<p>Is it more competitive to get into here than i-banking firms? same? harder? easier?
What's all the hype about for this company I've heard a lot about it but don't know a whole lot about it except its mainly consulting, so tell me about it. Btw tell me about consulting in general too please. thanks!</p>
<p>Yay consulting!</p>
<p>BCG is a top firm, on par with the top banks in prestige and selectivity. Generally only the top people get offered interviews to BCG, and only the best of the best actually receive offers.</p>
<p>The down side to BCG is that, like the other top firms, it is incredibly competitive, and burnout is an issue that presents itself to every new hire. If you do well with weekly travel and very long, high stress hours, you will do very well at BCG; if that sounds like something you would not want to do, you may want to apply to less prestigious firms (for example, my company is smaller and far less prestigious, does not pay as well, but allows and encourages employees to have social lives outside of work!).</p>
<p>The consulting industry is built around a simple principle: You are a business who does stuff; we help you do stuff better.</p>
<p>Typically firms are hired for a very specific purpose. For example, if Verizon wants to try to take over AT&T, you can guarantee that at least one consulting firm will be brought in to help Verizon understand exactly how to go about structuring the deal. </p>
<p>Some consulting firms have more of a technology expertise; I specialize in sales compensation management, which means companies who pay people commissions often come to us to help restructure their payment process, streamline processes across multiple business units, increase the transparency of payment systems as seen by the lowest level employees and expedite changes to payment structures.</p>
<p>Companies hire consultants because, in the end, they are making an investment. If I am a company looking to save money, I may hire a consultant for $5,000,000 up front because that consultant can save me $500,000,000 in ten years.</p>
<p>The industry requires you to have excellent critical thinking and reasoning skills. Interviews will almost definitely include questions designed to make you think on your feet (how many piano tuners are in Chicago? how many miles of interstate highway does the US have?) since you can’t possibly know the answer up front. Be ready for that stuff!</p>
<p>What are some other major Consulting firms, big ones on the west coast in SF or LA?
Btw, chrisw are a lot of the people you work with grads of UPenn and other Ivy leagues or its pretty diverse all across?</p>
<p>Bain
McKinsey
ATKearny</p>
<p>The vast majority of people in management consulting have an ivy league degree (undergraduate, graduate, or both). </p>
<p>McKinsey, Bain, Boston Consulting Group are your three standouts
Monitor, Oliver Wyman, Booz, etc are some other good ones
Of the big 4, Deloitte is probably the most well respected
Accenture is top in IT consulting</p>
<p>For big 3 management consulting (McKinsey, Bain, BCG), you have to go to a very top school. Even if you’re a Harvard student you have to know someone or really stand out to get an interview. Then they hire 1% of interviewees. </p>
<p>Even the application is tough. Resume, transcript, cover letter, essay (or two), SAT and ACT scores, and an IQ test.</p>
<p>Yeah, the people I work with are generally very smart. My company’s hiring practices are a little different than most consulting companies, since most do on campus recruiting and very little recruiting outside of the college stuff. My company, on the other hand, hires throughout the year and often gets applications from people who have worked elsewhere for a few years before finding us. That said, two other Penn grads from my year work with me.</p>
<p>BanjoHitter has an excellent point. The recruiting process is very rigorous. You submit your resume and cover letter; sometimes you are requested to submit your unofficial transcript and/or SAT scores. If you make it past their first round of vetting, you will get an interview on campus if you are going through on-campus recruiting; if you are not doing OCR, you will probably get a phone call that is a brief introduction (this is actually a phone interview, though you may not actually know it). </p>
<p>My experience was through a non-OCR channel. I had a phone interview followed by a general knowledge test. Once I passed that, I was given a technical and skills test. Afterward I had an interview that consisted of one hour with the HR coordinator, one hour with a director and one hour with a consultant. After doing this, I needed to submit three references, all of whom were called by our HR coordinator and asked 15 minutes’ worth of questions. Lastly I needed to submit my official transcript before getting a firm offer.</p>
<p>All in all, it was a worthwhile process since it gave both sides a good opportunity to learn whether we were a good fit for each other.</p>
<p>That’s actually a pretty relaxed interview process. What firm?</p>
<p>Usually there are 2 or 3 rounds. If there are 3 rounds, the first is a written test of reasoning skills (a 2 round process skips this). Then 2nd round is 3 to 4 interviews with mid-level consultants (senior consultants and managers). The 3rd round is 3 to 4 interviews with senior level consultants (partners, directors, etc.). Interviews are sometimes case-based, sometimes experience, and sometimes a combination. No one asks for references or a transcript until after an offer is made (for resume verification).</p>
<p>Yeah, I got the conditional offer until everything was verified.</p>
<p>I honestly find it fascinating to hear other people’s experiences. The logistics of mine weren’t too taxing (especially since the company is 25 minutes from my college, so I didn’t even need to travel for the interview), but the specifics were quite difficult. I was given one case but four rather difficult brain teasers, and I had to answer some rather tough behavioral questions; the technical skills test also left me feeling completely incompetent haha. I know others have had a long and intense process (some interviewers used to deliberately ignore the applicants in order to gauge their reactions… thankfully this practice has gone out of style!)</p>
<p>I work in management consulting…interesting field that challenges you but you better be social and quick on the fly. Put in hard work and the rewards will come.</p>