Before enrolling at Stern, I worked for a US Senator and a social enterprise in South Africa. Unlike some of my classmates, there is no mention of profit, sales targets, cost analysis, or other private sector lingo on my resume. Those words were replaced by phrases such as fundraising, proposal writing, and beneficiaries. Given my background, I am often asked how I made the transition into management consulting, and specifically, how I made that transition at Stern.
Stern has a multitude of resources to prepare students for a career in consulting. The most important resources for me were the Office of Career Development (OCD), the Management Consulting Association (MCA), and the Stern Consulting Corps (SCC). These entities all come into play at various points in the consulting preparation process: OCD connects students with prospective companies and facilitates the application and interview process; MCA prepares students for the case-based interview; and SCC readies students to work as consultants.
OCD: I attended all of the corporate presentations OCD facilitated with the main consulting firms. OCD also works with firms to plan events that allow students and the companies to get to know each better. Last fall, I attended events ranging from roundtable discussions and case competitions to smaller dinners and happy hours. I also asked my Career Counselors for help at every step of the application process. I discussed my recruiting strategy with them, asked for feedback on my resume and cover letter, and did mock behavioral interviews.
MCA: I took advantage of every program MCA had to offer! I participated in a six-week boot camp on casing, attended the casing workshops and speakers that MCA brought to campus, and mock cased with MBA 2’s and alums (facilitated by MCA). I found the Consulting Internship Preparation (CIP) program that MCA runs in partnership with Deloitte Consulting to be extremely helpful. I was paired with a Stern alum who currently works at Deloitte. She served as my Mentor and gave me invaluable feedback on my resume and cover letters.
SCC: After I secured my internship in consulting, I was a little panicked. How was I actually going to be a consultant? Luckily, I participated in the Stern Consulting Corps during the spring semester. SCC is a 1.5 credit course that mixes a hands-on consulting projects with classroom instruction. With a team of three other students, I worked with West Elm to conduct a landscape analysis of fair trade certifications. While we were working on the project, we had the support and guidance of our professor and teaching fellow. During our weekly class meeting, they taught us the fundamentals of consulting ranging from hypothesis development to constructing our final presentation. The course helped me get ready for the summer and gave me much more confidence that I could “do” consulting.