It’s been a long time coming.  It was worth the wait.

Introducing….

Our 98-page guide on applying to consulting jobs — power-packed with specific action steps for you to create a stand-out consulting resume and cover letter. 

We’ve already published The Consulting Bible, which is the best-selling resource on the market for consulting interviews.  So why did we feel the need to up the ante?

Honestly, 80% of the questions we get are about the pre-interview phase.  You want to know what it takes to GET the interview – and with the savvy of an M/B/B insider, I give you a structured way to do just that.

What’s the secret weapon of this book?  Something I haven’t seen anyone else offer – and even if they did, I seriously doubt it could be this good.  Why?  I spent hours consolidating my consulting resume editing best-practices into an actual toolkit you can use – including 12 consulting resume and 12 consulting cover letter templates that will make all the difference between the trash and the offer.

When someone reviews your resume (paid or for free) and tells you to “make it more structured” or “add more detail,” you need to know exactly what that means.  Just like our resume editing service, we give you both the high-level (what matters most) and the practical steps to get you there.

I’ve broken the Bible into 4 easy-to-navigate sections:

1. Preface

The resume is the first thing a reviewer sees about you, and you know it’s important. But do you know how your application gets into their hands? Do reviewers REALLY look at applications of every person who applied? And how much time do they spend looking at each application? Wouldn’t it be great to understand how the selection process works on the inside?

I explain the inner workings of the interview selection process–how a team of reviewers is put together, the process they use to evaluate resumes, and how interview slots are eventually filled.  For anyone outside the industry, this insight is golden.

2. Resume

You think you know how important it is to have a slam-dunk resume. But maybe you don’t know if you have one – or how to create one if you don’t. You may have amazing leadership experience, a stellar GPA, a degree from a brand name school–but that doesn’t mean you know how to paint a picture of your awesome self in one page of text. I do.

As a Bain consultant, I was on bi-annual review teams and reviewed literally thousands of resumes. Since then, I’ve professionally edited thousands more for MC clients.

My consulting resume section takes what I learned at Bain, and what I’ve honed by spending hours in the details of your life stories, to give you everything you need to take your resume to the max. Whether you’re starting at a C+ or an A, you’ll end up with an A+. Here’s a glimpse of what the resume section includes:

• 11 consulting resume mistakes that will cost you your dream interview
• Our deepest innermost secrets – like 8 ways we get all that detail onto 1 page without creating a word wall
• The method to our madness – the step-by-step of editing and why you must explain that scholarship you won
• Word tips – how to use specific words to create a results-driven consulting resume
• 12 TEMPLATES to format your consulting resume into a pleasing visual presentation

3. Cover letter

Whether you have a way with words or not, you probably haven’t dedicated enough hours to building a unique and compelling cover letter.  In fact, I’ve NEVER received one I would be happy to have a client submit without major adjustment.  With what I reveal in the Bible, you won’t waste your time trying to figure out what matters most.  I lay it out for you.

Here’s what’s included:

• Consulting cover letter structure and style:  How to DIY
• Formats and elements that work every time, with 12 TEMPLATES to get you started
• Our tricks-of-the-trade – such as using insider consulting lingo that will woo your readers
• How to send subliminal messages – such as why you should tell a story vs. list your accomplishments
• And ultimately…the key difference between a winner and a loser

4. Submission strategies

Just because your consulting resume and cover letter are completed, your work is NOT done. How you submit your application can make the difference between getting an interview slot or receiving the “better luck next year” email.

Through case interview prep and coaching sessions, I reveal secrets – and after clients begged me to recap the secrets in follow-up emails, I knew I was onto something. Knowing how things work on the inside and participating in the candidate selection process gave me insight that gave them power.  Current consultants can’t or won’t share any of the secrets I reveal. Here’s what I cover:

• Basic tips and tricks that every top candidate knows
• Customizing resumes and cover letters – how to tailor your story for different firms
• Applying off-cycle or from a non-target – secrets to making the most of your opportunity
• Navigating online application systems, and how not to get lost in a black hole of nothingness
• How to use your interview at one top firm (or bank) to your advantage – and how to totally ruin your chances
• Tips for getting started on preparing for interviews

Here’s a preview of the Table of Contents:

If that’s not enough, here’s what one customer said about The Consulting Resume and Cover Letter Bible:

And finally – why did it take so long for the Bible to be released?

It took hundreds of hours to pull apart my process piece-by-piece and then put it back together again.  And another hundred at least to create and finesse the templates.  And more yet to edit, rework, and add bonus content that would add unparalleled value to the book.  Then my beta testers grabbed the project and took it to the next level.  Needless to say, this book is the result of more than a year-long process – and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Is it amazing?  Yes.  Is it perfect?  Not yet.  In fact, I already have a new section of the book that I’m pulling together for the second edition.  But instead of waiting hundreds of hours more to get it in there now, I decided that something this good deserves to be in the hands of readers NOW.  Besides, anyone who orders the First Edition gets lifetime updates, so it’s a win-win all around.

Want to know more?  Visit our Consulting Resume and Cover Letter page for more information, including additional benefits, previews, and customer testimonials.

You’ve been wondering where we’ve been. No, we haven’t been sipping margaritas in Cabo (although the occasional margarita does not escape our team)—we’re nerdier than spending a whole year acting like we’ve retired.

Instead – we’ve been working behind the scenes to bring you awesome new stuff that our beta testers are RAVING about.

Why?  We’ve been plotting for months to take Management Consulted to the next level.  You’ve made it clear to us that you’re ravenous for more 1:1 help, more FREE stuff, more relevant insight, more candid personal feedback, and we’re on it.

For 4 years, our insider information has given you behind-the-scenes insight into management consulting—how to impress recruiters with your resume, writing the perfect cover letter, how to nail your interviews, what it takes to get your dream offer – we’re adding so much more, but we can’t reveal it all just yet.

Here’s what you’ll be seeing from us:

New Products & Services – We’ve just launched our long-awaited Consulting Resume & Cover Letter Bible. It’s amazing, and there’s nothing like it on the market–check it out! Think that’s all? Not a chance. We’ve got the 3rd edition to The Consulting Bible in the pipeline (hint: get your copy now before the price goes up–you get free lifetime updates so you’re not excluded from the new content). Beyond that? How about our Consulting Recruiting Toolkit? Management Consulted cases for interview prep? A FREE guide to breaking into consulting? Stay tuned…you won’t want to miss out.

Articles – We’ve got a gigantic list of articles slated to post in the next few weeks and months—everything from a list of target schools and our 5-step process to prepare for case interviews to road warrior tales and life after consulting. Plus, we have hot updates to posts on our most popular topics like Salaries, Case Interviews, and Networking.

Our Manic Monday newsletter is full of hot topics, articles, and planning tools—a great resource for everyone from the serious prospective management consultant to the freshman in college (or you Type-A high schoolers that keep emailing us) just interested in finding out more.  Want to jump in?  Add your email to our list and get access to all the great content below…

• Hot topics – We’re offering killer planning tools for job apps, networking, and interviews as well as our take on the industry’s hottest topics today.

• Job search timelines – In each newsletter we’ll let you know what you should be doing THIS MONTH to get your dream job in consulting.  Whether you’re looking for a summer internship (undergrad juniors and MBA 1^st years) or a full-time position (graduating seniors and MBA 2^nd years), we’ll give you specifics for keeping on track with your application process.

• Talk to us – Tell us what you want to know more about.  Yes, you can always write comments on any of the articles on our website (we totally encourage that!), but we know not everyone takes part in the online discussion.  Answer quick surveys and fun questions—then we’ll share site-wide results with you.  Your input is key to building content that is relevant to our base of 60,000+ readers.

• Subscriber specials – We didn’t forget a section for the obligatory discount codes…like 50% off The Consulting Bible or $25 off any service of your choice.  We like to treat our subscribers to awesome specials each month—so it’s easy to engage with us on premium consulting resume/cover letter edits, interview coaching, and case prep.  (Besides, we know there are some of you out there who only subscribe for the discounts…these are for you!)

More blow-your-socks-off material you can expect from us includes:

• Free planning content to take you from “Is consulting right for me?” to “When can you start?”
• Regular content infusion, from posts by current consultants describing the inner workings of the largest firms to real stories from exhausted prospects in the interview and decision stages.
• Frequent Q&A roundups to compile top questions from our readers and post answers from our experts.
• Public responses to questions posted to the site or sent to us through email.  You’ve told us this is the most valuable free service we provide.

But not all of you are sure that consulting is for you.  And some of you are starting soon, or you’re consultants now and you’re looking for the next great step in your career.  Good news – we’ve got more in the pipeline for you too!

The jobs you’re aiming for are highly competitive, prestigious, and lucrative.  We know you take this stuff seriously—it’s your future.  We’re taking it seriously too.

Excited yet?  We hope so!  Join our 60,000+ MC community and journey with us as we take this site to the next level.  Have ideas?  Email us.  For the rest of you – get excited and hold on tight!

A popular question we get is something like the following:

I’ve been working full-time for last 10 years at Big Company doing Big Company Function. I recently enrolled in a local part-time MBA program. How do I take advantage of this opportunity to break into a good consulting firm?

Before we start, let me put a big disclaimer here.

Big disclaimer: it is almost impossible to get into an MBB-caliber firm from a part-time MBA program. However, it is definitely possible to get into a respected boutique consulting firm or even a Big 4 (eg, Accenture, Deloitte) depending on your work experience and skillset

Below, I lay out the 6 steps you need to take to maximize your chances.

If you’re interested in self publishing a book, check out Hyperink!

1. Part-time MBA programs are not all created the same

A part-time MBA from UCLA is better than a part-time MBA from University of Texas-El Paso. In fact, one guy even got into Bain this way!

Brand equity matters as much here as it did for undergraduate and graduate programs. Go to the best school that you can.

Better schools provide more recruiting resources (including dedicated job placement counselors), a more plugged-in student base, a stronger alumni network, and access to more consulting firms.

2. Your work starts before you set foot on campus

The most frequent mistake I see students making is that they don’t start thinking about jobs until they’re several weeks into their first semester.

This is a huge mistake.

If you’re serious about consulting, recruiting starts when you get accepted.

Reach out to the Career Center on-campus and ask them what resources are available to help you achieve this goal. They will have prep resources (eg, The Vault Guides, subscriptions to online career databases), access to Alumni networks, and potentially even contacts at your target firms. This is huge!

Some programs will have recruiters whose sole aim is to help you find jobs. Establish contact before you set foot on campus. Often they split time between the part-time, executive, and full-time MBA programs so it’s critical to build a solid relationship, and build it early.

This is covered in #5, but have an updated resume and cover letter ready.

Ask to be put in touch with current students who’ve successfully made the transition. Build relationships with those students. Come recruiting time, they may be willing to forward your resume directly to the right recruiters.

If the Career Center is not helpful or non-existent, contact the Admissions Office and ask for their help.

Now is not the time to be nice – it’s time to get serious about your career.

3. Network, network, network

I’ve already covered everything from info session networking to cold calling.

Nothing particularly new to say here, but my key advice is to start early and cast a wide net. The following are sources of contacts:

• Current students
• Student organizations (eg, Consulting Clubs)
• The Alumni Network (see if you can get plugged into the full-time MBA alums!)
• The Career Center
• The Admissions Office

Systematically reach out and manage contacts. Use a tool like Highrise to keep track of who you’ve emailed, who you’ve called, and who you need to follow up with.

You need to think scale. Assume 2/3 ignore you, and 2/3 of the ones who you talk to can’t help you. That means if you email 10 people, only 1 actually helps. If you email 100 people, now you have 10 people who can help. As a wise man once said, “quantity has a quality all its own”. Actually, it may have been Gideon Yu from Facebook…I don’t remember.

Don’t take silence as a “no”. Try different contact methods, and follow up only until you get a clear “no”

4. Think beyond the part-time MBA bubble

Often people get stuck filling roles that are expected of them, for no good reason.

Being a part-time MBA doesn’t mean socializing exclusively with other part-time MBAs. It doesn’t mean leveraging only resources explicitly offered via your program. If you’re a part-time MBA at a place like UChicago or Northwestern, consider yourself a full part of that school and all its resources!!

Here’s a full list of the U.S. News & World Report’s 2010 rankings for the best part-time MBA programs:

• Northwestern/Kellogg
• UChicago/Booth
• UC-Berkeley/Haas
• UMich/Ross
• NYU/Stern
• UCLA/Anderson
• USC/Marshall
• UT-Austin/McCombs
• Carnegie-Mellon/Tepper
• Emory/Goizueta
• Indiana U/Kelley
• Ohio State/Fisher
• Wash U in St. Louis/Olin

There are more than 10 due to ties. See detailed info here.

Crash recruiting events for full-time MBAs. Even if the firms aren’t looking to hire part-time MBAs, you can build valuable contacts and ensure your resume gets noticed.

Attend undergraduate recruiting events. Same deal here.

Join student consulting and business clubs. Another source of events, networking opportunities, and access to recruiters.

Your mentality should be “ask for forgiveness, not permission“.

5. Get your documents ready

Make sure your resume and cover letter are updated. Bring copies of them with you everywhere, but don’t force them onto people – all recruiters hate that.

6. Prep, prep, prep

FInally, act like you have interviews and start preparing now.

I’ve written several articles about preparing for both the fit interview and case studies.

Often, you can give a company your resume Monday, and by Wednesday they’ve emailed you to schedule an interview for the following Monday. Things move fast – be prepared.

Well, that’s it. Following these 6 steps will give you a MUCH better chance of actually making that desired transition – and ensure that the $$$s you spend don’t go to waste.

What other ways can you take advantage of a part-time/fully-employed MBA program to get into consulting? Was I wrong to assume that it’s nearly impossible to leverage that into an MBB?

Comment away. Feedback is always appreciated.

This is part 2 of my 2 article series on why I left McKinsey.

In article #1, I explained why I left and dove into what I perceived to be McKinsey and the consulting industry’s shortcomings.

Below, I’ll dig into why I loved working there and the general benefits of a management consulting background.

As I said before, I wouldn’t trade my McKinsey years for anything. Many fortunate people face the choice between an MBB (see consulting lingo if you’re like “huh?”) and prestigious companies in the financial services industry (from Goldman Sachs to mid-market private equity, from well-known venture capital firms to prestigious corporate management programs).

9 times out of 10, I recommend MBB.

The reasons below explain why.

1. Benchmark for what it takes to be a great business leader

This was probably my biggest learning from McKinsey.

I came into the company pretty confident in my abilities, and frankly, was used to putting in 80% effort and still doing well at most things.

I was quickly disabused of that notion at McKinsey – not only were the people very smart, but also hard-working and socially savvy.

Of course, there’s some variation in abilities at the top consulting firms, but in general, I’d say the benchmark was set pretty high for good performance. I quickly realized I had to work very hard in order to be successful, and I realized the benchmark I needed to reach to be considered a strong business leader.

That knowledge is invaluable, and it’s something I carry with me today.

2. Valuable training in the HOW and WHAT

By HOW, I mean the approach to solving business problems and creating value as a business leader.

Examples include:

• Hypothesis driven problem-solving: the benefits of quickly determining a potential solution set, and utilizing data to iterate on this answer until its crisp and accurate
• 80/20 principle: how to be efficient with your time and your information to arrive at answers that are “good enough”
• Data-driven decision making: the importance of empirical findings and a fact-based approach. As one wise man said, “If you don’t have any facts, we’ll just use my opinions”

By WHAT, I mean specific tactics and tools that are valuable in any business situation. Examples include:

• Things like the “Influence model” (which teaches you specific ways to exercise leadership and build influence) and the “Skill/will matrix” (which is a quick way to understand organizational culture and how to improve employee performance)
• MECE (“Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive”) – most of you have heard of this by now, but it’s a good mental fact-check to make sure you’re thinking comprehensively and in an organized fashion
• Issue trees – a way to disaggregate large, ambiguous problems into smaller chunks for work-assignment and problem solving purposes

The list goes on.

3. Alumni network

I’ve mentioned this several times as a key asset of the top firms, and I’ve reaped its benefits multiple times in my career already. In particular, I wouldn’t have joined shopkick without reaching out to Cyriac Roeding, its CEO and a McKinsey alumni. And I wouldn’t have contacted Cyriac (and in all honesty, he may not have responded) if I didn’t first hear about him through the McKinsey Alumni newsletter.

In addition, even in the startup world – which is underrepresented as an exit opportunity among consultants – I’ve bumped into many McKinsey alumni and its a special experience that we all share.

4. Credibility and signaling

One of the “laziest” benefits is just having a name like McKinsey on your resume. Similar to getting into an Ivy League school, it lends you instant credibility in all sorts of things – personally relevant moments for me include in the job hunt, in finding startup investors, in business development and partnership opportunities.

There are several reasons for this but the primary one is signaling. McKinsey has already done the due diligence on my background and abilities and given their OK. Other companies can leverage this.

5. Client skills

One of the key benefits of consulting – far more than any other business occupation – is the client interaction. You’ll work directly with client counterparts, and in some cases you may even lead client teams!

You’ll add a valuable bullet to your resume and build valuable long-term skills. In addition, you may develop client relationships that will last beyond your tenure. It’s not uncommon for consultants to jump directly to a client in a permanent role (more on exit options).

6. Firm relationships

Stronger than any client relationships will be your relationships with fellow consultants – especially those of your class. One of the most valuable things I took away from my McKinsey years are these relationships, because everyones’ gone on to do some very amazing things.

Some have started companies; others work at the top private equity and venture capital firms; still others are at all the top business and law schools.

They’re successful – and not only do they provide motivation for you to continue working hard – but are great friends.

In addition, you’ll develop great relationships with your team leaders (aka engagement managers/project leaders) and partners. I still keep in regular contact with several of them and they’ve been invaluable for career advice and business contacts.

7. (Some) domain expertise

Becoming an expert in X industry or Y function generally doesn’t come until many years into your consulting career.

There are several reasons for this, the primary one being that until you develop meaningful client relationships, you’re most valuable as a utility infielder (essentially a person who can wear many hats).

However, sometimes you can dive quite deep into a particular area and find that, even after several years, you’ve become a de facto firm expert on that particular topic.

On one of my projects, I lead the implementation of a barcode scanning technology that systematically tracked and assessed how employees spent their time. This was a new data-focused approach to identifying inefficiencies and streamlining tasks.

Once this technology was proven to deliver client value, I suddenly became the “barcode expert”. In my final year at McKinsey, I spent a considerable fraction of my time parachuting into projects as a consultant (to consultants, yeah yeah) on how to incorporate this technology.

While this is somewhat unusual, even junior consultants can develop expertise in an industry (eg, pharmaceuticals) early. Functional expertise (eg, expertise at long-term strategic planning) is more rare.

8. Entrepreneurial…as big companies go

The top consulting firms can be entrepreneurial environments. If you have a particular passion (say, education in sub-saharan Africa), firms like BCG will generally do what it can to provide you that opportunity.

In my years at McKinsey, several of us were very interested in creating opportunities to essentially do “consulting for startups”. While the idea never got off the ground, this was primarily because of a lack of effort on our part. My feeling is that while McKinsey may not have given us free reign, they would have provided support and guidance to make it happen.

I say “…as big companies go” because ultimately, big companies simply can’t marshal resources, pivot ideas, and seize opportunities as quickly as startups can.

They are subject to their own processes and inertia. It’s key for their very survival.

9. Optionality

I’ve touched upon this in previous articles on consulting exit opportunities.

I believe preserving optionality is the most important thing that any young professional can do

McKinsey helped me do that incredibly well – after leaving, I could have pursued any number of professional and/or educational opportunities. And even years after leaving the company, I can leverage the name to re-open some of those doors if I choose to (for example, if for some unexplainable reason I became very interested in corporate strategy it wouldn’t be too hard to line up the right interviews).

Preserving optionality is important early in your career because you simply don’t know what’s to come. As confident as you are that you’ll be the next Steven Schwarzman or Jeffrey Immelt or Geoffrey Canada, these things can change rapidly – whether in your control or outside of it.

Leaving doors open is the smartest way to arm yourself.

Now you know why consulting’s so great :) And click here if you haven’t read part 1 on why I left.

This is my 2 article series on why I left McKinsey.

One of the most frequent questions that I get is why I left McKinsey. Until now, I’ve been hesitant to address this in-depth – mostly because I didn’t feel it was relevant for what I was doing with Management Consulted, but also because I didn’t want to be perceived as a naysayer.

However, I think my story has valuable lessons for people entering the field, and for those that are currently working at a top firm.

In article #1, I’ll explain why I left and dive into what I perceive to be McKinsey (and generally speaking, the consulting industry’s) shortcomings for me personally. That’s important to keep in mind.

In article #2, I’ll dig into why I loved working there and the general benefits of a management consulting background.

I enjoyed my time at McKinsey, and wouldn’t have done it any differently. I actually tried leaving the company earlier than I did, but am glad in hindsight that I was persuaded against it.

There were 3 main reasons why I left – my entrepreneurial bug, a lack of interaction with customers/end users, and the service-oriented nature of the business.

Let’s dig into each of these.

1. An entrepreneurial bug

The interesting thing is that in school, I didn’t consider myself entrepreneurial. There were several half-assed attempts to start the occasional student group or business idea which never got far.

Instead, I was very much an “organization guy” – spending years at various organizations to achieve leadership positions in everything from SURJ (an undergraduate research publication) to student government.

I think a lot of people in life figure out what they want to do as a series of “anti-experiences”. In my case, working at several big companies (Google, Credit Suisse, McKinsey) taught me that I definitively did not want to work at a big company as a long-term career.

There were both mature reasons for that (the slow pace, the inefficient work processes, the lack of created value going into my own pocket) as well as immature reasons (having the occasional uninspiring boss, the 7am wake up times, the business casual dress code).

Regardless, my “anti-experiences” convinced me to start a company. That’s how I caught the entrepreneurial bug.

Oh, it also didn’t hurt that I loved technology, and in particular, the web. I wrote my first HTML website in 6th grade, and would often stay up at night reading HTML training manuals (don’t mention this to my future girlfriend).

2. Lack of consumer focus

Management consulting is at its core B2B. It may touch consumers indirectly (for example, when you’re consulting for a large consumer-packaged goods company), but your primary focus is delivering value to other companies.

This in itself is not a bad thing, but my passion is in working with consumers…and in most projects, we rarely interacted with them, if at all.

On one project, we needed to understand the behavior of small and medium-sized businesses (in particular, restaurants) and their purchasing behavior – so we spent a lot of time interviewing restaurant owners and managers and talking about their customer experiences.

On another project, we were helping a large yellow-book advertising business streamline their debt collection practices – so we spent a lot of time analyzing call-center employees and their interaction with customers.

That’s about as close as I got.

3. Consulting is a service, not a product

I use these terms loosely, but the key distinction to me is whether the outcome is repetitive or incremental.

For example, a barber is in a service industry – each outcome (the completed haircut) is repetitive. Facebook is a product business – the “Newsfeed” feature that was released is incremental and builds upon the existing Facebook website.

Consulting at its core is a service business. Every project is in many ways a new beginning – you go through the same process to pitch potential clients, scope a project, recruit a team, and solve the problem(s).

The output is remarkably similar across projects – generally a mixture of Microsoft Word memos and Powerpoint decks of findings delivered in presentations to client executives.

In fact, a favorite partner of mine once said, “we’re masters at reinventing the wheel”.

In addition, because you are an advisor and not responsible for execution, sometimes your work may be totally ignored – a .ppt file stored in some company intranet folder to be referenced 5 years later when the new CEO asks for a review of strategic options (“Oh, I remember we hired McKinsey a long time ago…let me see if I can dig up their stuff”)

To be clear, this doesn’t mean that there aren’t incremental aspects of the business – many of which I touch upon below (such as the accumulated knowledge base, the client relationships, etc).

However, what I like about being in a product business is its primarily incremental nature – it’s like building your own house and then renovating it over time.

With consulting, I felt as if I were renting an apartment, decorating it to my tastes, and then moving on 6 months later to a new apartment only to begin the process again.

These are the 3 main reasons. Of course, there are small nits – sometimes, I felt like a kid running around acting like an adult – it was tough pretending I knew something about life insurance marketing when I’d been on the project only one week, sitting across from executives 15 years my senior who had spent their professional lives focused on the problem.

There are always the engagement managers who manage workload poorly, the clients who have unpredictable and poorly defined demands, etc

But these are all small problems that aren’t unique to consulting, and weren’t the main contributors for my exiting McKinsey and moving on to start a company.

Hope that helps clarify. Please see part 2 (when it’s out) for reasons why I loved McKinsey, and why I would do it all over again.

Anything I said not make sense? Anything you disagree with? Please comment below!