How to Prepare for Consulting Recruiting | Landing Consulting Offers While Still in School: An Interview on Job Hunting Abroad as a New Grad

Hi everyone! I'm Jason (學長)~ I share content about studying abroad and careers. Today I've invited Andrew, an LBS MiM graduate, to share how he landed several consulting offers before graduating, "without any full-time work experience," including Roland Berger in Dubai.

🔵 A quick intro to LBS MiM

LBS is very well known in Europe. It has long been considered one of Europe's top business schools, and also one of the top 10 business schools in the world. The LBS MiM (Master's in Management) has also ranked in the world's top three in the QS subject rankings for years.

LBS MiM has a strong recruiting culture and great employment outcomes every year, with lots of offers not only in management consulting but across industries (finance and others). LBS has a wealth of career resources, and the school's Career Office is highly rated: you can do mock interviews and network with alumni. Classmates are also very close and often team up for mocks and share interview experience. Work hard, play hard also fits the LBS culture well: people put serious effort into their careers, and there's plenty of fun too.

🟠 When should you start planning?

Take a one-year program in the UK as an example, where you arrive in the UK in August-September and graduate in June-September of the following year:

June-July

- Phase 1: Get to know Consulting & what a Case Interview is

- Phase 2: Company research (which firms there are and what each one specializes in), building relationships (Connection), starting Case practice

July-August

- Phase 3: Tailor your application materials (CV & cover letter), keep practicing Case Interviews & Networking

From September

(First-round applications of the year) From September, consulting firms open applications one after another (many big firms hire heavily from September to December, so be sure not to miss it; some firms also hire only once a year, so have your list of firms ready before September). Right after you apply, there will be all kinds of Online Tests or Video Interviews. You'll get first-round interview invitations in early to mid October, and move on to Finals in November-December

Many consulting firms hire on a rolling basis, so you can send your application as soon as you're ready (some firms are still hiring even in January, February and March of the following year). Some firms start hiring through Referrals first, and there are also internal application and referral channels, which shows how important Networking is

- Phase 4: Once you get an interview invitation, keep practicing your Fit Questions, do Mock Interviews with experienced people, and do your final Case prep

🔵 How do you choose the right consulting firm for you?

Phase 5: After getting offers, how to choose the firm that suits you

I personally put more weight on these three things:

Culture Fit: From the interviews you can tell whether you'd get along with the people in that office, and whether what they value matches what I care about. Every consulting firm has its own priorities (Work-life Balance & Professional Development), such as where they go on company trips, learning opportunities, whether people leave early on Fridays, how often they go out for drinks and dinner, and so on.

Long-term Development: Every consulting firm has its own offices & geographic focus. I care a lot about whether there are chances to transfer or work on international projects (Relocate & International Project). You can learn about their travel frequency and types of clients during Coffee Chats

Each firm's specialties: Every consulting firm has its own specialties. You should know their strengths before you apply, and after getting an offer, make sure this is the work you want to do. The projects you do during your time in consulting will shape the direction and industry of your Exit. If there's an industry or location you want to Exit to in the long run, you can work backward to the opportunities you want to get out of your consulting experience.

🟠 What did you deliberately do while in school?

Besides Networking to keep learning about firms, applying on time and tailoring application materials, the most important thing left is interview prep. Consulting interviews have two main things to prepare: Fit Questions and the Case Interview,

A Consulting Interview has three parts:

• Fit Questions (Behavioral Questions): Why London? Why Consulting? CV Questions? Experience-based Questions?

• Case Interview

• 5-10 minutes to ask the interviewer questions

🔵 What challenges did you face during the job search, and how did you overcome them?

The biggest challenge, and the thing that helped me improve the most, was expressing my ideas concisely and precisely. This is very important in consulting interviews: whether it's Fit or Cases, always make sure you actually answer the question the interviewer asked. A very useful method: give your answer first no matter what, then explain your reasoning. This comes from constant practice and real interview experience, and each time you review, you can think back on whether you expressed your ideas accurately and effectively.

Reviewing: I pay a lot of attention to the feedback & advice others give me. That's also what matters in choosing a Mock Case Interview partner: they need to know how to do a Case and be able to give you useful feedback. Find several partners too, so you get different opinions.

My biggest takeaway: for your first 20 Cases, you only need about "two" Coaches who "really" know how to do Cases to work with you; they can help you understand how to do it very effectively. From the 20th Case on, gradually find more and different Case partners, maybe 5-7 experienced Case partners to help you (practice only with MBAs or people who have already worked in consulting)

(There's no fixed number of Cases everyone should practice; knowing your own pace and how comfortable you are is what matters most)

🟠 Questions about the consulting industry

• Interview process

• What to prepare

• Traits they value

Most entry-level roles don't require a specific background or experience, which effectively means you need to be able to show the traits they're looking for.

1. Interpersonal skills: leadership & teamwork experience, whether you can communicate and express yourself effectively, and Presentation Skills (how you would Present your ideas)

2. Problem-solving: whether you can break a problem down effectively, understand how to Prioritize the possible solutions, and correctly identify which one gets to the core of the problem

3. Asking questions: whether in the Case or throughout the interview, can you effectively ask questions that help solve the problem, and show that you understand the situation? For example, when I ask my interviewer questions at the end, I never open with the question directly. Instead I say I understand our firm has XXX in this market, and I'd like to ask, based on your plans… I always show my understanding of the issue first, so they know I've thought about it

🔵 What advice would you give people about to start grad school?

An MBA senior once told me: "Everyone has their own Priorities in life, but if you understand your Priorities before you enter a new environment, you can cut down the cost of figuring things out and trying things." Looking back on my time at LBS, this helped me a lot. In a business school there are so many different opportunities to try things, and your time gets split into different blocks. If you're clear about how you rank your time, you'll be calmer and steadier facing all kinds of challenges, and ready before opportunities come.

So my takeaway: knowing my priorities clearly helped me prepare calmly and leave myself enough time.

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🟠 The rest of the interview will be on my Instagram and Blog. Follow me on IG! It's packed with useful stuff~

🔵 The full version also covers:

1. Besides consulting, did you consider other industries at the time?

2. Studying abroad & fitting into the culture

3. How to fit in with local students while studying abroad: how did you build connections with local students?

4. How to improve for English oral exams: what strategies and resources did you use to prepare?

5. The LBS MiM student experience (academics, resources, classmates)

6. LBS MiM academics & school resources: which aspects of which courses helped your career the most?

7. What was the best decision you made in college?

8. Advice for grad students

9. What you can do while studying to improve your chances of staying to work in the UK

🟠 About Jason:

▪️ Admitted to Columbia University's MBA as a college senior (Deferred Enrollment Program)

▪️ Taiwan's first Deferred MBA KOL

My IG account (@jason_career) shares content on study-abroad applications, English tests, workplace info and more. Let's boost your résumé together and stand out in the job market! Feel free to follow and chat with me!