What The Top Consulting Firms Look For in Resumes CVs.Even if you have already secured your interviews, you should still read this article, because it explains why you were selected, what biases the firms have, and what areas of concerns the firms may have that they will likely test you on during the in person interview.Best Resume Format For Experienced Software Engineers' title='Best Resume Format For Experienced Software Engineers' />Geoengineer.International Information Center for Geotechnical Engineering, providing free access to Geotechnical News and Technical Resources for geotech.While were waiting for the solar eclipse later on in the month, well be cooling our heels in August hiding out in the air conditioning, and catching up on the.Free Download Sample Template Example of Latest Best CV Format for B.Tech B. E. Freshers in doc pdf format in India You May also Like IT Fresher Resume.In other words, what follows is an explanation of how the consulting firms think about recruiting new consultants.Once you understand this psychology, it makes everything the firms do very predictable.Keep in mind, these resume tips apply only to strategy consulting firms as opposed to IT or HR consulting firms such as Mc.Kinsey, Boston Consulting Group BCG, Bain, AT Kearney, LEK, etc.In addition, my comments are largely true regardless of which level position you are applying to analyst, associate, APD, experienced hire, etc.To start, let me dispel one myth Resume Format.Many people obsess over how the resume is formatted.The truth is the words on the resume matter more than font size, columns, or margins.Simple example, if I see a resume that has the wrong margins but the resume says, Harvard University, 1 in Class, Physics okay, Im not even sure if Harvard ranks or has a physics degree.I will notice the resume.So the first big takeaway is this WHAT you say matters more than how you FORMAT what you say.In screening resumes, I have seen dozens if not hundreds of formats.Many different formats can work.The most important thing is the major accomplishments are easy to read.Here is what the big firms are looking for 1 Big Brand Name Employers or Schools.Academic Performance GPA3 High Standardized Test Scores in Math.Evidence of Leadership and People Skills.High Achievement Career Experiences Proportional to Length of CareerKeep in mind, these are resume criteria for ALL levels of consulting, not just post college roles.Let me explain WHY each one is important.Big Brand Name Employers or Schools.To be blunt, the top consulting firms are school snobs.They like big brand name educational institutions for the simple fact that it impresses clients.If youre an Associate making 1.USD per year, your employer is probably billing you out to clients at 6.USDyear. Thats 5.USDmonth. The client is going to want to know what and who they are getting for that kind of money. All My Movies 4 1 Build 1237 West more. When the answer is John or Jane Doe, who has a BS from Dartmouth, a MD from Yale and MBA from Harvard, clients respond with an Oh wow.It makes it easier to get new clients to say yes.Now plenty of people get into the top firms Mc.Kinsey included that do not have such a perfect ivy pedigree.OBVIOUS it will help a lot.Let me explain the thought process of some of these biases.The thinking is that only super high achievers get into the top schools.This is not to say that the firms do not hire from non target schools they do, but they assume the highest achievers from non target schools will work really hard to contact the firm generally via networking thus demonstrating their determination.There is a lesson here.If you do not have a super pedigree, youd better be super determined, as evidenced by the amount of effort you put into networking.In addition, it is very expensive for the firms to do on campus recruiting.So they stick to schools where the offer rate vs.For example, Stanford undergrad is a target school and my year, 4.Mc. Kinsey. As a point of reference, when I was recruited by Mc.Kinsey, I heard a rumor that the firm spent 1.USD in recruiting expense to hire ONE Business Analyst.This figure included all billable hours of interviewers and consultants who go to on campus recruiting events as well as hard costs for travel, renting conference rooms, hotels, etc.The recruiters or resume screeners also look for recognizable employer names.It is easier to understand a candidates accomplishment via the implied credibility of the employer name and it is also easier to convey to clients.It is the same reason everyone wants to work for MBB Mc.Kinsey, Bain or Boston Consulting Group it implies something on your resume that stays with you forever.To this day, I am known as a Stanford Grad and an Ex Mc.Kinsey Guy. It is how I am introduced formally or informally when I give speeches.It stays with you for a very long time.Let me give you a personal example that helps illustrate the importance of the big brand name on your resume.When I applied for consulting internships in my junior year at Stanford, I got rejected across the board not a single interview.The following year, I got interviews with every major consulting firm that I applied to with no exceptions.I got interviews at Mc.Kinsey, BCG, Bain, Booz, LEK, AT Kearney, Monitor since acquired by Deloitte, Oliver Wyman formerly Mercer, and a few others.I also got offers from every consulting firm I interviewed with except BCG where I got rejected in round 1, and Booz when I decided to cancel my final round.So what did I do in the 1.Well I looked at who got interviews most were friends of mine and tried to figure out why they got interviews.Their GPAs were identical to mine.Their areas of academic study were identical to mine.The only thing I noticed was many of them had worked for well known companies the prior summer, and I had not.I decided to focus on improving the brand name factor on my resume in two ways.First, I did an internship at Merrill Lynch during the school year.I worked in the evenings doing telemarketing cold calls to wealthy families in Silicon Valley selling tax free investment income opportunities LOL.I still remember my phone script, I said it so many times.By the way, this was an unpaid internship.I worked for about 4 months every other night making cold calls for Merrill.I could put Merrill Lynch on my resume.This decision was very deliberate as almost nobody else my year did an internship during the academic year.Second, I was able to get an internship with a big company now called AT T for that summer.So when I applied again my senior year, I now had two big brand name employers on my resume, whereas just 1.I had none. As I mentioned earlier, the following year, I got interviews with every consulting firm I applied to, in large part because of the brand name employers on my resume I was competing against 4.Stanford students we all had the famous school on the resume so that was not a differentiator.Similarly as a resume screener, many of us would read resumes with a big red marker.All we would do for hours was skim resumes while circling certain brand names on the resume that jumped out as recognizable or impressive.Academic Performance GPAThe top firms want to know if you are smart.It helps to put your GPA on your resume.If you do not, they will either 1 ask you for it anyways and write it by hand on your resume after you submit it, or 2 assume it is low and assess your resume accordingly.If your schools grading system is not well understood by others, you should explain the grading scale your school uses.Most US schools use a 4.GPA system perfect marks is a 4.GPA out of a possible 4.If yours is different or you are applying from one country to an office in a different country, then you want to put on your resume some way for the reader to interpret your GPA put your rank or put your.For applicants coming out of college, many firms will ask for your transcript to see your specific grades on specific classes.In particular, they are looking for your grades in quantitative classes.Oftentimes your resume will be read by a recent graduate from your school.So if you went to Stanford and took Geology 1.Rocks for Jocks the nickname for that class amongst Stanford students and interpret your grades accordingly.Again there is not a cutoff and the standard will vary by school.Amongst the top undergraduate institutions, a 3.GPA or higher is good enough to not get disqualified from the process purely because of GPA.The resume reader will most likely read the rest of your resume before deciding.My GPA at Stanford was 3.I applied to the major firms.High Standardized Test Scores in Math.Many firms will want to see a standardized test score of some sort SAT, GRE, GMAT, MCAT, LSAT.Because it is sometimes hard to compare GPAs from one university to another, the standardized test score is an easy way to compare measure of ones math ability.
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