management consulting internships

The summer internship is the only opportunity for students to work at McKinsey, Bain, or BCG before applying for full time positions (2+2 applicants excepted).

To get an internship at one of the top consulting firms, you need to demonstrate your capabilities and fit within the culture. The summer internship is the best opportunity for students to do this.

You can see what working at McKinsey, Bain, or BCG entails, showing that you are capable of handling the work load and challenge of their employees. You will also be able to see how their employees work together as a team and if that meshes with your own personality style (which helps determine whether a company would be a good fit).

The competition for summer internships is tough – some firms receive more than 20,000 applications for a few hundred spots.

The competition for summer internships is tough – some firms receive more than 20,000 applications for a few hundred spots.

If you are pursuing an internship at a management consulting firm, the first step is to ensure that your resume and application stand out above the rest of the applicants. It’s important to be mindful of what makes student resumes different from professional ones.

For example, while students often have strong grades and extracurriculars, they don’t always have work experience (or even significant life experience). Employers see this as an opportunity to teach valuable skills and make sure interns can succeed in their roles before hiring them full-time after graduation.

Internships are not just about doing lots of unpaid grunt work for an associate or manager; interns get real responsibilities and it is not uncommon for recommendations based on their performance to be submitted to clients.

Internships are not just about doing lots of unpaid grunt work for an associate or manager; interns get real responsibilities and it is not uncommon for recommendations based on their performance to be submitted to clients.

Interns will have the opportunity to perform a wide range of tasks related to the management consulting industry. In addition, they will be exposed to senior management and can potentially gain exposure to real client work.

You will get lots of exposure to senior management. It’s also likely that they’ll make a point of meeting with you in person during your internship.

As a consulting intern, you will get lots of exposure to senior management. It’s also likely that they’ll make a point of meeting with you in person during your internship. This can be very valuable for networking and will help improve your skills as well as give you some great references when it comes time to look for jobs after graduation.

At the end of a successful internship, you can expect an offer of full-time employment when you return. If you don’t get an offer at the end of the summer, this may be because a) there was no space on the graduate programme when you were due to graduate (a particular problem at McKinsey) or b) your performance was not good enough. If the latter is the case, consultancies would rather give you feedback one summer earlier than wait until you’ve become a full-time employee (*Mckinsey only).

• You should not expect to get an offer of full-time employment after your internship if you have not been successful in the interview process.
• However, if you have been successful in the interviews and do not get an offer at the end of your summer internship, it is unlikely that this is because a) there was no space on the graduate programme when you were due to graduate (a particular problem at McKinsey) or b) your performance was not good enough. It may be that c) there was no space on their graduate programmes at all (**McKinsey only), but generally speaking I would say it’s more likely that d) your performance wasn’t good enough than any other reason; they’ll let you know by giving feedback before they start their full-time job (*Mckinsey only).

Summer internships are a great way to see what management consulting is really like and improve your chances of getting a job after graduation

Summer internships are a great way to see what management consulting is really like and improve your chances of getting a job after graduation. You’ll get first-hand experience working with clients, learn how to gather data from interviews and surveys, perform financial analyses on companies’ strengths and weaknesses, identify business issues from the data you collect, develop solutions for those problems using your business knowledge, and present your findings to your colleagues or clients.

One thing we hear from students who have completed summer internships is that they can’t believe how much they learned in just three months! If you’re considering applying for one yourself this summer – or if you are already planning to – read on for tips on how to make sure it will be as valuable an experience as possible: