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Hi Kevin,

I am a recent graduate from a engineering undergraduate degree and would like to get into a role in management consultancy. But I am a bit concern with my lack of experience in any particular industry or function and wonder how much in-depth industry knowledge can a consultancy job offer for a fresh graduate (as what I understand is a lot of experienced consultants come from the industry they specialized in). And whether this will become a problem in my career in the long term. So I am weighting up between 2 options: 1. Apply for a consultancy firm straight away or 2. Apply for an engineering firm so to gain in-depth industry and product knowledge first for a couple of years before I go for a consultancy role. I will really appreciate if you can provide some advices/insight into this. Cheers!!

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Arjun Reply:
July 16th, 2010 at 8:52 am

I am in the same boat my friend. I sent an email to dear Kevin. I hope he replies.
Good Luck.

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Hi,
I am currently completing my Chartered Accountancy from KPMG UK. Could you tell me what the job prospects are for me in the consultancy field once I am done with my CA.

Thanks alot
Azam

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Hello. I am a reader of your blog and let me first thank you for all the helpful tips you wrote.
I had my second round interviews today at L.E.K. Consulting but I was dramatically bad. I honestly could not do worse. Do you think I should write a thank you e-mail to my interviewers and use this occasion to mention that I am aware of how bad I was ? Is there a hope I go through the third round ?
Thanks a lot.
M.

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Kevin Reply:
April 15th, 2010 at 9:51 am

Mark, I would recommend against doing that unless:

1. You are absolutely CERTAIN that you bombed the interview

2. You know the person well or felt a strong connection during the interview (but given your sense of how it went, I’m guessing not)

Unless either of those 2 situations apply, you’re not helping your case by sending an email like the one you suggested.

Good luck.

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Mark Reply:
April 15th, 2010 at 10:02 am

Kevin,
Thank you very much for your piece of advice. I guess I will stick to it.

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Hello there,

Thank you very much for your website.
I just discovered it and I am looking forward to exploring it more.

I am very impressed with the book offer (as well as the continuous free updates) therefore, I purchased a copy. However, I am unable to find the link to download it. Whenever you have a chance, could you please give me some pointers on how I may access the file?

Thank you in advance for your time on this,

~T

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Kevin Reply:
April 16th, 2010 at 2:36 pm

Tracy, thanks for your note. You should have received a unique download link directly to the email addressed you provided with purchase. If you do not receive that within 10-15 minutes after purchase, please email me and let me know. Thanks!

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Hello Kevin,

I just ran across your site and found it extremely useful. Thank you for this wonderful tool.

I will be interviewing with the directors of Booz and Company and McKinsey in Seoul this week. I received these interviews by networking through a collegue of a family friend. I have over 12 years of government experience (strategy, policy, law, and negotiations) and have held relatively senior level positions for the US goverment and am a trained lawyer.

Now the downside — My Korean is good conversationally, but not native level. I believe I can learn quickly based on my foundation, but it will take some practice (something I have not had an opportunity to do working in an English language environment). I also went to average schools, both undergrad and law (although I graduated first in my class in undergrad — I did not do as well in law school).

Kevin, how will my language ability affect me? Also, does it matter what school I went to after all of my years of experience? Is there a real chance that my government experience in policy and strategy can translate into the business world? Lastly, since I will be interviewing with the directors of the office, should I still assume the case study interview format?

Sorry for the long email and thanks so much! I interview with Booz tomorrow and McKinsey on Friday, so I am a little nervous about the time to prepare.

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Kevin Reply:
April 18th, 2010 at 8:29 pm

Charlie, thanks for your email. I can only be brief (as you can imagine we get a lot of questions on the site and through our contact form), but here are some thoughts.

1. Your language ability will affect you, simply because in some countries (such as Korea), the dominant operating language will be that native tongue. While many presentations will be given in English, language requirements are necessary to provide great client service. I can’t judge how much of a factor it will be in your particular situation, but I’d take it as a good sign that you were able to land the interview, and it should not be the dominant concern

2. I don’t have a great handle on international recruiting, but I imagine that it plays a relatively small role given your 12+ years of experience

3. Absolutely. McKinsey, as well as most other strategy consulting firms, is pushing hard to expand its talent pool beyond the standard MBA/business background

4. I assume that will be at least a significant portion of the interview, although it may not be as structured as would be typical for a recent college graduate. At any level, though, they’ll be interested in testing your ability to communicate complex ideas clearly, and solve problems analytically

Good luck!

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How does one express a “sudden awakening of spirit” as I put it?

I went to college to go with the flow, never really cared where in the beginning . Did very poorly on my SAT (40th percentile) for various reasons, mainly not caring at the time.

Recently I “woke up” and have been doing much better.

Total cumulative GPA will be 3.25ish. HOWEVER, I project my cumulative GPA for the last 1/3rd of my academic record (40 units) will be just shy of 3.7, and the last 25 units will have a 3.85-3.88. I have a long list of non profit leadership history traced back to high school that involves overseeing large groups of people, key decision making positions, and even founding and managing a scholarship fund.

I’m not attending a top tier school, nowhere near but it is a reputable school for communications which is what I chose to major in, and my major course cumulative is north of 3.6.

How does someone like myself account for a sudden uptick in academic performance and ambition, coupled with a substantial increase in responsibilities outside of school on top of the past experiences? Do I just come out and say I “woke up” one day? Would taking the GMAT and scoring in the 720+ range balance out against the poor SAT and early low GPA when coupled with my recent GPA.
Is it unwise to apply right out of college? Would it be better to work for a while? Take more courses at a local JC to add to academic history?

I can’t be the only person who woke up somewhere in their undergrad.

Suggestion for us “late bloomers?”

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Kevin,

The website has provided an amazing amount of information. Currently, I am a classroom teacher and I am interested in pursuing work as a consultant (preferably with Deloitte or Bain).

My career/education background is not business related (B.A., english; M.A., curriculum and instruction, M.Ed., educational leadership and policy studies). However, I have 8 years of experience and my graduate work is from UCLA. Am I shooting for the stars in trying to “break into consulting” or do I have a shot?

Thanks,

Torray

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