Evan Vitale Consulting: Interview Insider: How to Get Hired at the Boston Consulting Group

Latest post from Evan Vitale Consulting -

The Boston Consulting Group is one of the largest management-consulting firms in the world, with 87 offices in 45 countries. Fortune magazine has ranked it as one of the best companies to work for nine times, with BCG coming in this year at No. 3. New hires can earn an MBA with full tuition reimbursement and stay with the company and become partners. But what, exactly, do consultants do? The basic answer is they help businesses solve problems. Tina Gao, a BCG principal in the D.C. office and one of the region’s recruiting directors, will expect you to know more than that, though, if you apply. Here, she offers more tips on how to stand out.

Can you give an example of a problem BCG consultants have helped solve?

We worked with a shoe company that hired us to help them figure out their five-year plan. How do they grow by 50 percent in that time? What trends will be most profitable in the U.S. marketplace? Are they selling their products at the right retailers? We developed a strategy for them, including three to four things they needed to do to grow the business. It worked. Now they are back as a client again. We’re helping them figure out how to adapt their supply chain — manufacturing and delivery — to their growth.

What qualities do you look for in every candidate?

We want to see curiosity and humility in everyone. People who work here are really driven to ask why. Being humble is what grounds us. We’re hired to help our clients think, but we don’t know everything and we don’t pretend to.

How many employees do you have?

We have 9,700 employees around the world, and we are on an extremely rapid growth trajectory, hiring about 1,000 a year globally. We are actively hiring in all of our offices in departments ranging from energy and consumer goods to financial services.

What do you expect candidates to know about the company before an interview?

We expect you to understand what our company does and also what the consulting industry is. It’s sort of nebulous, and there are a million consultants in the world. It’s a good idea to find someone who works here and talk to them about what we do. Do your research, know what the job is, and understand why you’re interested in this type of job. You also have to familiarize yourself with our interview format because it’s very different.

Courtesy of BCG

How is it different?

Interviews are 45 minutes. The first 10 to 15 minutes we ask you standard behavioral questions, such as, “Tell me about a time when…” The second half of that first half hour is a case interview. You are given a problem you have to solve. You spend the next half hour solving that problem out loud in the interview. You look at analysis and charts with the person interviewing you. Case interviews are hard if you haven’t done them before. You will need to practice.

Where do most interviews take place, and do you fly candidates in for interviews?

There is no headquarters. Every office operates as its own little business unit. When you apply to BCG, you can apply online and give us an office preference. If you’re currently in school, the interview will take place at your school if we visit your campus. Then we’ll invite you in for an interview in the office you’re interested in if there’s an opportunity. You can visit our careers website and search for your school, and if we don’t regularly visit, you can find our recruiting contact information and apply.

If you are already in the workforce, your first-round interview will take place in the office physically located closest to you. We’ll then send you to whatever office you’re applying to for final interviews.

Where do you look for candidates?

The most traditional path here is on campus. With undergrads, we are on campus for fall and winter for internship recruiting. We have a presence at many of the top universities across the U.S., including Harvard, Stanford, the University of Pennsylvania, Northwestern, University of Michigan, Duke, and the University of Texas. We come to campus and hold a presentation to introduce the company and then are available for Q&A sessions. We also come back to help people train for our interviews and learn more about the company. We’ll come back to campus to interview the candidates we choose.

We have a similar procedure with the nation’s leading MBA, law, and post-graduate programs. We also rely on in-house referrals, LinkedIn, and we look at our competitors and even our clients for potential candidates.

What types of jobs are available for recent graduates?

For consulting jobs, there are two tracks. If you come in with a bachelor’s degree, you are an associate. You assist on projects across the company and spend a couple of years learning the job. You eventually get promoted to a consultant and then a project leader. New hires coming from business school with MBAs start out as consultants. The only difference between a new MBA hire and an associate is the salary. It’s essentially the same job in the beginning.

We also have entry-level positions in our business services area (finance, human resources), the IT department, and knowledge management. These are the employees who help us do extra research on any given project.

Do most positions require a specific degree?

We require at least a bachelor’s degree, but the major doesn’t matter. You could have studied anything from chemistry to poetry.

Are advanced degrees required to enter as a consultant?

Yes, you need an MBA, law degree, or master’s. But if you start as an associate, you could spend your whole career here — even make partner — without going back to school. But we do value education, which is why we have a graduate school assistance program. We’ll pay for your GMAT classes, and if you get into a graduate program and you are in good standing in your job, we will pay for your two years of school and provide you with a living stipend while you’re gone. When you graduate, your job is here for you. The only requirement is that you work at BCG for two years after graduation.

Do you have an internship program?

We have a 10- to 12-week summer program for undergrads and graduate students. Applications are submitted in January. We conduct interviews on campus, and then extend offers in February and March. Interns experience real casework. There is no shadowing here; you are a member of the team and held accountable for your work. We pay a pro-rated salary for the position. If they are working 10 weeks out of 52 weeks, they get 20 percent of the total salary they would be making as a full-time employee in that position.

Courtesy of BCG

How can I interact with you on social media to stand out as a candidate?

LinkedIn is our primary resource. We have a separate LinkedIn account just for careers. Recruits can also follow @BCG_Consultant and @BCG_Associate on Twitter for firsthand tweets from an actual BCG consultant and associate tweeting their experiences. One thing you should do if you have the time is use LinkedIn to research the person you’re going to interview with. When I talk to candidates on campus, I expect them to know my background.

What types of questions do you typically ask in an interview?

One thing you should be prepared to answer is, “Why are you here at BCG?” We want to hear about your experiences working with others, leading a group, and we’ll ask about difficult experiences you’ve had and challenges you’ve overcome. We don’t try to throw crazy curveballs. It’s important to practice these questions too. It’s the only thing you can prepare for in our interviews.

What questions should candidates always ask in an interview?

The questions I’m impressed by are ones that are thoughtful and show they’ve done some kind of prior research into the company. Ask questions that will help you understand what the job really is about.

What questions should they never ask?

Most questions are totally open game for us. We’ll even take the salary question, though our recruiters will give you a ballpark right away. It’s a totally fair question. Someone recently asked me how BCG compares to [Showtime’s TV series] House of Lies. I think this guy had a weird sense of humor. It just didn’t sound appropriate.

What’s a mistake people make in interviews all the time and don’t know it?

It comes back to this interview format being very different. We expect people to come in having practiced. The biggest thing that’s unusual about our interview is we expect the candidate to take the lead in solving the case, which can be really uncomfortable. We expect you to ask the questions to find the data you need to solve the problem. You have to practice.

Can you give an example of someone impressing you in an interview in an unexpected way?

I asked a candidate a few weeks ago to tell me about a challenge in her life. She told me she had grown up being a gymnast and wanted to go to the Olympics. But she got injured and it ended her career. So she started running track and has become a marathoner. This story has nothing to do with work or grades. Instead, it shows me what she’s made of. Her life turned out very different than she had pictured and she thrived. These are the types of stories I’m looking for. I don’t need to know about when you won a mathletes competition.

What is the interview dress code?
Business formal. Suit up, people.

Do thank-you cards or emails matter to you?

It doesn’t hurt you if you don’t send one. If you send one that’s incredibly canned or if there are errors in there, it actually might hurt you. And send it right away or not at all.

Interview Insider is weekly series offering tips for getting a job at some of your favorite companies. Check back every Thursday for the latest interview.

Follow Heather on Twitter.

Source