It’s an important question – and never more so than in today’s market. What’s next – when your resume doesn’t receive an interview; your first round doesn’t lead to a call-back; your final round receives a polite rejection?

In this post, I’ll highlight the key steps to take when this happens. Not a fun post – but a necessary one.

The advice applies equally to industries like investment banking

1. Follow-up the rejection and ask for feedback

This is priority numero uno. You’ll typically receive a rejection call after the interview. If the caller is one of your interviewers, politely ask him/her for feedback on your performance. Don’t come across as bitter, upset, or anyway emotional – simply interested in receiving feedback for future improvement. Example questions to ask are:

• “Mark – thanks for the call. Can I get your honest assessment of where I could’ve done better?”
• “Janice – I appreciate the response. It felt to me like I didn’t perform well in summarizing the cases. Were there other areas that were weaknesses?”

If the caller is not one of your interviewers – send an email (another time when business cards come in handy!) to schedule a quick call for post-interview feedback. 8 times out of 10, they’ll agree. The other 2 times, they’ll most likely respond directly to the email with some feedback. Here’s how you should phrase that email:

Hi Yoda, I appreciated the opportunity to interview with you last Thursday. Unfortunately, Danielle at HR just called to inform me that I won’t be receiving an offer. Could I give you a ring to get some post-interview feedback? It would help me in future interviews and to understand how I can improve through this process. Feel free to call me anytime (123-456-7890) or leave a number. Sincerely, George

Short and to the point.

Once you’ve received feedback, take it to heart! Practice will only help for future interviews or next year’s recruiting cycle.

If you don’t make it past the resume stage, don’t ask. It’s rare that they’ll give comments, and if they do it’ll be very generic. Here are some possible criteria for resume rejections

2. Focus on upcoming interviews

If this isn’t your last interview, prepare doubly hard for the next one. No surprise here. Internalize feedback about your shortcomings (“you were unstructured in your approach to the case…you had an insufficient understanding of the underlying business drivers…we didn’t feel that you were a good fit for our company culture”). One of the most common mistakes people make is to practice alone. Do it with another person – it’s 5x more valuable. Ask your family as a last resort.

3. Re-evaluate and broaden your pipeline

Steve Shu is on the mark here when he suggests “casting a wide net”. Applicants suffer from tunnel vision – the whole “Bain or Bust mentality”.

I’ll say it here: getting an offer to any of the top 50 management consulting firms is a major accomplishment

Apply to whatever is available and take interviews even if you wouldn’t accept the offer. Practice is key and options are valuable.

There simply isn’t a consulting firms database comparable to what exists in investment banking. I’m in the midst of building one; until then – Vault has a good starting point here.

As discussed previously, online consulting applications should be a last resort. Networking will be a key differentiator.

4. Explore alternatives such as grad school, finance, and entrepreneurship

Ultimately, you may still be rejected from the industry. But the game’s just started!

There are plenty of other options – ones you should’ve considered from day 1 anyway. If your heart is still set on management and strategy consulting, the best thing you can do is recruit for jobs with the best combination of brand recognition and skill-development. Suggested areas include finance (eg, investment banking and sales & trading) and the corporate track (eg, corporate management and product management). Not a particularly innovative list – but you get my point.

Consider grad school. Particularly if your undergraduate institution is not a “target school” – a top tier grad school can be a solid reset button. Masters programs are shorter and less selective than other alternatives. Important disclaimer – don’t get a masters degree just for recruiting purposes.

Finally, there’s entrepreneurship. I’m clearly a big fan, but startups won’t allow you to break back into consulting unless you consider post-graduate education. There’s no clear network and no channel into management consulting. It is a viable path, however, to venture capital.

5. Network, network, network

Never stop networking. It makes a difference, particularly in tough economic times when there are 10 equally qualified candidates for 2 positions. It comes down to who you know and how well. If you’re in school, network at information sessions, social mixers, business conferences. If you’re out of school, network through school alumni, colleagues past and present, family and friends. Online media (in particular, blogging and forum discussions) can be another great way to meet people with overlapping interests.

6. Prepare for next year

This particularly applies to summer internship applicants. Driving factors for resume rejection include low GPA, lack of leadership experiences and initiative taking, and lack of strong work experience. Work on them however you can. Interview rejection can include factors above, plus lack of preparation.

7. Finally, continue kicking butt in your current role

Don’t slack off. Many complaints that people have about their current jobs are fixable – insufficient responsibility, lack of challenging work, no upward movement. The solution to these topics belongs on another blog, but my advice is to take initiative wherever possible. This applies for current students as well. Your track record of promotions, driving impact, skills learned – will be critical when you try to land consulting jobs!

Summer internships in management consulting are tough to find because there are so few. Some companies have just begun to expand their internship programs (eg, McKinsey) and some don’t hire summer undergraduate interns (eg, smaller boutiques). However, landing one is incredibly valuable – you get a trial period to determine whether its the right career path for you, and it sets you ahead of the pack for fulltime recruiting (assuming you either didn’t receive an offer to return or wanted to test the field).

The recruiting process

Similar to the fulltime process. Summer recruiting typically begins in January/February at college campuses for undergraduate and MBA. Expect a standard succession of information sessions/mixers/company presentations, then resume and cover letter screens, then multiple rounds of interviews focused on fit/personality and case studies.

The process may be less rigorous than fulltime (eg, one fewer interview round, less challenging case studies) but the competition is equally tough

What if consulting firms don’t recruit for summer interns at your school

I plan to write a full post on this later as its a common concern. You have 3 options:

• Find contacts at target firms through your school’s alumni database. Get in touch with them to learn more about their firm and express interest in working there
• Find contacts at target firms through your school’s career center/career development office. This is typically alumni-based as well, but the career officers may have additional resources (eg, headhunter/recruiter databases)
• Submit resumes and cover letters through each company’s online application process – not all firms have these. Big ones like McKinsey and Accenture definitely well, but you may need to get creative with smaller ones like Katzenbach and LEK

In this situation, your best bet is to network, network, network. Friends, family, university alumni, try to build connections to your target firms and dialogue with those people. That’s the best chance you’ll have of recruiters and HR taking a serious look at your resume

Further reading: What if consulting firms don’t recruit at your school

The goal of summer internships

To receive a fulltime offer! Everything you do over the summer should be geared towards helping you reach this goal. In the process, you’ll learn plenty about the job itself and even if you decide management consulting is not for you, options never hurt.

The standard summer internship structure

You’re assigned to one project that should occupy your entire summer (ranging from 10-14 weeks). There is a very short training period (1-2 days) after which you’re expected to function like a regular consultant – complete with your own workstream and deliverables.

You’ll have several “managers” – someone junior (such as an early analyst or early associate) as well as the standard team leader/engagement manager. There will be an endless stream of social events – designed to help you network with the rest of the office and the fellow “summers“.

How to ensure a return/full-time offer

• Do your work well. This is an absolute must. Doing your work well comes down to three things: #1, understanding directions and clarifying when you don’t; #2, checking and double-checking and triple-checking your work; #3, expressing your opinions often. Participation is critical to a consultant’s job, and if you don’t speak up, you won’t move up
• Network, network, network. The more senior consultants that you meet at the firm, the better your chances of receiving a fulltime offer. Strike up conversations based on shared backgrounds, career goals, personal hobbies, whatever!
• Build a strong relationship with your team leader/engagement manager. They have the biggest influence on your return offer prospects. Create one-on-one time with your manager – setup weekly coffee times to discuss your work, get advice about the job, and so forth
• Ask for continual feedback. This is a great way to not only improve your business skills, but to build rapport with your colleagues and managers
• Impress the lead partners. There are usually several partners who are closely involved with your project and client. Through the summer, you’ll have opportunities to get in front of them – whether that’s presenting a small piece of your work, or chiming in during brainstorming and team sessions. Capture these opportunities – the sooner they know your name and the more times that you impress them, the better your chances of landing that valuable offer