Consulting has long been a desirable and lucrative industry to land a job, which means there’s a lot of competition.
Spencer Anderson, a former Bain senior manager who spent almost nine years at the firm, shared his top tips for standing out in an interview during an information session hosted by Leland — a career coaching platform where he now serves as head of revenue.
Here are his top five tips.
Be yourself
Consultants at Bain come from a wide range of backgrounds, Anderson said. Some of them have STEM degrees, others studied the humanities. And then there’s the more traditional finance and business majors, Anderson said.
“If you try to be someone you’re not, they’re going to sniff it out pretty quick,” he said.
He advised candidates to use their résumés to highlight the impact and results of past work. As a former interviewer, Anderson said he would often scan résumés looking for an “icebreaker” to spark conversation at the start of an interview. For that reason, applicants should view their résumés as a way to “control all of the different variables” an interviewer might draw on. In terms of length, he recommended keeping it to one page per decade of experience.
Bain doesn’t require a cover letter, so applicants should be “strategic” about whether to include one, he said.
“If you do write one, make sure yours stands out in a genuine, interesting way,” he said. “There’s a line between being vulnerable and being wise about how much you share.”
The best approach, Anderson said, is to ask yourself: If the interviewer could only remember one thing about me, what would it be?
Secure an advocate
When it comes to networking, Anderson said, “You don’t want to network for networking’s sake.”
Instead, the goal is to develop advocates who can “fully vouch for you” when it matters most. The ultimate aim, he said, is to have someone “in the room” during résumé reviews who knows you well enough to say, “we want to give this person a shot.”
Building that kind of support takes effort and some discomfort. Anderson said he even cringes a bit at the word “networking,” and suggested reframing it as connecting with people and seeing if genuine friendships might form. Start with people you already know — friends, alums, or mutual contacts — before expanding your reach.
Practicing cases with these connections can also be valuable. Cases are simulated business problems that typical clients of consulting firms face. The bedrock of consulting interviews involves answering questions about these cases.
While it may feel informal, they’re likely “a little bit evaluating you,” Anderson said, since they have to decide whether to advocate on your behalf. Don’t be afraid to ask direct questions either, like, “How do I stack up against other candidates?” he said.
Ultimately, he said applicants should focus on building authentic relationships. Not every contact will be “in the room” where hiring decisions are made, but even those outside can still influence or connect you to someone who is.
Practice deliberately and uncomfortably
Anderson said that the key to preparing for consulting interviews is practice, practice, practice.
“You don’t just want to practice in a repeatable, comfortable way. What you need to do is practice in an uncomfortable way,” he said.
That means doing different types of interviews with different people who will challenge you in new ways, he said. Relying on “50 cases with the same person and the same kind of general case structures” can create a rut, he said, leaving candidates unprepared when interviewers inevitably “throw a curveball” in the actual interview.
Work with the interviewer
Anderson said that successful candidates view the interview as a collaboration rather than a test.
“A lot of people view the interviewer as this intimidating judge, and if you view them as an intimidating judge, you’re going to feel like they are an intimidating judge, and it won’t be a great interview,” he said.
The real challenge, he said, isn’t the interviewer — it’s the case. By treating the interviewer as a partner instead of an adversary, applicants can show they know how to problem-solve collaboratively while being transparent and genuine in their approach.
The interview is also the time to act like you already have the job you want.
He encouraged candidates to talk through their reasoning using the typical consulting frameworks. Structure responses with the MECE principle, which stands for Mutually Exclusive and Collectively Exhaustive.
“Your ideas are mutually exclusive. Meaning one idea in one bucket is not the same or overlapping with another idea in a different bucket,” he said. Collectively exhaustive means “we’ve kind of captured as much as we possibly can. So if you are bringing up an idea, make sure you’re thorough.”
Also, he said to make sure to show your interviewers that you’re thinking beyond the question at hand.
A “superstar answer,” he said, is one in which a candidate “is really kind of immersing themselves in the problem and thinking about not just giving the answer that was requested, but also providing the context around that answer.”
Finally, don’t be afraid to use consulting lingo. Some of his go-to phrases include “boil the ocean,” which refers to taking on a project that’s too big, and “strawman,” which refers to refuting an argument different from the one at hand. He used it in a sentence: “Here’s a strawman for us to go beat up.”
If you get stuck, he said, don’t hesitate to ask questions. At the end of the day, interviewers “want to open up your mind and be able to look at it and see how you’re processing things.”
Make the firm want you
Anderson’s final piece of advice is for candidates to be honest with themselves.
“Do you really want this job? Evaluate yourself. Consulting’s not for everybody, and that’s fine,” he said.
Anderson said he loved his experience at Bain and thought it was a great place to start his career. He enjoyed the challenge of solving complex problems for both Fortune 500 leaders and fast-growing startups.
But he was also candid about the downsides. “It was sometimes soul-crushing anxiety at 1 a.m. when you’re pounding through trying to finish some things or staying up till 3 finishing a model,” he said.
If a candidate’s answer to “Why do I want this?” is unclear, he said, it’s better to pursue another path. Remind yourself that you can still “make a difference in the world,” and if Bain can be a part of that — great. If not, remind yourself that you can still do it anyway.
That mentality is key because in interviews, as in dating, game theory goes a long way.
“If you come across as really desperate, they’re probably going to think, well, ‘I don’t want someone who’s desperate for me. I could probably do better,'” he said.
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