June 16, 2009
How Management Consultants Read Resumes and CVs
A resume screening process can end in one of two results. You will be hired, or you will not be hired. Sometimes, if you are not hired, you will get some feedback regarding why this decision was made; however, it is usually fairly general. “Needs work experience.” is a common reason.
In this article, we will give you some insights as to how resumes are reviewed by consultants. We will also give you some information regarding the differences between consulting and finance.
You may wonder who is the head of the process.
When it comes to resume review, there is a team of managers, associates and analysts. Here are some things you can count on:
1. The review team will consist of three to five people who will look at your resume individually and as a group.
Secondly, your team will be made up of MBAs, graduates, and undergraduates from your school.
3. The committee will make the final decision.
Initially, senior members of the group will not be involved. Nor will finance. They will come into the process for interviewing and to make offers. While it may seem that this indicates these folks trust the junior team members, it is more likely that this situation is just a matter of budgeting both money and time.
Click here for more on differences between business consulting and banking.
Someone who has a background similar to yours will be consulted regarding your resume. Say you are an engineering undergraduate at Columbia. An engineering undergraduate from Columbia will be asked about things like your involvement in student groups, your GPA, and so forth.
What happens in the process?
Each team member will receive a packet that could contain as few as fifty or as many as three hundred resumes each. The consulting letters will probably have been removed, so applicants who have taken care to present the best resume possible will have that much more edge.
Resumes will be reviewed for no more than thirty seconds each by finance and about a minute each by the consultants.
After the consultants have reviewed the resumes individually, the team will look at each resume as a group. The will compare notes and insights. This is the decision-making time.
Here is what they are looking for and why you might not get an interview.
As mentioned in the article on consulting resume tips, it may be a matter of qualities such as leadership, academic success or work experience.
Click here for more on how to create a management consulting resume.
Filed under Other - Business & Finance by John Chang