So you’ve entered university, maybe done a student consulting project, and you’ve fallen in love with the work in this field. You’ve set your sights on breaking into consulting, and have probably started dreaming about working in the MBBs in your sleep. Now you’ve woken up, and a new Spring Week application opened up:
“Boston Consulting Group Insight Programme”
You start panicking because you don’t want to miss this opportunity. But how are you going to go about the application process? While we can’t guarantee a spring week offer from BCG with this guide, we can throw out some ideas and get you started on the application.
The BCG application involves a CV and a Cover Letter, before moving on to phone interviews. In this guide, we’ll be looking at the CV and Cover Letter.
CV
While you should be familiar with building up your CV, BCG has a highly selective screening criteria through which they put your CV. In order to make your CV stand out from the rest, the following points are essential:
Academics:
It goes without saying that employers value academic excellence highly, and BCG is no different. Don’t hesitate to elaborate on this to your best ability. Quantify your achievements. If you came 1st in your high school for your exams, include that in the CV. That will make it more outstanding, especially since most 1st Year University students would not have any academic results to show for. This goes the same for any scholarship, dean’s list, or academic competitions that you have taken part in.
Leadership:
Here, they are looking for evidence of your leadership potential, organisation and communication skills. This will revolve around the committees you were involved in and the leadership positions you held in it. You will need to provide evidence of organising or coordinating people/events. Once again, quantify your achievements!
Excellence and Accomplishment:
In this segment, BCG examines how you contribute to your extra-curricular. Sports, or having a role in any musical society etc. can go lengths towards reflecting team or individual achievement and make your application stand out.
Vacation and Work Experience:
How you spent your summer prior to entering university is a big consideration from BCG. They examine your work experiences, from your internship employer to the level of voluntary work you engage with. Any businesses or activities which you’ve engaged with also showcases your entrepreneurial spirit, which is something that BCG values greatly.
Cover Letter
People generally struggle in this part of the application, because it’s hard to justify your passion for a field you have little experience in or a company where you’ve never worked before. But there are definitely ways that you can learn more about BCG as a company. With the proper research and diligence, you can translate this into a personally driven passion for working in the company.
Company Values:
The first step you should take towards drafting a cover letter should be to look through the target company’s website. Understanding the company values would form a good foundation for your approach to the Cover Letter. Looking at the company events that BCG hosts, or any outstanding projects or partnerships that BCG has, can also give you a better understanding of what they value in their work. It is important to draw links to how these values resonate with your own personal values, and why that attracts you to the company. For example, BCG could have done a project in a field that you’re particularly passionate about. This would be an excellent opportunity for you to capitalise on to justify why BCG is the company for you.
Passions and Motivations:
It is easy to say that you’re passionate about consulting, but it’s not that easy to describe why you are passionate to practice consulting in BCG specifically, especially since most of us would never have had any interaction with the company. That is where programmes such as BCG’s virtual experience programme comes into play:
The programme allows you to take on practical tasks to understand what it is like to work at BCG, and can give you greater insight into consulting as a career too. Additionally, you gain relevant and transferable skills through the process, which can be useful for your personal development.
Company Culture:
Once again, it’s hard to justify why a company’s working culture resonates with you. Many applicants try to elaborate on this, but end up coming off as superficial. Thankfully, BCG hosts many networking opportunities, which are increasingly accessible due to their shift to virtual webinars. The recently passed BCG Consulting Launchpad is a great example of this, where you are given a chance to interact with BCG consultants and find out about the working lifestyle in the company. Events like this can be found on BCG’s website for you to sign up.
You can even take it a step further, and connect with them on LinkedIn, and send them an email or message thanking them for attending. Whilst consultants are infamously busy, they still thrive off communication and working with others, and would have likely been at this stage of the applications grind at one point in their life. With a polite approach, they may give you valuable insights or tips that can differentiate you from other candidates.
Wrapping-up
So, these are our general tips for approaching this stage of the BCG Insight Programme. We wish you all the best for this application season, and keep an eye out for further publications from us!