The site was down briefly on Thursday – minor database problems as I finally upgraded to the latest version of WordPress.

Here’s a roundup of reader questions – covering topics including role play consulting interviews, consulting interview dress code, consulting lingo, and cover letters.

To start, I found an online copy of the Wetfeet Guide to the Top 25 Consulting Firms – worth a quick browse as their company profiles are strong on the basics.

Now onto the questions:

I have an interview coming up, and the recruiter just informed me that there will be a role play portion to my case study. I’ve never done one before, any advice?

Role plays are not uncommon in management consulting interviews. Generally, you play a consultant presenting information to a client (played by the interviewer). Your job is to present your findings and recommendations in an analytical, persuasive manner. The client may throw up roadblocks, be difficult to deal with, and it’s up to you to stay calm, confident, and present your points with good reasoning and data.

These situations come up frequently on the job, and interviewers want to know that you have the presence to handle yourself adeptly.

How come consultants like to use so much lingo? Is this also true in the Fortune 500s?

Management consulting terms is a topic I’ve covered extensively here. It’s simply a function of the industry, and successful management consultants are masters of consulting lingo. To a lesser extent, these phrases are used in Fortune 500s – although I’d say your bigger concern there is unique, company-specific acronyms, nicknames, and terms. The better you are at it, the more natural you appear.

Okay, so I am in my sophomore year and I am trying to position myself for a consulting gig next year. What are some good summer internships for a sophomore that will look good come recruiting season?

I cover consulting summer internship recruiting here, but if you’re unable to land a consulting job, aim for two criteria: prestige and skill development. Prestige is more important if you want to ultimately work at a McKBain Group. As an example, I’d choose Goldman Sachs Asset Management over Gallup’s consulting group, even if you’ll acquire more consulting-like skills at Gallup.

What career paths are available when you’re leaving management consulting?

I postponed answering this question because of my last 2 posts, both covering management consulting exit opportunities. There are lots! From business to public sector, from non-profit to grad school, one of the biggest attractions to management consulting over investment banking is its breadth of opportunities.

What’s the proper attire for management consulting interviews?

I briefly covered consulting interview dress code before. On this topic, everyone has an opinion. To keep it simple: wear something nice but not flashy, and keep your outfit neat (eg, no wrinkles).

What other sources besides your blog would you recommend to understand the job better?

I’ve interviewed 2 big bloggers in this space – Marquis from McKinsey and Steve Shu from Nortel. Both of their sites have tons of high-quality information about the industry.

For case study questions and preparation, I’d look at www.caseinterview.com

Check out my blogroll for more resources.

Finally, I recommend some books and periodicals for consulting applicants.

Can you do an update to your day in the life of a management consultant?

One of my most popular posts is A Day In The Life Of A Management Consultant. It took a long time to craft that post, but I’m planning at least one more version (and if current consultants are interested in guest posting on that topic, please contact me!).

The next 3 questions are a series from a very dedicated reader…

1. I’m very tempted to contact my past interviewers at Accenture for the coming September fulltime recruitment season, but I’m not sure if that would be a good idea since my final round interviewers never replied to my emails when I requested their feedbacks after I got rejected. Should I email the consultants who interviewed me for the earlier rounds and let them know that I’m still interested?

If your final round interviewers did not respond to feedback emails, it’s ok to email your first round interviewers to followup briefly. It’s important not to push your luck – at most, I’d thank them for the opportunity, briefly update them on final rounds, and tell them you’ll be applying again for fulltime recruiting. If you receive no response, wait until 1-2 months before fulltime recruiting starts to re-initiate contact and jog their memory.

2. Besides Accenture, I was never offered interviews from other firms. During last September recruitment season I emailed a Deloitte Consultant after the campus info session, and he answered a lot of my questions. I told him about my CGPA concern, and he advised me to briefly say why I underperformed in my cover letter, but in the end I didn’t take his advice since I was too afraid to risk highlighting a major weakness. Do you think I should mention reasons for my low CGPA in my cover letter?

If it’s very low, you should briefly mention it in your cover letter. Keep in mind that most consulting cover letters are scanned briefly, if at all. My advice here is to work hard on your grades and get a higher GPA! Think about graduate programs that offer an opportunity to “reset” your GPA for recruiting.

3. As you’ve mentioned in your blog – too much downtime or getting a job in another field (ie: accounting, marketing) could remove me completely from the consulting track. I’m no longer in school and unemployed, but also not suitable for graduate school yet. I feel like I’m stuck in the most unfavorable position, and I don’t know what I can do now so I can increase my chances for the coming September recruitment season. I’ve already tried applying to various jobs such as Business Analyst positions within banks and mid-small size consulting firms but still no luck. What type of jobs do you think I should also consider if I still want to get into consulting in the very near future – research analyst, marketing management, CRM?

Without knowing specific options available, you should think about:

1. The prestige and influence of the company
2. The skillset you’ll be developing – is it analytical? Do you build presentation skills? Functional or industry-specific expertise?
3. Career paths of people who left that company – did they enter consulting?
4. The network you’ll build – remember, networking is key for getting consulting jobs!

To an extent, #3 and #4 are the same. This is also the relative prioritization I’d have when deciding.

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

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!

Readers are in for a real treat this time as the Life of a Consultant series continues. Read previous interviews here and here.

Some background: I’ve followed Steve’s blog even before I entered the consulting world. Back then, it was one of the few insightful and well-written resources in the consulting blogosphere. It was a given that I’d approach him for this interview, and he graciously accepted.

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 a principal consultant with Nortel Business Consulting which is unique in that we provide traditional business management consulting services in conjunction with deep technology consulting resources within the company. In the past, I’ve worked as a management consultant at Pittiglio Rabin Todd and McGrath (PRTM), as an independent consultant with start-ups and middle-market firms, and as part of the executive management team of a number of angel- and corporate venture capital-funded businesses in the telecom, software, and social-media industries. I’ve also worked in various product management and engineering types of roles with companies, such as AT&T Bell Laboratories and Telcordia. I have an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and Masters and Bachelors degrees in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University.

2. You’re a well-known blogger in the consulting space. I’ve been reading your articles even before I started my consulting career. What inspired you to start the site, and to keep it going for so many years?

Kevin, thanks for following my blog. It really means a lot to me.

I started blogging during my time as an independent consultant and just before business use of blogs started to take up. With that as context, blogging for me started as an alternative to traditional newsletters that many consultants use as part of their marketing arsenal. Blogging evolved into online networking for me, and I ended up getting approached by some social media and publishing companies for consulting and interim management roles. I basically went with the flow and where demand was taking me. Also, in terms of people that reached out to me (e.g., via email), I was finding that people were really seeking information about being in the trenches as management consultant. Down-to-earth, practical information on management consulting has been somewhat scarce in the online space. My experience in consulting with a traditional firm, as an independent, and also as part of a large corporation also seemed to provide a unique angle for the readers.

I have not blogged so much in the recent past due to saturation in the blogosphere supply-side, but I am considering a return.

3. You’ve worked for several consulting firms in your career. What perspective has this given you on the consulting industry?

For one thing, I think a consulting experience can provide an excellent foundation for developing general management skills. There are a limited number of professions where one can work on numerous projects for different companies. As compared to corporate positions, it is also easier to work on management issues as opposed to being embroiled in the politics and administration of working within a company. The list of tradeoffs to working in consulting, however, can be large. Some areas to watch out for include not having a constant environment (e.g., regular peers to work with as compared to working in a larger company) and not developing specific operating or tactical expertise (e.g., having to execute marketing campaigns, run quarterly financials for the public markets, or approaching customers in sales meetings). There are ways to address the potential shortcomings as part of consulting – tactics likely vary by industry and where one is at in terms of career goals (e.g., if one wants to be a lifetime consultant).

4. Can you tell us a bit about each of the consulting firms you’ve worked for?

At Nortel, we have a core team of traditional management consultants and mix these skillsets with experts (e.g., engineers) in areas such as network architecture or operations systems. An example engagement could include developing the business strategy and plan (which would be approved by its Board of Directors) for a carrier to move from the wireline to wireless space. We might also help a company with more focused areas such as development of a marketing and sales plan (covering pricing, product packages, channel strategy, collateral and campaigns, etc.) or with a network evolution options analysis.

At PRTM, I worked mostly with clients around new product introduction, product development, and/or operational processes. In contrast to the corporate structure I am in now and using very broad brush strokes, the structure of firm is similar to other management consulting firms (e.g., McKinsey, Deloitte) in that it is a partnership. PRTM has historically a lower leverage ratio (e.g., partner to non-partner) compared to other firms. Some tradeoffs of that difference can include more involvement with total deal lifecycle, more trench experience with senior personnel, and higher required utilization rates.

As an independent, I worked with start-ups and middle market firms mostly around business development, marketing, or quantitative analysis. In that environment, one needs to understand the full lifecycle of consulting from lead generation to sales, contracting, and delivery.

So I guess in closing I would say that the type of consulting firm one works with will likely change the style that one approaches consulting. Be cognizant of the tradeoffs.

5. Given your experience recruiting and interviewing candidates, what advice can you share with people currently in school who are looking for a job in management and strategy consulting?

Management consulting jobs are harder to come by in today’s climate. At business schools, it’s a common theme to see the 30% of the community that would have normally pursued investment banking instead seek out consulting jobs. If you want to land a management and strategy consulting job, consider casting a very wide net. This may mean seeking out geographic opportunities where your diversity in schooling may be seen as an immediate asset as opposed to someone that is just part of the crowd. In today’s climate you may also want to seek out an unpaid internship, depending on corporate policies and labor laws. Beyond the resume and any case study, key skills that entry-level consultants must project during the interview process include being smart (often analytical), having professional poise, and having energy. I find that applicants sometimes do not focus enough on these latter two items, and they are critical for a client-facing position within a consulting firm.

6. Many readers come from overseas – China, Western Europe, even South America. Have you worked on international/overseas projects? If so, can you share with us those experiences?

Outside of North America, my specific practice has done most projects in Western Europe, South America, and the Middle East. Language, ability to pay, and willingness to pay for consulting have been key drivers for that mix. I guess one thing that comes about by working in those environments is that it is key to get local information about the countries. For example, I often use Pyramid Research (subscribed reports) to help me initially get grounded on the macroeconomics, consumer environment, and trends within the telecom space within a country. I also use my network (e.g., the account team, friends) to get some color on the culture, trends, and norms. Finally, I have found it useful in many situations to have Google translate as my friend! That feature has helped to get me in the ballpark (e.g., translate presentations, contracts, emails, marketing websites) and/or augment using translators on a project.

7. What’s your view on the consulting job market given the economic backdrop?

/* Sort of covered above in #5*/

8. If you could retire today, what activities and hobbies would you pursue?

I might pursue something that would help me give more back to community and improve the world. Getting involved with non-profit, education, government, or the energy communities come to mind as aspirations. I’d also spend more time with jazz drumming, wine, and my family (not in that order for the record!).

9. How should readers get in touch with you?

Readers can feel free to reach me via contact methods at my blog

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.

Today marks the official launch of Management Consulted. I’ve been flying under the radar as I tried to establish some pillar content. Starting today, I’ll be making a public push to spread the word about this site. If you’re a new reader, you can do the following:

• Subscribe to the RSS feed
• Subscribe via email (form below and in the navigation bar)
• Spread the word to friends and colleagues
• Participate. Comment on posts, email me with questions, insights, feedback, etc

I’d like to thank Mergers and Inquisitions for their kind word. Brian, the author of the site, is a good friend of mine and was the role model for the launch of MC. If you’re serious about finance (and broader recruiting issues), check out his site. I’ll be writing an in-depth post about the projects he’s working on in coming weeks, and hopefully we’ll have a few joint ventures in the works as well

This post will be short. I’m following it up with a post on “Getting a consulting job from a law background” so stay tuned.

There are many valuable consulting-related resources on the web. I want to point out a few:

• From the Killer Consultant – “You got the offer, now what?” – some great tips on how to assess the offer and manage the process
• From the Corporate Whore – “Summer Intern Rules – Don’ts” – a few funny but informative tips for prospective (and current) summers
• Razume – a new resume review service. Interesting concept but not sure how they incentivize reviewers. Thought I’d pass it along – if anyone tries the service (it’s free), let me know your experience!
• From Steve Shu’s blog – “Client Facilitation Skills” – I’ve followed Steve’s blog for sometime now. He writes infrequently, but his posts are always insightful and provide more detail than any other blog I’ve seen on the consulting life

I’m starting a series of interviews with current and prior consultants. This will be great for readers because they’ll get an inside view of topics ranging from what it’s like to work in international offices to cultures of specific firms (eg, Bain, Oliver Wyman) to what ex-consultants are doing now

If any of my readers are interested in being interviewed for Management Consulted, please let me know!

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

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I offer resume editing and interview prep. I’ll help you stand out from 1000′s of other applicants and land consulting jobs