How to ace an Accenture interview – and why you want to (or not)

Accenture

Today we’re turning our attention to one of the world’s most humongous consulting firm – one that often gets lots of attention, but mixed reviews from the consulting crowd. We’ve asked the question – why is it that Accenture, the mega consulting and technology services firm – attracts such polarized opinions? With Accenture beating down the door of colleges and universities across the globe, we know you – a prospective consultant – wants to know - is starting your consulting career at Accenture a good idea?

Our short answer is this – it depends on what your end goals are. If you have a highly technical background, a real passion for Six Sigma, Lean methodologies or operational efficiency, or an advanced degree without a lot of business work experience, Accenture is a tremendous place to start your consulting career. If you’re interested in consistent 4- or 5-day-a-week travel (they call it 100%), you’ll be right at home at Accenture. If you want to work for a globally recognized brand name – maybe you don’t have one on your resume yet – you should apply and work your tail off to get the interview and offer.

If you’re shooting for MBB, however – then no, Accenture is not the optimum place to start your career. You’re shooting yourself in the foot by accepting an internship or offer at the firm. Why? Accenture has many different business units and the firm’s brand image is largely dominated by its technology consulting arm. Instead of Accenture, you’re better off trying for another launching pad – at a consulting firm that will prepare you for MBB like Deloitte or Booz & Company or a Fortune 500 firm – or investment banking.

We hear from our readers all the time, and some of you are some consulting hopefuls whose resumes don’t fit the MBB profile – either because your grades are A/B-average, you didn’t attend a target school, or you’re pursuing a consulting position later in your career. What’s the option for you if MBB is off the table?

Enter Accenture - a great place for late bloomers to start their consulting careers. With a large global footprint and a client list that extends to 92 of the Fortune 100 firms and more than 75% of the Fortune 500, Accenture offers an excellent foray into management consulting for those of you who want the benefits of consulting but don’t realistically have the profile for a pure strategy firm.

We are excited to reveal our firm profile for Accenture – with many of the pros and cons of working for one of the world’s largest consulting firms, and plenty of info that will prepare you for an upcoming Accenture interview. Enjoy!

KEY STATS FOR ACCENTURE MANAGEMENT CONSULTING

Accenture employs over 260,000 employees and offers management consulting, technology, and outsourcing services. In this post, we’re focusing on the firm’s management consulting business (but we recognize the divisions work closely together).

accenture

Website: Accenture Management Consulting
Accenture Headquarters: Dublin, Ireland
Size: 17,000 consultants
Accenture Locations: offices in 120 countries
Group Chief Executive: Sander van ‘t Noordende
Accenture Engagement Cost (6 person team for a month): ~$300K

ACCENTURE HISTORY 

Heard of the accounting firm Arthur Andersen? Accenture originated as the firm’s business and technology consulting division back in 1953 when GE asked Andersen to automate payroll processing and manufacturing. The two sides of the company co-existed just fine until 1989 when Arthur Andersen and Andersen Consulting became separate units – and Andersen Consulting was forced to pay Arthur Andersen a significant portion of its profits every year.

Tension over the profit-sharing arrangement increased through the 1990s and came to a head in 1998 when the two divisions entered a litigation war. Three years later, the two parties finally settled, each going its own way. As part of the arbitration settlement, Andersen Consulting was required to change its name. The consulting firm became Accenture in 2001.

ACCENTURE ORGANIZATION

Although Accenture’s headquarters lie in Ireland, much of the operational administration occurs in New York and Chicago. The company’s management consulting division is headed by Group Chief Executive, Sander van ‘t Noordende, who joined Accenture in 1987 and became partner in 1999.

Strategy work at Accenture is executed at a lower-level than what you’d experience at MBB. Whereas an MBB consultant will work with C-level execs on the overall performance of the company, an Accenture consultant will work with department heads or directors to influence one particular operational area of the business.

Typical Accenture projects focus on efficiency, cost-cutting, and operations management, as opposed to market growth and development. The scope of your work as an analyst or consultant at Accenture will always be defined by the scope of the project you’re assigned to — if your client projects are focused on supply chain and not strategy, then you’re not going to get much strategy experience. However, you’ll have lots of opportunity to get your hands dirty – from generating business cases to managing a project office to actually supervising the engineers for implementation, Accenture works on the front lines.

Practice areas:

The practice areas at Accenture reflect the operational nature of consulting projects at the firm—

When it comes to industries, Accenture covers the gamut. From aerospace and defense to media and entertainment, the firm has taken on performance improvement projects for clients in 40+ industries. If you’re prepping for a foray into consulting and want to network effectively, approach someone from Accenture who works with an industry in which you have experience – the firm is very siloed and some practice areas are much more aggressive with hiring than others.

Office locations:

Accenture has local offices in over 120 countries across the globe. While they have a strong presence in the US and Europe, their largest operation is in India, where they have more than 70,000 employees working across 7 cities.

Career path:

If you’re joining Accenture with hopes to transition to purely strategic consulting at some point, think again. As an unwritten rule, MBB doesn’t directly hire former Accenture consultants. You’ll have to spend another couple of years obtaining your MBA or working at an in-between firm to eventually break into McKinsey, Bain, or BCG because your brand will be so associated with technology that the Top 3 firms will think you’re not able to zoom out to the big picture. If you’re considering a multi-step process because MBB isn’t right on your horizon, we recommend to our clients to bypass Accenture and shoot for an in-between firm or advanced degree right away. Even an internship with Accenture, in this case, could brand you as a technologist and hold you back.

However, if you’re not concerned with pure strategy – perhaps you’re looking to consult in a specific technical area where you have expertise, e.g., SABRE, Six Sigma – then Accenture is a great fit. Say you have a technical background in systems integration, or a Ph.D. in industrial engineering. Accenture is an excellent place for highly specialized experienced hires to launch their consulting careers, and it all starts with the interview.

Now to the nuts and bolts. Undergrads are hired in as Analysts, while MBAs are hired in as Consultants. The career path from there continues on to Manager, Senior Manager, Managing Director, and eventually Partner. The Accenture website has a virtual game that takes you through their career ladder - try it for fun.

Intern pay and training at Accenture are on par with other consulting firms, but from a branding perspective, an internship at Accenture will be considered strongly second tier. Keep this in mind as you’re applying for summer internships in future seasons.

While starting base salary at Accenture comes in a few thousand less than at MBB firms, which is to be expected, salary and benefits are fairly comparable to starting offers at other tier 2 firms. Here’s the kicker, however – and a contributing factor towards the firm’s high attrition rate – Accenture’s salaries don’t accelerate as fast as those at other firms. Instead of a 10-20% pay increase YOY, Accenture’s figures hover around the 4-5% range, meaning a lot of analysts leave after putting in their first year.

In general, we’ve noticed that Accenture consultants don’t usually approach their positions with a long term perspective. You’ll rarely hear an Accenture analyst genuinely say, ”I plan on working here and growing my career for the next 8 years!” like you might find at Bain. You’re more likely to find that Accenture consultants use their time with the firm for the training and experience, then move on to another position that’s more lucrative and less stressful. Be ready for the question in an Accenture interview – they want to know that you aren’t just using them for the experience – but explain that you’d be open to staying, but open to other options after a few years as well. (It will sound more believable.)

Despite the downside, it’s obvious that Accenture is making an effort to retain their top talent, offering programs like Career Counselor – where new consultants are assigned a mentor who helps them manage their career, training, and project assignments; the Institute for High Performance – a small group of Accenture professionals leading the development of the company’s research; and the Capability Network - a subset of Accenture consultants from key locations in Asia Pacific, Europe, and Latin America who work in teams to provide international expertise in support of local projects.

Exit opportunities:

Leaving the management consulting practice at Accenture may come early on, or after several years with the company. You’ve got lots of options waiting for you once you’ve decided to pursue other opportunities – the most prominent of which is finding a position within the larger Accenture organization. With 260,000+ employees in 120 countries, you’re bound to find something that interests you.

If you’re set on leaving Accenture to pursue a strategy consulting position, pursuing your MBA would be a smart choice for undergrads. If you go back for your MBA, focus on landing a pure strategy summer internship – your re-branding effort will pay off! If you already have your advanced degree, put your efforts into landing a consultant position with another 2nd tier firm that does feed MBB – like Booz or Deloitte.

Like Deloitte (but less likely at MBB), Accenture actually invites its alum to return to the firm later in their careers – the company even has a dedicated Alumni Recruiting Team to handle applications from returning Accenture consultants - so make sure you leave on good terms.

CULTURE AT ACCENTURE

New hires at Accenture fit the typical consulting profile – type A personality, well rounded, outgoing, etc. – and perks and travel at the firm fit the profile as well. Long hours, nice benefits, and 4-days-a-week travel characterize the Accenture experience. Firm culture, historically, is not as strong as it is, say, at Deloitte, where you’re likely to spend time with your coworkers outside of work. For instance, you’d be a lot less likely to grab a drink with your teammates after work at Accenture than you would at Deloitte or Bain. It’s just harder to establish a one-firm mentality inside such a ginormous, distributed firm.

This disconnectedness flows over into firm loyalty as well. Accenture consultants don’t think of themselves as an Accenture person, like a “Bainee” or “McKinseyite” would. They’re a consultant who works for Accenture, and they don’t necessarily bleed Accenture red. Given the large size of the company, it’s no surprise that Accenture has a challenge maintaining a cohesive culture like smaller firms do.

Because client projects are typically focused on efficiencies and optimization, consultants at Accenture are usually passionate about the details. They’re used to dealing in the operations world and have fun with processes, flowcharts, and procedures. Someone who likes to dwell on the big picture isn’t going to function as well there.

ACCENTURE INTERVIEWS AND RECRUITING

For soon-to-be grads, first round interviews are held on campus or over the phone during the fall recruiting season. This first round is really a screening round to weed out anyone who isn’t a fit (even if you’re technical, you still need to have a high EQ) or doesn’t make the grade on legit business area understanding. Remaining candidates are invited to a second round interview, which is usually held on campus or in a local Accenture office. Interviewers use the second round to test your case interview skills and situational responses. In fact, the Accenture case interview is largely situational – “what would you do in XXX scenario?” – and while it might be less prescribed than a McKinsey interview, a structured answer still wins the day. In the final round, you’re given another set of interview questions and a chance to meet analysts and consultants from the local office.

Accenture’s MBA target schools are:

Booth School of Business
Darden School of Business
Fuqua School of Business
Goizueta Business School
INSEAD
Ivey School of Business
Kellogg School of Management
London Business School
McCombs School of Business
NYU Stern
Ross School of Business
Rotman School of Management
The Johnson School
The Wharton School
University of Chicago

Networking your way into a position at Accenture is not hard to do, if you’ve got the right education and experience. First of all, the firm hosts info sessions and career fairs at dozens of schools across the US. Access their events calendar to find out when they’re coming to your school and make sure you drop your consulting-ready resume at their booth.

Secondly, set up your LinkedIn profile and search for Accenture employees in your network. LinkedIn shows over 197,000 Accenture employees, so the likelihood of you knowing someone who knows someone at Accenture is pretty high. For tips on planning your approach and delivering your elevator pitch, read The Networking Bible.

Accenture offers an online Career Coach for applicants - an interactive program with video and a quiz, that helps you with career planning, networking, job searching, and interviewing at the firm. It’s a good intro to the company; however, don’t expect it to give you any insider information.

Experienced professionals with specific industry knowledge are welcomed at Accenture. For instance, if you understand health care systems in the UK, or you’re an expert in oil & gas infrastructure management, you would be an incredibly valuable asset to the firm. You won’t be able to rely on your technical skills alone, however. Accenture recruiters look for relationship skills as well.

At the end of the day, Accenture consultants focus a lot less on growth and performance and a lot more on productivity and operations. If your daily passion is saving companies money or increasing throughput, you’re going to fit right in at Accenture.

Diversity programs

Networking inside diversity groups is an excellent way to make connections with a local Accenture office. Diversity group representatives provide a direct contact to working consultants with a shared interest or background. Accenture offers diversity groups for the following:

ACCENTURE LINKS

We’ll wrap up with some quick links to all the Accenture articles on the MC site, as well as Twitter handles, key reading, and more. Enjoy!

More interesting Accenture stuff:

Accenture Management Consulting Podcast series

Accenture Management Consulting YouTube videos

Accenture Consultant bios

Accenture Recruiters blog

More Accenture blogs

Client case studies

Social Media:

Accenture Management Consulting Careers LinkedIn Group

Accenture on Facebook

Accenture Management Consulting on Facebook

Twitter handles:

@Accenture

@Accenture_Jobs

@AccentureUKJobs

@Accenture_Arg

@Accenture_Br

@AccentureIndia

Finally, a sample of Accenture presentations:

Topic: Accenture Technology Vision 2012

Topic: European Cross-border E-commerce

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5 surprising secrets of a killer McKinsey resume

Haven’t you always wondered what a McKinsey resume looks like?

Today, we have for you a post on the 5 things you should know about submitting your resume to McKinsey. After the rave reviews we received from our McKinsey firm profile, we decided to give you even more insight on the world’s top consulting firm – this time letting you in on the secrets of what it takes to make it past the resume screen at McKinsey.

Now, there are the standard set of rules for your consulting resume that apply for any firm – a results-oriented resume, formatting consistency, using proactive language, quantifying competitive accomplishments, providing context for key activities, etc. – and you can get more on those in our Resume & Cover Letter Bible. These 5 tips below, however, are focused specifically on McKinsey. So for all of you McKinseyite wannabes, this one’s for you!

June is resume month at MC, and as such, we focus all of our posts on that same topic – consulting resumes.

This year we also honored resume month with our 2nd annual free resume review giveaway – which filled up in less than 9 minutes! 50 lucky MC subscribers received a free resume review, and the 300+ more who didn’t make the 50-person cut-off received a private discount code to use for resume editing services. We’ll be sending out another special this month, so check back often, follow us on Facebook, or subscribe to our mailing list to stay tuned.

Here are the 5 things you should know about submitting your resume to McKinsey.

1. A Harvard business degree isn’t enough. 

McKinsey hires the best of Harvard’s best, so just being from Harvard isn’t good enough. We’re talking about the most prestigious consulting firm in the world here – so a regular ol’ degree from Stanford or INSEAD isn’t sufficient to get you to the interview round. The competition at McKinsey is more than stiff - it’s almost impossible.

Without prestigious leadership experience on your resume – e.g., if your highest achievement is Student Body Treasurer or you made the Dean’s list 50% of the time – don’t even bother applying. Your family may be gushing with pride over your accomplishments, but you won’t make it past the firm’s resume screen.

Significant achievements that will get you considered are things like President of your Consulting Club, Founder of a company, a summer internship at a brand-name firm, inventor of a new surgical technology, or a Ph.D. in some cutting edge and radical new research.

A knock-out McKinsey candidate is an influencer – the next Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, or Arianna Huffington – with a variety of interests that make you uniquely and powerfully you. You’re Type A, polished, and a winner – when you run, you’re elected; when you compete, you win.

Does this sound like the type of experience you have? If so, you’ve got a good chance. If not, either start obtaining it or consider back-up options.

2. Don’t use the McKinsey buzzwords, DEMONSTRATE them.

McKinsey buzzwords include structure, credibility, and credentials. Don’t use these terms on your resume – a McKinsey recruiter will see right through that. Anyone can say they’re great at using structure to solve problems. You’re much better off giving an example that presents the problem, briefly explains how you approached it, and what the results were.

Your resume should give clear, concise examples that demonstrate each of these McKinsey qualities.

Structure – Weave a story that presents a problem you faced, the structured approach you took to solving it – including breaking the problem into its component parts, and the positive results you achieved. On the job, you will rely on best practice work (i.e., the same report, but for a different company or industry) to get the job done – so if you can show you’ve done this before, you’re golden.

Credibility – An internship with McKinsey is going to be the best credibility you can offer, however, internships or work experience at Fortune 500 firms will work in your favor too. Other non-profit experiences can additionally give you an up, like a term with Teach for America, as long as that’s not all you’ve done (otherwise, the sudden interest in business might be suspect). Basically, anything you can include on your resume that shows you went through a rigorous selection process and came out on top is going to win you points with a McKinsey recruiter.

Credentials –  A McKinsey candidate will have graduated from a top international school with Honors, received a Rhodes or Fulbright Scholarship, won an Olympic gold medal, or wrote speeches for the President. Your credentials must be seriously impressive to be considered McKinsey-worthy, so include the most prestigious scholarships, merit awards, and industry accolades that you can on your resume.

3. McKinsey staffs globally, so show them you’re ready to go global.

Under McKinsey’s global staffing model, you’ll work on project engagements with 5-6 member teams pulled from locations around the world. Even if a client doesn’t demand your presence on-site, you’ll need to fly to connect with your team. That means you’ll be traveling 100% of the time.

What does this mean for your resume? Well, an internship with Deutsche Bank in Germany paired with an economics study abroad program in Argentina is going to convey your ability to get along with multi-national teams, handle living/working in another country, and demonstrate maturity traveling/living on your own. This isn’t necessarily a make or break for your application, but it will definitely have a positive influence on the review team.

I started my first consulting firm while I was living in South Africa, and it was focused on Corporate Social Responsibility. I worked with international governments, local South African bureaucrats, and multinational company’s business leaders to implement and measure the impact of business-focused programs. Yes, I had top grades from a great school and had won awards while there…but it was my international experience on top of all that that put me on McKinsey’s radar as an experienced hire.

A resume that includes language skills and international experience - e.g., study/work abroad, international competitions, globetrotting, etc. – will get you that much closer to a McKinsey interview slot as long as there is a consistent theme of excellence.

4. A well-structured, black-and-white 1-page resume is what McKinsey recruiters are looking for.

Don’t get creative on your resume. Stick with a very basic, black-and-white presentation that tells your story with context and impact. Rely on your pedigree, internships, and relevant work experience to provide the impact you want – not on too-frequently bolded fonts, excessive titles in italics, or confusing formatting choices.

You’re going to be representing a highly-established firm with Fortune 500 C-level executives, the majority of whom are older and probably more conservative than you. Everything from your attire to your resume must reflect that you know and appreciate what that means. McKinsey wants you to be highly intelligent, yet predictable. Creativity on your resume is appreciated, but only in terms of what you’re presenting – your experience, etc. – not in how you present it.

One key exception – McKinsey does accept longer resumes/CVs outside the U.S. The absolute maximum, however, is 2 pages, and you should have at least 5 years of professional work experience if you’re going to justify having a longer presentation of your education and experience. Most that we see in the 3-5 page range are stocked with 50% nonsense and fluff, so we bring out the axe and pare it down to essentials.

5. McKinsey values specialization.

McKinsey has a subject matter expert track and a generalist track, and versus its Bain and BCG counterparts moves consultants early on into specific practices, such as logistics or HR. Because McKinsey hires candidates into specific areas of expertise, the firm is more open to considering applications from candidates who’ve chosen not to go the typical MBA route. In fact, more than 50% of McKinsey consultants don’t have a graduate degree in business. If your education and/or work experience is “outside the norm,” don’t be afraid to highlight that on your resume.

Here’s another tip – if you do have a specialization outside of business, research McKinsey’s Insight weekend - a swanky, 2-day informational conference for hot target prospective consultants, held at a Ritz-Carlton near you. Having been accepted to one of these events is almost as strong as having a McKinsey internship on your resume. It shows you’ve already been vetted, moving you one step closer to the inner circle.

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Pretty sure that you don’t have McKinsey credentials yet? Let’s talk about your next steps here. Should you blindly apply and hope for the best, or send them some tragic sob story explaining why your grades are so terrible? Should you give up completely?

If you’re really serious about consulting, get strategic about your application to McKinsey and take a long-term view. Don’t have brand-name experience on your resume? Get some. Don’t have a top degree? Go back to school. Didn’t win an award? Try harder, builda magical company, or get creative in your free time. Remember, McKinsey consultants aren’t born – they are made. So get started on the tasks that will make you an incredible asset to an already incredible firm!

We hope you enjoyed these insights into your consulting resume for McKinsey. Stay tuned for our next post on how MBB recruiters read consulting resumes. Best of luck!

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A bright young banker’s BCG interview (and job offer)!

Today we have a guest post from Lucila, an international student who studied economics at a top U.S. university and, after a stint in investment banking for a global bank office in the U.S. (and a marathon interview process to boot), she broke into BCG.

Below, Lucila shares her experience applying for and successfully breaking into Boston Consulting Group, and goes into detail on the tactics she used to land a BCG interview as an experienced hire – a real feat for an off-cycle candidate with a background in banking.

Earlier this month, we featured BCG as a part of our Firm Profile series on the site.  Check it out here if you missed it!

Now, enjoy our latest “Life as a Consultant” series from networking rockstar Lucila:

——————————–

1.    For the benefit of readers, can you give us a summary of your background? Where you are from, education, extracurriculars, previous internships/jobs, interests, etc.

I was an international student that went to a top liberal arts college in the U.S. Neither my major nor minor were heavily quantitative, but I geared into more of an economics focus towards the end. I was very active in college, and had leadership roles in several student organizations.

During my junior year, I had an internship where I worked on market entry and growth strategy for a foreign bank in China. This position led me to my previous role: strategy, corporate development, and support for the CEO for the same bank but in the U.S.

Although I found the strategic and problem-solving aspect of the job very interesting, I realized that the financial services sector was not necessarily for me; I wanted to analyze other industries and companies as well. This led me to pursue a change in career into management consulting.

2.    What key steps did you take to get the BCG interview invite – from nuances of your application to any networking you did?

Getting my story down regarding why I wanted to get into consulting and why it was the right move for me at that point in time, and leveraging my network effectively (especially as an experienced hire), were key steps to getting the BCG interview invite.

Once I was certain I wanted to go into consulting, I started reaching out to alumni, family, and friends who had some connection to the consulting industry. Although I wasn’t formally interviewing, I tried to be as specific as possible when telling people what I wanted to do, why I wanted to do it, and why that was the right time – that was really helpful for them as well because it helped them point me in the right direction to people they might know, paths I could take, or other firms I could look into.

Eventually, one of my contacts offered to refer me at BCG. Afterwards, I enlisted the help of a colleague and former BCG consultant to help me tailor my resume to ensure that I was highlighting the projects, skills, and experience I had developed at my firm that BCG would be looking for. Once the recruiter scheduled a time for our call, I reviewed my story – which at this point had become close to second nature – and answers to other questions I had prepared. The call was a success, and a few weeks later I had my first case interview.

Above all, Lucila’s networking strategy paved the way for her successful entry into management consulting. For more coaching and tools for building your own networking skills, get our Networking Bible.

 3.    BCG is a great company, but it’s hard to break into as an experienced hire. Can you tell us the insider’s view of the experienced hire interview process – how many you did, what seniority you interviewed with, case style, etc.?

In my experience, the experienced hire interview process was different from the traditional college/grad school process primarily where timing was concerned. Given that you may start interviewing before on-cycle college recruiting begins, your process may be longer than usual.

My first interview occurred at the end of spring. It was over the phone with a recruiter, where some basic fit and office preference questions were asked. A month or so later, I had my second interview. This one was an in-office case interview with post-MBA consultants. The other interviewees were in their last year of their MBA. There were two sets of interviews, both of which included a personal component, a case, and a time for me to ask questions. One of the cases was more guided than the other, but both contained some kind of quantitative component to them.

My last interview happened along with all the others who were interviewing to gain a spot in the Associate class – early/mid fall. There were 3 interviews: the 1st was a 20 minute conversation, consisting mostly of personal questions, with a Project Leader. The 2nd and 3rd interviews were led by Principals and in the style of the 2nd round interviews. Even though one of the cases was more guided by the interviewer, the second was a lot more vague, and I had to work with very little information.

4.    What were some of your other choices (including staying at your current job), and why did you decide to join BCG?

When I received my offer to join BCG, I had a couple of other options. The first was to stay within my current job, continuing to work on long-term strategy for the bank as well as provide support to the CEO. The second was to move to an internal M&A team within the bank, but with a broader geographic scope.

I decided to join BCG because of the opportunity to continue working on challenging problems across a wide array of industries, the plethora of career development opportunities, and its collegial culture – everyone I met was smart, motivated, and interesting, always willing to help out and incredibly friendly.

5.    What do you look forward to most about working for BCG? What are you most nervous about?

What I am most looking forward to about working for BCG is the opportunity to learn more about a range of industries and challenges faced by different corporations – which is also one of the things I am most nervous about: switching gears out of banking and learning and understanding other sectors and businesses quickly.

6.    What advice can you give MC readers about preparing for consulting interviews as an experienced hire? Were there any game-changing interview preparation resources or tools that you’d highly recommend to others in your same shoes?

What worked best for me was to practice all components of the interview (case and personal) live, take notes on the feedback provided, and review them often. Jenny Rae at MC was absolutely essential to this process. We worked a lot together, starting from the very basics all the way until I felt confident with building up an initial structure and walking through a variety of cases.

Likewise, the feedback she provided was one of the most valuable preparation resources I had. After a session, I would rewrite the case we had gone through, highlighting both my strengths and weaknesses. In between sessions, I would review these notes; this process allowed me to reinforce the things that I had done well, and remember those that did not come naturally at first.

As an experienced hire, it may seem a bit daunting to tackle interview prep alongside a day-to-day job, but the key is to plan ahead, and use any free time you have (commute, lunch breaks, you name it) to fit in some review time; likewise, try to apply what you do in your cases to your day-to-day job so you get used to thinking about problems and structuring your thoughts in all kinds of situations.

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From our perspective, Lucila was a natural at building personal relationships but did need a lot of work when it came to cases. Her determination, however, was second to none and we weren’t surprised to get the JOBBBBB OFFFFFER email on the Friday of her final interview!

Congrats – your hard work was impressive and you’ll be a great consultant!

Want to work with us to break into BCG? Check out our premium editing and interview prep services for undergrads, MBAs, and experienced hires.

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9 factors to consider when comparing McKinsey – Bain – BCG

There’s a reason why McKinsey, Bain, and BCG are the top dogs in the management consulting industry. Perhaps it’s more accurate to say that there are many reasons that make consultants at these 3 firms part of an elite club. History, prestige, and expertise are a few of the elements that make MBB the most [...]

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Financial Modeling 102: 4 major types of consulting models

Today we continue our series on financial modeling for consulting. Financial modeling scared the pants off of me until I figured out how useful it was, and I was even more motivated to be good at it when I realized how awesome it made me look as an analyst. I was purely motivated by competitive [...]

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