job searching. What do you think would be the best use of this time? During undergrad I didn't take business classes other than Econ 101/102 and some marketing classes, or have business/consulting ECs.
Here are some things I came up with, how would you recommend I prioritize this list?
Study for and take the GMAT. I had a poor undergrad GPA (3.0), so would scoring high (got 710 & 740 on my first 2 practice tests) on the GMAT help address that?
Do the Wharton Business Foundations Certificate on Coursera and/or take other business classes on Coursera
Take college-level introductory accounting and finance courses at a local university or through a major university online
Practice the case interview method and work through case studies
Learn or brush up on financial modeling, data analysis, and using Microsoft Excel, with online tutorials
Read relevant books like The McKinsey Way, Good to Great, Lords of Strategy, and Michael Porter
I'm a little overwhelmed by how many options I have and would like some guidance on what the best use of my time would be, especially since I'll be already be devoting a lot of time to networking.
Thanks.
I'm not sure if all the things you listed here are absolutely necessary, although they are certainly of help and you have a lot of time for preparation. Here are some good resources for the case interview part: Consentino's case in Point and preplounge. Good luck.
How to prepare to be a consultant? (Originally Posted: 10/04/2014)
I accepted an offer recently (for post-undergrad), but I have no consulting experience whatsoever, so I'm really worried about going in blind. Is there anything that I can read or do in the next year that would help me be a more effective consultant?
My past internships have been in investment banking and Asset Management, and in general, I'm a lot more comfortable around finance than consulting (I really loved finance, but I'm very sure that I want to do consulting at this point). For the most part, I read business news every day, and I probably read HBR/consulting firms' own publications weekly/monthly, but it really doesn't feel...substantive? It doesn't feel like it's enough to get me to the level of people who did summer internships, but I'm not sure what I could do to make up for not having interned in consulting.
Are there any books that I should look at? Anything else that I should be doing (Idk, public speaking courses)? If I have a specific industry (consumer/retail) in mind, should I pick up a textbook on that?
I asked this question when I started, too. What's key when entering consulting is that you are very comfortable in your own skin and that you are a brief, yet confident communicator. Your ambition to learn before you start is great, but your firm will likely provide you with all of the training you need. It may be worthwhile to do an in-depth research on the firm if you haven't already. Appreciate your free time now and do something exciting before you start the client site / hotel life. That way you'll have some cool stories to share during the many team lunches / dinners...
Real world experience is the best. Go do some pro bono consulting around your community. That's what I plan on doing after undergrad recruiting season is over.
Thank you both for the advice, RealCoolHand and Emous! I appreciate it.
Proactively seek feedback and learn from it quickly. Be humble and curious.
I spent some time volunteering in a fairly poor area of my city and applied to become a "business consultant" in the summer between graduating at starting at my firm. I only did it for a couple of weeks, but it was essentially like putting myself through a real-world case crash course. I produced deliverables, did financial work, due diligence, strategic planning, etc. That experience really helped me hone my skills in an environment that was just demanding enough. I don't hear of too many people doing this, but I would certainly recommend it.
People might disagree with this, but knowing Excel really well will definitely help. I'm four weeks into the job and I've spent so much time learning things in Excel that would have been nice to know (i.e. PivotTables, keyboard shortcuts, advanced logic functions, etc.)
Agreed completely. At some point, you'll need to do some pretty heavy excel work. Get used to not relying on/using the mouse sooner rather than later (alt key = love) and learn how to use VBA (recording + editing is all i've done really).
Preparation for Full-Time Consulting (Originally Posted: 08/23/2014)
There have been several threads on this topic, yet there hasn't been a conclusive answer. To the current/ex consultants: what kind of preparation do you think someone joining a consulting firm full-time should be doing prior to starting work? If you could go back, is there something you would've done?
Finally, anyone have experience with Victor Cheng's How to Succeed in Management Consulting program? Worth it?
bump
Develop a strategy for hotel/air/car points. I didn't prepare for this and my first 6mos of travel were a mess of points. Sign up now and stay loyal
What was your eventual strategy?
bump....im also interested in this thread
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