You are on page 1of 18

Management Management Consulting Consulting Resume Resume Sample Sample

Strike a tone in your resume


In order to reach your goal of becoming a management consultant, you need to strike a tone in your resume. In one of the most competitive fields in the working world, breaking into management consulting requires substantial work and a perfect resume. Recruiters assume that your management consulting resume is an accurate representation of who you are. If its too superficial and commonplace, it might suggest that you wont be able to make a valuable contribution to the consulting firm and your resume will therefore be put aside after a short assessment. Breaking into management consulting is a serious goal and you have to craft your resume with quality, value and uniqueness. It must be effective enough to pique the interest of the recruiters and convince them to schedule you for testing, interviews, and other assessments.

In this presentation, you will learn:

How to write your consulting resume How to review the content and form of your resume Common resume mistakes

All rights reserved by ConsultingFact.com. More free consulting career advice on www.consultingfact.com.

Before writing your resume


Before you turn on the computer and start typing, allot some time to investigate your target firm. Your knowledge will guide you in writing your management consulting resume; it will help you build a connection between you and your potential employer and enable you to construct a unique and personalized marketing tool. Below are some techniques on how to do this: Website Social Media Visit the firms website. You will find their history, goals, values, and culture and learn the fundamental information about the organization. Follow their LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media accounts. They post links to industry trends, activities, events, and other company updates. Keep yourself abreast of these matters. If you cant use this information for resume writing, you will benefit from it during job interviews. Communicate with professionals who have worked or are working for the firm. Network with them in order to access information from an insiders point of view. Some, if not all, will be eager to lend you a hand.

Networking

How do these activities distinctly help you tailor your resume? You will be able to phrase your resume so it resonates with the individual company. Two firms may have the same values, stated in different terms. Alternate the terms in your resume to correspond with each firm you apply with. Moreover, you can emphasize content based on an individual firms goals. For instance, if a particular firm values leadership, its wise to list previous work experience and accomplishments highlighting your achievements in this area.

All rights reserved by ConsultingFact.com. More free consulting career advice on www.consultingfact.com.

Writing your resume


Your cover letter serves as a knock at the consulting firms door. It may be key to your invitation to interview, but your resume deepens the picture your resume reviewer gets of your experience and background. The reviewer will probably only look at this document for a short time. All consulting firms receive many applications this includes both boutique consulting firms as well as top tier consulting firms such as McKinsey, Bain, Boston Consulting Group and Booz. Therefore, your management consulting resume needs to provide high impact and be of a high quality. The key is preparation and outline work before you get started with the writing process. Go through the full resume preparation and planning process. Craft a structure of your resume by brainstorming about your educational, work and volunteer (or other relevant) experiences and listing them. From there, start to narrow down the experience that is pertinent to your desired career path. Then come up with something like our resume outline (as shown below). This outline is our suggestion, based on our experience with successful management consulting applications. You can, however, use a structure that best highlights your experience in the most compelling way for you. The most important point is to offer clarity and strong, actionoriented results and achievement descriptions.

All rights reserved by ConsultingFact.com. More free consulting career advice on www.consultingfact.com.

Parts of your management consulting resume


Management consulting resumes can be organized in many different ways, and many follow a pattern similar to the diagram shown. The way you choose to organize it will depend on several factors. Your personal experience and what you want to emphasize in your resume will come into play. New graduates will probably place greater emphasis on education, academic performance and involvement in relevant extracurricular activities and internships. Experienced consultants will rely heavily on professional experience and skills. Some of what you write may depend on the firm to which you are applying. Some firms have preferences about what you should highlight in your resume. Tailor your management consulting resume to follow any guidance you have about what the firm wants to see. Edit and revise your resume multiple times in the process. Tailor and virtually rewrite it for each new application. Your resume is a living document that changes as you gain more experience but also when you apply for different positions.

All rights reserved by ConsultingFact.com. More free consulting career advice on www.consultingfact.com.

Parts of your management consulting resume


Contact Information This is the section where you will provide basic information about yourself. It may sound easy, but here are a few techniques and reminders you may find useful: The font size for your name must be larger than the rest of the text so recruiters can easily read and remember it. Check the accuracy of your contact number. Mixing up numbers is a huge mistakeyou will never be contacted. Provide a link to your online portfolio, public LinkedIn profile, or blog so the recruiter can further assess you. Use a professional email address. The recruiter wont take you seriously if you use iscmhievousconsultant@example.com or sarcasticman@example.com.

Name Contact number Links

Email address

All rights reserved by ConsultingFact.com. More free consulting career advice on www.consultingfact.com.

Parts of your management consulting resume


Summary or Objective A summary is a brief statement of your major qualifications, expertise, and experience; an objective refers to your career goals and motivation. The former is often utilized by applicants with professional experience, while recent graduates employ the latter. When you write this section, make sure that:

It is written concisely but substantially. It should not exceed two to three sentences.
It must be related to the desired position and target firm. It must be catchy enough to encourage the recruiters to read the rest of your management consulting resume. Example of a longer summary: Experienced management consultant and strategy expert with over a decade of experience. Successful projects include providing and guiding strategy for merger between X and Y firms, leading the new firm to profitability within one year, and managing a team of junior analysts. They successfully launched a new product and guided it to become the leading product in the X sector and generated a 32 percent increase in revenue for parent company.

Example of an objective: Seeking management consulting role that requires proven negotiation and strategy planning skills. Example of a summary: Senior management analyst with experience in global logistics industry. Dual MBA and MS Logistics Management.

All rights reserved by ConsultingFact.com. More free consulting career advice on www.consultingfact.com.

Parts of your management consulting resume


Professional Experience A key consideration when you write about your professional experience is to measure whether or not it is relevant. Is the experience you list directly relevant to the desired position? Activities that are unnecessary to your career path only waste the limited space you have to make your case for being hired. It adds nothing and erases prime application real estate.
For every position you mention, describe your key responsibilities, followed by quantifiable accomplishments in bullet form. Hiring managers want results first and foremost. Use powerful terms such as verbs and numbersthey make your statements more results-oriented. Some of the suggested action words are listed in the table below: Addressed Analyzed Coordinated Executed Interviewed Interpreted Persuaded Planned

Communicated
Conceptualized Reviewed

Guided
Influenced Supervised

Led
Managed Summarized

Promoted
Recommended Written

All rights reserved by ConsultingFact.com. More free consulting career advice on www.consultingfact.com.

Parts of your management consulting resume


Professional Experience Management consulting resume for experienced professionals would most probably state the experience section this way:
Executive Vice President, B2B Sales and Marketing June 2007 November 2010, ABS Sales Enterpising, New York City Managed a team of 65 sales and marketing executives in a B2B sales structure. Guided product sales and marketing development efforts and managed sales operations. Led expansion to Southeast Asian market and selected and managed a sales team for developing Asian operations. Increased annual revenue by 22 percent year over year over three years. Expanded market for software products from Europe to North America and Asia and increased sales by 27%. Increased annual revenue by 1.3 million USD and achieved profitability and market share.

All rights reserved by ConsultingFact.com. More free consulting career advice on www.consultingfact.com.

Parts of your management consulting resume


Professional Experience Heres an example for fresh graduates: Project Analyst, Internship Program STU Consulting Firm, August September 2012 Assisted a team of management consultants in collecting, analyzing, and presenting market-related information to the client. Brainstormed with experts in creating the design for market researches. Analyzed industry trends and customer preferences on womens apparel. Notable accomplishments are the following: Designed a questionnaire that yielded a 80% response rate within one week. Conducted a field interview in shops and boutiques with only 1% data collection error. Wrote a qualitative analysis of research results after thorough brainstorming.

All rights reserved by ConsultingFact.com. More free consulting career advice on www.consultingfact.com.

10

Parts of your management consulting resume


Education For recent graduates, education plays an important role in the resume. Showing stellar academic achievement and involvement in activities that conferred new strengths and skills will help show preparation for a career in management consulting. It serves as your foundation for entering the competitive industry of management consulting. Its the indicator of your knowledge, competencies, and values. Example: 2001-2003 Harvard University, Cambridge, MA USA Master of Business Administration/Master of Public Administration Key achievements: Graduated summa cum laude

All rights reserved by ConsultingFact.com. More free consulting career advice on www.consultingfact.com.

11

Parts of your management consulting resume


Education You can include the following information in this section: You do not have to be an Ivy League grad to compete for a place at an elite consulting firm, but a big-name university with a superb reputation does not hurt. You may want to get the most mileage you can get from your schools name. This indicates what you learned over the past four years. It tells recruiters whether you have knowledge of accounting, management, marketing, economics, or law. Include your GPA if its remarkably high or if it meets the minimum requirement of the management consulting firm. If you graduated with honors or you received any distinctions, state it in your resume. Your determination and hard work to achieve these accolades will be taken into consideration. Your participation in various club activities will alert the recruiter that you have developed skills, discipline, and values that are necessary in management consulting.

Name of institution

Degree earned

Grade Point Average (GPA) Remarkable academic achievements Significant extracurricular activities

All rights reserved by ConsultingFact.com. More free consulting career advice on www.consultingfact.com.

12

Parts of your management consulting resume


Skills Focus on relevance when adding skills. You may have a number of practical skills, but they might not be practical for management consulting. Think carefully about what skills you have, such as languages, software, negotiation/communication, and how they fit into your future career. Consider how and why a consulting firm would need or want these skills. If in doubt, find tangible examples of how a less obvious connection can be made between your skill(s) and the consulting career or leave that particular skill out of your resume. Example: Operations: Teambuilding, human resource management, strategy planning, competitive analysis, conflict and problem resolution, project management, risk assessment and management Financial organization: P&L management, financial reporting, budgetary management Communications: Developing and conducting seminars, negotiation, community outreach Languages: Native English, native Spanish, fluent French, intermediate business Mandarin Chinese

All rights reserved by ConsultingFact.com. More free consulting career advice on www.consultingfact.com.

13

Parts of your management consulting resume


Personal Interests Personal interests do not need to be included in a management consulting resume, especially if you are running short on space. Interests are more often included in European CVs than American ones. You will not be penalized for failing to add personal interests. Some personal interests and hobbies, though, illustrate a certain level of perseverance, motivation and passion that may set you apart from other applicants.

Being a lifelong competitive marathon runner who trains consistently may have very little to do with consulting but does display a level of discipline and tolerance for hard work. A history of community service and voluntary work displays personal integrity and commitment. These personal traits may not fit neatly into a skills and experience box, but you do not want to fit too neatly into a box either. Briefly show interests where you feel it strengthens your application and makes you stand apart from your competition.
Example: Personal Interests: Animal illustration, playing the guitar, and landscape photography.

All rights reserved by ConsultingFact.com. More free consulting career advice on www.consultingfact.com.

14

Review the content and form


Once you have written your resume, proofread it to perfection. You may be able to think of better ways to represent yourself the second time you go over it. Never send out a resume without checking the content and form; your candidacy is at stake. Does it communicate the message you want to convey? Ensure that it proves you will be an asset to the firm. If you miss this part, the answers to the rest of the questions are fruitless. Is it tailored to the goals and requirements of the management consulting firm? It is critical that the recruiter sees that your qualities and personality match the position and the corporate culture. Is the data accurate? Remember that some recruiters validate the information. They sometimes enter your name in the search box or call your previous supervisors to confirm what youve written. Is it free of typos and grammatical mistakes? These embarrassing blunders reflect poor communication skills and lack of attention to detail. Dont give the impression that you dont possess these basic qualities every consultant must have.

Is the text legible? Dont use a small font size to accommodate everything on one page, but dont make it too large because then it occupies too much space. Fancy fonts are highly discouraged. Arial, Tahoma, Times New Roman, Calibri, and other conventional font styles are recommended.
Does it have the correct margins? The white space around the text and in between categories makes your document reader-friendly. Is the length sufficient? One page is ideal, two is acceptable, but anything more than that is too long.

All rights reserved by ConsultingFact.com. More free consulting career advice on www.consultingfact.com.

15

Common resume mistakes


One-size-fits-all approach Some resumes end up in the trash because applicants do not consider this as a critical step or they find it too troublesome to follow the aforementioned guidelines. As a result, they end up preparing an updated, generic resume they can readily print whenever they send out an application. Is this a good idea? Yes and no. Yes, to having an updated, generic resume ready in your hard drive because it can serve as your main reference source each time you tailor your resume to fit the firm you apply to. No, to the one-size-fits-all approach because your application will always have an impersonal tone and therefore wont catch the recruiters attention. Another common mistake is misrepresenting oneself. True, you must project your best self in your resume, but it doesnt mean you can make up stories in order to be noticed. If you do, you are fabricating information, a violation against honesty and integrity. Even if you are successful in the preliminary screening, your capabilities will still be evaluated during the interview. If you fail to prove you possess the abilities you say you do, you will be rejected and you will realize that you have wasted your and the recruiters time and effort.

Misrepresentation of competencies

All rights reserved by ConsultingFact.com. More free consulting career advice on www.consultingfact.com.

16

The waiting time


Even if you follow all the guidelines in this post, there is still a probability that you might not be invited to interview. Unfortunately, its a sad reality that theres an abundance of applicants in this industry. You are competing against candidates as qualified as you, so after sending out your job application, you may want to: Start practicing for fit and case interviews. These are tough recruitment tools which you better prepare for. Network with people who can possibly give you a status report about your application. Its helpful to stay in touch with someone who can follow up for you. Continue looking for other career opportunities. As long as you dont have a signed contract in your hand, you have to keep looking. Take on other jobs to build up your resume. If you think your lack of experience is the reason why other applicants are ahead of you, consider positions that can prepare you for a management consulting career.

Interview Practice

Networking

Other Options

Resume Buildup

Remember to always be proactive in your application. Nobody said that breaking into this industry is an easy venture. Just take things one step at a time and you will get there one day.

All rights reserved by ConsultingFact.com. More free consulting career advice on www.consultingfact.com.

17

Free Guide: Learn How to Break Into Consulting

Do you want to break into consulting? Download our free PDF guide, which will show you the necessary steps and best practices on how to prepare. Consulting Interview Process: Get an overview of the application and interview process when applying to management consulting firms. Receive tips on how to write your cover letter and resume and get prepared for the written tests and interviews once you get there. Interview Preparation: Learn what you need to practice to receive an offer from one of the top-tier consulting firms. See our step-by-step framework to case study solving, learn how to develop your own frameworks and get mental math tips.

Case Study Example: Know what to expect from a case study interview round. Read a real-life case study interview, which includes a variety of topics. See the practical application of the step-by-step framework to case study solving.

Download this free guide (PDF)

You might also like