Previous interviews featured consultants from Booz Allen, AT Kearney, Nortel, and McKinsey.

Disclaimer: I did not personally conduct this interview. Both the questions and answers were sent to me by a kind reader. I found the content to be insightful and thorough, so enjoy!

I’ve bolded parts that are helpful for consulting applicants, and have additional comments in gray paragraph boxes at the end of each question

What do you do?

Celerant is a virtual company, in that we don’t have regional offices. Our consultants live anywhere in North America that they wish and the project sites become their office. Typically I will fly out Monday morning and return on Friday evening every week of a project which tend to last anywhere from 4-12 months at a time. Upon arrival on Monday morning I go directly to the client site where it is expected I will begin work no later than after lunch that day.

My typical day (averages 12 hours long) is spent facilitating a client team through identification and development of solutions. Another large portion of my time is spent helping this team explain the value of our solutions to key stakeholders in the organization. I’m working with people from the ground floor up to top management in order to fully implement sustainable change in the organization. Implementing change includes helping them to see the value of change and how it will benefit everyone in the long run, and getting the key people to feel so good about new ways that they are carrying out their business that they would never want to go back to the old.

The value we offer our clients first and foremost is that of an outsider with experience in their field with ideas and alternative solutions to the way that work is currently being done. We are change agents. It is our job to help stretch the clients thinking of what is possible and drive them to implement new or improved systems and processes which will in turn streamline the workflow and rationalize the work being done by those people in certain functions and decision making roles. Typically we take a hard look at things like:

• Identifying & picking up ‘quick wins’ (financial and cultural improvements that can happen within minimal effort or approval) that can gain momentum for the client & the project
• Reviewing how the client manages its inventories, organizes & executes activities across departments, and responds to market demands.
• How effectively the client is forecasting, planning, executing and reporting the work that is taking place
• Realigning the roles, responsibilities, and structure within the organization in alignment with the value chain for the company

What sets Celerant apart from other consultancies is that we are an Implementation and Operational Strategy consultancy. We are on the ground with the people doing the work and achieving cost savings & process optimization which link directly to the bottom line. Also, as a result of the program that we come in offering and the typical project duration we pride ourselves on our ability to deliver sustainable behavior change to our clients which will assure a culture of continuous improvement has been institutionalized.

Read my post on a day in consulting and additional thoughts on consulting travel. Celerant is focused on operations work – intense, daily client interaction with folks up and down the org chart is typical

What steps have you taken to get to where you are today?

This was my first job after graduating from college. It was through much conversation with professors, friends, and career services that I identified the field of Management Consulting as the field I wanted to enter. I realized up front the rigor of the job (travel, lifestyle, etc) but was enticed by the opportunity to see the inner workings of many different companies and learn first hand the ‘Don’t and Don’ts’ of business so that one day my company won’t make the same mistakes.

I entered Celerant at the consultant level and was promoted 1.5 years later to the title of Senior Consultant. With the promotion I have taken on much more responsibility and expectations for output and thought leadership. I have spent time in many different areas of our company learning about offerings such as Asset Management, Supply Chain, and most recently Organizational Effectiveness. I see the experience of diversifying experience in the first few years as a ‘Must Do’, for it helps ones marketability as well as helping you avoid becoming pigeon holed when looking for future jobs in that industry or if you were to change industries all together.

Consulting affords a broad business education, but you can’t take it for granted. Strive to learn a diverse set of skills to keep options open. More on consulting skills here

What qualities do you and your company/organization find most attractive when hiring?

Years of experience in related industries and/or consulting are a big plus when applying. But I think the following characteristics about a candidate are also very appealing to Celerant:

• Experience facilitating, coaching, and driving groups to solutions and outputs
• A “Whatever it takes” mentality
• Self Confidence
• The ability to present and speak with confidence about ones convictions and ideals
• Not just an understanding of the problems that companies face or the solutions to improve their current situation, but the ability to take the client from the old to the new (Facilitation)
• Creativity to solving problems and the ability to communicate with others

What sort of academic and professional experiences would be helpful in landing a job in your field?

I think that the following were all very important in preparing me to land a job in the consulting field:

• My focus on Management & Organizational Behavior “Why do people act and behave like they do in given situations?” or “What do good organizations do?”
• Experiences in coaching and leading in many different arenas in and out of college. I spent 4 years coaching basketball, took on many leadership positions within volunteer organizations, and was forced to develop & implement solutions within all of those experiences
• Ability to understand at a high level those buttons that impact the bottom line and financial viability of a company
• Utilize your professors/mentors/friends in industry as advisors that you keep in touch with. I have continued to keep my 2 college advisors as well as some close friends (both peers and from my parents generation) abreast of my endeavors, thoughts, concerns, and new ideas on given basis. People you have a connection with are receptive to listening and want to offer advice.

Having had no prior “long term” industry experience when entering this job it was these past experiences that helped me to relate, adapt, and find solutions to problems I encountered along the way.

The above points emphasize leadership and business knowledge. Read every consulting resource you can find and edit your resume to demonstrate you have a consulting skillset

Where would you recommend that people interested in this occupation begin to look?

• Use the college and grad school alumni network – Call, e-mail, take them out to lunch
• Use the network of family and friends you have – they know you the best as far as your credibility, although you may need to show them that you are definitely ready and qualified to enter the industry you are looking at
• Go knocking on doors & find ways to talk to people in companies you are interested in
• Have a mantra/story that you are always talking about. Not just a clear picture of what you want to do, but why and how excited you are about finding an opportunity. It is amazing how powerful it is when one keeps their goal mind at all turns, and how opportunities begin to present themselves

Network and network some more! It’s key to landing consulting jobs. Learn how to network at presentations and consulting networking basics from previous posts

What are your future professional plans?

I will own my own business someday soon down the road. Risky? Yes, but I’m very clear that I want to be the one ultimately accountable for my success and that of my company.

I also look forward to working in executive development one day coaching CEO’s and top level management teams through transitions, tough decisions, and new opportunities.

I’m very excited to return to coaching at some time in the future and work developing and mentoring young people through athletics.

Lastly, I hope to one day be able to be a sounding board and Angel investor for young people and the business ideas and plans that they want to get off the ground.

I think that I will need to be a CEO in order to coach CEOs (credibility). To that point I believe that getting my MBA will be critical as well.

Entrepreneurship and venture capital are two attractive consulting exit options

Any last words of wisdom?

• Keep your goal in mind at all times. Let it emanate from you in all you do.
• Take every opportunity to learn and increase your frame of reference
• Do what you like, define success for yourself (don’t let others) and become comfortable with the reality of what it will take to achieve that success. If you are doing something you don’t like, it will be clear to everyone you work with.

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UPCOMING POSTS: Consulting exit opportunities – Part 2 of 2

I offer resume/CV editing and interview preparation to help people break into management consulting. We’ll help you stand out from 1000’s of other applicants and land consulting job offers

For new readers, consider subscribing to my RSS. It’s the most convenient way to receive blog updates – and expect a slew of content in the next few days

Here are my 5 favorite posts since starting Management Consulted

• Management Consulting versus Investment Banking – a time-honored question for undergraduate and MBA students across the world. I break it down into the 5 primary dimensions upon which these careers differ
• Day in the life of a management consultant – the day described here is one of the easier ones you’ll face, but provides a good view of client relations, team dynamics, and a typical day’s ebb and flow
• Life as a Consultant: An interview with a consultant from Booz Allen- one of my favorite interviews thus far, past ones have included McKinsey, ATK Shanghai, and Nortel. Booz guy does a great job discussing issues ranging from public sector consulting to the Booz recruiting process to career paths within the firm
• Overview of the management consulting recruiting process – ground zero for prospective consultants, this article gives a comprehensive view of each component in the typical recruiting cycle. While the perspective skews towards those currently in school, there are valuable insights regardless of your current position
• The Consulting Bible – no round-up of resources is complete without a plug for my in-depth interview guide. It’s not free, but there’s a 60-day return policy, plus free updates for life. My 2nd update will be coming in a few weeks!

Here’s a very useful case study primer, courtesy of Bill Blackwell and the Jesse Jones School of Management Consulting Club at Rice University. Pay particular attention to the case frameworks – there are a few very good ones

An interview with Social Geekette

I recently did an interview with Serena Wu on Social Geekette. We cover topics such as why I started Management Consulted, my experiences at McKinsey, and my views on blogging and the internet. Check it out here.

Questions for readers on a new project

After helping more than a hundred people with resumes and interview prep to break into consulting, the biggest issue I’ve noticed is that many people don’t have access to useful recruiting channels

It’s easy for Ivy Leaguers, for most MBA students, and for those already in consulting. But there’s a huge audience – experienced hires from different industries, those that go to non-target schools – that don’t have access to key resources like information sessions, campus recruiters, and the attention of consultants at their target firms.

The tentative title of this project is “How Anyone Can Break Into Management Consulting, Regardless Of Your School Or Current Job.”

It will be a comprehensive directory of consulting firms and emails/phone numbers for recruiters AND consultants at each firm. I plan to include tactics that people can use to get their resumes noticed and land interviews – such as actual call scripts and email templates. The focus is on boutique firms – because the big guys are much tougher to break into through non-traditional methods.

Having said that, I’d love to get reader feedback on 2 questions:

1. If you want to be a business consultant, what are your biggest concerns in breaking into the industry?
2. Have you entered consulting through non-traditional means, and if so, can you share your story? I’d love to feature some successful case studies

Thanks a million! I’d prefer if you contacted me directly with answers, particularly for the case studies. To incent responses, I’ll provide this book for free to anyone whose concerns, insights, and stories are incorporated (along with a free copy of The Consulting Bible, 2nd ed).

Some background: I’ve been reading Marquis’ blog for several years. He is a prolific and insightful poster who truly cares about his readers. Head over to his blog to read tons of great articles about consulting, business school, and general career advice.

Now on to the interview! I’ve bolded a few things that are particularly helpful for prospective applicants

Please note, the personal views and opinions expressed are strictly those of the interviewee and do not reflect the views of the interviewee’s employers or affiliated entities.

1. For the benefit of readers, can you give us a summary of your background?

I’m originally from a small town in Virginia and, through some miracle, I ended up at Princeton University, where I earned an A.B. in Computer Science. After college, I worked as a Software Engineer for a couple of companies (a internet consulting firm in NYC and a software and systems engineering firm in the DC area), focused primarily on Java development. While at the second company, I earned my first graduate degree, an M.S. in Management of Information Technology from the University of Virginia, as the first step toward stepping from behind a computer to learning about management. After five years as a Software Engineer, I attended the Stanford Graduate School of Business and completed a joint-degree program, earning an MBA and an M.A. in Education. Following business school, I spent a couple of years as a consultant at McKinsey & Company, where I worked on projects in a range of industries/functions. In late 2008, I left McKinsey and started an exciting new gig in Chicago, where I’ve been for two months now.

2. You run a popular career-advice blog over at Marquis’ Weblog. What inspired you to start this site?

I started the site back in Oct. 2003 as a tool to help other B-school aspirants by sharing stories of my own B-school process. I didn’t know any MBAs while I was applying, which made the application process a huge mystery for me. I figured that, if there were other aspirants who didn’t know anyone in the MBA world, they could rely on me as the person that they “know”. Over time, I learned that telling my story was giving a lot of people hope because, “if someone as silly as [me] can get into and through a top B-school, then just about anybody can” (that is a direct quote from a reader I met a few years ago). After graduation, the site continued to morph into its current form where I help readers even more by answering their questions on just about any topic they generate for me, including career, education, and business. It hsan’t been easy to keep my site going for so long, but, as long as it’s helping people, I’ll keep on doing it…well, as long as I’m also having fun doing it, that is :-)

By the way, I wrote up a much longer response to this question in a past entry on my blog, which can be found here.

3. You went to Stanford GSB for business school before working at McKinsey. Can you tell us why you chose Stanford GSB?

Hmmm…why did I choose Stanford GSB?…That’s basically what the first three year’s worth of entries in my blog are about :-) That exact question was posed to me in an entry from last October, so I’ll copy over what I used to respond to that reader:

At a high-level, I was looking for the following things in a business school and Stanford offered all of them:

–

a. Strong general management program –> My goal was to finish B-school with a strong overall understanding of business, so I targeted general management programs when selecting schools. Stanford is among the top general management programs out there, so it immediately make the short-list of schools for me.

b. Small class size –> I wanted a school where each incoming class was small enough for me to really get to know my classmates over my two years. I was trying to find a place that would allow me to be a name and not a number and Stanford’s average class size of 370 made it a great fit in this metric.

c. Strong “transformational” and diverse culture –> Every business school has a strong culture, but not every school’s culture will be a fit for everyone. I was looking for a culture that embraced diversity of thought, background, nationality, and perspective among its students. Even more important to me was finding a school whose culture left its students feeling like they’d reached their full potentials and had been transformed by their MBA experiences. As I researched Stanford and spoke to students, I learned that the GSB scored off the charts in both of these areas, cementing its position as my #1 choice school.

–

4. What sparked your interest in McKinsey as a career? Can you tell us about your recruiting experience with the firm?

My interest in McKinsey was sparked prior to applying to business school as I researched the management consulting industry. During this research, I found that McK had a reputation for creating CEO’s and other business and organizational leaders, which is what I aspired to become. Also, I learned that it was known for tackling mission critical issues for its clients, which also appealed to me. Finally, I thought that having a stint at McKinsey would do wonders for my own professional brand since my first employer collapsed after the dot-com bubble burst and my second employer was too small for anyone to have ever heard of.

My recruiting experience with the Firm was very straight-forward and positive overall. It started during the first year at Stanford by attending several events and getting to know people, which confirmed my liking for the place. I was dinged for the summer internship after second-round interviews, but several people from McK stayed in touch with me during that summer, which made me put McK back at the top of my list for the full-time recruiting process. Fortunately, I did better the second time around and was able to secure a full-time offer. My experience was so good that I devoted significant attention to recruiting once I joined the Firm in order to have a positive impact on the recruiting of other candidates.

5. During your time at McKinsey, you were based in Atlanta. Did you notice any differences between working in a smaller office like Atlanta versus a larger office like New York?

There wasn’t a difference in terms of the actual nuts and bolts of what I did day-to-day, but I did note a few differences, including:

1. Types of projects available within the office and region — Different offices have core sets of clients, which have different needs from teams, so I found that I’d have different options (topic areas, industry, function, etc) for studies than my friends in other offices…it is possible that there’s a correlation between variety of available work and office size, but I’m not certain about that.

2. Ability to connect with other Associates in the office — I found it much easier to build good friendships with the majority of my fellow Associates because there were fewer of us and we’d hang out quite often. I imagine that it is more difficult to get to know as high a proportion of the Associates in a bigger office like New York.

3. Social options for outside-of-work times — Often, it doesn’t take long to see what there is to see and do what there is to do in a city with a smaller office. Whereas, in a huge city like NYC, there are any number of social outlets and they change all the time, which provides more options during one’s off-time.

MC note: these themes echo my global firms vs boutiques post

6. What do you think are the most important lessons you took away from McKinsey?

It’s difficult to give a short answer to this question because I learned a lot in my years at McK. A few lessons that come to mind are:

1. The Consulting Toolkit — Structured problem solving, analytics, frameworks to think about business issues, methods to effective present/lay-out arguments/analyses, etc

2. Ways to leverage both EQ (emotional quotient) and IQ (intellectual quotient) — I’ve heard it said that EQ gets you through life and IQ gets you through school. I’ve always been an killer EQ guy, but McK taught me how to effectively leverage IQ to be even more effective

3. Importance of developing a network of supporters within an organization/office/etc.

4. Ability to get spun up on a particular company, industry, function, or topic very quickly and develop a perspective on it

5. Understanding of the impact of professional presence and tools to develop that presence

6. Importance of maintaining a strong work-life balance (I was terrible at it, so I learned from the downside of it…more on this below)

7. I know this question is huge for readers, and you seem as well-placed to answer it as anyone: what would you say are the biggest differences amongst the Big 3 (McKinsey, Bain, BCG)?

This is a great question, but one that I’m cautious about answering because I’ve never worked for Bain or BCG. From what I’ve heard, all three companies tackle the same types of questions for their clients and bring tremendous intellectual power to every client situation. The two biggest differences I always hear about are the methodology/approach used by each firm and their corporate cultures. I’m sure many of your readers have heard about “The McKinsey Way”, the McK approach to problem solving and delivering client value…a few books have been written about it, so there’s a lot of information about it out in the market. I’ve heard that Bain and BCG have their own methodologies that, while different, provide a similar guideline upon which to rely when doing client work. I imagine that there are nuanced differences between the three though. And, as for the culture issue, I’d suggest that your readers attend a few info sessions for each firm and talk to some of the company representatives. That process should leave them with a good idea of each company’s culture.

8. What motivated your transition from consulting to finance?

Actually, I didn’t really make a full-on transition into finance, which I’m very happy about considering the state of the finance industry right now. Rather, my new company is a strategic advisory and capital investment firm and my current work is still strategy-based, just with a different focus and in a different arena. But, I’ve been diving into company financial statements (to learn about those companies) more than I have since taking my Corporate Finance course at Stanford GSB. As I looked at my options, I was trying to optimize on several factors, including my interest in the work, what I’d learn in the role, and how it would fit into my overall “story” in the long-term, and this gig fit the bill perfectly. Plus, it didn’t hurt that it is based in Chicago where I had a lot of friends, so I wouldn’t have had to build a social network from scratch like I did in Atlanta.

9. Any last words of advice to prospective consultants?

As you can imagine, many of my reader requests are for advice about consulting, so I’ve thought and written about this a LOT. You know that consulting people like to use structure whenever possible, right? So, I’ll break this into two parts: getting the job and then nailing the job.

Winning an offer in consulting is no easy feat, so prospective applicants need to be on point from the beginning. Here are a few lessons that I learned along the way in my own process:

1. Start preparing for case interviews as early as possible (case prep guides, practice cases, mental math exercises, etc)
2. Do as much due diligence on the different firms as possible (leverage company websites, recruiting sessions, industry publications, etc)
3. Develop your “Why Company X is a fit for me” and “Why I am a fit for Company X” stories early on and continue to sharpen them as you find out more about the firms during the due diligence process
4. Take stock of your professional, educational, and life experiences and figure out how to concisely describe them in depth (this will be helpful in the fit interviews)
5. Remember that you have a lot to offer wherever you end up, so, if you don’t get a consulting offer, the world will not end, your life will not be over, and it doesn’t mean that you’re not a high-quality candidate

Once a person gets their consulting offer, they should immediately shift their mindset to preparing to do well at the job. To address this point, I’ll leverage some content I wrote for an entry a while back because the readers here might find it useful. With that in mind, my top-10 list of tips for soon-to-be consultants are:

1. Be confident, but humble
2. Get really good at Excel modeling (or any other core skill to the job) as early as possible
3. Always present the best “you” as possible
4. Be prepared to be pushed
5. Don’t be afraid to seek help when needed
6. Build a support network within your office as early as possible
7. Show enthusiasm and interest
8. Always execute on deliverables
9. Don’t be afraid to be active/vocal in team settings
10. Sign up for frequent flier, hotel loyalty, and rewards credit cards as early as possible (if you’re going to be living out of a suitcase, you might as well benefit from it, right?)

And, one last piece of advice…be prepared for the strain that the job can put on real-life relationships with significant others, family, friends, colleagues, etc. I underestimated this point going in and was totally unpreprepared for the difficult process of balancing the job with the personal relationships I valued. I still wonder how things might have turned out differently if I’d been more prepared for this issue from the beginning.

10. How should readers get in touch with you?

Readers can contact me at the email address that I set up for my blog. I often have a long backlog of messages, but I always send a response, even if it takes me a month or more to do so.

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UPCOMING POSTS: Reader questions; Why companies hire consultants

Next week, you can look forward to:

• Release of “The Consulting Bible” – an interview guide complete with the 60+ most common interview questions, sizing questions, and custom-written cases
• Continuation of the “Life as a Consultant” interview series which started with Booz Allen and now continues with contributors from Bain, Oliver Wyman, and ATKearney as well as perspectives on working overseas, transitioning from finance, etc
• More “Core Content” posts including articles on resumes, interviews, consulting lifestyle, and thoughts on my time at McKinsey

In the past month, I’ve had the fortune of helping 20+ people break into consulting. Unfortunately, I need to increase prices as I can’t handle demand. I will be changing the format of my coaching service (to become distinct “resume” and “interview” products). Look for these changes by next week

Now on to the questions! These are the most common and interesting ones to hit the comments and my inbox, and I figure many readers are interested in the answers.

Is there a GPA cutoff for management consulting? What is a strong GPA? Poor GPA?

Instead of saying “it depends”, here’s my take: if you have a 3.5 and above, you should be safe for most recruiting screens. If you have below a 3.5, other factors come into play – such as the strength of your undergraduate institution, the difficulty of your major, whether you have multiple degrees, etc.

3.7 and above is generally a strong GPA.

3.2 and below is generally a poor GPA.

Of course, the strength of your work experience and extracurricular experience always matter and can shift GPA perceptions.

I’m a senior in college and applying to consulting firms fulltime. Unfortunately, I have a really low SAT score from high school. Will this hurt my chances? Should I retake the SAT?

If your SAT score is below 1300, it could hurt depending on the firm. I would strongly recommend against retaking the SAT. There are better uses of your time. However, if you believe you can take it right now with no practice and score a 1500, no one will stop you.

If you have a low SAT, focus on the areas where you can make a difference – a great GPA will go a long way. Shoot for leadership positions in school, gain part-time work experience during school and recruit for quality firms over summer and post-college.

Same applies to GMAT. I’d think of 700 as your cutoff level there

Since graduating from college/graduate school, I’ve worked in several jobs and have built a strong work resume. Unfortunately, my educational background is weak – I didn’t go to a “target school” and had a low GPA in my time. How much will this affect my chances?

I’ve received many people asking variations of this theme. Here’s my advice:

If you have strong work experience – world-class firms, multiple promotions, a record of accomplishment, leadership, and risk-taking – the most important thing for you now is not your undergraduate GPA, but how you can get your resume in front of recruiters and decision-makers. Unless you plan on going back to school and utilizing their recruiting channels, it will come down to networking. There are a couple sources I suggest you hit immediately:

• School and work alumni networks
• Extended personal network (friends and family)
• Headhunters – preferably the ones that don’t charge an upfront fee but work through referrals to specific firms
• Pounding the pavement – meeting consultants at industry conferences, tradeshows, career forums, etc

Your educational record will play a part in your overall candidacy, but a minor one. If you have 5+ years of work experience, those years will be the focal point of any interview and resume screen. Your goal now is to get that opportunity.

I’ve heard that some offices are “easier” to recruit for at big consulting firms such as Bain, BCG, Mckinsey, Booz Allen. Should I apply to the smaller, “easier” offices?

This myth is partly true, partly false.

It’s partly true because selectivity varies by office at GMCs. Smaller offices may prefer a weaker candidate who ranks them #1 and has a rationale for that ranking (eg, it’s their hometown, they’re interested in the region’s dominant industries) to a stronger candidate who doesn’t rank them at all.

It’s partly false because selectivity can vary significantly in the smaller offices year-to-year. Particularly in the current hiring environment, smaller offices may make offers in the low single digits (if any).

Here’s your takeaway: if you’re a very strong candidate, it won’t matter to which office you apply. If you’re a borderline candidate, you may want to give office preferences a closer look – but only if you have good personal and professional reasons to do so.

Thanks for reading. For more background info and if you’re new to Management Consulted, here are some recommended posts: The Consulting Industry 101; Investment Banking vs Management Consulting; Day in the life of a Management Consultant; Overview of the recruiting process; The Management Consulting Dictionary

UPCOMING POSTS: Continuation of the “Life as a Consultant” series; Top 10 tips for mastering the sizing questions (aka mini-case studies)

Subscribe to my RSS feed here to learn more about management consulting jobs.

I offer a coaching service to help people break into management consulting and top business jobs – from resume editing to simulated interviews/case studies to Q&A and networking. We’ll prepare you to master the recruiting process, stand out from the 1000’s of other applicants, and land multiple job offers