Jacob Broadbent didn’t come from the typical consulting pipeline.
He came from engineering – and still landed a PwC offer (Dallas office).
In this episode, Jacob breaks down the exact moves that helped him make the pivot: how he positioned his technical background as a strength, got more comfortable networking, and built the case prep skills that actually moved the needle.
In this episode:
- How Jacob turned an engineering background into an advantage
- The networking approach that helped him stand out with firms
- Why case prep changed more than just his interview performance
- The mindset shifts that helped him navigate recruiting with confidence
If you’re coming from engineering or any non-traditional background, this conversation is proof that you do not need the “perfect” consulting resume to win.
Additional Resources:
- Join the Black Belt program for a proven system to break into consulting
- See upcoming consulting application deadlines
Books Mentioned:
- Never Split the Difference – Chris Voss
- The 2-Hour Job Search – Steve Dalton
- The 20-Minute Networking Meeting – Marcia Ballinger & Nathan Perez
Transcript: From Mechanical Engineering to PwC Dallas: How Jacob Broadbent Made the Pivot Work
How a Mechanical Engineer Discovers Consulting (And Why It Takes a While)
Japheth: Jacob, walk us through your background — the key stops that led to where you are today.
Jacob: I started with the family business. We made wooden tops and clean activity sets — that's where I earned my spending money growing up. I was motivated early on to figure out how to make things and sell them well.
I studied mechanical engineering at BYU Idaho to learn how to make things, and took business classes alongside it. I did internships across a range of industries — fence panels, food processing equipment, project management at Delta Airlines. My plan was to return to Delta's rotational program, but COVID paused it indefinitely in 2020. Rather than wait, I graduated and took a job at Incubator Warehouse — a tiny company where I was their only engineer. I got to see every part of the business and figure out how to make it profitable.
From there, I wanted exposure to a regulated industry. I took a role as a manufacturing engineer at Merit Medical. That's actually where consulting entered the picture — the company brought in consultants to revamp their processes. I didn't know who they were at the time. I just noticed slide decks, people in suits, and a lot of changes happening. I mentioned this to a friend later: "Yeah, that was BCG." That's what put consulting on my radar.
I came back to school for a joint program at BYU — a Mechanical Engineering Master's combined with an MBA — to strengthen both sides. About a year ago, an alumni panel at BYU featured consultants describing their work. I heard them talk about coming into organizations with conflict, earning trust, breaking down problems fast. That was the moment I thought: that's what I want to do.
Japheth: What I love about that is how common it is. Nobody grows up dreaming about being a management consultant. You find your way in.
Jacob: One of the consultants I talked to said exactly that — no one grows up dreaming about this. A lot of us just find our way in. It was reassuring to know I wasn't behind. I hadn't studied the wrong things. I was entering the right way.
What Engineers Bring to Consulting That They Tend to Undervalue
Japheth: Engineers often worry they'll be pigeonholed into technical or operational roles. How did you position your background so firms saw you as a strategist, not just a technical executor?
Jacob: Engineers get pigeonholed when they haven't learned how to communicate in non-technical language. That's the real issue. If you can only talk shop with other engineers, you'll get cast in the technical lane.
At Merit Medical, I found I could move between highly technical senior engineers and the business side. I could translate. That translating ability came through in networking calls and interviews — firms could see I'd be able to connect across the organization.
The other piece is what's sometimes called T-shaped development: deep technical depth, plus real breadth. My breadth came from business classes, smaller companies across different industries, and the MBA. Some of my engineering peers are doing PhDs in mechanical engineering and are far smarter than I'll ever be technically. But they can't play in the areas that require breadth, and consulting requires a lot of breadth.
There's also something practical: if you're using jargon, ask yourself — can I say this simpler? Can I explain it without the technical term? If you can't break it down to first principles that anyone can follow, you don't actually understand it well enough yet.
Japheth: What are 1-2 skills from your engineering background that you've been able to bring directly into the consulting recruiting process?
Jacob: Two things. First: a structured approach to problem-solving. Engineers are trained to decompose problems, think them through methodically, not just follow intuition. That structured approach was actually a weakness at the start of case prep — some of my peers could jump in and solve intuitively, while I needed a framework to work through it. But once I built the structure, it had a snowball effect. It took longer to get going, and then it just kept getting stronger.
Second: mental toughness for hard material. Engineering degrees are notoriously difficult. My MBA peers would get a 70% average on a midterm and panic. My reaction was "that's a high average." Some of my engineering midterms averaged 40%. That conditioning matters. Clients don't hire consultants for easy problems. If it were easy, they'd solve it themselves. They're hiring you to think well — and engineers are trained exactly for that.
How to Network Into Consulting From a Non-Traditional Background
Japheth: Walk us through the high-level recruiting journey — when you started engaging with firms and how it unfolded.
Jacob: It started with that alumni panel. After it, I connected with every consultant who presented and set up one-on-one calls. That became my pattern: go to any info session, message every presenter on LinkedIn, reference something specific they said, and ask for a conversation.
I'd say I got about a 10% response rate from info sessions and a much higher rate from alumni. That was still enough to build a meaningful network over time.
My initial approach was deliberately broad. From product development, I know to diverge before you converge. I talked to as many people as I could — BCG, McKinsey, Bain, PwC — to understand the landscape, the different roles, the different firm cultures. Then I started converging: identifying the firms and people I resonated with most and focusing energy there.
For follow-through, I kept detailed notes from every call. I sent a thank-you the next day with specific references to what they'd shared. If they gave me advice or a referral, I reported back on it. Every few months, I checked in with a specific callout to how their advice had shaped my progress. I was converting contacts into mentors.
When I submitted applications, I emailed every person I'd talked to — specific thanks for how their advice had shaped my process, the positions I'd applied for, and my resume in case it was useful to them. Increasing the surface area for luck. I didn't know who would be the person to open the door, so I made sure every touchpoint was as high quality as I could make it.
Getting Comfortable With Networking (Even When It Stresses You Out)
Japheth: Networking is intimidating for a lot of candidates. Was that natural for you, or did you have to grow into it?
Jacob: I've always been energized by meeting people, so the conversations themselves were natural. That actually pushed me toward consulting — if you love meeting new people, consulting is a good fit. You're constantly building relationships between projects.
But the outreach — the messages, the initial emails — I found really stressful. The trick for me was learning the rules of the game. A book called Two Hour Job Search gave me frameworks and templates for how to approach networking systematically. Once I understood the playbook, the fear went away. It became a game I knew how to play.
I also used AI as a thinking partner. If I needed to send a follow-up or reach out to a director-level contact, I'd drop my notes into Claude and ask for feedback on the message before sending. Even when it changed nothing, having something external confirm the email was fine was enough to get me over the anxiety of clicking send. It helped me stay consistent throughout a very busy MBA semester.
The Biggest Myth About Case Interview Prep
Japheth: Now that you're on the other side of recruiting, what's a myth you'd want to break for candidates going through it?
Jacob: The biggest myth is that case interview prep is only about landing a job.
I wish I had started earlier — not just so I could have spread out the workload rather than cramming 17 cases over Christmas break, but because the skills you develop change how you think. By the end of my prep, I was a more effective MBA student. I was structuring arguments better, giving cleaner recommendations, breaking problems down faster.
If I hadn't landed anything, the preparation still would have been worth it. That mindset actually took pressure off the interviews themselves. Instead of thinking "I've spent my family's money on this and I can't let them down," I was thinking "I've grown whether I land this role or not."
That also points to why memorizing frameworks is a trap. You're not learning to think. You're learning to regurgitate. Consulting firms want to hire people who can think clearly on novel problems — not people who've memorized answers to old ones. Start early, build the skill, and let it show up everywhere.
The Case Prep Timeline: What Jacob Would Do Differently
Japheth: How long did you prep, and how many cases did you do leading up to your interviews?
Jacob: I did my first mock case in August. My goal was one to two cases per week. I did about 10 by mid-December, then 17 over Christmas break — a significant crunch. 27 mock cases total, plus structured coursework and skill-building in between.
What I'd do differently is just spread it out consistently. One to two cases a week, with 30 minutes to an hour of skill work on the days in between. The problem was that MBA coursework always felt more urgent during the first semester, and I couldn't prioritize case prep until I had actual interviews scheduled. Then I had to go hard over the break to make up ground.
The irony is that if I'd built those structuring skills earlier, I would have gotten more out of the MBA classes themselves. The skills I developed in case prep made me a better student, a better problem-solver. They shouldn't be something you learn after your first semester — they should be the lens you apply to everything from day one.
What the Actual Interviews Looked Like
Japheth: Paint a picture of the interview experience. Different formats, different firms — what should candidates expect?
Jacob: I interviewed at three firms, and the differences were notable.
At Sister (a boutique firm recently acquired by MGT, focused on social impact and education consulting), the first round was a recorded case — you get the prompt, time to think, then record your responses. The second round was a more traditional case interview similar to MBB style, plus behavioral. The final round was unusual: they sent over materials and a PowerPoint template one hour before and asked me to build and deliver a presentation. That's a format where memorized frameworks don't save you. Knowing how to think flexibly does.
At BCG, I had two back-to-back interviews: 15 minutes behavioral, then a case. It was candidate-led — I was expected to drive: "Here's my structure. Here's where I want to go. Here's how I'll approach this data." I was in control of the direction the whole way through.
At PwC, it was two behavioral interviews and one case. The advice I got from PwC alumni contacts was that the behavioral interviews are equally weighted with the case — and that candidates who under-prepare on behavioral often fail there. I made sure to use some of my coaching sessions specifically on behavioral preparation, not just case mechanics.
The PwC case was interviewer-led rather than candidate-led — a series of questions they walked me through. But I applied the same candidate-led instincts from BCG prep: I signaled where I wanted to go, drove the structure, and it landed well.
One factor in choosing PwC for my internship: I connected well with the people I interviewed with. They had manufacturing and product development backgrounds. Firm culture matters. Where you feel the most natural connection is worth paying attention to.
How to Handle Mistakes in a Case Interview Without Losing the Room
Japheth: Were there moments in your case interviews where you made mistakes or had to recalibrate?
Jacob: Always. I haven't talked to a single successful candidate who didn't make mistakes. The difference is how you respond.
Two things helped me most. First, I started doing all my case math on graph paper — lined columns keep your numbers organized and you can catch errors before they spiral. Second, I'd estimate before calculating. If the answer should be around $300 million and I get $275 million, that checks out. If I get $3 billion, I know to stop and find where I went wrong.
When an interviewer redirected me, I'd lead with "Thanks for that" and move forward with confidence — not with an apology. Interviewers want to know they can put you in front of clients. That means you need confidence even when you're wrong, and humility that doesn't knock you off your feet.
The bigger shift was viewing the interviewer as a teammate, not a judge. They're not trying to catch you out. You're solving this problem together. When they redirect you, they're helping the team. That framing changed how I felt in the room.
Why Jacob Invested in Black Belt (and What Pushed Him Over the Line)
Japheth: At what point did you join Black Belt, and what specifically about it helped you move faster than you would have on your own?
Jacob: The context matters here. My wife was finishing her master's degree in elementary education in December 2024. She'd been funding my schooling. We'd been trying to have kids for about four years — then the week I got accepted to BYU, we found out she was pregnant. We were thrilled but financially highly leveraged, taking on a lot of student loans.
With that context: I needed this to pay off. I was looking for every edge.
I attended the Management Consulted sessions at BYU. The approach felt authoritative and practical. When I looked into Black Belt, the number that got me was that 80% of Black Belt candidates land at least one consulting offer. I didn't know if that was correlation or causation. But 80% is a serious number. Compared to the overall investment I was already making — three years of lost wages, tuition, all of it — the cost of Black Belt was a small percentage of the total bet I was already placing. That's the math I ran.
Two things accelerated my preparation specifically. First, accountability. I tend to procrastinate unless I'm committed to someone else. Having paid for sessions — with my young family's money — meant I showed up and used them. The investment itself changed my level of commitment.
Second, the resume review process. I'm a perfectionist. Having a professional — someone who does this every day — tell me "this is good enough" gave me the signal to stop refining and start submitting. That's harder to get from campus resources alone.
How Jacob Designed and 3D-Printed His Wife's Engagement Ring
Japheth: I have to ask — I heard you designed and 3D-printed your engagement ring. What's the story?
Jacob: In 2016, I came across an article about a NASA engineer who had designed an engagement ring for his spouse. That idea stuck with me. When I was planning to propose to my now-wife in 2019, I came back to it. I'd also just returned from a two-year mission for my church, and I needed a project to spin back up the CAD skills that had been sitting dormant. Designing the ring gave me the right motivation.
I took her ring shopping first — antique stores, traditional jewelry stores — just to understand what she liked. She gravitated toward 1930s art deco style. She'd point at a ring and say "I like this part" or "I like that detail." In my head, I was cataloging everything, thinking about how to combine those elements into one design.
I modeled the engagement ring in SolidWorks and had it 3D-printed in silver. The wedding band, printed in gold, was designed to nest inside the engagement ring — it slips into a channel so the two pieces lock together cleanly. I went with a Moissanite stone because she didn't care about diamonds, and Moissanite is both cheaper and measurably more sparkly.
The practical design thinking carried through every decision. She was a theater technician at the time, so I kept the profile smooth and low — nothing that would catch on equipment or costume fabric. When we have kids and her ring size changes, I can just reprint. She wore just the wedding band in the hospital last week when she gave birth to our second. It did exactly what it was designed to do.
If I look back on it through a consulting lens: I had a stakeholder with clear preferences, limited resources, and a hard deadline. I met all three. That's probably my best completed project.
The Time Jacob Nearly Got Sick in Bain's Lobby (And What That Says About the Recruiting Process)
Japheth: What's something unexpected or funny that happened during recruiting that broke up the intensity of it all?
Jacob: BYU organized a visit to Dallas where we met with several consulting firms. I had PwC in the morning and Bain in the afternoon, plus a one-on-one with a Bain contact right before the group session.
The PwC meeting went well. I went over to meet my contact at Bain, had a great conversation. But while I was waiting in the lobby, my heart rate was elevated, I felt sweaty, and a headache started building. I finished the meeting and came back down to the main lobby where the rest of the BYU group had arrived. I kept feeling worse — significant nausea.
I told the group I wasn't going to make it to the Bain info session, called an Uber, and got in. It was a nice new electric car. First thing I asked the driver: "Do you have a bag?" He found a grocery bag that may or may not have had a hole in it. He also found some breath strips. I took one, held it together for the eight-minute drive back to the Airbnb, and then made a tactical error: I sat down on the bed and convinced myself I was fine.
I was not fine.
The good news: I got it cleaned up before my BYU roommates came back. And I had packed a second suit. I'll leave it at that.
The point is — if you're going through recruiting and you're hitting moments of real, physical stress, you're not doing it wrong. That's just what this process feels like sometimes. You survive it. And then you get the offer.
What to Know Before Your Next Recruiting Season (Final Advice)
Japheth: For anyone on the fence about external support in consulting recruiting — what do you tell them?
Jacob: Explore the resources. There are good ones out there. For me, it was Management Consulted for coaching plus a few other tools for specific skill gaps. Figure out which resource best addresses your specific weaknesses and the way you like to learn.
And then: don't be afraid to invest in yourself. You're already in an MBA program — or an undergrad, or a master's program. Think about the total investment you've already committed: tuition, two years of your life, lost wages. Compared to that, a coaching program that could meaningfully increase your odds doesn't look expensive. It looks cheap.
The question isn't whether you can afford it. The question is whether you can afford not to.