If you're a sophomore eyeing a consulting internship, the time to start preparing is now - even if it feels too early.
With firms recruiting a full year in advance, your 2026 internship interviews will happen in 2025 - and the candidates who win have a strategy in place well before applications open (as early as June!).
In this episode, the Management Consulted team lays out the 3 pillars of a winning recruiting strategy, breaking down:
- Key milestones you need to hit
- Common pitfalls that can derail your chances
- How to stand out - whether you're at an Ivy League or a non-target school
Whether you're deep into case prep or just learning what consulting is, this episode will help you craft a clear roadmap so you’re not caught off guard when recruiting heats up.
MC Programs
- Join SuperPrep for a 20-week prep plan with weekly coach check-ins, resume and cover letter edits, a virtual consulting project, and more
- Join Black Belt for resume and cover letter edits, MBB coaching, and digital prep resources
- Book a call to identify the right product for you
Additional Resources:
- See application deadlines for freshman and sophomore summer leadership programs
- Find consulting internships on the Management Consulted Job Board
- Download the free MC Case Prep Plan
Partner Links
- More info on Palm Tree careers
Transcript:
Hey Strategy Simplified.
Welcome back to the podcast.
Today's episode is focused on sophomores recruiting for consulting.
Because guess what?
Your prep runway starts now.
That's right, it starts today.
And in this episode, the team breaks down everything you need to know to be successful in your recruitment process leading up to summer internship applications and interviews.
0:31
So we cover the three pillars that you need to have to build a strong recruiting strategy as well as key milestones to hit along the way.
There are upcoming application deadlines for summer sophomore internship programs or leadership programs.
Check out the link in the show notes to see the deadlines.
0:49
Make sure you get your resume prepared before then.
And if you need some expert help, please work with us in our Black Belt or Soup Prep programs game Super Prep.
Specifically, we've got a 20 week plan that we designed for sophomores that includes a weekly check in with an MBB coach.
1:05
It includes resume edits, a networking plan, and so much more.
Will even help you add more experience to your resume via the Strategy Sprint Consulting project taking place in May.
Links in the show notes will learn more about Black Belt and Super Prep.
Sticking with the show notes theme, make sure to check that out for some awesome resources that we mentioned on the episode.
1:27
All right, let's get into the show.
If you are a sophomore preparing to recruit for consulting, where do you start?
What do you do?
What does the strategy look like?
So what we've done is we've identified the 3A pillars of a great recruiting strategy, access ability and acceleration.
1:46
And what I'm going to do today is I'm going to walk you through those 3 pillars.
I'm going to give you some very actionable next steps to take.
And we're going to talk about the key milestones for you to hit between today and the summer when application portals open for you.
2:03
So just to make it really, really clear right up front, if you are a second semester sophomore right now, applications for your junior year internships will open up this summer, which means that you will be applying and interviewing for roles one year before you will start them, which is really crazy.
2:22
Right now, we are like 16 to 18 months away from you starting your junior year internship.
Now is the right time for you to start to think about how I prepare for these opportunities that are about to hit this summer.
And we'll save plenty of time at the end for Q&A.
2:39
Those of you who pre submitted questions when you registered, we will give you priority in terms of answering your questions when we get to the end.
So let's talk about these 3A pillars to a great recruiting strategy.
The first thing I just want to mention is that these are sequential and simultaneous, OK?
2:58
So you start with access, you then add on ability, and then finally you hit this period of acceleration.
Really, even though you start with access, you simultaneously should be starting to build your ability as well.
That's why when you join Black Belt or when you join Super Prep, one of the things that we do is we start working with you on your networking strategy, working with you on your resume, and also working with you on your interview prep right away.
3:26
So that you are simultaneously building the access and building the ability that you need to hit that inflection point where you finally experienced acceleration.
One of the big myths with this whole recruiting process is that you need the ability to have access in the 1st place.
3:42
That's not true.
OK, so you do not need to be at a certain level of interview readiness.
You do not need to be even like an A candidate to start to think about how you talk to the right people and how you identify the right firms.
3:59
Actually, one of the ways that you build ability is by pursuing access.
And as you start to network, as you refine your elevator pitch, as you start to figure out more and more about this wonderful wide world of consulting, that actually gives you the ability that you need to become a stronger and a better candidate.
4:18
So our recommendation for you on the call today is that you actually start with access.
That's going to give you the motivation that you need to start to then build the ability that you need to become a top candidate.
And, when I talk about access, what I mean is this, you need to think about who the right people are inside of the firms to talk to.
4:38
And you actually have to identify who the right firms are that you should be reaching out to, to begin with.
So #1 the right firms #2 the right people inside of those firms.
You need to be thinking about both of those things.
This is an A2 fold process, A2 fold strategy.
4:56
And so what I'm going to do in a few minutes is I'm going to walk you through a matrix that will help you understand the consulting industry and where different firms sit within the ecosystem.
That'll help you start to determine, OK, who might be the right firm for me.
And then what I'll do is I'll walk you through who the right people are inside of the firms for you to be talking to just based on where you're at in the recruiting process right now.
5:20
OK, so there's these two questions you have to answer if you want to play the access game right now.
What I want to add on to this is that the evaluation is twofold as well.
As you start these conversations, everybody knows as you're networking, you're being assessed right?
5:38
Like this is.
This is not an evaluation free process.
The firms your contacts really track and care about which candidates seem polished, which candidates are strong communicators, which candidates are asking good questions.
5:57
Networking is not free reign for you to just do what you want, say what you want, and hope you're going to get away with it.
OK, so you are being evaluated.
That's why inside of Black Belt and inside of Super Prep, we work with you on not just a networking strategy, but tactics as well.
6:14
How do I write the e-mail?
What do I say inside of the coffee chat?
How do I ask for a referral when the time comes?
These things matter a lot.
OK, so you're being evaluated, but the thing that I really want you to get is that you should be evaluating the firms as well inside of these interactions.
6:31
One of the reasons you network isn't just to get your foot in the door.
It's also for you to figure out where you fit.
And so the questions that you ask should be not just, they shouldn't just be asked because you want to sound smart.
6:48
Those questions shouldn't just be asked because you think it's a question you should be asking.
You really should be trying to determine in this phase of the process where you would be a good fit.
And so there's a reciprocal evaluation that's happening as you go through this access phase.
7:07
And I want to harp on that.
And I want to emphasize that because a lot of students we work with, they feel pressure because they know that this is a game that has some stakes, right?
Like when you're networking, when you're talking to firms, when you're talking to people, there are real stakes involved, but there are also stakes involved for the firms, right?
7:25
You're a top performer, at least you should think of yourself as such.
And you should position yourself as such mentally, which means that you are going to have options at the end of the day too.
And one of the ways for you to sift through your options is to evaluate the firms as they're evaluating you and use the networking process to put together a short list of firms that you want to spend more time doing due diligence on and firms that you really want to apply for when the time comes.
7:51
OK, so as you get started with this process, what our team has done is we've put together a list of summer leadership programs so you can start to figure out which firms are the right ones for you.
So many of these firms put together these leadership programs for current freshmen and sophomores to give you a leg up in this exploration process.
8:18
So you're exploring which firms are right for you.
They're exploring which candidates they want to kind of earmark and identify as high potential candidates.
It's a win win.
As you can see here on the slide, Bane, BCGKPMGPWC all run the summer leadership programs and the application deadlines are as soon as two weeks from today.
8:40
So Bane and KPMG, the application deadlines for their early leadership programs are February 23rd and February 25th, not too far away.
And so for those of you who are currently freshmen and sophomores and you fit the criteria for these programs, what you should be doing imminently and immediately after today's call is making sure that your resume is up to date and making sure that you're able to get all your application materials in before this application deadline.
9:14
BCG and PwC, their deadlines are in early and mid March.
So even if you're targeting those firms, you don't have a whole lot of time to get your materials ready.
Now, one of the reasons that you should target these early and summer leadership programs is because they give you a leg up for junior year recruiting.
9:37
So these programs are taking place this summer between your sophomore and your junior year.
And so you'll get early access and insight into what the firm cultures look like, into what the firm recruiting processes look like, into what life inside the firm looks like.
9:53
You'll also have an ability to build a network inside of the firm from the inside.
You'll meet recruiters, you'll meet consultants, you'll meet champions inside of different affinity groups, you will meet advocates who you will be able to leverage as you kind of go through the junior year recruiting process later this summer.
10:14
Some of these programs also automatically offer you an interview for a junior year internship at the end of the sophomore year experience.
So the easiest and the most streamlined way to get a full time offer by the time you graduate is to join a sophomore summer leadership program.
10:36
Now parlay that into an interview for a junior year internship, and then parlay that junior year internship into an offer to return full time.
It's just step one, Step 2, Step 3.
It's the path of least resistance.
And so one of the reasons for you to be taking this seriously and be applying even on short notice is because you want to get into this kind of preferred candidate status as early as possible.
11:03
That's also one of the reasons that these programs are insanely competitive.
All right, because they are smaller than junior year internship cohorts and much, much smaller than the full time cohorts that the firms are hiring for from the senior class.
Yet smart and strategic candidates realize that there's a real advantage to joining these programs now.
11:26
So lots of demand, limited supply means these are insanely competitive, which means that you want to start crafting your stories.
You want to start preparing your resume now so that by the time the application deadline rolls around, you have the most polished narrative possible and you stand out from the sea of candidates.
11:49
Your Career Center can help you with these application materials.
So can our expert team here at Management Consulted.
We have a dedicated resume and cover letter editing team.
We work with hundreds of candidates a year who are targeting these summer leadership programs.
We'd love to work with you too.
12:04
And those edits are a part of Black Belt and they're a part of Super Prep.
So now that you know that the summer leadership opportunities and these program opportunities exist, let's tactically talk about how you build some of this access because some of you who are targeting these programs could even start networking before you apply for these programs in a couple of weeks.
12:29
And there are 5 rules of networking that we have here at Management Consulted.
And they're fairly simple in theory, but a little bit more difficult to execute.
You need to be talking to the right person at the right time, at the right firm, in the right location for the right position.
12:46
And so I'm going to give you a high-level overview of these 5 rules today.
We walk through them in depth once you join Blackball or Super Prep.
But I do want to give you a little preview of just what you should be doing.
You start with the right person.
And so a lot of candidates make the mistake of spraying and praying, right?
13:07
You send hundreds of LinkedIn messages out to random people at the firms, and you hope that someone writes you back.
And you haven't done a good enough job of identifying for the people you're writing to why, honestly, you're worth the time.
13:22
And they're busy schedules, all right?
And so one of the ways that you figure out who the right people are for you to be talking to is to have an understanding of what the recruiting process looks like inside the firms, right?
13:37
What does the process look like from their perspective?
And, here's what it looks like.
The professional consultants themselves, especially at the top firms, are the ones responsible for deciding who gets interviews.
It's not the recruiters and it's not HR.
13:57
That means that if you want to be strategic with who you're networking with, you should be targeting the professional consultants and not recruiters, not HR recruiters.
In HR, they're lovely.
They're really, really helpful.
But they are going to be there to answer your administrative and logistical questions.
14:14
They are not the right people to network with if you're looking for a referral.
15:05
And so once you've identified, OK, it's the professional consultants I should be networking with, well, which level of professional consultant do you target For those of you on the call today who are freshmen, sophomores, juniors, right, undergraduate candidates, you need to be speaking to people who are one to two years ahead of you in your career.
15:28
So my sophomore's on the call right now, you need to be talking to folks on your campus who had an internship with your target firm last year and networking with them.
And you need to be networking with the 1st and 2nd year analysts inside of these firms who just graduated with an undergraduate degree.
15:51
So those are the people inside of the firms that make a decision on who takes their place, right?
The folks who were in an internship program last year often get the opportunity to contribute to who joins the internship program this year.
16:07
The early career analysts inside of her firm, they're the ones who get to decide who the next crop of analysts might be coming up behind them.
So this means that unless you already have a warm connection with a partner or a manager, those people are not the right people for you to be reaching out to and networking with.
16:27
You'll interact with and encounter partners and managers in the interview process, but they don't want to be involved right now talking to you in the networking process.
If your mom's best friend growing up as a partner at Deloitte leverages the connection, use that connection.
16:45
But if you're going to just reach out cold to a partner at Deloitte or a partner at Bang, that's not the best bang for your buck in terms of networking effort to potential output.
All right.
So you should be targeting the right level of person.
17:02
You should also be targeting ideally people inside of your target offices.
So as you think about where you would want to eventually be based, I would put together a list of five to six cities that I would like to work in and that I have work authorization to work in.
17:22
And I would start to network with people inside of those 5 or 6 cities.
And my goal inside of the networking process would be to identify and curate that list down to a short list of three cities.
Because eventually when I apply for a junior internship, most firms will allow me to list up to three office locations on the application.
17:44
And so when I apply, my application gets routed through my first choice office.
And so I should have networked with people in my first choice office.
If my first choice office doesn't want me, my application gets routed through my second choice office.
So I should have talked to people at my second choice office too.
18:02
If my second choice office doesn't want me, my application gets routed to my third choice office, So I should have talked to people in that office as well, right?
You want to build a network that's very location specific.
And so one of the ways that you start this process is you just think through where would I like to live and work?
18:19
And then you call that list down based on where you have the strongest connections.
That is how you mathematically maximize your chances of application success.
So that's how you start to think about who the right people are that you should be talking to and where they exist physically in the world.
18:39
Let's talk about how to identify the right firms, right?
Because that's the second piece of access.
Now when we have management consulted, look at the industry landscape, we really break every single consulting firm out into one of four categories.
All right, so I'm going to start you on the upper left hand corner of the slide and we're just going to move around the matrix.
18:59
So you have firms that specialize in an industry but offer services across different practice areas.
So if you take a look at this slide, a firm like LEKLEK is an amazing firm.
19:15
They do work across industries, but their bread and butter, their reputation is really in healthcare and life sciences.
Now inside of that healthcare and life sciences expertise, LEK can serve clients through strategy projects, through technology projects, through operations projects, through human capital projects.
19:34
They work across functional areas, but they really, when they go to market, they go to market based on their sector expertise more than they go to market based on functional expertise.
So for those of you who want to specialize in a particular sector or want to exit consulting one day into a leadership role in a very specific industry, targeting firms that have sector expertise might be the play for you.
20:02
You also have internal strategy practices at places like Google and Capital One.
Obviously Google has a sector expertise.
It's it's technology, it's search more specifically it's cloud services, right.
It's a lot of different sub sectors that fall under the technology umbrella.
20:19
So if you're at the internal in the internal Consulting Group at Google, you are obviously going to have an industry specialty, but you're going to work on projects across functional areas, strategy, operations, etcetera.
The same is true for internal practice areas at firms like Capital One.
20:38
And one of the benefits of these internal consulting practices is they offer really natural exit opportunities to PNL ownership inside of those particular companies.
So that's category one.
In terms of a consulting firm or type of consulting practice, it's its firms or practices that have sector expertise.
20:58
Now if you move to the bottom left hand corner of the slide, you have other firms that have both sector and functional expertise.
So there's an amazing firm based in Boston called Titan Partners.
A lot of people haven't heard of Titan Partners, but Titan Partners works really specifically in the education space and they really focus specifically on strategy projects for clients in the education ecosystem.
21:24
Could be universities, could be textbook manufacturers, could be curriculum development companies, could be a lot of different players inside the education ecosystem.
But their claim to fame is that they work in education and they work on strategy.
That's it.
So these are the firms that you're going to find that fit kind of the narrowest niches.
21:45
But if you know that you want to be in the education space and you want to specifically be in strategy in the education space, that's a fantastic firm for you to go check out.
Bridge Span Group is another.
They work specifically in the nonprofit and the social sectors and they primarily work on strategy related engagements.
22:07
Now moving over to the bottom right hand corner of this quadrant, you have firms that don't necessarily have sector expertise but do have functional expertise.
So firms like Alvarez and Marsal, for example, Amazing firm, fantastic comp.
22:24
Honestly, they beat MBB on comp.
If money matters to you, this is one firm we should check out.
But their specialty is really bankruptcy restructuring and turn around work.
But they do that work across industries.
And so if that kind of turn around work is exciting to you and you care less about building sector expertise, Alvarez and Marsal, Alex Partners, FDI, those are firms that you might want to check out.
22:55
Accenture Right has built a claim to fame around its technology expertise.
So almost everything that happens at Accenture Right is adjacent to technology.
They do Technology Strategy, they do technology implementation, They do a lot of work around technology and they do it across industries.
23:17
They work on those kinds of projects in the healthcare industry, in CPG, for the public sector, but they're often related to technology.
And so that is Accenture's claim to fame when it goes to market.
And so there are many, many firms that fit this quadrant of the market that have functional expertise, but not necessarily sector expertise.
23:42
And then finally, in the upper right hand corner of the slide, you've got the firms that play across sectors and across functions and really compete against every other firm inside of this landscape.
So McKinsey, Bain, BCG work across industries and they also have built out practice areas across functions as well.
24:03
So you could go work as a general, a strategy consultant at McKinsey.
You can join the digital practice at McKinsey, you can join the implementation practice at McKinsey, you can join the human capital practice at McKinsey.
And the same is true for the BIG4 firms as well.
And so they play across industries, across practice areas.
24:22
If you don't know yet what you want to be when you grow up, then my advice to you is that you should target at any one of these firms a strategy role because you'll get the broadest possible exposure inside of your work experience at these firms if you're in a strategy role.
24:41
But one of the things I tell students that I talk to all the time is one of the main reasons to go into consulting is to leave it.
All right?
So as you're thinking even now as a sophomore about kind of going into consulting, think about how you want to be branded in three to five years, all right?
24:57
Because the kind of work you do at these firms is the brand that you're going to carry coming out of these firms.
And that's going to determine the exit opportunities you have here over the next decade.
Go to our consulting firm directory and you will find detailed information on almost 1400 firms that all do amazing work, all pay incredibly well, and are all working on really exciting projects.
25:25
So if you're like, OK, this is helpful.
This is a good start.
I want to know more about this kind of landscape and where different firms fit.
Go to the firm directory and you'll be able to filter firms by different functional areas and by different industries to find firms that you might want to network with to learn more about what it's like to work there.
25:47
So that's the access piece.
That's step one, right?
It's starting to determine who the right firms are for me and who the right people are that I should be talking to.
26:29
Now Step 2 is to start to build the right abilities.
And when we think about the right abilities, we really think about this in three main ways.
You have to have an amazing application packet.
You have to be prepared for the case interview and you have to be prepared for the fit or the behavioral interview portion of recruiting as well.
26:52
And so let's start with the application.
There are three components to a successful application.
You've got to have a killer resume.
For most firms, they still require you to have a killer cover letter and you have to be ready for the digital assessments.
27:08
All right, and firms are not looking for you to be a business expert or a subject matter expert, right?
No offense to anybody on this call, but if you're a sophomore in college, you are not a subject matter expert in anything and you are not a business expert, all right?
So that is not the positioning that you need to be taking inside of your networking interactions or on the resume, all right?
27:29
Firms are not hiring you because you know anything.
They're hiring you because you have displayed transferable skills.
OK, And I'm going to talk to you about some of those transferable skills on the next slide, but that's how your resume needs to be positioned, All right?
27:45
And that's good news for you because that means that you don't necessarily have to have done something like a consulting project to display transferable skills.
It's really helpful to have done a consulting project and it's easiest to tell that story.
But you can build transferable skills in a lot of different places in a lot of different ways.
28:04
And I'm going to give you some ideas in a few minutes of how you can do that.
All right.
But your resume needs to be focused on emphasizing your analytical ability, your problem solving ability, some business understanding or acumen, your leadership ability, your ability to work in a team, your ability to communicate, your ability to present, your ability to start something and finish it and measure the results that you've achieved.
28:31
OK.
And you can emphasize those skills.
You can build those skills in a lot of different settings.
So that's the resume and I'll, I'll show you some must have sections in the resume as well here in just a minute.
The cover letter should really be focused on building on the resume.
28:51
One of the big mistakes I see candidates make with the cover letter is it's just a rehash of the resume, right?
If I am skimming a cover letter for 8 seconds, I do not want to see the same thing I just saw on the resume.
When I'm reading a cover letter or skimming a cover letter, I'm really assessing three things.
29:08
Number one, I'm assessing whether you understand the culture of my firm.
OK, So one of the reasons that you network is so that you can name drop in the cover letter the people that you've talked to and what you've learned about the firm that prompted you to apply.
All right, So if I don't see a name, if I don't see a conversation referenced in the cover letter, I throw it out and I keep reading somebody else as I move on.
29:31
All right, So kind of goal number one of the cover letter is to demonstrate that you understand the culture of that particular firm.
And the only valid way to say that you understand the culture is that you talk to someone.
OK, you talk to someone on the inside.
Reading something on the Internet can be helpful.
29:46
It can help inform some of the questions that you'll ask.
But even learning something from a Management Consulted is no substitute for talking to someone who's on the inside right now.
That's number one.
Number two, I'm assessing you on your storytelling ability.
So I want to see 2 accomplishments built out on your cover letter, 2 accomplishments from your resume.
30:09
There was maybe a bullet point or two on the resume.
I now want to see them talked about in a full paragraph format.
And I want to see what the context was of the problem that you faced, the specific actions that you took to resolve that problem, and what the corresponding results were.
And I want to see a five to six sentence paragraph building out that story with details that you didn't have space to include on the resume, right?
30:32
The cover letter is supposed to be a deep dive into a couple of your most impressive accomplishments that I noticed on the resume.
And then #3 I read the cover letter because I want to assess your writing ability.
There are two things that you will not learn inside of a training program.
30:49
In consulting, you will not learn how to write and you will not learn how to sell.
The good news for you is that you don't really have to learn how to sell in consulting.
You absolutely don't need to know how to be a clear and concise written communicator.
And so I assess that on the cover letter, which means that your cover letter needs to be crisp.
31:07
It needs to be concise, it needs to be one page Max all right, and it needs to flow as one narrative.
The third piece of this application phase is the digital assessments.
All right, more and more firms are incorporating digital assessments into the application process.
31:27
Digital assessments take one of two forms.
They are either SAT type tests or they are Sims like video games.
All right.
And so I don't have the time today to unpack like every single digital assessment at every single firm.
All I'll say is this.
31:44
The best way to prepare for digital assessments is to prepare for case interviews.
All of the skills that you're being assessed for inside of those tests, right?
The ability to to make decisions quickly, the ability to evaluate trade-offs, the ability to sift through a large amount of data are the same skills that you build as you go through case interview prep.
32:06
OK.
So if you work with us in block belt or in super prep, we'll work with you on your case interview skills and you will naturally be prepared for the digital assessments you'll have to see as well.
And we'll also give you just some insider knowledge on the format and the process that you can expect.
32:22
So you're not surprised when you open up one of those tests, All right, You can see here on this slide that I've got a little middle section for GPA and test scores, all right?
And you'll notice that like in these 5 minutes that I've been talking about applying, I haven't mentioned GPA and test scores once, all right?
32:40
Like, a lot of candidates overweight their importance.
OK.
But I've got it here because I know you're going to ask me about it if I don't mention it.
All right?
So I'm just going to mention it now.
All right.
Like for most firms, the GPA cut off is 3.5.
32:57
OK.
Like for most of the top firms, that's the GPA cut off.
Now, does that mean that if your GPA is lower than 3.5, you're automatically, like, ineligible for some of these roles?
Absolutely not.
Networking is the great equalizer, OK?
33:13
And we have worked with literally hundreds of candidates over the years who haven't technically met the GPA or the test score thresholds and gotten interviews and gotten offers.
OK, So don't disqualify yourself, but that does mean that you are going to have to network to kind of balance out the equation.
33:30
Everyone should network, but if your GPA is a little bit lower than three to five, you absolutely should network.
All right.
Usually GPA and test scores are used as a tiebreaker, right?
If you have a 4.2 out of four point OGPA, like I'm not interviewing you just because of that.
That by itself is not super impressive, right?
33:48
Like good for you.
I'm glad you have a high GPA, but like that's not the reason I want to talk to you.
But if I have two candidates that are really, really kind of even neck and neck and I need some data point to decide who gets an interview interview and who doesn't, right, then my first tiebreaker is going to be, did someone at our firm talk to one of these people?
34:10
The person that networked, right?
They're the ones who are going to get the interview invite.
My second tiebreaker is going to be if I need to go to a second tiebreaker, right?
It's going to be a GPA or it's going to be a SAT or ACT score.
All right, so they're important data points for the firms, but they are not the end all be all.
34:30
OK, So what should your resume include specifically?
There are three sections that absolutely 100% need to be on your resume, like bar none, OK, Education, experience and leadership, right?
And this is geared towards undergraduate candidates specifically.
34:48
So if you're on this call and you're not an undergrad, talk to us and we'll and we'll let you know kind of how much of this applies to you and how much doesn't.
All right, but education should come first on your resume because you are currently enrolled in a degree program.
And here are some of the things that firms care about, all right, they care about pedigree.
35:08
So pedigree doesn't just mean like, do I go to a top school?
It also means, did I win the most prestigious scholarship at my school that I obtained an academic award?
Was I elected student body vice president?
Right.
35:23
There are different ways to showcase pedigree beyond just the name brand of your school.
OK, but that is something that firms care about.
They care about the fact that you took quantitative classes.
So you know, if you're an econ major or a finance major, you don't need to list out all of your relevant coursework.
35:42
I know the classes you take as an econ major and the firms do too, right?
But if you are a liberal arts major or you know, you're a major that's not typically associated with being kind of a quant heavy course load, then you might want to just kind of bullet point for me like in one line, right?
36:00
A couple of the quantitative focus classes that you've taken just so I know that you have a baseline level of ability and understanding in some of those realms.
OK, Again, not a deal breaker, but a helpful tie breaker.
And then third, I do care about performance for the reasons I mentioned on the last slide.
36:20
So right, if your GP is over the firm's threshold, it should be on the resume.
If your SAT or ACT score or over the firm's kind of cut off, they should be on the resume.
If you want a scholarship, it should be on the resume.
The dollar amount of the scholarship should also be on the resume.
36:35
How competitive the scholarship was should also be on the resume.
If you want an academic award, that should be on the resume.
I think the exception to that is Dean's list.
At most universities, the Dean's list is pretty generic.
All right, that university I went to, it's like half of our class got on the Dean's list.
36:52
So like most firms, look at Dean's list with a little bit of a skeptical eye.
If it's special at your school, let me know in the resume.
It's special.
Tell me that only 10% of the class in any even semester gets on the Dean list.
All right.
But I'm typically looking for ways that you've risen to the top in terms of your honors, your awards, your performance.
37:14
And I want to see that in the education section.
I don't want a separate honors or award section because that removes those distinctions from the proper context.
I want to see them all in one place.
OK, let's move on to your experience section.
37:31
This is any work that you've done that's an internship, a Co-op, a summer job, etcetera.
And so here's some things I care about in that section.
If I'm a reviewer at a consulting firm, I care about brand name, right?
37:46
So did you work for a brand name company or did you serve brand name clients?
If the answer to any of those questions is yes, name drop as much as you can.
If you are under NDA or you did some sensitive work, instead of listing your client, you could say for a Fortune 500 manufacturer, right?
38:04
There are ways to get around some of the information that you may not be able to share while still conveying the size, the scope, and the scale of your work.
So I do care about brand names.
I care about analytical ability, both qualitative and quantitative analytical ability.
Did you work in Excel?
38:21
Did you, you know, write a script in Python?
Did you visualize data in Tableau?
I want to see some of those skills highlighted within the bullet points of your experience, and I want you to showcase business understanding by drawing the connection between what you did and the results or the projected results of your work.
38:43
So when you analyzed that data set, what are the insights that you uncovered?
And then what are the recommendations that came out of those insights?
And if those recommendations were implemented, what would the business impact be?
Being able to draw the line between the work that you did and business impact conveys business acumen and business understanding.
39:07
And then finally, I'm looking for distinction.
So if you want some kind of employee of the month award or you were offered to, you received an offer to return, I want to see that inside of the experience.
That's super attractive to firms.
The third section that undergraduate candidates should have inside of their resume is a leadership section.
39:29
This is an experience that you are not pated, paid for or graded for.
OK.
So if you were president of a club on campus or you, you know, are a leader in your local Big Brothers, Little Brothers chapter or you're, you have a leadership role in your local Habitat for Humanity, right?
39:50
Like any kind of leadership role like that, I want to see in the leadership section.
And specifically, I want to see in those experiences that you have managed people, you've managed budgets and you've not just been involved, but you've been able to achieve impact.
40:07
Those are some of the highlights I'm looking for out of leadership.
My rule for if something counts as leadership is this if you tell me about the experience.
When I imagine you doing it, do I imagine you in a professional setting and do I imagine you in professional clothes?
40:25
OK.
So being captain of the soccer team is great.
It's not a leadership experience that deserves a fully built out entry inside of the leadership section.
Because when I think of you captaining the soccer team, I think of you in a soccer kit.
I don't think of you in professional dress in a professional setting.
40:42
So that's your filter for if the experience you're thinking about actually belongs in the leadership section or not.
So some of you might be thinking, OK, Namaan, this is super helpful.
Like I know some of the experience that I ideally should have, but I don't have it right now.
41:01
So like what do I do to build some of that experience?
All right, number one and most obvious thing is you can get a job, right?
Right.
So you could get like you could get a Co-op, you could get a part time job, you could get a, you know, an internship, whether they're paid or unpaid, right?
41:18
That's like in the semester, right?
Like there are lots of ways for you to, to examine, excuse me, to like find and identify job opportunities that are open for you and to you right now, right?
And the management consulted job board is one place for you to go and find some of those opportunities.
41:36
So you get bonus points for brand name.
I always tell undergraduate candidates that we're working with that at this point in your career, brand name matters more than function.
So even if you want to do strategy work right, I would take a supply chain Co-op at a brand name company versus a strategy Co-op at a non brand name at this point in your career.
42:00
So focus on brand name over function if you have to make the choice.
So that's option number one.
Option #2. You can start a business, right?
So build a landing page or a website, make one sale to prove the concept and keep on going.
One of the things I, I, I love to see as a reviewer at a consulting firm is that you know how to take initiative and, and have an idea and take the idea from just an idea to execution and application in the real world.
42:30
So, you know, I don't care if it's, you know, working with your little sister to like, blow up her Girl Scout cookie business, right?
Like, right, I don't care if it's web design, if that's a skill that you have, you know, I don't care if you want to start a business kind of advising other small businesses on how they should write optimal AI prompts, right?
42:52
Like there's a lot of things that you could start doing today, to not only generate a little bit of income, but also build some of the skills that we talked about.
You just want to make sure that like, if you're going to go the entrepreneurial route, that you are actually #1 generating some kind of revenue and #2 like out in the real world, talking to customers, talking to clients, talking to partners.
43:18
When you tell me about your business, when you tell me about your entrepreneurial venture, I don't want to think, oh, man, this person just sat in bed all day in their pajamas and wrote code, right?
Like that's, that's not necessarily the type of entrepreneurial venture that is going to be the most resonant for me.
43:34
If I'm a reviewer at a consulting firm #3 You could offer a free project.
I have some of my, my, my kind of executive coaching clients that are building their own independent consulting practices. I found this to be a really, really valuable kind of business development tool.
43:53
And for you, this would be a really valuable consulting skills building tool, which is just go to the business down the street and say, hey, right, I would love to offer you a free one week project and kind of size the local market for you or I would love to offer you a free one week market.
44:11
Can I do a competitive landscape analysis for you?
Right.
And, and kind of give you some insight into what all the other bookstores in our town are doing and how they're competitively positioned against you.
All right, you could go to local businesses, you could go to nonprofits.
I've never known small businesses to say no to free work.
44:29
And so you don't have to get paid for this project to be meaningful.
I would say for it to be meaningful, you have to put a deliverable together.
So put a slide deck together and you have to present it to the business owner.
OK, So set, set those parameters ahead of time as you're offering the project, right?
44:46
I'm doing this to build skills.
I want this to be a win win.
One of the things that I need this to be is that I need to be able to sit down with you at the end of the week and I need to be able to present this to you.
I need to be able to walk you through it and answer your questions.
OK, that's not just going to give you valuable reps for what you'll do in consulting, but it's going to give you a really valuable story to share in the networking process and to share in the interview process when you get there.
45:10
And then 4th, if you don't want to go find your own work, you can join Super Prep.
One of the values of Super Prep is we do that hard work for you.
We've identified the client, we've scoped the problem, we've built the project team, we've given you an MBV mentor.
All you have to show is it.
45:26
All you have to do is show up and be a part of the team, all right?
And we'll give you a work stream that you get to own.
You do the analysis, you own the slide building for that work stream you presented to the client at the end of the week and you answer the questions, you get feedback.
All right, We have to this point never ever had consulting experience in a project that we've run where the client has not implemented the recommendations that our teams have brought.
45:50
And we've been doing multiple projects a year for many, many years.
And so one of the other benefits of super prep is that you already know that the work that you're doing is going to be applied in the real world.
And that just makes your stories more powerful when you're in the interview process talking about your experience.
46:10
So that's step one, right?
You have to build a resume, build a cover letter.
And so we talked about tactically how to display those skills and also how to build some of those skills.
Step 2 is preparing for the case interview.
And we talk about this all inside of our prep programs.
46:27
So I'm not going to walk you through, I don't have the time today to walk you through like the anatomy of a case.
I'm just going to tell you this, all right?
A case interview is a type of interview where you are solving a real world business problem, often based on a project that that firm has actually completed.
46:44
It took that firm six months to complete that project.
They're asking you to solve the same problem in 20 to 45 minutes.
OK, That's, that's like in essence what a case interview is.
Now, because of that, that means that you are not assessed in the case interview on how right you are because you're not going to get to a place in 20 minutes that took a team of 6 consultants 6 months to get to.
47:08
OK.
What you are being assessed on is your ability to structure a problem solving approach to an admittedly ambiguous problem.
How do you take something that's really ambiguous and put structure behind it?
That's number one, You're going to be assessed on your ability to #2 analyze data.
47:24
You're going to be assessed on your ability #3 to communicate your thought process clearly in a way that your interviewer can follow it.
OK.
And so that's what our coaching focuses on inside of our prep programs is we walk you through each distinct piece of a case interview.
47:41
We walk you through what the firm's expectations are.
We walk you through how long each piece should take you.
We walk you through what the steps of the dance are.
And so you know what the interviewer is doing, you know what you're supposed to be doing.
And then we work on building those transferable skills that you can display inside of each piece of the case.
47:59
All right, so right now, all I want you to know is that case interviews aren't about being right.
They're again, about displaying some of those skills that I just mentioned.
Now, if you've never done a case before or if you have not started your case prep yet, then we have a free case prep plan that we're giving you today just for being on the call or for listening to this episode.
48:21
So the link to that prep plan is in the chat and if you're listening via podcast, it's in the show notes.
All right, so you can download it today to start your prep immediately.
It is a 28 part plan, right, that walks you through step by step what you should do in your first month of case interview prep.
48:37
All right, so like you could do one step every day and kind of be at a really good place in terms of your case prep, like within one month, but you could also flex it to your timeline if you don't need to do all this work in a month.
Inside of the plan, we link to drills, we link to cases, we link to a lot of materials that you can use to start building your case competency today.
49:02
The third part of being ready and building the ability, right, to successfully recruit as a sophomore is the behavioral or the fit interview.
Let me just say this right now, right off the bat, we have a lot of students that we work with, a lot of candidates who come to us who are freaking out about the case interview, right?
49:21
And rightfully so.
Like it's difficult, it's tough, It's not like anything you've ever done before.
What they don't understand is that the behavioral or the fit interview is 50% of your final score.
And it really, really sucks if the reason you don't get an offer is this right here, because this is actually relatively easy to prepare for, all right?
49:41
Especially compared to the case.
You just have to put the time in, all right.
So there are three main types of questions that you'll see inside of a behavioral interview.
You'll see direct questions, story questions and tricky questions and we walk you through these in detail and set off our prep programs.
49:59
But I'll just kind of give you the quick overview right now.
Direct questions are questions that are based off of experiences that are listed on your resume, right?
So why did this happen?
How did you do this?
Why did you not get a return offer from you from last year's internship, right?
Just questions that are based off of what's there on the paper.
50:19
Story questions are a little bit different.
They are questions like tell me about a time when dot dot dot.
Tell me about a time when you faced an ethical dilemma and how you handled it.
Tell me about a time when you had to work with a difficult teammate.
How did you resolve that issue?
50:35
All right, story questions.
And then you have your tricky or your curveball questions.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
What are your greatest strengths?
What are your greatest weaknesses?
Right?
Tesla just, you know, announced its Q4 earnings.
50:50
What do you think about the fact that they beat on deliveries but missed on revenue?
What does that tell you about what's happening at Tesla?
All right, so questions that you might not expect, why should we not hire you?
That's one of my favorites, right?
And so questions that you know, kind of come out of left field that if someone hasn't kind of prepped you for those, if you haven't gotten some reps in around kind of how to answer those can trip you up.
51:17
So these questions and this interview makes up 50% of your final score.
Make sure you have 12 to 15 stories prepared to address these kinds of questions before you walk into any interview.
All right, we'll help you do that inside of the programs if you want to work with us.
51:35
Last couple things I want to mention and then we're going to get to questions.
So when you have access ability and you know the proper timing, then you hit acceleration, OK.
And so you're at step one right now, which is knowing what to do drives initial motivation.
51:53
And so that's what today's call is for.
We're here to tell you what to do and when to do it.
And so hopefully that gives you the confidence in the motivation to say, OK, great, I can get started now.
That's the goal coming out of today, right?
And then you'll start going through our prep plan and you'll start to get tired.
52:10
And at that point, the firms will release their application deadlines and they'll give you another jolt of energy.
All right.
And one of the things that you'll realize is that the application deadlines are so early, like they're, they are a year ahead of when your internships will begin that a lot of your peers will miss them.
52:28
And because you're on this call today, right?
Like you'll have access to opportunities that you wouldn't have had access to otherwise just because of how accelerated this, this timeline and this process is.
So like, stay involved and engaged with what we're doing at MC and, and we'll make sure we pass those deadlines along to you and that will give you opportunities that others don't have access to just because they're not aware.
52:53
All right, we have an application deadline tracker on the website.
We'll, we'll share that with you.
You should bookmark that page and then the third piece is that community support is going to give you the endurance that you need to make it to the end.
This is a long and difficult journey, and if you go it alone, it is easy to give up.
53:13
All right.
And so I'm like, if you're at a partner school of ours, you have access to our university community and there are hundreds of students inside of our university community who are undergoing the same journey that you're undergoing.
So even if you never pay us a dime, you have access to that community because of your school's relationship with us.
53:29
You should get in there and interact with other people.
You should find case partners.
You should ask questions.
You should learn from other people's experience.
You should know that you're not in it alone because that will keep you going, right?
And if you want some kind of hand holding and more intentional support, that's one of the reasons we're here, right?
53:48
So you, you have Katie on the call today.
She's our block belt advisor.
She went through the same process.
She was a block belt with us years and years ago.
She went to BCG.
She got promoted at BCG, like she knows what she's talking about.
She's incredible and she's been on both sides of the table.
She's been a candidate and she's been an interviewer.
54:05
And she can kind of give you the insight that you need, the guidance that you need, the encouragement that you need to stick at it because she knows what it feels like to go through this process.
I'm going to pop this slide up and leave it up for a minute just so you all can take a screenshot of it if you want.
54:24
But these are the milestones that we want you to hit and when we want you to hit them to ensure that you're prepared for summer recruiting.
OK, So your job coming out of today is to start to research firms.
By next month, you should be starting to make networking calls.
All right.
54:40
And we have a lot of materials on the website that walk you through how to do the outreach, what to say when you're on the calls, how to ask for a referral, right?
That material is there on the website.
We also coach you through it in our prep programs.
But that should be happening in March.
54:56
You should be refining your resume and cover letter in April.
And then you should be starting your interview prep, you know, simultaneously, like as you go through this process in February, March, and April.
And you should be adding on your behavioral interview prep in May towards the end of the process that will ensure that you're ready to drop your resume in June and that you're ready for interviews that are going to start taking place in July.
55:19
All right, so that's the timeline.
And you can see at the bottom of the slide kind of how our prep programs are structured and kind of what you would do at each phase of the journey if you work with us.
All right, So like what will, if you join one of our programs, what we'll do this month is we'll have a strategy call with you and we'll give you some firm recommendations and we'll build a networking plan for you, right?
55:44
We'll, we'll then make sure you're ready to be having one networking call per week next month.
We'll edit your resume and cover letter for you by April.
We'll work with you one-on-one on case and behavioral interview prep.
You'll have a dedicated MBB coach who's kind of working you through a prep plan and program.
56:03
We'll make sure that you drop your resume on time in June and we'll make sure that you're ready to interview with confidence by July because you'll know that you're ready because someone like Katie would have told you, hey, you're ready.
I know what a good candidate looks like.
All right, so that's kind of what the weekly or the bi weekly cadence would look like if you were going to start working with us today.
56:27
I'll leave this up just so y'all can see kind of how we help you identify the access, the abilities and the acceleration that you need to maximize your chances of success.
J 5th while people are digesting this, what I'm going to do is I'm going to pop the pre-submitted questions up on the screen.
56:48
I'll address some of those.
And then if there are questions that have come in through the chat that you think are helpful for us to address live, I'm, I'm happy to stick around for an extra couple of minutes and address those as well.
So I will start with the pre submitted questions here.
So the first question was around networking.
57:08
Should I wait until after the semester to network with people or should I start now despite my resume not being fully complete?
I think the last couple slides just answered that for you.
You should start networking this semester.
We've already walked you through what the general timeline is like for networking as well.
57:26
Do you specifically ask for referrals and networking calls?
That's the third question that came in.
The answer is yes.
All right.
And so the culmination of every networking call with a professional consultant should be to ask for a referral.
Generally speaking, my script for that is something like this.
57:48
Katie, thanks so much for your time today.
The answers to my questions really kind of confirmed for me that BCG is a firm that could be a great fit for me.
Would you feel comfortable referring me for the associate intern role?
That's the kind of language that I would use at the end of the call.
58:07
And right, my contact can give me one of two answers, yes or no.
If the answer is yes, great, we can talk about next steps.
If the answer is no, that's still a win for me because I can ask that person for really candid and honest feedback on what I can do to improve between now and the time that I apply.
58:24
But you don't get that feedback if you don't ask for a specific referral.
Our second category of questions that came in was around things like the profile and the resume.
So we already talked about our advice for someone who doesn't have experience with consulting.
We already talked about the experience that consulting firms are looking for.
58:43
We already talked about competitive GP as we already talked about the fact that yes, experience with non name brands does count if you can highlight transferable skills.
And we already talked about how to emphasize some of those leadership and problem solving skills as well.
59:01
Interview prep.
Some questions came in there.
Should I start with behavioral or case interview prep first?
Start with the case first.
There's a longer runway to get ready for the case and the skills that you build in the case prep process will prepare you for the digital assessments as well.
We would start our behavioral interview prep like 4 weeks, 4 to 8 weeks before interviews.
59:20
You don't have to start that prep now.
You just have to make sure you do that prep before you walk into the interview.
Second question, under the interview prep category, how many cases do you recommend that students practice?
I'm not going to give you an answer that you like, but here it is.
59:36
It depends, all right?
Because it could take me 20 cases to get ready and it could take Japheth 30 cases to get ready, right?
Every candidate is different.
And if all I did was give you a magic number and said if you do X number of cases, you'll be ready, I would be doing you a huge disservice, right?
59:56
Like quantity does not equal quality.
All right, So you are ready when someone who knows what they're talking about tells you that you're ready.
All right, I talked to a principal at BCG the other day who told me he did 8 cases before his interviews and he got an offer.
1:00:13
All right, like not necessarily what I'd recommend for everybody, but eight cases, what was all he needed.
And we have other clients we work with that we've got to run them through 40 or 50 or 100.
So.
Don't focus on quantity, focus on being strategic with how you're preparing.
1:00:29
That's why we put that free case prep plan together.
If you follow the right plan, if you do the right things at the right time in the right sequence, you maximize your chances of being ready on time.
All right, general questions here at the bottom of the slide.
If you were a sophomore now, what would be the one thing that you would focus on the most?
1:00:49
Great question.
The one thing that I would focus on the most is making sure that I was able to speak about my experience in a way that would be compelling to firms.
So I'd be starting to think about the internship experience that I've had, the leadership experience I've had on campus, the part time job experience I've had, and how I can pull stories out of those experiences that highlight some of the transferable skills that I know these firms are looking for.
1:01:12
In short, I'd be focused on that storytelling ability because that's going to come in handy on the resume, it's going to come in handy on the cover letter, it's going to come in handy in the networking process, and it's going to come in handy in the interview process.
Like you're going to have to build that skill starting now.
And then I'd also be starting to think about adding more experience if I need it, and I'd be starting to think about preparing for cases.
1:01:33
Also as a freshman, what additional steps can I take to be extra prepared?
There are specific freshman programs that some of these firms run, and so we have a list of those on our website.
If our team is able to pull that list up, I'm sure they'll share it with you.
1:01:51
But you can apply for those freshman programs.
There's no reason for you not to.
Again, it just gives you earlier exposure to culture, from interviews and helps you start to build a network.
On top of applying for those freshman programs, I would also just be looking to get more familiar with the world of business.
1:02:12
Read the Wall Street Journal everyday, read Bloomberg everyday, read CNBC, right?
Start to build some just competency in terms of how you talk about business.
Start to build a perspective on what's happening in the world and start to figure out if you actually like business.
1:02:30
All right, like I can't tell you how many candidates that I've run across in like over a decade of doing this who want to go into consulting and don't even like solving business problems, right?
Like I'm like, what are you doing?
Like preparing for case interviews, like why are you in an MBA classroom if you don't like business?
Like it'll surprise you, Like how many people think they want to do consulting but actually don't love business.
1:02:51
And that is like a real differentiator for you when you get into the net, the networking process and get into the interview prep process is that you actually like solving these kinds of problems, right?
And if you don't like business, if you don't like case prep, you're not going to like consulting.
So just save yourself a whole lot of time and heartache now.
1:03:07
And so if you're a freshman, start exploring if this is something that you really want to do.
What's a good use of my time this summer that will prepare me for recruitment?
It just depends on where you're at, right?
I don't know if you're a freshman, sophomore, junior.
So we've talked a lot about what you should do, right, Just if you're a sophomore.
1:03:25
And so I won't add anything more to that now.
That's why you've been on today's call.
So those are just kind of quick answers to some of the questions that came in ahead of time.
Japheth, I'm happy to take a couple questions live if you think there are some good ones that have come in.
1:03:43
Sure.
Thank you so much, Namaan.
That was really helpful.
Lots of questions in the chat, but thankfully Katie and I have been over here working out our typing muscles and so most of those have gotten some pretty good answers.
I've got one that I thought would be helpful for the group from Grant.
1:04:00
How many firms should I be looking to network with and apply to?
Could I be looking to, you know, do this with as many firms as possible or just dial down on certain ones?
Yeah, that's a great question.
Grant I would start by building a list of like 6 to 10 target firms and I would go through the networking process with those firms.
1:04:21
And as I go through the networking process, I would remove some firms from my target list because I'm not a good fit for them.
And I would shortlist other firms that I for sure want to apply to.
And then as I move firms off my list, I would add others on.
So I have like this rolling list of six to 10 firms that I'm always targeting.
1:04:39
But I wouldn't necessarily like to simultaneously go after 30 firms because I think you're just going to spread yourself too thin, like be a little bit more focused, a little bit more hypothesis driven, a little bit more strategic with the approach.
I love it.
1:04:57
All right, we'll take one more here before we say adios to the folks here on the call.
Calvin's asking what are the main differences, if any.
For.
For juniors, as far as the timeline and tactics of the recruiting process.
1:05:15
Yeah, Calvin, great question.
No real difference between timeline and tactics.
The only real difference is now your only option for applying to the firms is for full time roles after you graduate.
And so those resume drops are going to be happening this summer.
1:05:30
Those interviews are going to be taking place this July and August for full time roles that start in the summer of 2026.
So you still want to start now.
You just want to recognize that typically speaking, all right, full time roles are a little bit, little bit less frequent in terms of how many are open.
1:05:48
And so it's a competitive process, one of the reasons you want to start preparing now, but the timeline and tactics are very similar for you.
All right, thanks so much, Namaan.
Thanks so much everybody for registering, for joining, for tuning in on the podcast and YouTube and LinkedIn and all the other places.
1:06:09
We really, really appreciate you.
Just a final reminder about the Black Belt cohort, the February cohort closing tonight at midnight.
And the last time I checked, there were 2 spots left that may have gone down by now, but we'd love to work with you.
1:06:26
Namaan over to you for final thoughts.
Thanks everybody for joining us.
We're in your corner, All right, So if you've got questions, shoot us a message on LinkedIn, write to us on Instagram, send us an e-mail, and get in touch with us.
We are here to help and we are cheering you on as you start this journey.
1:06:44
So thanks so much for joining us today.
Have a wonderful rest of your Tuesday, and we will.
Thanks for listening to this special episode geared at sophomore candidates interested in consulting.
If you have questions, if we can help you, please reach out, let us know.
1:07:00
Send us a DM on Instagram or an email to [email protected].
We've got tons of free and premium resources to help you make your consulting dreams come true.
We'll see you in the next episode soon.