sent in 40+ apps, 1 interview at mid firm- what am I doing wrong?
Hey all,Current rising junior at.. target? Ivy, but not HYP. Recently been on the consulting internship grind, but have had really shitty luck. About 40+ apps sent in, and only 1 interview so far.
1 was slacking on the networking, and my GPA is only a 3.62, so I have those working against me I guess, but I still had thought my resume was pretty solid and that I'd at least land a couple more interviews. Honestly, at this point, I'm starting to care more about getting properly set up for fulltime recruiting than landing an internship and getting a return offer, as I flatly never even got to the interview round for most firms I was seriously interested in. I also was interested in specifically health and/or economic consulting, but haven't even gotten interviews at firm focused on those, like ZS.
I attached the resume and cover letter I've more or less been using (each cover letter is obviously usually tailored for each listing; this particular one was for an internal strategy consultant position), and would really appreciate any feedback going forward, either on my resume/CL or even just general tips.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| CensoredResume.pdf 72.21 KB | 72.21 KB |
| CensoredCoverLetter (1).pdf 30.03 KB | 30.03 KB |
For resumes you need to make it very easy for the interviewer/reviewer to give you marks. Therefore, the same experience can be strengthened with a few tips.
All bullet points should cover three basics things:
Here is an example:
The overall job function was the same, but the second shed more light on sizing (you crafted 20 meeting summaries), how it was done (through your ability to synthesize key insights) and impact (benefited 30 colleagues).
If an interviewer/reviewer had just 30 seconds to review your resume, the second would offer more colour into the work and quality. I would advise cutting down on the number of experiences and strengthening the quality of them with the advice above.
I recall I had a similar experience when I first recruited out of my undergraduate career as well. Messaging and phrasing can greatly impact your conversion for interviews. My first time, I had a really crap resume. I submitted it to 50 places and got a whole 0 interviews. My mentor took 20 seconds and said "this is a compilation of crap" and advised I start over. After the second(and third) run at it, I had much greater traction.
This is really great advice. Writing impactfully is hard. It's a must for a resume, particularly a consulting resume. Learning to communicate concisely with impact is a important skill. I would have your career center work with you on improving your resume. You may want to start over.
This but "diligently" is an adjective and not an action verb, and you should avoid using personal pronouns in a resume
Also, does your school offer a "writing for business" class or seminar? If so, I highly recommend it. As a professional, I scratch my head reading emails and ask myself why these people never learned to write. Hard to take them seriously.
Not to belabor the point, but a few yrs back, when son was searching for internships, he was having a similar problem. Great school, good grades / activities / leadership. Just wasn't getting interviews. He spent time with a coach in career services. Retooled his resume. "Better, now do it again...!" Finally achieved impact. I noticed an immediate uptick in his application to interview conversion. One week he had five interviews (FLDP, AM, Corp Fin, Consulting) These were on blind app drops via handshake. Once he got the interview he was fine and got an internship at a top shop. Spend the time crafting a great resume! Have a great writer review and critique. Have a business exec review and critique. Well worth your time.
This can't be stressed enough. Keep in mind: your application package is NOT equally weighted. The reason I hadn't commented on your cover letter is because in an application, 60-70% of the weight is held at the resume. So those that don't make the first screen of resume review have their cover letters ignored altogether. The resume is the first thing any reviewer or interviewer sees, the cover letter, contrary to its name, is more of a "if you prepare it badly, it will hurt you, and if you prepare it well, it will help just a bit.".
Work on crafting an bulletproof resume and you'll also see a huge uptick in interviews.
Pay a coach $100 or so to help you with your resume. I did this and it changed my life - got interviews which led to multiple offers at top firms.
Hi – senior at the same school as you. Usually have no issue getting past resume/cover letter screening. Have helped many with consulting apps/resumes. DM me & I can help!
I don't want to belabor the point that your resume bullets could be strengthened.
Your GPA is on the low end in a non-quantitative major. This, if combined with a lower-than-average standardized test score, could likely get you dinged.
Standardized test scores are good (1560 SAT) but I rarely get asked for that. Do you think my lack of results is moreso from my low GPA or issues with my resume? Everyone here is suggesting I reach out to resources at school for resume help but I have already and most seem to believe my resume is fairly good. Always room for improvement, but mot sure if I’d be misprioritizing if the real issue is GPA
Probably gpa, they have a number of spots for people at your target school and there will be many with higher gpa
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