Breaking into consulting with vs. without an MBA

You’re at a crossroads in your life, and you know you want to take the next step. You know that you’re interested in consulting, but you’re not sure if you can break in with your current credentials, and you think an MBA might help.  What do you do?

For 80% of job-seekers, I would offer the following advice: apply to consulting firms right now. Just as some people mistakenly think consulting/finance is usually necessary for an MBA, some people mistakenly assume that an MBA is usually necessary for consulting. Almost all people with a few years of work experience can find some way to explain how their past accomplishments relate in some way to business or consulting.

Get started by doing the following things:

• Update and perfect your resume and cover letter.
• Create a list of 20-25 consultancies that you’d love to work for, with notes on each one. You can start with a ranking such as the Vault Top 50 Consulting Firms and researching each firm; but keep in mind that rankings aren’t everything.
• Create a 3-column table in Word or Excel for brainstorming.  In the left column of the table, create a list of traits that make good consultants (e.g. leadership, teamwork, analytical skill) Then, in the middle column, write out in specific detail 1-3 accomplishments or experiences that demonstrate each trait, including results and what you learned. Finally, in the right column, write down a potential situation you might encounter as a consultant where you could leverage the experiences described in the middle column.  This brainstorming session will help you convince yourself and recruiters that you are already suitable for consulting, even without an MBA.

Moreover, experience in a certain field (e.g. IT or healthcare) means you can try to join the relevant specialized industry practice of a large consulting firm or even a boutique consulting firm specializing in that industry.  If you have a strong academic or analytical background, consider applying for a research analyst position within a consulting firm to get your foot in the door.

Most large consulting firms like McKinsey and Deloitte have dedicated research groups that support client service teams – while this may not be your ideal job, it can be a good transitional role while gaining exposure to how the industry works. Finally, consulting firms hire people mostly for their demonstrated traits and skills, which are more important than past affiliation with any organization. Have you lead teams and demonstrated success in doing so? Have you pursued challenging problems and shown measurable results? You need to be good at telling your story to reflect those traits and skills.

Another key point: many people don’t realize that they can pursue a high-paying and fulfilling job with great training and advancement opportunities outside of McBain Group.  There are great consulting firms out there looking for people with skills and personality traits like yours, especially if you write a great resume and cover letter and ace the interview process.

If you are still obsessed about prestige, consider that 2 years working at a top 50 consulting firm is an excellent springboard for applying to a top 10 consulting firm. This springboard may be even better than an MBA and you will also be over $200,000 richer than if you had gotten an MBA.

Finally, consulting firms often offer MBA-like training.  McKinsey sends many of its non-MBAs to a 3-4 week mini-MBA boot camp to learn the most important tools and concepts. In 1993, 61% of new McKinsey recruits had MBAs, but that number is now down to less than half, which demonstrates that McKinsey believes it quickly train non-MBAs to be consultants. You should research the training opportunities at a firm if that is important for you.

If you are reading this right now, that means you are likely already more motivated and qualified than most to apply to a consulting job.

The conclusion is simple: if you are considering a consulting job, apply now.

The worst thing that could happen is you use up a few dozen hours and end up being much more knowledgeable about consulting firms. The experience can even help you evaluate your true interest in consulting.  Additionally, assuming you didn’t do anything rude or unprofessional, firms will see your commitment if you re-apply later on.

What would be the other 20% of candidates?

In a few cases, it actually may be better to get an MBA first if:

1. You have more important long-term goals besides consulting (e.g. starting an international trade company) and your own assessment shows that you need the MBA to serve those long-term goals.  For many people, however, long-term goals are unclear and therefore not factored into consideration much. How to perform such an assessment is outside the scope of this blog.

2. You are extremely passionate about learning the management theory that an MBA has to offer, whether or not you will use it. (i.e. you love learning for learning’s sake even if it’s really expensive) Many MBAs comment that they only apply a portion of what they learned toward their actual consulting jobs.

3. Your previous experience is utterly removed from the corporate world (e.g. you spent 2 years writing a novel about unicorns)

4. You’ve already applied to 15 consulting firms and got rejected from all of them, even after writing a great resume/CL and properly preparing for interviews. (For the vast majority of our readership, I would be surprised if this happened.)

5. You feel that your past experience would qualify you to get into a top 10 business school but not a top 25 consulting firm. (e.g. you spent 2 years successfully fighting AIDS in Africa and you have a 760 GMAT score)

Getting an MBA is really expensive, and real-world experience usually trumps theory, so you should be very sure you need an MBA before you apply.

MBA admissions and consulting

OK, so let’s say you are still set on getting an MBA. Some people think of the relationship between the top business schools and the top consulting firms as a revolving door, i.e. people from McKinsey get into Harvard Business School, and people from HBS get into McKinsey.  Well, that’s true to an extent, but it’s not quite that simple.

Although business schools see consulting as great work experience, schools also try extremely hard to achieve a balanced, diversified student body.  This means that, even if hypothetically a third of a school’s applicants are consultants, there is no way the school is going to let a third of their study body be ex-consultants, which implies a lower acceptance rate than average applicants for consultants in this situation.

Deborah Riger, Assistant Director of Marketing for INSEAD (which sends roughly one-fifth of its students into McKinsey, BCG, and Bain every year), has stated “We’re hoping the [number of students from consulting backgrounds] does not increase any further.” That even a consulting talent powerhouse like INSEAD wants to limit their consulting students shows just how much business schools value diversity.

This produces the paradoxical situation of consultants wishing they had some “unique work experiences” and non-consultants wishing they had consulting experience when applying to b-school.  What should you do? Easy: stop worrying.  Focus your time on improving your application and telling your life story better instead of spending time worrying about whether or not you have consulting experience.

It is impossible, and also pointless, to estimate just how many consultants are applying to a school on a given year.  If you are a not a consultant, focus on business experiences and explain how an MBA combined with your past experiences can make you a great business leader in the future.   If you are a consultant, focus on why you are more accomplished and more well-rounded than other consultants.

I’m currently a student with little or no work experience, and I’m interested in consulting.  Is it too early to apply to MBA programs?

The short answer is yes.  It will be extremely hard to get into an MBA program with little work experience (except for the unique Harvard 2+2 program) and you may not have the experience necessary to judge if you really need an MBA. In almost all cases it’s better to get some actual work experience first, whether it’s consulting or not.  If your grades, major, or school reputation makes it hard to enter consulting, try to accumulate specialized knowledge in another field while taking on business responsibilities (like team leadership).

How much of what you learn in business school actually helps in consulting?

This depends a lot on the school/curriculum you choose, but generally less than half of what you learn comes in useful. Each firm will train you anyway with the management frameworks and tools that you will need, and that training is more directly relevant.  That being said, if you choose your school and curriculum well, you could develop new perspectives to approaching business problems, and you can also improve your general teamwork/leadership skills, which always helps.  More on this in the next post.

I’m already a consultant. Do I still need an MBA?

If you want to return to your current firm, this answer depends on the firm.  For many firms, no.  How can sitting in a classroom and talking about business problems teach you more than working on those problems directly?  For other firms, an MBA is recommended for most consultants aspiring to more senior positions, since they will benefit from an expanded network and enhanced perspectives on business problems. You should observe the system of promotions in your firm and talk to your colleagues who have done an MBA before. As an example, CapGemini and Booz & Co. promote non-MBAs more readily than Bain and BCG. The answer also varies by region; for example, the Japan and Germany offices of global consultancies tend to have less MBAs among the top ranks.

If you want to change to another consulting firm, an MBA may make sense if you are targeting a firm that is much more selective than your current firm or a firm that places heavy emphasis on MBAs.  Given your previous consulting background, an MBA is usually unnecessary unless you are dead-set on a small number of certain firms.

In our next post, we’ll address how to choose the most suitable MBA program for a consulting career, as well as provide advice for current MBAs to maximize their educational experience and chances of landing the ideal management or strategy consulting job.

About the Author:

The author of this article is a long-time team member of Management Consulted and has extensive experience in consulting and at bulge-bracket investment banks, including interviewing MBA applicants. He has requested anonymity to protect his employer.

While coaching participants come from all walks of life (15-year IT veterans from India; undergraduate sophomores from well-known Ivies), almost all make the same mistakes during our practice sessions:

1. They don’t sell themselves enough. I’ve never worked with a person who I thought oversold me – that should tell you something. Out of 5 questions where they have an opportunity to describe their strengths, they’ll miss 4 of them.

2. They don’t provide a clear roadmap and upfront structure. Structured interview responses are a skill I’ve harped on over and over again.

3. They give accurate, albeit generic, responses. Unless you’re the cream of the crop, simply checking the right boxes isn’t enough. You need to be distinctive in interviews to be remembered, and to stand a chance of receiving the offer. It requires taking risks.

In this article, I’m going to describe 8 common fit questions and the mistakes that I’m hearing in these practice sessions over and over and over.

1. Please take a minute and run me through your consulting resume.

Also heard as:

-Tell me the key things I need to know about your background

-Highlight the 3 most interesting aspects of your CV

-Give me a Cliff Notes on your story and how you ended up here

The mistake:

Focusing on too much trivial crap. This crap includes: extracurricular activities in your freshman year of college; summers spent backpacking and hiking through Europe and Latin America; where you were born and raised.

By focusing on that crap, you make 2 mistakes:

-You demonstrate your lack of prioritization skills

-You waste crucial time that could be spent highlighting more interesting, pertinent strengths

2. What do you think makes a good management consultant?

Also heard as:

-What skills are needed to succeed in strategy consulting?

The mistake:

Missing the opportunity to promote yourself!

This question really has 2 parts to it: one, describe the skills and qualities of a rockstar business consultant. Two, show me that you possess and/or have demonstrated those skills in prior experiences.

The second part is always implied, and sometimes explicitly asked. If not asked, it’s your responsibility to answer it anyway. By no means should you brag incessantly, but it’s perfectly alright to give an answer such as:

“One of the skills that great business consultants need is the ability to structure deliverables and execute. In my former real estate finance job, it was my responsibility to determine the required company and market analysis for each deal, and then deliver the required models, financial statements, and memos that would form a key part of the investment proposal.”

3. Have you dealt with a difficult boss? If so, explain how you managed the situation. If not, explain how you’d deal with a hypothetically difficult boss.

Also heard as:

-Have you disagreed with your manager? How did you resolve the conflict?

-Explain a situation where you worked under someone you didn’t like or get along with. How did you address the situation?

The mistake:

Giving the “we talked about the problem honestly and as a result everything became much better” explanation.

This answer is bad for several reasons: one, everyone gives that answer. Two, no one really believes it. Three, it doesn’t give any insight on the actual communications and mechanics that resolved the situation.

This is where the best interviewers really separate themselves. They prepare for interviews well ahead of time, really working out the specifics to tough questions like these – while still delivering the responses in a natural, conversational manner.

To answer this question well, you’ll need to craft a good response. Get specific about the conflict issues, about your viewpoints and those of your boss’s, and exactly where compromise was achieved. It’s ok to admit partial failure.

It’s also ok if you’ve never been through a situation like that. But in your hypothetical scenario, an equal amount of hypothetical detail should be provided.

4. Tell me your greatest professional weakness

Also heard as:

-What’s your biggest developmental need in a work enviornment?

-In feedback from prior managers, where did they say you needed the most improvement?

The mistake:

Giving a “strength disguised as a weakness”. Don’t do it, please.

An example would be: “I tend to do take on too many responsibilities and occasionally can’t deliver as promised.”

Be genuine in your response and describe a real weakness. Unless you say that you’re lazy and don’t enjoy coming into work, you should be fine.

General advice here: include a specific anecdote (as mentioned in my earlier post on common interview mistakes) and describe 1-2 big personal takeaways from your experience.

5. Describe a scenario where you lead a team in the face of a major obstacle.

Also heard as:

-When have you lead a team through a big challenge?

-Explain a time when your team wasn’t doing well and how you helped the team succeed

The mistake:

An answer filled with phrases like:

-”I decided to…”

-”My answer was to…”

Too often, people forget that the point of this question is to highlight your TEAM and your TEAMwork abilities – not to highlight your personal awesomeness.

The best responses to this question frame your role as a facilitator. You proposed an idea that broke the impasse; You pushed the team out of its lethargy and into action.

The conflict and resolution should always be framed in the context of what the team together accomplished.

6. Why do you want to work at McKinsey?

Also heard as:

-What interests you about Bain?

-Why BCG over any of the other firms?

The mistake:

Giving a response even close to the following: “I really like the people because they seem passionate, smart, and engaging.”

Mentioning the people is fine. It’s a safe component of a good answer.

The problem is not mentioning any specific anecotes, encounters, or qualities that would be unique to the firm in question.

Instead of the above, say something like:

“At an information session, I met Sally Stone, a consultant in the D.C. office. We ended up chatting for more than an hour. Over the last 3 months, we stayed in touch and she spent innumerable hours answering my questions about the firm, reviewing my resume, and helping me prepare for the case studies. I’ve never met a person as considerate and insightful as she is, and I consider the opportunity to work with people like that to be one of the greatest benefits of a career at Accenture.”

7. For experienced hires: What motivated you to change careers now?

Also heard as:

-Why are you interested in transitioning to management consulting?

-Why strategy consulting now, after X years in Y industry?

The mistake:

Being overly negative when discussing your former industry and career. In fact, I think the best responses avoid direct criticisms altogether.

The best response: “It was good, but consulting is even better for the following reasons.”

When you’re too negative, interviewers will wonder 2 things: one, if you hate it so much what took you so many years to switch careers; two, if you’re that pessimistic and unhappy, couldn’t the same change happen to your current perspective on strategy consulting?

8. What company do you think is having a tough time right now, and what would you recommend they do to improve their current situation?

Also heard as:

-If you were CEO of X company…

-If you were a consultant to Y firm…

The mistake:

Talking purely about strategy and ignoring tactics. Most people can give a decent response for the high-level things a company should do: “Coca-Cola should reduce their product offerings. They should expand aggressively to developing markets. Finally, they need to secure favorable, long-term distribution deals with the biggest retailers.”

Providing strategic insights is a big part of the answer. But it’s only half of a great answer. The great answers provide execution specifics and hypothetical scenarios:

“Coca-Cola should reduce their product offerings. When you walk into a store like Wal-Mart, you’re overwhelmed by the variety of Coca-Cola branded soft drinks on display. Instead of spreading their marketing budget and complicating their supply chain, Coca-Cola should reduce their product portfolio by 25%…”

The 8 questions above, and variants on them, will make up at least 50% of the questions you’ll face in the behavioral part of a consulting interview.

Practice your own responses, avoid these mistakes, and you’ll be well on your way to becoming a management consultant!

Stay connected:

I offer resume editing and interview prep. Through one-on-one sessions, I’ll help you stand out from 1000’s of other applicants and land consulting jobs

And by “times like these”, I mean “economy-in-trouble, big-firms-like-BCG-tightening-hiring, even-bigger-firms-like-Accenture-cutting-people” times.

Here’s the concluding part of our live networking podcast – conducted with yours truly and Brian from Mergers and Inquisitions. You can find part 1 of our networking discussion here. You can download the audio clip right here:

• Download the MP3 [50+ Minutes | 22 MB]

For people who prefer text, here’s the 22 page PDF:

• Download the Text Transcript [22 Pages | PDF]

Here are the topics and questions covered in Networking 102:

Networking Internationally

“How do you maintain and continue to develop a network with recruiters, Analysts, MDs, etc. while you’re studying abroad for an extended period of time in a foreign country? How can you make up for the lack of personal interaction?”

“If you work overseas, how do you get to America in both office, transfer, and general recruiting networking?”

Click here for more on international management consulting.

Giving Up

“When do you think it’s time to actually throw in the towel after all of your networking efforts, developing relationships and cold calling, just don’t pay off? Say it’s May and there’s only one month left before Analyst training which effectively closes the window of opportunity. What do you do?”

“What to do when contacts, alumni friend referrals, are really about to vanish or dry up. I’ve scoured different databases and social networks and am really beginning to run out of contacts after holding over 35 informational interviews.”

Fast-Track Networking

“If he’s in a position where he gets a return offer to his summer internship but he still has contacts at the other places that he actually wants to work out, what’s the best way to go about networking and getting into those places?”

Your Own Value Prop

“I don’t quite understand the concept of networking. As an undergraduate, why would an alumni go out of their way to assist you in finding a job? You don’t have anything to offer them so it feels one sided and embarrassing to ask for their help. Establishing a relationship when they’re complete strangers is really difficult so why would they care about helping some undergrad kid looking for a job?”

“Is there a way to differentiate yourself from other networkers by somehow providing some value to the person you are contacting? What, if anything, might a student have to offer that would be of interest or feel like a contribution for an Analyst, Associate, or more senior person? If there is something that would be well received, how would you suggest working it into the dialogue?”

Networking Internally To Different Groups

“What’s the best technique to make contacts with these people in different divisions and how do you go about networking from one group within a bank to a different group?”

Networking As An Intern

“How are you going to be successful when you’re an intern in terms of networking for a full-time offer, being able to get to be part of the team or the group that you want to?”

Click here to learn how to become a rockstar summer consulting intern.

Senior People & Transitions

“As your Analyst years are coming to an end, how do you network effectively for the best exit jobs as well as how do you network intelligently with senior people at your firm?”

Firm Presentations

“How would you prepare for a firm presentation and networking mixer? Would you recommend talking to one or two people for a long time or working the room?”

“For organized networking events, is it appropriate to carry a resume on you? How about meeting industry professionals at events? How do you from that to then building beneficial relationships that will help with jobs, etc.?”

Click here for a step-by-step guide to information sessions and company presentations.

Finance-Specific Networking

“What sort of advice do you have for someone in small PE firm interested in moving up into the buy-side instead of just the support function in the group?”

“What do you think about non-finance work graduate school, then transitioning through an MBA? What about PhD to MBA to finance?”

Click here for the substantive differences between investment banking and strategy consulting.

Consulting-Specific Questions

“What would be a good networking strategy for ‘on the beach’ time, basically when you’re not on a project and you’ve got a little bit more free time?”

“Is it good for you if the McKinsey recruiter knows you’re applying for BCG, Bain, other consulting firms?”

“What can you do if you have an interview with two of them on the same day at the same time?”

Linked-In Networking

“Hi Kevin, how should you network in LinkedIn? Is it appropriate to send cold messages to the big three guys?”

Click here for my answer to a reader question on how to use LinkedIn for recruiting.

We hope you guys enjoyed it!

While Brian has recently moved to Korea, we plan to continue some type of podcasting collaboration into the future. If there are any topics that interest you, please contact us directly or leave a comment below!

Stay connected:

I offer resume editing and interview prep. Through one-on-one sessions, I’ll help you stand out from 1000’s of other applicants and land consulting jobs

The second part of the live networking podcast with Brian from Mergers and Inqusitions will be coming shortly. While we didn’t get much feedback on the first session, what we did hear from readers and commenters was positive. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me directly!

Favorite recent posts

International Management Consulting 101 – we discuss what it’s like to work in an overseas management consulting office. Everything from recruiting to lifestyle, daily work to client relationships.

Points and Per Se: Management Consulting Perks – discover the non-salary benefits of a life in strategy consulting, including laptops, expense accounts, and Starwood points.

Berkeley undergrad who received Navigant and FTI Consulting offers – our interviewee shares insights on recruiting from a large public university, and his thoughts on the relative merits of Navigant Consulting and FTI Consulting

10 Steps to Sizing and Estimation Questions – an oldie but goodie. From my interview sessions these days, it’s apparent that many of you are uncomfortable with sizing/estimation questions and the assumptions-based arithmetic in tackling these problems. Read closely if you’re interested in breaking in!

Great reads from around the consulting blogosphere

The new Booz & Co to acquire Katzenbach – I distributed this via Twitter several weeks ago. Originally reported in ConsultingMag.com. Pretty big news in the strategy consulting space!

From Consultant Insider – thoughts on why you should go to business school. I think #1 and #2 are particularly high on my list!

From the Killer Consultant – a 2-part series on how you should manage client relationships. Critical reading for new consultants. Part 1 here. Part 2 here.

Mentioned in Marquis’ Weblog – a link to a great post on LinkedIn and how to use it to find jobs. Original source here. My own guide to doing this is still in the works.

From Steve Shu’s blog – a crash course reading list for new consultants. Rain Making is on my reading list.

A few reader questions

“I’m a recent graduate (have been in industry for 2 years). Is there a bias in recruiting, if I can still do the standard on-campus recruiting, against people who have already graduated as opposed to current students?”

In short, not really. Several years of work experience – assuming you’re comfortable looking for the same analyst/associate-level positions – is generally a plus during the recruiting process.

Recruiters and consultants will wonder two things:

1. Why you wish to do strategy consulting now – what changed your mind over the last several years

2. Did you produce good work in your most recent job – what results did you show, what skills did you develop, what responsibilities did you handle

It can be possible to be pigeonholed as “unsuitable” for consulting if you have extensive work experience in niche/non-relevant areas (eg, accounting), but generally speaking, a few years of work experience post-undergrad will only serve to help you in the campus recruiting process.

“I’ve been in strategy consulting for a West Coast boutique consulting firm for 3 years now, and an contemplating a move into corporate strategy (for a Fortune 500 consumer goods company). Any thoughts on the respective differences between the two?”

This is a great question – something I’d like to write a full post on eventually.

Off the top of my head, here are some key differences:

1. In corporate strategy, you serve one client (the CEO and his/her C-level team). In strategy consulting, you serve multiple clients in multiple industries

2. In corporate strategy, you work with the same team (as is true of most corporate environments). There are pros and cons to rotating teams in strategy consulting, but I really enjoyed that diversity

3. In corporate strategy, you’ll have a thinner talent pool. You may be lucky to work with a strong strategy team, but you can bet that the operating/finance/administrative folks you interface with will be much more variable along the capability scale.

4. In corporate strategy, travel is reduced. There are exceptions, of course – but travel should be no more than 25% of your day-to-day unlike management consulting travel.

5. In corporate strategy, you’ll have more clearly defined daily and long-term responsibilities. This depends on the company and the particulars of your position, but corporate strategy folks are often responsible for both project-based and recurring work (eg, setting benchmarks and doing performance analytics). Strategy consulting work is inherently more variable – each project is a completely new beginning.

Stay connected:

I offer resume editing and interview prep. Through one-on-one sessions, I’ll help you stand out from 1000’s of other applicants and land consulting jobs

It’s finished. I think you’ll agree it was more than worth the wait.

You can download the audio clip right here:

• Download the MP3 [44 Minutes | 21 MB]

Now it’s not short at 44 minutes. And we only got through about half of your reader questions through comments and emails. This means that there will be a part two – so stay tuned for that as well.

Put it into your iPod as you’re going for a run. Burn it onto a CD and listen as you’re driving to work. We divulge A TON of tips on how to become a master networker – and it’s not just useless crap like “Be more aggressive”.

We really talk specifics, from the steps you take in turning a cold call into a warm call, to dealing with awkward/unhelpful alumni. The list goes on!

For people who prefer text, here’s the PDF – in its 19 pages of glory:

• Download the Text Transcript [19 Pages | PDF]

And for the short-attention span people out there, here are The 10 Takeaways You Shouldn’t Miss From Our Networking Seminar:

1. For those in school, attend every event possible. Network properly while there! Don’t be lazy or you’ll be the one regretting it when you’re out of a job. Out of school, join professional associations, networking groups, attend conferences, etc. Keep your eyes open for the next opportunity. And don’t overlook friends and family!
2. Be straightforward when establishing contact with consultants/bankers that you don’t know. Incrementally build the relationship through multiple communications, and have them refer you to others - thereby warming the start of that new relationship!
3. Even if someone’s been laid off, they can still be helpful. Be sensitive to the situation, direct in your interest, and tune your communication according to how well you know the person.
4. Only contact senior consultants/bankers when you have a legitimate reason. Only after a long time passes without contact should you reach out with a superficial reason
5. With cold calls, follow KISS: keep it simple, stupid. Immediately let them know how you got their number, the reason for calling, and one or two sentences about your background. Ask for referrals…and ask open-ended questions to contacts who are trying to brush you off
6. With cold calls, focus on boutiques. You probably won’t cold-call your way into Goldman Sachs (but I’m sure its happened before!). As an exit option, you can always ask to followup at a later time or via email
7. Always speak to bankers/consultants, not recruiters, to get things done. If you’re getting lukewarm responses, know when to drop things and move on to your next lead
8. The best conversations you can have with bankers and consultants is just that: a real conversation. Not 50 questions about their job, not 100 questions about the strategy consulting industry. Talk about their lives, their hobbies, and chit-chat like you would a friend.
9. Give people a reason to help you out. Avoid directly asking for referrals, etc – but if you let them know that you’re interested or that you already applied, the ones who want to help you out will proactively do so. Only use a direct-ask with a strong relationship as a last resort
10. Mentors can come from anywhere – managing partners, directors on down to analyst and interns. When you find them, make their life easy. Reach out in specific areas where you need help. Find common ground that you can talk about.

Here are the topics and questions we cover:

Finding Names and Contact Info

“How about for people who do not know consultants or even finance people? How do you build those names and meet those people in the first place?”

“How would you approach making contact with complete strangers at different firms that you are interested in?”

Recession Recruiting

“What is the next best step for recruiting in a firm when your only contact within the firm found out you will be laid off before you are ready to utilize him to break into the company?”

“Do you have any tips on getting in touch with former senior colleagues?”

Click here for more on recession recruiting

Turning Cold Calls Into Warm Calls

“I was wondering what the dos and don’ts for cold calling are in general? On the outline it appears to have great potential. Most of my colleagues however discard cold calling outright. Is it a strategy you would recommend?”

Following-up With Your Business Contacts 

“If you’ve done a lot of cold calling with several different firms, this guy was wondering, well, how do you exactly followup after the initial call?”

“How would you approach this and how would you move on to the next firm?”

“Is there any way to keep in touch with senior partners even if you don’t have a reason why to followup and instead you just want to keep in contact?”

“Also if you could please talk about how can they followup after an MD or analyst showed interest in their resume?”

“Over time, as you contact alumni, the numbers will accumulate. How would one go about maintaining these contacts before recruiting season and then when the time comes, how do you make the ask?”

“After meeting someone whom I would like to network with at a networking event, what is the appropriate followup? What is a good way to keep in touch?”

“When the time comes, how do you make the ask for opportunities to interview?”

Awkward Alumni

“I contacted some alumni in the past with a phone conversations that eventually became Q&A, it felt very awkward and a little bit dry. If you had mentees contacting you in the past, how would you suggest making the conversation more interesting, getting to know them personally and even establishing a friendship. What kind of mentees are mentors looking for and what’s their incentive as a mentor for sharing information with someone who they don’t know?”

“What’s their incentive for sharing information with somebody they don’t even know?”

Whew. You guys were definitely curious, and we had a great time recording the discussion.

What did you think? Any questions or comments after listening to/reading the discussion?

Stay connected:

I offer resume editing and interview prep. Through one-on-one sessions, I’ll help you stand out from 1000’s of other applicants and land consulting jobs