Case Interview Preparation & Management Consulting | Strategy | Critical Thinking

No one will say this, but you should not be planning a family in the formative/early years of McKinsey or BCG. While firms go to great lengths to extol the virtues of their family friendly cultures, at the end of the day, the numbers say otherwise. It is very difficult to balance family demands and the pressures of a McKinsey engagement. It is best to select phases in your life, and early in you career, focus on career building. Related: - The Consulting offer 2: The Challenges of A Chinese female PhD Purusing Consulting - Quarterly Article: Why there are so few female management consulting partners

The most important piece of feedback for a McKinsey, BCG et al networking event is to do nothing. You actually want to draw as little attention to yourself as possible. Networking events are really formats where consulting firms market themselves. There are obviously exceptions, but rarely is this going to be a moment for you to market yourself. For one, there is too much happening around you and you will almost never get an opportunity to dazzle anyone. Related: The Consulting Offer season 2, Episode 1 Partner Networking and Resume Feedback Quarterly article: Networking with Management Consulting Partners

Unless you have a stellar resume and profile, you will likely need to do some form of networking to secure an interview. Most aspiring consultants cannot network and treat networking as a “tick-the-box” set of coffee chats and phone discussions. Related: The Consulting Offer season 1, Partner Networking Emails

This podcast introduces and discusses the steps firms like McKinsey use to screen and review resumes. Consulting firms and recruiters essentially look for five things: 1 Your school 2 Grades at school 3 Stature of employers 4 Achievements at work 5 Personal experience

This podcast answers the following reader question on GMAT scores and their relevance versus GPA scores when applying to consulting firms.