Hypothetically, the fastest way to secure a consulting role after higher education is to do a consulting internship and then get a full time offer, or transition into another consulting offer with the ability to demonstrate you know what consulting is about. Yet, just because you didn’t do a consulting internship this past summer doesn’t mean the odds are against you. It does mean that you have to be smart about how you craft your story to sell yourself for a consulting role.
Let’s begin by understanding that there are many reasons why someone who wants to acquire a consulting role may not have done a consulting internship during the summer. The widely accepted premise of higher education is that it is a time for students to learn and explore academic and career opportunities without penalty. Summer opportunities are therefore a time to test the waters and dive into exciting learning opportunities that would be hard to come after you start working. Personally, I didn’t do a consulting internship because I had a unique opportunity to sample Silicon Valley that probably wouldn’t happen again in my lifetime. I also know people matriculating into consulting that spent last summer doing non-profit work that they were passionate about or undertaking academic research. Pursuing alternative summer activities can be a tremendously valuable experience.
Consequently, a comment that you will naturally get at consulting interviews will be something like:
“I see you did _______ this past summer. Please explain why you want to go into consulting now? What interests you about the practice you are applying for?
Before anyone starts crafting potential responses to this answer, I want to highlight it is always important to be honest. Interviewers generally have a good sense for honesty and can very well smoke out disingenuous responses. That being said, I want to highlight two ways to craft honesty-based answers.
1. Highlight how your non-consulting summer activity is relevant
When there is a legitimate connection between your previous summer activity and the interests of the consulting firm you are applying for, then you should to highlight it. When I interviewed for a technology-oriented consulting role, I was able to highlight that my Silicon Valley exposure gave me insights into how cutting-edge technology companies operate.
2. Highlight transferable consulting skills
There are a lot of skills that matter for consulting. It can be anything from hard technical skills like data analysis to soft skills such as public speaking. The natural thing to do is to come up with a list of relevant consulting skills that you enhanced during your summer internship. However, I recommend going one step further to develop a compelling story. My compelling story was how my exposure to advanced data analysis and customer facing activities allows me to more easily pitch business propositions in the technology space. Another good story I heard was how a person’s past summer internship enhanced their financial modeling skills for complex industry projections.
I think of matriculating into consulting as a stop along a life pathway. Among those who go into consulting, some will be there for a lifetime while some will be there for a short life experience. In any case, there are many ways to get to that consulting nest, and prior consulting experience, although helpful, isn’t necessary. An alternative previous summer activity can be just as compelling, as long as you explain it well, with honesty.
Hall Wang is a dual degree MBA and Master of Public Policy candidate at Georgetown University. He has worked at America’s most innovative companies including Blue Origin and Facebook, as well as having done two combat deployments as a US Army Officer.
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