Timing for Strategy Consulting applications in London

Hi all,

as the title suggests I am looking for info regarding the timing/which firms to target for applying to strategy consulting roles in London.

A bit of background on me: I have relevant experience in investment banking (only internships) with nice brands on my cv (especially for London). I graduated in 2021 and I am now looking for off cycles/graduate positions in strategy consulting since I am no longer interested in banking.

My questions are:

  • Do all firms open and close applications in the same period as it happens in banking? When is such a period?

  • Are off-cycle internships common in consulting? 

  • How should I best approach the job hunt? I looked for places like OC&C, MBB or even the Big4 but it seems that all the graduate positions are gone. 

  • Any tips on how to approach recruitment is greatly appreciated

 
Most Helpful

Hi, T2 strategy consultant in London here. To answer your questions:

1. Recruiting timeslines in banking vs consulting differs. Generally, applications open around the same time (August/September) but close later (MBB/T2 close by mid October), with interviews finishing up by Christmas. 

2. Not really, far less common than banking. Having said that, I'm sure some boutique consultancies may offer it.

3. Most grad positions will be gone if you search now as applications have closed, but they will reopen in the beginning of autumn. To be honest, the only consulting grad positions that will be open now will be from less reputable firms. When the positions start opening up later this year, you'll really just want to apply to as many places as possible as it can be a numbers game at times.

4. Practice case interviews early (a couple of months before interviews at least), try to think about what drives revenue and cost in different industries, and don't neglect the fit interview (they are testing to see how you fair if you were put in front a client)

 

Thank you very much for your reply. 

Would you mind sharing your personal rankings regarding consulting firms? Just to understand whether the place has a strong reputation or not. I usually look on Linkedin but in recent months it seems to exclude a lot of candidates so it is hard to form an opinion. What I mean with rankings is mostly exit opportunities for big companies, startups and VCs/PEs (not necessarily megafunds).

From my understanding the reputation in London is this: 

Tier1 

MBB

Tier 2 

OC&C, Oliver Wyman, RB, Kearney

Tier 3

LEK, Simon Kucher 

Tier 4 

Big four & Accenture (with Monitor Deloitte being on top of them)

Do you have any other reputable firms to add? I was also thinking about AlixPartners, Analysys Mason, Altman Solon and Alvarez and Marsal, but I am not sure how to place them. 

 

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