Some of the brightest minds around the world want to get into management consulting because of the intellectual stimulation, the work offers.

Consulting firms evaluate candidates on four different parameters.

1. Academic
2. Extracurriculars
3. Communication & Problem-solving abilities
4. Relevant work experience

For Students, the emphasis is on the first 3 factors. On the other hand, factor #3 and factor #4 become the most important factor for working professionals.

Working Professionals:

Only your full-time work experience post-undergraduation is counted towards “work experience” in the consulting world. You can evaluate the “relevance” of your experience w.r.t. consulting firms through straightforward research.

• Step #1: Open McKinsey, BCG, Bain, Kearney, or any other consulting company website that you are interested in.
• Step #2: Navigate to the function/industry where you are currently working. Check for the case studies/highlights of the client work these companies are doing within the specific function/industry.
• Step #3: Across ANY of these websites, if there are at least a few case studies/highlights related to the work that you are doing – It indicates a decent profile fit.
• Step #4: If there is a good fit, then you can further fine tune your resume & apply for a job role in that specific function/industry area.

If the first three steps DO NOT indicate “ANY FIT” – It means that you are looking for a profile switch. For example, software development to consulting.  The road doesn’t end here, but you need to look at different scenarios on how to proceed further.

Connect with our experts (who switched career paths & moved to Top 3 Consulting firms with work experience) to discuss your career path & potential next steps.

 

Students:

• The chance of getting an interview invite increases for applicants with high GPAs. In premier institutes, typically the top 5% of the class get an interview invite.
• A strong extracurricular background and excellent test scores (GRE, GMAT, etc.) could help negate the impact of low GPAs to an extent.
• Students with unique things on their resume, get to stand out from their peers. It could be working in an international setup, prior internships in the consulting space, etc.
• The relevance of extracurriculars & unique things on the resume will increase for the students targeting consulting from “Non-Target universities”.