How to break into management consulting as fast as possible?
I'm an 19 year old upper secondary school graduate from Finland with a university place in one of the most prestigious business school in Finland where I will start my studies next August.
As my major I will study finance and the plan would be to break into management consulting as fast as possible, work for a few years in the US in one of the Big 3 (management consultancies) after my bachelor's degree and get my master's degree from an reputable university in the US and continue my career in the US.
Does the WSO community have any advice for me to reach this goal?
Additional information, prior work experince: Telemarketing, summer 2015 and summer 2016 (sold lottery tickets B2C).
Field marketing, from the start of the summer 2017 to the end of the year (sold electricity contracts and did fundraising for an charity organisation B2C).
-2 months as promoter
-3 months as a team leader trainee
-2 months as a team leader
As a team leader trainee I was (obviously) trained to become an team leader at the same time as I ran my sales team and sold the products myself. When I became officially an team leader I basically did the same job which I did as a trainee just with an higher salary.
Theconsultant98, way too quiet in here. What about these resources:
If we're lucky, maybe I can guilt some users to help you out: @amalik33" @Bla-zae" Rohit-Mittal
Fingers crossed that one of those helps you.
Too quiet for sure haha!
Thanks for the reply, I will check them out!
Firstly congrats on getting into a great uni. Seeing as it's business i'm guessing it's Aalto? Anyway, your work experience is pretty good for high school and my advice would be to get as much experience in uni by doing internships, joining societies and learning languages.
Internships: you have 3 summers of which I suggest 1-2 are used doing an internship in a good consultancy either global or in the Nordics. This clearly includes networking like hell at your local uni or city. Societies: Low effort, high exposure is the key. Do things that look great on a CV but perhaps don't require as much effort as others so you can focus on grades and other activities. Languages: Consulting is a people-based job and having numerous language skills is certainly a big bonus. If you find yourself struggling with non Nordic latin languages focus on developing germanic based ones (Scandinavian languages, Dutch or German). Finnish is quite different but it should help with Danish, Norwegian or Swedish.
Since you're going to a top school for a local market (Finland) your best entry into MBBs or Tier 2 firms would be to apply to the Helsinki offices at first.
Also, I get you're in high school but don't have such a hard-on for the US. There are great school and incredible career opportunities in Europe too. Consider this going forward.
EDIT: Besides MBBs and Tier 2 firms, check out Copenhagen Economics.
Wow thanks for the great advice!
Actually not Aalto but Hanken School Of Economics, which major language in tuiton is Swedish. This was a natural choice for me since I'm an Swedish-speaking Finn (so I'm an native speaker in both Finnish and Swedish) and have studied all my life in Swedish and since Hanken is one of the best Business universities in Finland it just felt obvious to study there!
You actually mentioned a lot of things I've thought of, the thing that I was thinking the most of was how to get an internship after the first year of studies but I guess it's just as simple as you said networknetworknetworknetwork haha.
About languages as I mentioned above, I'm native in both Finnish and Swedish, pretty good at English as well. At Hanken you also have to study Russian, German, French or Spanish. So the languages are coming along!
And yes I know the US is probably overhyped all around the world but the country has fascinated me since I was a child and it's just something I have to experience, maybe for a few years, ten years or maybe for the rest of my life!
Glad to hear things are on track then! 1st year internships may be hard in Europe but penultimate year ones are very common so stick with those. If you also start to develop industries of interest you would like to consult in then see what languages help in those markets (e.g. German for automotive)
To add to what has been said above:
University involvement:
Low involvement/ high visibility is good, but do also pick one activity which requires more involvement and offers leadership opportunities fast
Internships:
Focus on getting internship that have a quantitative/ analytical component. Anything done outside your home country will add to your resume. Ideally you would do at least two internships such as:
Thanks the tips!
And I was also thinking about the things you said about clubs, join as many clubs you have time and use for and choose one that you have the best chance for getting into a leadership role.
Hi, I agree w what G-I said...make sure you visit the US first and really take some time to think about why you want to live there and what the implications would be (bye, bye family/ friends). Keep in mind, there's a reason Finland consistently ranks above US in Best Places to live!
BUT after your self-reflection, the US is ultimately your goal, no matter what, you have two options for a job ASAP: 1) Transfer to a good school in the US and get good grades (even still, not guaranteed a job) 2) Get Hired in Finland at a Consulting firm, prove you can do it, and then start the discussion about transferring
Getting a job at a consulting firm in the US w a Bachelor Degree attained in another Country will be very, VERY difficult (read: "impossible")
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