WSO Academy for re-recruitment a thing?

Hey folks - for context, I'm post Bachelor's with 3-4 years under my belt. I've been told in pretty explicit terms by some consultancies that my experiences arent worth the paper their PDF'd from. Not a surprise, but a shock to hear it put so bluntly. 

I'm contemplating three paths - local non-US consultancy before MBA for re-recruitment, bit of a long shot, but niche consultancy or firm in the US for market exposure and finally, the wild card, WSO Academy. Haven't heard much on the consulting front.

To be clear, it'd be only for the re-recruitment, I've taught the damn recruitment ecosystem of consulting numerous times and know the playbook to interviewing thoroughly well. So with that said, anyone had any luck with it? Is it worth using for a pre-MBA route? 

6 Comments
 

Based on the most helpful WSO content, the WSO Academy is primarily designed to provide a structured, intensive program to help candidates break into high finance roles, including consulting. The 12-week program guarantees a high finance offer and is tailored to equip participants with the skills and resources needed to stand out in competitive recruiting processes. While it’s not explicitly marketed as a consulting-specific re-recruitment tool, the program’s focus on resume reviews, mock interviews, and networking strategies could be highly beneficial for someone looking to pivot or strengthen their profile pre-MBA.

Given your experience and familiarity with the consulting recruitment ecosystem, the WSO Academy could serve as a valuable resource to refine your approach, especially if you’re targeting niche or competitive firms. Additionally, leveraging the WSO Resume Review and Mock Interview services might help address the feedback you’ve received about your experience and position you more effectively for re-recruitment.

If you’re considering this as a pre-MBA route, it could complement your strategy, particularly if paired with targeted networking and a clear focus on the type of firms you want to approach. However, it’s worth noting that the program’s broader focus on high finance might mean you’ll need to adapt some of the learnings specifically for consulting.

Sources: My Experience Recruiting as an Undergrad for Everything vs WSO Wisdom, https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forum/consulting/should-consultants-get-an-mba-8-scenarios-to-consider?customgpt=1, Miserable in consulting, how to improve situation?, Pre-MBA Associate Recruiting vs. B-School Sponsorship from MBB?, PE Recruiting After MBA

I'm an AI bot trained on the most helpful WSO content across 17+ years.
 

Sorry the bots answer was so generic.  Yes, there are students in each cohort that are out of uni a few years that join us and we have over 200 mentors across the globe specifically in consulting (mostly in strategy/mngnt consulting at MBB and other top firms). 

about 60% of our students are undergrads, 10-15% pre masters, 10-15% about to start or in a masters program and 10-15% post masters... So yes, it's a thing. 

Some questions though... 

  1. Why are people saying your experience is not worth anything? Is it completely unrelated?
  2. What have you tried networking wise?
  3. What markets have you applied into and have you landed any interviews? 

This will help me get you more specific advice whether or not you think academy is a good fit. 

Good Luck! 

Patrick 

 

Here are my responses:

  1. Why are people saying your experience is not worth anything? Is it completely unrelated? My post-undergrad experience has been in technology operations/implementation consulting shop (think Deloitte Enterprise Technology or IBM), which has not been well received by strategy consulting firms. I've received feedback from T2/T3 shops that it's too operationally focused and not strategy-specific.
  2. What have you tried networking wise? I've networked acrosss US, UAE, UK, and Canada and to a lesser extent, other areas of Europe. The findings: UAE has very few post-bachelor's positions with the majority of recruitment efforts targeting intermediate (post-Masters/MBA) talent. US has very few firms willing to sponsor at the pre-MBA level, even less so in the Trump Administration. UK has not been well received with networking with few chats not citing anything in specific. European firms have a requirement/preference for multi-lingual talent given the nature of their location. Canadian firms have cited that I cannot apply for new graduate position beyond one year of graduating and my experiences are not relevant for their post-bachelor's positions with a strong preference for previous strategy consulting or professional services experience (investment banking, private equity, and such).
  3. What markets have you applied into and have you landed any interviews? I've mostly applied to US and Canadian offices. I have not received interviews as of late despite my best efforts. I think my recruitment journey has been well documented in WSO especially, but if you'd like a synopsis, here goes:
    1. I intially recruited during the pandemic with a few unique shops reducing their headcount and reducing recruitment for new grads. I had interviews in economic consulting, financial operations/optimization, value creation, and some other shops, but these were all post on pause or delayed, or posted for 6-12 months after which I no longer qualified to apply to.   
    2. I attempted to lateral 6-8 months after my post-bachelor's role, but the Canadian market is quite small, and hyper competitive, so I wasn't able to place anywhere else - I was also told for the first time, of many, how my experience in technology implementation was irrelevnat. On a tangential note, these consulting firms offer a significant discount to their US counterparts typically at 50-60% of the US  all-in salaries adjusted for cost of living in Tier 1/2 cities.
    3. I've networked very aggressively and have received referrals from managers or senior presonnel from the teams I'd hoped to work for only to be turned down for interviews mostly citing my poor fit of experiences given that I was aiming to transition from an operational technology role to a strategy role.
    4. I was reminded of (c) in my most recent efforts being told the same feedback of my irrelevant experiences. The market since my last recruitment sprint has declined significantly which lead me to the MBA route given how much strategy consulting firms value pedigrees and post-Masters/MBA recruitment as compared to the opaque lateral market. 
    5. My two biggest constraints in recruitment: I'm not a US citizen and I'm not on a master's/MBA track (yet) so I'm treated as over-qualified new graduate or underqualified post-graduate. 

Really, I'm not looking to re-engage in recruitment for this field if there are no chances of interviewing. I've delivered so many mock interviews, tutorials, workshops, and write-ups on this forum about the end-to-end ecosystem of mangaement consulting that I find I could launch a career as a career consultant at this point. 

But with all that said, I've also documented my immense frustration and demoralizing experiences in sharpening a skillset that I rarely ever used, being told I was unqualified to interview for firms due to factors outside of my control, and was forced to pivot from a career journey I spent 3+ years looking to place in. 

Not sure what you'll do with the above information, but it does detail two points: I'm not an undergrad, or even recent grad at this point. I'm really only looking for a re-recruitment opportunity more than the educational component of the ecosystem. 

 
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