period是什么意思How to Write a Perfect Consulting Resume

2021年1月19日发(作者：依靠)
As
a
former
McKinsey
resume
screener,
I
thought
I'd
share
mythoughts
on
how
to
write
the
perfect
consulting resume or CV
.

Even if you have already secured your interviews, you shouldSTILL read what follows because it explains
WHY you wereselected, what biases the firms have, and what areas ofconcerns the firms may have that they
will likely test youon DURING the in-person interview.

In
other
words,
what
follows
is
an
explanation
of
how
theconsulting
firms
THINK
about
recruiting
new
consultants.

Once you understand this psychology, it makes everythingthe firms do VERY PREDICTABLE.

Keep in mind these resume tips apply only to strategyconsulting firms (as opposed to IT or HR consulting
firms)such as McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Bain, ATKearney, 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. Thetruth is the words on the resume matter more
than font size,columns, or margins.

Simple example, if I see a resume that has the
inClass,
Physics
(okay,
I'm
not
even
sure
if
Harvard
ranks
orhas
a
physics
degree)...
I
WILL
notice
the
resume.

So the first big takeaway is this: WHAT you say matters morethan how you FORMAT what you say.

In screening resumes, I have seen dozens if not hundreds offormats. Many different formats can work. The
most importantthing is the major accomplishments are easy to read. Here iswhat the big firms are looking
for:

-------
What The Top Consulting Firms Look For in Resumes & CV's
------

1) Big Brand Name Employers or Schools
2) Academic Performance (GPA)
3) High Standardized Test Scores in Math
4) Evidence of Leadership and People Skills
5) High Achievement Career Experiences (Proportional to Length of Career)

Keep in mind these are resume criteria for ALL levels ofconsulting, not just post-college roles.

Let me explain WHY each one is important.


1) Big Brand Name Employers or Schools

To be blunt, the top consulting firms are school snobs. Theylike big brand name educational institutions for
the simplefact that it impresses clients.

If you're an Associate making $$150,000 - $$200,000 USD peryear, your employer is probably billing you out
to clientsat $$600,000 USD/year.
That's $$50,000 USD/month. The clientis going to want to know what and
who they are getting forthat kind of money.

When
the
answer
is
John
or
Jane
Doe,
who
has
a
BS
fromDartmouth,
a
MD
from
Yale
and
MBA
from
Harvard,
clientsrespond
with
an

wow...
that's
impressive
comment.
Itmakes
it
easier
to
get
new
clients to say

Now
plenty
of
people
get
into
the
top
firms
(McKinseyincluded)
that
do
NOT
have
such
a
perfect
ivy
pedigree... butif you got it, make sure it is 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 thetop schools... and the top firms REALLY like hiring super highachievers.

This is not to say that the firms do not hire fromnon-target schools (they do), but they assume the
highest
achievers from non- target schools will work really hard tocontact the firm (generally via networking) -- thus
demonstrating their determination.

(There is a lesson here. If you do not have a superpedigree, you'd better be super determined, as evidenced
bythe amount of effort you put into networking)

In addition, it is very expensive for the firms to do oncampus recruiting. So they stick to schools where the
offerrate vs. applicant ratio is high (high being defined asgreater than 1%...


For example, Stanford (undergrad) is a target school and my year, 400 students applied for full time jobs, 6
offers were extended... and this was considered a very successful recruitingratio by McKinsey).

As a point of reference, when I was recruited by McKinsey,
Iheard a rumor that the firm spent
$$100,000
USD in recruitingexpense 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

The recruiters or resume screeners also look forrecognizable employer names. It is easier to understand a
candidate's accomplishment via the implied credibility ofthe employer name and it is also easier to convey
toclients.

It is the same reason everyone wants to work for MBB -McKinsey, Bain or Boston Consulting Group -- it
impliessomething on your resume that stays with you forever.


To this day, I am known as a Stanford Grad and an Ex- McKinsey
or informally whenI give speeches. It stays with you for a very long time.

Let me
give
you
a personal
example that helps
illustrate theimportance
of the

on
your
resume.

When I applied for consulting internships in my
not asingle interview.

The following year, I got interviews with EVERY majorconsulting firm that I applied -- with no exceptions.

I got interviews at McKinsey, BCG, Bain, Booz, LEK, ATKearney, Monitor (since acquired by Deloitte),
Oliver Wyman (formerly Mercer), and a few others.

(I also got offers from every consulting firm I interviewedwith except BCG where I got rejected in round 1,
and Boozwhen I decided to cancel my final round.)

So what made did I do in the 12 months that made such a bigdifference?

Well
I
looked
at
who
got
interviews
(most
were
friends
ofmine)
and
tried
to
figure
out
WHY
they
got
interviews.

Their GPA's were identical to mine. Their areas of academicstudy were identical to mine. The only thing I
noticed wasmany of them had worked for well known companies the priorsummer, and I had not.

I decided to focus on improving the

First,
I
did
an
internship
at
Merrill
Lynch
DURING
theschool
year.
I
worked
in
the
evenings
doing
telemarketingcold
calls
to
wealthy
families
in
Silicon
Valley
selling
free
investment
income
opportunities

By
the
way,
this
was
an
UNPAID
internship...
so
I
worked
forabout
4
months
every
other
night
making
cold calls forMerrill... just so I could put Merrill Lynch on my resume.

This decision was very DELIBERATE as almost nobody else myyear 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 bigbrand name employers on my resume, whereas
just 12 monthsearlier I had none.

As I mentioned earlier, the following year, I got interviewswith EVERY consulting firm I applied to in large
partbecause
of
the
brand
name
employers
on
my
resume
(I
wascompeting
against
400
other
Stanford
students, so we all hadthe famous school on the resume so that was not adifferentiator).

Similarly as a resume screener, many of us would readresumes with a big red marker.


All we would do for hourswas skim resumes while circling certain brand names on theresume that jumped
out as recognizable or impressive.


2) Academic Performance (GPA)