What constitutes an exceptional achievement for undergrad MBB recruiting?
Hi all, new to WSO. I wanted to ask the question in headline — happy to get forwarded onto suggested content. After hearing of Olympic medallists pulled in that compensate for lagging academic achievements, is the same true re: MBB recruiting for technologists who are interested in traditional consulting?
In my particular case, I go to a target (HYPWS) studying physics and have two patents under my name, presented work at top tier conferences, run a business consulting for Y-Combinator startups, so have achieved a comparative amount to other applicants. But I have a GPA below cutoff (3.3 cum, 3.5 major) so will be filtered out pre-interview. I am confident with prep I can nail the interview, but I haven't had the luck of an opportunity. Is my best bet to kill GMAT then recruit from grad school?
I would think that if you network a good bit and communicate your situation, they will take note and your resume will at least get seen. You can also use the cover letter to explain extenuating circumstances.
Sorry if this comes across condescendingly to any consultant but I can’t imagine why any kid like the one above would want to go into consulting of all things. Yes I get the prestige, money, lavishness that might’ve been sold to you in info sessions but you have so much talent and ability, and I just feel that kind of gets wasted in consulting
Thanks for the kind words, I honestly just want to dip in for 2 years or so for the exposure and operational training — it's a strong network to be a part of and I have heard amazing stories of the experience with intellectual standards there. After the short tenure, I would much rather work at places with a more creative spark like IDEO or start my own company.
MBB guy here.
When we do resume review, we spend like 30 second tops looking at your resume, and it's really, really easy to filter out candidates that aren't doing things we're aware of. For example, when I was recruiting, I was told that my research in life sciences that was getting published (not a well known journal, but publication nonetheless) didn't actually mater as much as having a VC internship on my resume because the people looking at the resume knew what VC was, but didn't know what drug development was.
There is no resume bullet point that is a silver bullet to turn head (besides maybe like a 36 ACT or something), and everyone's path is different. There is, however, one thing that you can do that will virtually guarantee that you get an interview, and that is networking into the interview.
Basically, if you can get a call with people at the MBBs you're looking into, tell them you're interested, give them the rundown on why you're awesome (without being a douche, because let's be honest, people from your school are likely douches, and it differentiates you), and then ask to practice a case in a future call. When you do practice that case, NAIL THAT CASE and make it the best case of your life--imagine it's actually an interview. Be open to feedback and stuff, of course, but nail it, and then ask who else they can connect you with. Do that, and talk to the company recruiters, and keep up the connections (like network the right way), and at the end of the day you'll have an interview. I've seen us pass over 35 ACT 4.0 GPA for a 29 ACT 3.7 GPA because we had talked to her and she had done well at a case.
Point is, don't chase the bullet point on the resume. 3 months of whatever job you think is going to snag the interview is equal to about 5 hours of time on calls in terms of how valuable it will be.
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