What is the consulting firms criteria? What do I need to have on my CV? Which internships do I need to have in order to have a chance in the process? All these question come up when considering career in Consulting.
Yet, there is a fundamental flaw in a all these questions. I will tell you what it is and what question you need to start with.
Transcript:
A career at McKinsey or any other of the top consulting firms is the greatest job on earth. Believe me, it is a fairly risk free way to make $30 million if you go full cycle. It will get you wealth beyond what you can believe today and you don't have to put any substantial money of your own into it. So it's quite... it's the sweetest, sweet spot of what you can do in your life. Getting in is hard and you, even if you're brilliant and have got great grades, it doesn't guarantee you a job there.
But there's a couple of things you have to know if you want to get in and we're going to hack this together. I'm the master of hacking things. I always told people I didn't study law, I studied exam tactics. I always thought that by looking hard enough what exactly is needed, I can prepare really, really well and I did that every single time and aced my exams. And it's the same with the consulting interview. There's a couple of things you really need to understand and know in order to do it.
Now, let's talk today about, am I McKinsey material? Will I be good enough for this? Should I apply there? What about these questions? Let me first go a little bit into, what does the view from the other side look like? The consulting firms, they call it the war for talent, the war for talent. The war for talent is on, and we got our planes up in the air. Currently in this climate, I mean, talent is rare. As startups are thriving, big tech is thriving. Everybody wants the best people so the consulting firms have to really fight hard for the best people and to find that talent, you always have to look at it.
A consulting firm spends $50,000 for each hire they get. Yeah. $50,000 is the cost of getting a single hire because they have to run such a big machine to track the best in the market. So for them it's about digging out the diamonds. It's about finding this people. It's about motivating people to even apply. And they do want to find other people than the typical MBA type as well. So, there's a huge interest in finding you. Okay? So this is... Think about it from this perspective. They're not sitting there sort of wanting, being able to choose just the best, but they have to really work hard and they would love it if you would apply. Believe me.
Now, if you struggle with the question, am I good enough for McKinsey? I think it's the wrong question. You got to... If you have the thought in your head that, am I good enough for these consulting firms, then the problem is that you have this thought, not that you're not good enough probably. Because the thought I will not be good enough or am I good enough is a limiting belief. It keeps you from writing a great cover letter, a great CV. It keeps you from being great in the interview because the thought already killed your energy of doing this.
So the first thing when you think, am I good enough, is not to work on are you good enough, it's about working on getting rid of that thought. You are good enough. You're always good enough. And come on. Yeah, it's an application. What can you lose? It's free. Yeah, go for it. Be the best you can be. And then see. I mean, take my case example, it was such an oddity that I got a job there. It was such a path full of coincidence and luck. I'll tell it in another day in another podcast of how it happened.
... hear podcast to get the rest, or read the full transcript here:
https://medium.com/@moritz_43293/am-i-mckinsey-material-ef6af412bfeb