Management Consulting Recruiting

Question

Hi all,

There's some good information for banking in the stickies. Just wondering what the process is for consulting, especially the top firms? Can someone who has gone through the process tell us more?

Thanks.

rhyme · Answer

Sure, what do you want to know?

aceman626 · Answer

oh you know like pelihu's guide to recruiting for ibanks, in the stickies...long lengthy detailed account of exactly what happens step by step.

Experience from any school would be great, but I am also curious to see what the difference is between the process for M7 school vs a Top 15 school (which I will be attending). I supposed there are less events and less interview spots for Top 15?

skaballet · Answer

If you have any recommendations on preparing for case interviews that would be great too. Appreciate your insights.

rhyme · Answer

I'll try to write something up in the next few days.

aceman626 · Answer

thanks rhyme. always helpful.

altaurus1 · Answer

Thanks in advance.

lepium · Answer

I trust rhyme will write a more useful post with actual hints, but for easy reference the process (in chronological order) works as follows:

1) The consulting firms that recruit on campus begin the marketing (aka "stalking") as soon as the school allows them to. At some schools, this means day 1 while at others it means after the blackout period.

2) Marketing takes many forms, such as: 
- They send you a binder with info on their firm and a letter listing your classmates which use to work at the firm, urging you to contact them.
- They fund cocktails or other gatherings through these students to promote interactions.
- They send both general and specific e-mails based on the clubs you joined or your career preferences as stated in the resume book, urging you to apply and/or contact their partners (or alumni from your school) at office XYZ.
- They organize conference calls with students and current employees.
- They organize lots of cocktails for you to meet people from the different offices. These cocktails are typically invite only, although if you keep in touch with classmates from each firm (and office), chances are you'll get invited to most.

(All the above- and much more- takes place before the application deadline)

3) Once you apply (typically through their website), and assuming they like your resume, they'll invite you to interview. Note that to apply you typically need to choose a specific office.

4) You go for first round interview. These almost always involve 1 or 2 cases and some other questions (why consulting, why firm XYZ, etc.). Some firms invite a lot of people to 1st round interviews and get really selective after that. Other firms are more selective in their 1st round invitations.

5) If you make it to the next round, you'll typically need to interview with a very senior person at the office where you will work.

6) If they like you, they make you an offer with a specific deadline.

L.

kk.iyer · Answer

And how does gmat/gpa fit in with qualifying for the closed list in the above chronology of events?
Any thing/s one can do to boost their chances of making it to the closed list?

togafoot · Answer

Speaking with alumni from my school.
They said to me only approx 10% of people who applied to consulting where asked for their GMAT score!!!
There's a current alumni who is at a big4 consultancy with a GMAT of 650.

Basic premise is that a higher GMAT/GPA may make it easier to open some interview doors, but it's not a showstopper if you don't have high scores.

rhyme · Answer

Will try to write up post tomorrow. Kind of buried at the moment with midterms.

rhyme · Answer

Posted the beginning here: 108-p462858?t=63411#p462858

R.E.D. · Answer

rhyme, could you give an overview of strengths and weaknesses of the top MC companies, namely: McKinsey, BCG, Bain, ATKearney, Booz Allen Hamilton from the point of view of the student who gained lots of info about those companies beyond the one offered by Vault

? Is the compensation equal at all the top companies and if it's different, how big is the margin? What is the required language proficiency for working at international offices? I'm interested in the supply chain, international manufacturing placement, operations, optimization of business processes. Industries of interest - automotive and high-tech, they are getting tied with each other nowadays. For the present moment I feel that the closest companies to my goals are McKinsey and ATKearney, locations - Detroit and Cleveland (?), Canada/Toronto, Moscow, Milan (have to think about this one). What do you think about the choices?

mprb10 · Answer

Rhyme, thanks for all the information. Would you be able to comment on the geographical mobility that the big 3 will give their consultants... for example, I want to go to Hong Kong and I am a Mckinsey consultant in the US. Do I need to have a good reason for this or is it quite flexible?

mjt · Answer

Hi, Do you go through the maths test, if you apply via b-school?

mjt · Answer

Also, can anyone post a good list of resources to prepare for case interview?

pinecrest515 · Answer

Usually the top consulting firms will come to campus during the fall quarter. All consulting internship first round interviews take place in a 1-2 week window. Most likely the first round will consist of two cases, one with an associate level and another with a senior associate or principal level. The latter round(s) depend on company, but most likely will consist of 2-3 more cases, often with principal and partner level interviewers.

The latter round(s) will focus more on fit, as they already know that by passing the first round, you can do cases.

Hope this helps!

pinecrest515 · Answer

This is the place I recommend for people who want to make initial preparations for case interviews: https://www.consultingcase101.com They charge a yearly fee for access but it is worth it in my opinion, as these are real case questions given in past interviews. The benefit of this site is the follows: 1) It gives you a taste of what real questions given by interviewers at different companies look like (you can sort by company name) 2) It gives you good material to practice framing up the problem-solution (in other words, practice building frameworks naturally so that you don't sound overly mechanical come interview time). Then one month before case interviews start, find a bunch of classmates, alumni, or 2nd years to practice one-on-one mock cases with. I still practice using cases from this website from time to time, as an exercise to sharpen the mind and keep up with ability to quickly frame up initial approaches towards solving business problems

mjt · Answer

Many thanks for your reply. How much industry knowledge does a firm expect you to have in the case interview? E.g. if I am doing a case interview on automotive industry, will they expect me to have the general industry knowledge?

pinecrest515 · Answer

To answer the question, it depends. Generally if you are interviewing for McKinsey, Bain, BCG, Strategy&, Deloitte, Accenture, etc, then technically they do not expect you to be an expert in the industry related to the case. Part of the case exercise is to be given some parameters in any industry, and be able to think through a structured framework on how to answer the case. That said, there are a set of industry primers that will help you if you know them. Each business school has a consulting club that will help you prepare for consulting cases as well as industry primers.

If you are interviewing for more boutique, specialized consulting, then industry knowledge helps. One example would be ZS (pharma and sales).

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