Job Search Tips: Executive MBAs Transitioning to Management Consulting (2 of 2)

While I was an Executive MBA (EMBA) student, I didn’t fully grasp what it was like to be in a full-time (FT) MBA program.  It was only after my graduation, during subsequent coffee chats with both current EMBA & FT students, that the differences between the programs became apparent. 

After completing my MBA, I went to Alvarez & Marsal (A&M), a consultancy that hires many MBAs with 15 – 20 years of experience.  We understand how the transition process can be vastly different and more challenging for EMBAs looking to switch careers into consulting versus the situation of FT students who typically have less than 10 years of experience.  Most of the widely-available preparatory materials cater to the FT experience, while EMBAs must learn by doing instead of reading. 

This is the second of two posts that seek to fill that gap with the following additional tips:

Get social.  Many EMBA students see the recruiting process as a series of boxes that must be checked.  Do I have an updated résumé? Check. Did I submit my résumé on-time?  Check.

What students fail to address is the human element.  When I attended the firm presentation, did I build relationships with the people at the event rather than just get my questions answered and leave?  If I couldn't attend an event, did I ask to speak with people in the firm offline to learn more about the job?  Maximizing your meaningful touch points with a firm will increase your likelihood of being hired.  In this process, candidates will learn a lot about different firms and create champions for themselves in each firm.

Beyond genuinely connecting with people at recruiting events, candidates should search their networks for friends and acquaintances who can give them relevant information and practice case interviews with them.  LinkedIn is the ideal tool to navigate your network for applicable contacts.  Also, a campus career center has representatives that interact with each actively-recruiting firm and can provide detailed direction and up-to-date points of view for students.

You need to be brilliant on the basics of the recruiting process, such as fine tuning your CV and spell checking your cover letter.  This should only be a subset of the foundational skills you build along the way to a consulting job, though.  Other key fundamental capabilities include enhancing your case-specific analytical acumen, in addition to building effective relationships. 

FT MBA students have the benefit of an internship to practice these competencies in a focused manner, but EMBAs must proactively and independently build their own support structure.  Ideally, EMBAs start prior to the official recruiting season, as discussed in my last post, and add books such as Keith Ferrazzi’s “Never Eat Alone” to their reading list to refine their networking skills.  If you don't like talking to people, consulting may not be for you. 

Be humble.  Are you the superstar of your team?  The cadre you are considering joining is inherently filled with superstars and may come with younger over achievers above you, just by nature of the different career decisions they made in life. Understand the career transition you are making may not be a straight, upward-leaning line.  In fact, you may dip down in title to position yourself on a completely different trajectory.  Transformational opportunities rarely come wrapped in a neat package topped with a perfect bow.  Success doesn’t come in a straight line, but normally presents itself at the end of a tortuous and circuitous path.  As all this change is upon you, be humble.

I don’t intend for this tip to come across as meaning “be weak” or “be passive”.  On the contrary, I could rebrand this tip as “Confidence Without Attitude”, which represents a Berkeley Haas Defining Principle.  Be it in a case interview or during a conversation about your past professional achievements, you have in the past and you will in the future make decisions based on evidence paired with cogent analysis.  This should give you the confidence that you don’t need arrogance to enter the consulting arena.  If you have done your research, and this is truly the right professional next step for you, you should be proud of your past accomplishments and look forward to the great change ahead.

In summary, looking beyond the basics of the interview process to get social with the people involved as well as being humble through the process will give you the right focus and attitude to conduct a successful transition into consulting.  These tips only work with consideration to the thoughts from my last post on this topic, where I recommended that you start early and utilize the on-campus recruiting process.

These are my final thoughts, and I welcome other EMBAs, FT students, and alums to add to this conversation.

Carter Reue is a Manager at Alvarez & Marsal. He helps Fortune 500 companies drive profitable growth through performance improvement.