Everyone gets stressed when it comes time to write their consulting resume. How can you stand out in the sea of applicants top consulting companies receive?
In this article, we’ll walk you through our step-by-step guide to planning, outlining, and then writing the perfect consulting resume.
We’ll discuss:
- Key skills management consulting recruiters look for
- Our step-by-step guide on how to write a consulting resume
- Consulting resume examples
- 5 tips on writing your management consulting resume
Let’s get started!
Contents
Key Skills Management Consulting Recruiters Look For
It might seem like interpreting what recruiters are looking for when they assess consulting resumes is impossible to decipher. But the truth is there are 4 things all the top consulting firms are looking for.
1. Leadership
Recruiters look for times you’ve taken the lead – whether that’s in a business setting, on a project, a sports team, or organizing an event.
2. Problem-Solving
This is about more than just the ability to analyze information. It’s about synthesizing and interpreting data to solve complex problems and deliver results.
3. Entrepreneurial Drive/Initiative
Recruiters love to see evidence of applicants taking initiative on a consulting resume. Consulting work is fast-paced, and the quicker new hires feel comfortable striking out on their own, the better.
4. Personal Impact
Great interpersonal skills will be required no matter which role or firm you want to be part of. Consultants work with a diverse range of stakeholders and the ability to effectively build relationships and convince people your solution to a problem is the right one is key.
Our Step-by-step Guide On How to Write a Consulting Resume
- Map Your Work Experience & Achievements To Key Skills
- Structure Your Consulting Resume
- Polish Your Language
- Avoid Pitfalls
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Step 1: Map Your Work Experience and Extracurricular Achievements to Key Skills
Leadership
Start by jotting down any examples where you’ve held a position of responsibility. This could be taking responsibility for a work team, acting as captain of a sports team, or holding a leadership position in a club or volunteer organization. Consider any time that you’ve had to manage people, coordinate resources, or organize an event.
When you write the bullet for your examples, don’t just name the position you held. Show the impact you had on the organization. (See our section on the XYZ format below for more on this.)
Leadership example for your consulting resume:
- Achieved 45% increase in client retention rates by reducing customer complaints and ensuring on-time delivery
Problem-Solving
Show your problem-solving skills by siting a problem you identified and the impact of the change you made to fix it. This could be about changing a process or the way something was organized to make it better. Or it could be fixing a problem that arose.
If you have a science background, describing experimental work that was carried out to prove or disprove a hypothesis can also be used as evidence for problem-solving.
Problem-solving example for your consulting resume:
- Contributed $50M to revenue and reduced project delivery time by 15% by implementing best operational practices through analyzing data set for 20 past projects
Entrepreneurial Drive
Entrepreneurial drive is all about taking initiative. Recruiters look for examples of someone who is not content with the status quo, who likes to innovate and might use creative approaches to solve the problems they face.
Entrepreneurial drive example for your consulting resume:
- Helped tech startups employ over 20 students per year by organizing Brown’s first startup-focused career fair.
Personal Impact
You can demonstrate personal impact by showing your contribution to a team or organization, or that you collaborated with others to complete a project. Work experience where you presented an idea or recommendation which was accepted by stakeholders is great evidence of personal impact.
Personal impact example for your consulting resume:
- Improved the department culture and raised the morale of students from underrepresented backgrounds by working with administrators to organize mandatory diversity training for all TAs.
These key skills should also be highlighted in your cover letter.
Step 2: Structure Your Consulting Resume
A management consulting resume is different from a regular resume. There is a very standardized approach that is accepted across all the firms and trying anything creative will lead to rejection.
The recruiters and consultants tasked with evaluating applications have less than a minute to assess each resume and they need to be able to make quick comparisons between those they receive.
Effectively Presenting Information
Use standard sections. A strong consulting resume should include the following sections:
- Personal Information
- Work Experience
- Non-work Experience or Extra-Curricular Activities
- Education
- Other – Additional Skills & Interests
Leading with Work Experience rather than Education is especially important with on-campus recruiting where everyone is from the same school. Re-ordering the sections breaks up the monotony for recruiters and jolts them into paying more attention to your resume.
Fill up one page
If you can’t fill a page, you won’t look accomplished. If you go over a page, it will look like you can’t prioritize information effectively.
Use consistent formatting
Use one font throughout and be consistent in how you treat similar types of words, e.g., always putting company names in bold and position titles in italics, always starting bullet points with a verb, etc.
Use bullet points.
Within each of these sections of your resume, use bullet points to show evidence of the key skills that recruiting teams will be looking for using XYZ format. Each of your bullet points should target one of the key skills and, where possible, the evidence should be broadly split across all key skills.
Step 3: The 3-Pass Process
Remember that creating an impressive, polished management consulting resume can take time, so make sure to start the process early. Don’t try and do it all in one go.
Adopt what we call the 3-pass process:
First Pass: Get all the relevant content down in one place. Brainstorm all the examples you can think of for the 4 key skills. Ask friends, colleagues, former managers, and mentors if they have ideas about where you’ve demonstrated those skills. Don’t worry about including too much in the first pass – you can trim it down to 1 page later on.
Second Pass: Concern yourself with structure and formatting. This is where you can sort your examples into the relevant sections and make sure that all your bullet points follow the “XYZ” format described below.
Make a first cut of your least-strong examples if you resume is clearly too long.
Third Pass: Proofread, make final tweaks in language and cuts to get to one page, and check grammar.
Polishing Your Language
Make your achievements shine by using power verbs.
Show Your Impact Using the XYZ Format
Consulting recruiters are looking for applicants who improve the organizations they work for. You can show you are that type of person by using the XYX format because it highlights the impact of your actions.
Start your bullet points with a quantification of what you accomplished (X). Provide the metric you impacted (Y) and the action you took to create the impact (Z).
Consulting resume examples of XYZ format:
- Cold-called 48 companies to land $100,000 contract.
- Led 85-person football team to win league title over 7 other teams (1st team title in 20 years).
Sounds impressive right?
However, this is still not showcasing these examples in their best possible light as the result is somewhat lost at the end of the sentence. With the XYZ format, we place the result at the beginning which is important in a consulting environment. After all, they are paying you for the results you create.
Revised consulting resume examples of XYZ format:
- Increased revenue (X) by $100,000 (Y) by landing contract after cold-calling 48 companies. (Z).
This signposts key achievements to a recruiter quickly scanning your resume.
First (and Last) Impressions Count
The same principle applies to the order in which you place the bullet points for each section on your consulting resume. For example, if you have 3 or 4 examples where you‘ve demonstrated these key skills, make sure to order them with the strongest bullet point first in the list and the second-strongest bullet point at the end of the list.
Other less impressive but still relevant information should go in-between. This classic “sandwich” technique means that recruiters get the most important information first and are also left with a great final impression.
Step 4: Check, Check and Check Again
Don’t forget to do a final pass for spelling and grammar checks. Have someone you trust read over your information to pick up on any small errors that can make the difference between impressing recruiters with your resume and it hitting the bottom of the pile.
Other Recommendations
Education:
- Include your GPA. If you choose not to, recruiters will assume your GPA is low. As a strong GPA can provide additional evidence of intellectual curiosity and work ethic.
- Include other relevant courses you’re studying outside your major. For example, if you’re a Biology major who has also taken Introduction to Finance, make sure you mention it. This presents a broader skill set and ticks the Entrepreneurial Drive skill box.
Skills and interests:
- Include those that are relevant to consulting. For example, if you can program, only state those programming languages used in consulting, not others.
- State up to 3 outside interests and indicate a level of commitment to them rather than just the interest themselves, e.g., Traveling (visited over 17 different countries).
Successful Consulting Resume Examples + Why They Work
Undergraduate Management Consulting Resume Example
Why This Resume Works
This sample Bain resume works for a few key reasons.
- The writer’s professional experiences are quantified and follow XYZ format.
- The writer displays well-roundedness by including an interests section and quantifying those interests.
- The writer’s leadership section shows diversity in interests and causes. They also included the value they delivered in each of these roles.
MBA Consulting Resume Example
Why This Resume Works
Before continuing on, reflect on why this is a good Deloitte consulting resume and what you lessons you can apply to your own resume.
It was successful for a few key reasons:
- The writer incorporates measurable results through “XYZ format” in each bullet point, so the reader is not left guessing about this candidate’s achievements.
- This resume is neatly formatted and doesn’t include unnecessary fluff. Every word provides value and helps the candidate stand out.
- This candidate made the most of their Skills & Interests section, including technical, consulting-related skills, various languages, and diverse interests.
Most Common Pitfalls in Consulting Resumes
1. Overcomplicating things.
Your consulting resume should not be over-complicated in either content or format. McKinsey receives hundreds of thousands of applications each year, and their recruiters don’t have time to research a complex science experiment you use as evidence of your brilliant problem-solving skills.
It’s your responsibility to turn complex and technical subjects into evidence that is easily accessible and impactful to recruiters. Just as you would for a future client.
Also, don’t be the applicant that decides to include a glamourous headshot or use a wacky font or format.
2. Irrelevant information.
Your consulting resume is the first chance a recruiter will have to judge your communication skills. Make sure you value quality over quantity, choose your most impactful examples, and target the 4 key skills above.
If you have something that makes you unique and differentiates you positively from other candidates, such as training as a trapeze artist or lion-tamer, it belongs in the Additional Skills section.
3. Lying.
This one is simple. Don’t be the candidate that gets caught out at the interview stage when you’re grilled on something impressive on your resume which turns out to be entirely false.
5 Tips On Writing Your Management Consulting Resume
1. Start the process early.
Preparing an impressive management consulting resume requires investing time and effort to carefully present your best examples and show evidence of the skills required.
2. Focus on quality, not on quantity.
Make sure all the examples you give target one of the 4 key skills that recruiters are looking for. Remove irrelevant information and lose any complex language or technical jargon.
3. Ensure all your achievements are clear.
Use the XYZ format to focus attention on the results you achieved rather than the things that you did. Use action words such as ‘Led,’ ‘Solved,’ or ‘Influenced’ to signpost recruiters to the information they need.
4. Use a classic management consulting resume format.
Keep it to one page and use standardized sections, fonts, and layout.
5. Check it!
Make sure you have checked and rechecked your resume before submission. Consider hiring a professional proof-reader to do a final check for any errors in spelling or grammar.
So there you have it. You’re now armed with:
- The key skills recruiters are looking for in a top management consulting resume
- Our step-by-step approach to matching your experience to the key skills
- Our recommendations on the best way to structure the content of your resume
- 2 consulting resumes examples to guide you
- Our 5 top tips to craft the perfect management consulting resume
Still have questions?
If you have more questions about writing a consulting resume, leave them in the comments below. One of My Consulting Offer’s recruiters will answer them.
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2 thoughts on “Consulting Resume”
I dont have experience in consulting firms,do I have a chance
Most people who join consulting firms out of college don’t have a background in consulting. What helps them land the interview is writing a consulting resume that highlights their accomplishments in terms of the skills consulting firms look for: leadership, analytic/quantitative skills, problem-solving, and drive/”can do” attitude.
Take a look at the story of the chef who landed a consulting offer after working with My Consulting Offer to strengthen his application and practice case interviews. It’s in our Consulting Cover Letter article.
And good luck!