In the last 6 months, I’ve helped more than 100 folks improve their interview skills to break into consulting.

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!

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While the Life as a Consultant series usually features current or former consultants, today we have a new guest. Ryan Wegner is a first-year senior at the University of Wisconson-Madison. Regardless of where you are in your consulting career – reading through the interview will be worth your time.

Ryan first contacted me in the height of recruiting season. He’d landed 3 consulting offers at leading firms including Deloitte, Towers Perrin, and PwC and wanted to get my perspective on his options.

Needless to say, I was very impressed. In this economy, it’s tough to land interviews much less multiple job offers. To top it off, he’s an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison – a strong school but a non-target for many top consulting firms.

It was obvious that interviewing Ryan would be a tremendous benefit to readers looking to break into consulting. His story highlights much of the advice I’ve repeatedly offered prospective applicants – to land consulting jobs, you need to focus on the following:

• Aggressive networking – cold emails, cold calls, and building recruiter contacts wherever you can
• Online job search and networking tools – LinkedIn is the 800-pound gorilla
• Pursuit of relevant work experience wherever/whenever you can – for undergrads, this means school-year/part-time jobs. For current professionals, this means augmenting your fulltime job with additional training, professional organizations, and/or seeking better job opportunities

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 grew up in Wisconsin and decided to take 4 years off before going straight to college after high school. I chose to serve in the US Army and was stationed in Germany and deployed to Kosovo, Macedonia, Bosnia, Kuwait, and one year in Iraq. I came back to the states and enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Madison because of their strong business school. I am currently a first year senior with a triple major in Finance, Actuarial Science, and Risk Management and will graduate next December.

While in school I knew it was important to an internship as soon as possible, so I was an intern at Scottrade (discount online broker) during the summer and continued working for them during my sophomore year. The following summer I worked at a small niche insurance company as an Actuarial Intern. During my junior year I interned at Merrill Lynch (PWM) in the fall working for a few portfolio managers. In the spring I worked at another insurance company in their actuarial department. Last summer I was a Summer Analyst at Credit Suisse and they extended my internship through the fall semester. So, I worked part-time in Chicago and went to school full-time in Madison, WI. Currently I am working for Abbott Labs as a Risk Management Intern in Chicago and still going to school full-time.

Three of these internships were through campus postings/on campus recruiting, while the other three were through networking and cold calling companies to create an internship for me. Each internship allowed me to gain valuable skills in all aspects of consulting and landed me numerous interviews and job offers for this summer.

His advice here is invaluable – the value of school-year/part-time internships, and the opportunities that can be created through effective networking and cold-calling

2. University of Wisconsin – Madison School of Business is a “non-target” school, which can make consulting recruitment more challenging. What’s been your recruiting experience, and what advice can you give others at similar schools?

Depending on what rankings a company or student goes by, it ranks anywhere from 13 to 35 overall. However, the school has top ranked business programs (majors) in Actuarial Science, Risk Management, and Operations Technology & Management. These are the programs that bring in top ranked and well known companies worldwide. So, when these companies come to campus, it is best to network with them at career fairs or information sessions. Or, if a company has a job posting for a position outside your major or a position you are not interested, I would still apply to meet the recruiter to see how I could network my way into another job that I wanted. (example: If your engineering school is the best on campus, get into their career services and tap into their companies.)

Overall, work experience, involvement in clubs on campus, and leadership positions has been a driving force that has moved my resume from the bottom of the pile to the top. Start your internships as soon as you can. If you study abroad or do not have solid internships, it is worth delaying your graduation a semester or two (especially if you are working and going to school at the same time, most recruiters understand).

I did receive my Credit Suisse offer through on campus recruiting. But this was driven by having 3 UW alumni in the office to push the firm to include the school in its target school recruiting effort. Credit Suisse said they prefer Wisconsin kids over Ivy, Northwestern, or U of Chicago kids because they are hard working and do not have big egos. Stay close to your alumni base and use them as your primary source of networking and outreach.

What’s interesting here is that Ryan networked with recruiters even if he wasn’t a fit for any of their current jobs or targeted majors. In addition, his advice about postponing graduation to continue accessing on-campus recruiting is the right decision in a tough economy. Finally, he’s right on the mark with respect to what matters on a consulting-focused resume

3. You received multiple internship offers in a tough economy – an impressive accomplishment. Can you discuss each of these offers and the pros/cons of each in your mind?

I did not interview or apply for Accenture. (I do not think this is the best route to get into MBB or Katzenbach.) Accenture, IBM and other tech consultants can box their career path in quickly. However, going back for an MBA can get you out of that career path) But I wanted to let the readers know that they are reneging offers for internships and full-time over the past 3 months. Insiders at Accenture have told me that they are laying off people that are underperforming.

A. Towers Perrin – If you want to work in Actuarial Services, Employee Benefits, Enterprise Risk Management, HR Function Effectiveness, Design & Implementation, HR Service Delivery & Technology, Insurance & Financial Services, Mergers, Acquisitions & Restructuring, Organization & Employee Research, or Reinsurance Services…this is the place to be a consultant.

They have the best clients of all the competitors and are gaining new ones on a daily basis from Milliman and Mercer. I was very attracted to the M&A and Risk Management consulting and pursued their Tillinghast division. I thought this is where I was going to end up working if it did not pan out at MBB, Katzenbach, ATK, Booz, etc. I started networking with this firm back in October of 2007 and kept in contact with them to ensure I could get an interview with them. Towers came to our campus for initial screening, and would identify top students for second rounds for all offices globally. This is one of the few firms that recruit on campus that is recruiting for all their offices. (most firms focus on Midwest). I was selected for a second round interview, but my top 3 choices for locations were no longer available. This dragged the recruiting process out for 9 weeks. Since I interview at an office that was not on my preference sheet, I had to go through 2 additional phone screens to show interest in their Philadelphia office.
The interview was an all day event and consisted mostly of fit questions, and why I wanted to work for them.

Cons: They were concerned that I had too many internships and would be bored doing entry level work. This tipped me off that the work was not going to challenging or provide me a chance to make an impact. Office culture: Tillinghast was being rebranded as Towers Perrin, but there was a huge information wall and clash between the practices. Employees were not from top tier universities. Their office was driven on finding hard working talent from non-ivy league schools (that is why they wanted a Wisconsin kid). I picked Philadelphia because I was hoping to go to Wharton. However, Towers does not send employees back for their MBA and does not have any relations with UPenn. HR was very secretive about pay and promotional information and would not tell me what grade I would come in as. However, employees were open about this and told me stats without me even asking. The overall summer pay/housing was $3400 per month plus $1000 for living expenses. But, I heard that entry levels can make up to 72K out of school.

B. PricewaterhouseCoopers – They came to campus this year to recruit for Actuarial Consultants for their Chicago office. After an easy second round, they made an offer. They did not test my intellect nor challenge me during the interview process. This offer would have been more attractive, if the process was more selective.

I was trying to use this interview to get into their advisory consulting service (M&A) for the summer. But, they do not allow interns in this department. And for full-time employees it takes 2-3 years before they let you transfer into this department. One of the positive thing about PwC is they let you be a generalist in the actuary world and you get exposure to all the practices. Most actuarial jobs slot you in one field (P/C, Life, Health, Pension, Compensation, etc.). The office culture was very laid back, but I did not feel the right connection. Also, a few of the younger consultants were bashing their competitors and assured me that they were not firing anyone. If they are not cutting their bottom 10% on a yearly basis, how is this work environment going to be competitive? A Big 4 Accounting firm that does not have a separate consulting firm like Deloitte would not put me in a good position for full-time interviews next year.

The summer pay was a little bit below average ($23.80 per hour plus a $2,000 sign on bonus), and they were not certain if they could offer subsidized housing this year.

C. Deloitte Consulting – In the end I accepted with Deloitte, because they are the one who offered me the chance to work across multiple disciplines and would not put me into one type of consulting role. They have the most flexibility that will allow me to work from a human capital role and be able to work on projects with strategy and operations. Their reputation does not say management consulting, but they have a strong name brand and the work that I will be doing will have an impact and be interesting. The culture was extremely important to me, and Deloitte’s culture is a great fit.

The interview process was challenging with individual case questions and group case questions as well. During the group case question, they would have partners in the room watching how you work in a team and come to a final solution. Then as a team we had to present to senior partners. The process was intense and challenging, and that is what I was looking for. After they gave me the offer, I was still trying to get into MBB, so a different person from Deloitte called everyday until I accepted. This was the biggest selling point to hear from so many consultants that I did not interview with and find out why they are working at Deloitte.

The summer pay is $5,000 per month plus $2,000 sign on bonus. Starting salary can be up to 69K with a $10,000 sign on bonus.

I pursued almost every management consulting firm that you can think of, and they all say the same thing: you do not go to a target school, our internship program is in its pilot stage or too small, please apply for a fulltime position next year. However, this have led me to securing interviews with McKinsey for full-time positions.

The more people you get your resume in front of, the more people you will have on the inside pulling for you.

It’s worth repeating Ryan’s last point – the more people that review your resume (provided it’s high-quality) – the better your chances. Securing a McKinsey fulltime interview is no small feat, and Ryan accomplished this through aggressive networking and a consistent focus on building quality work experience. Finally, if your ultimate interest is top strategy consulting, careers in IT consulting may limit your options

4. What general tips about the recruiting process – resumes, interviews, networking – can you share with readers?

Use your alumni network to its fullest capability. If you have no alumni at a firm, look for someone on LinkedIn. Send them an email or cold call them at work and find out how they got to their current role. I get 1 out of 2 people who I email to respond to me, but a phone call you will get a live person on the line, who you can talk to and build a rapport with.

Your resume is the most important piece of paper, so this must be immaculate and tell your story. Join a club at school and be a leader that makes a difference in that organization. Look for internships and other meaningful work while you are in school as well. Consulting firms are looking for someone that can balance school with work and other meaningful activities.

Be yourself in interviews – some interviewers do not want to hear the canned answers that you read in a book or rehearsed the night prior. Come across as a yourself and be relaxed.

The people who hesitate to cold call are the same ones who won’t get job offers. My personal recommendation is to introduce yourself via email first, and then followup with a call and reference the email

5. Any last words of advice to prospective consultants?

I knew that in the economic down turn I would have to start early in getting my resume and name out to the prospective firms. I started in August looking up alumni on LinkedIn.com and through school’s alumni database. In addition, I have started lining up interviews with firms for full-time recruiting in Fall. For the firms that do not have a strong undergrad internship program, do not give up and keep on pursuing them for a full-time offer. Start contacting companies now for next years recruiting cycle – it is never too early, and networking cannot be done overnight. Doostang.com is another site that I used to apply to jobs that are not posted on my campus’s career website.

Be relentless and never give up on your dream of becoming a consultant.

Online recruiting tools such as Doostang and LinkedIn are invaluable if you’re looking for an edge

Are you a current consultant or someone who recruited successfully? Interested in being interviewed? Please get in touch to be featured in the Life as a Consultant series.

My first post in this series covered consulting fit interviews and the biggest mistake you can make.

At the end of every consulting interview, the consultant will typically offer feedback on your performance and provide an opportunity to ask follow-up questions. Most applicants do not use this time effectively – asking follow-up questions allows you to learn more about the job, and strengthen your candidacy too.

Most interviewees feel pressured to ask something, and will throw out meaningless questions like “Do you know when we’ll hear back about second rounds” or “How many consultants work at your firm”.

Bad idea.

Never ask your consultant interviewer a question that can be answered by a recruiter

Here are 3 strong follow-up questions that you can ask:

Would you mind telling me about your background, and how you ended up as an Accenture consultant?

I’d be interested to hear what your most challenging case has been thus far in your BCG career.

What do you think are the biggest misperceptions that applicants have about consulting?

These questions are great because they demonstrate your interest in the job, they’re interesting for the interviewer to answer, and you’ll gain some wisdom from the responses.

Here’s a great question if feedback hasn’t been provided:

When you think about my interview performance, what would you suggest are the 2 or 3 things I can do to improve?

Even if feedback is provided, most consultant interviewers won’t offer concrete suggestions to improve. This is a great question particularly for first-round interviews, and demonstrates a focus on personal development that all consultants respect.

Finally, here’s the absolute best follow-up consulting interview question:

I’m really interested in public sector consulting. I’d be interested to hear what you know about that area at Bain. (You can fill in “public sector consulting” with any topic of personal interest – Brazil, nonprofit consulting, energy and renewables)

Why is this question so good?

Because it reinforces your life story – and the best applicants have distinct life stories. Because it demonstrates an interest beyond “any ‘ol job in management consulting” to a specific industry, geography, or function. Finally, because it can lead to follow-up conversations with your interviewer, and if your interviewer is not familiar with the topic, he/she may recommend additional contacts that you can reach out to!

Win-win-win.

Today’s post departs from its usual focus on recruiting to take a 5,000 mile view of the consulting industry and its purpose.

Consultants can have a negative reputation – charging $2 million for 12 week’s work
that results in stacks of PowerPoint slides, all of which are archived into a dusty closet (digital or otherwise) soon after McKBain Group leaves the premises.

When consultants’ recommendations are implemented, employees often argue that the actions are not beneficial and don’t reflect day-to-day business realities.

That’s one side of the story.

Below, I’ll paint a more positive (and personally held) view on the 6 reasons why companies hire consultants. Through it, you’ll have a better view on business consulting and the consulting industry as a potential career.

1) Staff augmentation – the least impactful role that consultants can play and self-explanatory. Companies often have short to medium-term staffing needs (in the case of government work, this can extend for several years) due to a variety of factors (eg, recent downsizings, sudden expansion). Consultants in this situation “plug a hole” for the company by filling the role of full-time employees. While expensive, it’s common work for operational consultancies (eg, Deloitte and Accenture) and, to a lesser extent, for government consultancies (eg, Booz Allen)

Further reading: Interview with a Booz Allen consultant

2) External change force aka “political cover”. It can be hard for companies to do what’s right (sacred cows and all that jazz) – particularly when it comes to job layoffs, salary and benefit changes/reduction, major operational and strategic shifts. Hiring consultants can be a way to reach the desired conclusions with sufficient political cover in case certain parties are unhappy (eg, a displeased Board or disgruntled employees) or things go wrong (“Despite the significant cost uptick, we implemented BCG’s recommendations to the letter – I’m not sure what we could have done better”)

3) Best practices across industries and functions (eg, organization, supply chain) – consultants have the rare privilege of:

• Serving multiple clients in the same sector (eg, Beverages, Enterprise Software)
• Serving multiple clients facing similar problems across different sectors (eg, Latin American expansion, Southeast Asia outsourcing)

This enables them to recognize common attributes of effective solutions, applying lessons learned in applicable situations. This knowledge is partially institutionalized at each consulting firm (in the form of white papers, databases, post-project reviews, etc); however, much of the information exists in the collective heads of partners and to a lesser extent, senior consultants.

A former McKinsey partner put it best when he called business consultants “masters at reinventing the wheel”

4) Analytical horsepower

A corollary to staff augmentation, companies may need help solving issues and executing strategies where their skillsets and knowledge are insufficient. Consultants can be of great value given their training and capabilities. A note here on big vs boutique: big consultancies have a breadth of resources that they can bring to bear on problems (eg, data mining and analytics, primary market research). Boutiques may have specialized expertise on specific dimensions (eg, retail pricing best practices, financial industry benchmarks).

Further reading: Global consulting firms versus boutiques

5) Fresh perspective

Companies often need a fresh set of eyes – you’d be amazed at the amount of value consultants can add based on the most mundane observations and insights. Critics contend that this is an example of consultants selling “glorified common sense”, but for front-line client employees, it can be easy to fall into daily routines without a critical eye towards measurement, analysis, and improvement.

6) Training and skillset augmentation

I’d argue that every consulting project – particularly ones with heavy client interaction – incorporates client training as a major ingredient. The best recommendations are worthless if clients can’t implement and maintain suggested changes. Thus, a large part of what consultants do is educate client employees on necessary knowledge, skills, and mindsets.