Month: December 2008

Overview of the Management Consulting Summer Internship – from Recruiting to Guaranteeing a Return Offer

Summer internships in management consulting are tough to find because there are so few. Some companies have just begun to expand their internship programs (eg, McKinsey) and some don't hire summer undergraduate interns (eg, smaller boutiques). However, landing one is incredibly valuable - you get a trial period to determine whether it's the right career…

Networking at Management Consulting Company Presentations

how to get your ex girlfriend back I summarized the management consulting recruiting process in this post. This is the beginning of my deep-dives on each piece of that recruiting process and will be focused on the “execution specifics” - showing you exactly how to master the recruiting process. The overview: Far more common if you’re currently in school (undergraduate, MBA) where consulting firms ranging…

Welcome to New Readers

Received an influx of new readers in the last few days, thanks to some link love from fellow bloggers. Thanks to Marquis first and foremost, who is both a fellow Stanford grad and fellow ex-McKinsey consultant. He regularly blogs about management consulting and MBA issues and has sensible, smart advice for just about everything career-related.…

Management consulting “lingo” – words and phrases that applicants and interviewees should know

People make fun of consultants constantly for their lingo. Whether justified or not (I will restrain from turning this blog into too much of a soapbox), it's important for anyone interested in the industry to understand SOME of the terms (because as an applicant/interviewee, the last thing you want to happen is for you to…

Management Consulting Recruiting Overview

This is post #1 of our series to give you a consulting recruiting overview. Below, we'll touch upon the main components of the consulting job search and what we believe are the key do's and key don'ts. After this consulting recruiting overview, you'll know where you're at in the timeline and be prepared for next…

Top 5 Myths About Travel as a Management Consultant

Travel is a defining characteristic of management consulting regardless of your company. From Bain to Accenture, from McKinsey to Alvarez & Marsal. If you're a consultant, you can expect to become familiar with acronyms like LGA, LAX, and ORD. You can expect to spend enough time in hotels that the staff will recognize and greet…

Management Consulting versus Investment Banking

Management Consulting or Investment Banking? This is an important question for prospective applicants (in particular, undergrad/MBA students) looking for summer internships and full-time jobs alike. The decision was easier for Kevin (our founder) than for most people. The cons of investment banking - the long hours, the repetitive and unengaging nature of the work, the…

Day In The Life Of A Management Consultant (Client Version)

Following is a quick excerpt of a "typical" day in the life of a management/strategy consultant on a project with heavy client interaction. From a recruiting perspective, you should take away the following: The days are shorter than in investment banking (12-14 hr days average, with spikes up to 16 hrs for particularly busy periods)…

McKinsey vs Marakon: The Battle Between Global Management Consulting Firms and Boutiques

This is an important issue when recruiting for a business consulting job. In finance, most people think you must work for the biggest - the Goldman-Sachs-or-bust mentality. And while the big management consulting firms (like McKinsey and Bain) get the lions share of media attention, there are many successful and well-respected boutique consulting firms (like LEK and…

Management Consulting and the Consulting Industry 101

It seems like everyone these days is in management consulting - strategy consultants, business consultants, technology consultants, IT consultants, marketing consultants, and the list goes on and on. It's a catch-all title for someone who gets paid to give their advice on particular subjects to companies. In this post, we'll attempt to answer 3 big questions:…