Consulting Guide

1

How To Land a Job in Management Consulting

An Introduction Guide

in MANAGEMENTCONSULTING

How To Land a Job

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- An Introduction Guide

2nd edition

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3


contents

Recruiting Process

07

Preparation to interview rounds

13

Case example

21

Introduction

04

4


ject but it is a great place to start your prepa-

ration efforts.

The goal of management consulting is

to offer advisory services to corporations,

private equity houses, government agencies

and NGOs. These organizations often face

Consultingfact.com aspires to be

the number one online resource for

management consulting application and

interview preparation. We develop tools

and products that will help you land your

dream job in management consulting.

Consultingfact.com was founded in

Copenhagen, Denmark by a former

management consultant from McKinsey

IntroductionGetting into management consulting is

extremely competitive. You need to have

excellent qualifications. But this is far from

enough. These great credentials need to

be presented in a professional cover letter

and resume in order for you to make it to

the interview rounds. The interview rounds

include as much as six separate interviews,

where it is expected that you can provide

recommendations and solutions to real life

business situations with only limited informa-

tion. No wonder that most applicants find the

application process intimidating. Preparation

is essential to make it through the eye of this

needle. The purpose of this guide is to provide

newcomers to management consulting with

a simple overview of the application process

and guidelines to practicing case interviews.

The paper is far from exhaustive on the sub-

Introduction

5


questions that they are unable to answer due

to lack of resources, lack of competence, or

simply because they need an external per-

spective. The top tier management consulting

firms like McKinsey & Company, Boston Con-

sulting Group and Bain & Company typically

work within several practice areas including:

As a new consultant, you can expect to

work within all of these practice areas and

across numerous industries. Your learning

curve will be steep. Not everybody will make

it to the partner level, but a few years with

a consulting firm is an excellent investment

regardless of where you end up. We can defi-

nitely recommend it.

Practice Areas:

• Change management

• Corporate renewal

• Corporate strategy

• Cost & supply chain management

• Customer strategy and marketing

• Growth strategy

• Information technology

• Mergers and acquisitions

• Organization

• Performance improvement

• Private equity

What Do Management Con-sulting Firms Look For?

Knowing what management consulting

firms look for is a prerequisite for writing a

great application and acing the interviews. A

great place to start is always at the consulting

firm’s website. For example, McKinsey looks

for skills in problem solving, achievement,

personal impact and leadership whereas Bain

judge their candidates on criteria such as the

ability to add value along with client skills and

team skills.

We believe that there are key skills and

personal characteristics that all management

consulting firms look for regardless of how

they communicate their requirements.

Introduction

6


The Six Success Factors in Management Consulting

Structured thinking

The ability to think in a clear and organized way. This is useful for problem solving

and analysis. Math skills also fall in this category and are often used to exemplify

structured thinking skills.

Communication:

Both written and oral communication skills are important in management consult-

ing. In this pre-interview phase you should focus on your written communication

skills. Be clear and to the point in your written and oral messages.

Business judgment

Have a good judgment of business and strategic issues. This is important for case

solving – a key management consulting discipline. A good way of practicing this is

by reading business media and trying to understand the underlying issues behind

different news stories and their respective strategic choices.

Personal impact:

Personal impact is hard to define, but think about it – sometimes you are around

people who are good at influencing others. As management consulting firms look

for future leaders, they will look for that leadership talent in you.

Team skills:

Cooperation with other people is essential as a management consultant, you work

in project teams and are surrounded by both clients and coworkers. These must

be demonstrated while you are presenting during an interview, whether they are

explained or shown through actions.

Drive and motivation:

Know what you like and go for it. People should have a feel that you are moti-

vated for a career filled with challenging assignments and long hours, and that you

can maintain drive even when the things get tough.

Recruiting Process

8


Recruiting

ProcessThe application process at each of the

major management consulting firms is very

similar. There are three main components:

the application itself, possibly a written test,

and case interviews. A candidate needs to

master all three components to receive the

offer.

Pre-Interview Less than 5% of applicants make it through

to the interview rounds. Some applicants are

simply discarded based on their qualifica-

tions, while others are sorted out due to sub

standard cover letters and resumes. The key

purpose of the cover letter and resume is to

present your value proposition in a profes-

sional manner. A few things to keep in mind

when writing your resume and cover letter

are:

Pre-interview

• Cover letter

• Resume

Case interviews

• Market estimations

• Business cases

• Brain teasers

Written test

• Combined verbal and written test

9


The top consulting firms receive more

than 200,000 applications every year. Typi-

cally, the first screening of an application does

not take more than 45 seconds to complete. It

is therefore important that your application is

focused and structured, so that the recruiter

immediately gets a positive impression and

quickly finds the required information.

Written TestMost management consulting firms

also test their applicants via a written test.

The written test usually consists of various

numerical and verbal multiple-choice ques-

tions. These are often very similar to what

you would see in a GMAT. Be aware that most

firms do not allow you to use any electronic

devices (e.g. calculators or computers) when

performing calculations.

Case interviewsThe case interview is a classic in manage-

ment consulting. The purpose is to test the

candidates’ ability to perform problem-solv-

ing and effectively communicate and present

findings. Problem solving skills include busi-

ness judgment, quantitative skills, creativity,

logical reasoning, and the ability to structure

an analysis. These are all skills that are highly

useful as a management consultant. In real

life consulting, the client often puts you on

the spot by asking a question that requires

problem-solving skills. The case interview

form is a great way to test how a person per-

• Customize your cover letter to the specific firm. Each firm is different from the others. Research the firm you are applying to via the internet or by attend-ing one of their company presentations.

• The management consulting industry is very conservative, hence keep your cover letter and resume design simple and professional. Colors and fancy fonts etc. are “no goes”!

• Proofread and proofread once more. Make sure your grammar and spelling are correct and please check that you have not committed the common mistake of writing a wrong firm name. Reading an application to McKinsey with a Bain name in it will immediately get you discarded – no matter of qualifications

• Send your files in the PDF format to ensure that your format is received exactly as you intended. A PDF printer can be found free on the internet.

Cover Letter and Resume Tips

10


forms under pressure, i.e. if he/she easily

gets frustrated when challenged. Manage-

ment consulting firms are very diligent in

their recruiting, so expect two to three inter-

view rounds equivalent to five or six separate

interviews.

Types of cases

During a case interview, the interviewer

may use any or all three of the available case

interview types. The business case is by far

the most common of the three, since the case

is as close as you can get to real life manage-

ment consulting.

In a business case interview, you will be

presented to a business situation on either

industry level or at firm level. A business case

can cover all practice areas within a manage-

ment consulting firm.

Business case

• Real life business problem

Brain-teaser

• Various puzzles

Estimation case

• Market sizing

• Volume and weight estimation

• Company A produces refrigerators. The company is a private equity owned company and wants to double its revenue within 3 years. What do you recom-mend the company to do?

• Company B produces wind turbines. The company is the global market leader, but has recently experienced declining market shares. What do you recommend Company B’s management to do?

• Company C produces pumps. Due to increasing global competition the company needs to expand its manufacturing capacity. The company is in doubt how to do this – should they expand their existing facilities or should they build a new plant. What do you recommend?

Business Case Examples

11


• Why are manholes round?

• Imagine a 6x6x6 rubik’s cube. How many cubes can be touched?

A business case is sometimes combined

with an estimation case. An estimation case –

sometimes also known as market sizing case

– allows an interviewer to test your logical

and quantitative skills. The aim of an estima-

tion case is to estimate a quantity of some

sort. This could be a market size measured in

USD or a volume unit. Other examples could

be to estimate the numbers of hairdressers

in the US or the number of dogs in the UK.

Common for all of estimation questions is

that the interviewee needs structure to get

to a reasonable answer.

A third case interview type is the

brainteaser. Brainteasers are very seldom

the sole case type in an interview. A manage-

ment consulting brainteaser is hard to define,

since the category includes a wide range of

different questions. Examples of brainteaser

could be:

Brainteaser Examples

12


Take a look at our guide to Management Consulting Cover Letters and Resumes. We will

show you exactly what to include in your cover letter and resume, how to structure it, how

to write it, and how to format it. Proper structure makes it more likely that the recruiter will

easily find the information required. The design is also very important. This is challenging for a

conservative industry, so you really need to hit the balance here. We will show you examples of

good-looking applications that demonstrate your knowledge of proper consulting presentation.

Management Consulting Cover Letters and Resumes 6 Steps to a Successful Application:

www.consultingfact.com/guides/cover_letter

Still haven't applied to a consulting firm?

The competition is tough. Top Tier Consulting Firms receive more than 200,000 applications every year.

Preparation to interview rounds

14


We will go through these different areas in

the following sections. The best way to prac-

tice these is to ally yourself with a friend or

a management consultant who can practice

case interview tests with you.

Case frameworksFrameworks are helpful for the case inter-

view solving process, as they allow you to

quickly have an idea of how to approach a

case problem. Be aware that you will often

not be able to find a framework that fits the

case problem exactly, so always try to use

your common sense in combination with one

or more frameworks. If you have studied busi-

ness or economics, then you are probably

already familiar with some of the necessary

frameworks.

Preparation to

interview roundsThe consultancy interview rounds can

be rather demanding. It is likely that you will

need to work on several different develop-

ment areas to reach your potential for the

interviews. Depending on your current level,

we recommend 2-6 weeks of daily practice to

learn to apply all necessary concepts in real

interview situations.

It is crucial that you prepare these four

areas for your interview rounds:

• Case frameworks

• Mental math

• Case cracking practice

• Communication skills

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Below are some of the key analysis areas

where you need a framework:

• Company analysis

• Market analysis

• Strategic options

• Venture

• Mergers and Acquisitions

• Pricing

• Revenue growth

• Cost reduction

During the interview process, you need

to be aware that you should not commu-

nicate that you are using a framework. The

interviewer would like you to use your own

problem solving skills, so it won’t help you

to say something like “I will use Porter’s Five

Forces to analyze this market…”

Once you have found information about a

specific framework required, you should draw

it and try to remember the visual details. Visu-

als are usually far easier to remember than

trying to remember specific word contents

of a framework. Below is an example for the

pricing framework.

The framework above is really simple –

and this is important! For the price deter-

mination, we could have made a framework

taking up a few pages. However, you have

limited time in a case interview – both to solve

the case, and to communicate the answer.

Therefore, it is important that you ask your-

self: what are the key questions that I need

to answer using this framework? And for pric-

ing, the different points above are the most

important ones to mention.

Once you have found and illustrated the

key frameworks, you will need to memorize

these. A good way to do this is to draw them

all once every few days. By doing this, you are

forced to think about the specific content of

the framework. This method will quickly give

you results, and you should feel more confi-

dent in the case solving situation when you

can “see” the framework in your mind and

can focus on filling in the different answers.

Price determination framework

Cost-based pricing Competitor pricing Value-based pricing

Added profit margin

Price of substitutes

Willingness to pay

Current costsCompetitors’

prices vs. featuresPerceived value

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Mental mathDuring the case interview, you will need

to do a good amount of mental math – for

market size estimation, case calculations,

brain teasers or outright math calculation

questions. For this, you will need to practice

the following areas:

Of course, the interviewer will not expect

that you can solve complex math problems

mentally, but you should be able to do more

simple calculations like 17x22, 229 + 128 and

450 / 25 without using paper. In addition to

this, practice your paper math skills for more

complex math questions.

Percentages and fractions are important,

and you will almost certainly need these

during the interview. There might be ques-

tions requiring you to estimate a growth in

percentage or to divide some numbers. In

the latter case, knowing the decimal result

of most common fractions is important. You

should memorize the results of the fractions

from 1/5 to 1/20.

It is very likely that you will be presented

to some charts during the interview – either

as part of a case solving, or as a very specific

question about what you can read in a chart.

On the next page you can see the examples

of some of the different types of chart that

you should quickly be able to read.

• Addition, subtraction, multiplication

and division on paper and mentally

• Percentage arithmetic

• Fraction arithmetic

• Currency conversion

• Chart reading

17


Bar / Line Chart

Stacked Bar Chart

100% Stacked Bar Chart

Pie Chart

Cascade/waterfall chart

Marimekko Chart

18


There are many situations in your every-

day life where you can practice math skills.

The key is to get into a mindset, where it feels

more natural for you to work with numbers

mentally. Below are some examples of real life

situations where you can practice:

• When shopping – add the numbers

in the shopping cart in your head,

and see if you can match the correct

result

• When filling gas – look at your gas

meter and calculate what the price

would have been, if you had chosen

another type of gas

• When travelling – practice currency

conversion

Case cracking practice

It is actually quite easy to structure the

case solving process. During our career, we

have met many bright candidates with a good

business sense and excellent mental math

skills – but who did not make it through the

interview process due to a lack of basic struc-

ture.

Follow the following the below 10 steps

when solving the case:

1. Take notes while the interviewer preents the case

4. Ask the interviewer for a little time to structure your thoughts

5. Draw the case framework and think about what information you need to make a recommendation

6. Present the framework

7. Discuss the topics and ask for further clarifying questions for any relevant parts of the framework

8. Present the solution and answer the case question based on the discussion

9. Ask for the interviewers solution

10. Ask for feedback

2. Repeat the key case question to the interviewer to ensure that you under-stood the objective

3. Ask any clarifying questions

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When the interviewer presents the case,

listen carefully and take any necessary notes.

The interviewer will expect that you remem-

ber any information or numbers that he

gives you. Of course you can forget single

pieces of information, but it is a very negative

impression to give if you repeatedly ask for

information that the interviewer has already

provided.

Try to involve the interviewer as much as

possible in the solving of the case. Often, you

will receive hints that will help you and you

can present that you are able to receive input

and being able to present clear recommen-

dation based on the discussions. It is easy to

get out of track if you insist on “running the

show” entirely.

Do not be afraid to ask for time to think

through the solution. We have many times

seen candidates who start

with case solutions imme-

diately after the inter-

viewer is finished with stat-

ing the question. This is a

clear no-go! It is hard for

you to confidently present

a framework and solution,

unless you take some time

to think it through. You

should not be afraid to take two minutes

time to do this.

Once you have discussed the solution,

remember to wrap up the discussion with a

clear recommendation. The discussion might

make you change your recommendation, so

this step is important so that the interviewer

can see that you are able to process and sum-

marize your analysis.

Communication skillsCommunication skills are one of the most

important success factors for a management

consultant. It is crucial that you show the

interviewer that you are a true communica-

tor. Make sure that you remember to smile

no matter how the interview goes and who

the interviewer is. This sets the mood and it is

usually contagious. Also, remember to display

confidence by using slow gestures while you

speak, sitting straight, and keeping a good eye

contact. The confidence part is really impor-

tant during the case interviews.

Another thing is to dress correct for an

interview. Recruiters say all the time that

candidates should stand

out based on their quali-

fications and not their

wardrobe, but it is doubly

important in the manage-

ment consulting sector.

As a management con-

sultant you will be deal-

ing with executives from

high-ranking companies,

hence the interviewer will want to make sure

that you can put forth the company image in

how you act and dress. Forgetting this for the

interview may mean you could forget it in a

client meeting.

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How to dress for an interview

Skirts, Dresses and Suits

Pastels, print patterns and other

designs are great for the weekend when

you are with friends. Keep them out of

your wardrobe choices for your first man-

agement consulting interview. In fact,

the standard black or charcoal

suit from a mid to upper level

designer for men may seem like

an uninspired choice, but you want

to create a canvas that the firm sees

as able to meet their goals. Pair it

with a sedate white or light blue

shirt and a blue, yellow or red tie.

Women will likely benefit from pant

or dress suits that are conservative in cut

and allow them to work without adjust-

ment. Shoes should not look like they

came from Sex and the City, either.

More so than the clothes them-

selves is the attention to detail in preparing

them. Have your clothes professionally

cleaned and pressed prior to the interview.

Make sure that all shoe wear is polished

and free from dirt. Above all, make sure

that there are no rips or stains on any items

you plan on wearing

Hygiene and Haircuts

Nail biting, long haircuts and poor skin

quality are not necessarily the signs of

traits that management consultants aspire

to hold. Make sure that your hair does not

cover your ear if you are male and does not

come close to touching your collar.

For grooming, focus on the things that

interviewers will notice first, nails that

are free from excessive nail polish

for women and not bitten down to

nubs for men. Males who need to

shave infrequently should time it so

there is neither stubble nor razor burn.

Jewelry

Family heirlooms and gifts from

friends and relatives may have a per-

sonal meaning to you. This is also the case

for class rings and other signs of member-

ship. If they seem gaudy or ostentatious,

though, you set off warning signals. Keep

the jewelry to watches for men and per-

haps a ring, and simple earrings for

women in addition. Large gemstones

can also be a bit overpowering in setting a

first impression.

With all those aspects marked off

your checklist, you can be sure that your

responses to questions will be what the

recruiter remembers most, not the striped

shirt that belongs in a club or disco.

Case example

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Case exampleThe case below focuses on pricing, and is

a real life example. You should be able to see

the structure used here and get hints on how

to structure your own case solution.

Our client is a global airline which has

proven successful with their efficient opera-

tions, even during the recent financial crisis.

They are now considering starting a flight

service between Paris and London. There

is a larger effort ongoing in making a busi-

ness case for this flight service and you have

been giving the assignment of pricing. How

should the client price its tickets?

Candidate: So, our client is a global airline

considering launching a flight route between

London and Paris, and they want to know how

to price the tickets?

Interviewer: Yes

Candidate: Can you give me more infor-

mation about the flight and service, and how

deep pricing considerations you need? Flight

tickets can have very different classes and

prices, also depending on the time of pur-

chase.

Interviewer: That’s a very good point.

This flight is a discount-only flight, so there

is one discount class on the whole flight. We

will operate with fixed prices when custom-

ers order the tickets at latest 1 week prior to

departure. Then the price will increase – but

let’s forget that and find a baseline price.

Candidate: Alright. Can I have a minute

to structure my thoughts?

Interviewer: Sure

Candidate: There are three ways to decide

a price: value based price, cost-based pricing

and competitor-based pricing. As these are

discount tickets in a competitive market, it

would not make much sense to use value

23


based price as the price levels would be given

to us from the current market. So there are

two ways in which we can price discount tick-

ets. I assume that there is a significant com-

petition already with other airlines, and there

are also substituting products. So we need to

look at the alternatives and use competitor

pricing as input. Also we need to make sure

that we cover our costs.

Interviewer: Sounds like a good approach.

Our costs would be EUR 45 per passenger.

This will include all variable costs, as well as

staff, flight lease and airport fees.

Candidate: Alright, so we will need to

look at the competitors offerings. There are

three types of alternatives: Other airlines, the

Eurostar train service or driving by car. Do you

have any information about the prices?

Interviewer: Yes, the other airlines charge

between EUR 40 and 60 for discount airlines,

and the traditional flag carriers charge EUR

50 – 70 for discount tickets. The Eurostar

train service has varying prices between GBP

70 and 100. The price to get a car through

the tunnel is EUR 50. How will you do the

analysis?

Candidate: First task is to compare the dif-

ferent competitors’ prices vs. features so that

we are comparing the right things. I would

not include the car product as this is simply

a different product in terms of costs, time

and convenience. I will assume that almost

all competition comes from other flights and

the Eurostar train service. It is important to

compare with the relevant alternatives when

pricing. I would not include the car alterna-

tive, as the product.

Interviewer: Ok, fair enough

Candidate: First we need to calculate the

price of the Eurostar in to EUR in order to

make it comparable. I know the exchange rate

for EUR/GBP is approximately 1.10. Does that

seem reasonable?

Interviewer: It is reasonable estimate,

but I can give you the actual exchange rate.

Currently it is 1.13

Candidate: So we say 1.13 times GBP 70.

That equals EUR 79.10. GBP 100 times 1.13

equals 113.00

Interviewer: Right on

Candidate: Now we need to adjust the

price of the alternatives with the product con-

tent. I am assuming that the alternative flights

use the same airports, hence the product is

directly comparable in regards to convenience

and time. The Eurostar train travels slower

than the planes, but since the train departs

and arrives at the city centers of London and

Paris, it is actually faster and more conve-

nient. This means that all other things being

equal, the consumer should be willing to pay a

premium for the train ticket. This means that

train price of EUR 79-113 serves as an upper

24


bound in this pricing exercise.

Interviewer: Ok

Candidate: Next we need to look at com-

plementary products that can be sold with

the tickets

Interviewer: Why are you interested in

that?

Candidate: Well, I noticed that our com-

petitors can sell tickets below our cost base

and that made me think that there might be

some additional revenue per customers. For

example revenue from baggage handling, car

rent, hotels and similar

Interviewer: True

Candidate: I would estimate this addi-

tional revenue to be EUR 5 per passenger on

average

Interviewer: That is a rough estimate,

but okay

Candidate: This means that from a cost

perspective, the lower bound is not EUR 45

but EUR 40. Based on the analysis we can now

make a comparison:

• Alternative discount flights: EUR 40 -60

• Traditional flag carriers: EUR 50-70

• Eurostar train: EUR 79.10 - 113.00

Based on my analysis, I would recom-

mend the client to price its ticket between

EUR 40-60 i.e. similar pricing as the direct

competition.

Interviewer: I came to a similar conclu-

sion, but I still have one question: Why do

think the price is given as a range and not as

single data point

Candidate: Well, there can be multiple

explanations for that. The price range can

represent differences in service levels, timing

of the flight, brand equity and the carriers

choice of distribution channel.

Interviewer: Okay, I think we covered

most elements of the case, so let us stop here.

Thank you very much for time. We will get

back to you with some feedback.

25


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