Top 5 Tips to Land Your Dream Job
It’s recruiting season. This is the busiest time of year for me, when hundreds of students reach out and want to know how to get in. How can they break into a top management consulting firm? How did I pivot from a back-end role for an engineering company to a coveted leadership development program, promotion to a director, and then become a management consultant… and how can they do the same?
How did I get in? I obtained an education, I leveraged my education and experiences, and I worked extremely hard. I worked diligently and strived to present my best self on my resume and in interviews.
There is no substitute for hard work, especially if you want a career at a top firm. If you’re willing to work hard, you can do it too. Here are the top five pieces of advice I share with students and professionals who ask me how they can secure that coveted dream job.
1. Write a standout resume
You most likely already have a resume that you think is pretty good. I recommend that you look at it again. Edit it until you think it’s perfect; then edit it some more. Your resume is often your first opportunity to represent yourself, so put your very best foot forward.
Real estate on your resume is very limited, so every word matters.
Focus on the left hand side of your resume. Every single bullet point should begin with an active verb followed by a metric that quantifies your work. If you don’t know how to quantify your work, think about the results you have achieved in your job. Almost everyone can quantify his or her work; it just takes practice.
I have reviewed many resumes, and many times the bullets will begin with, “Responsible for…” As a former recruiter and hiring manager, this tells me very little. Your resume should be outcome-focused. What did you accomplish? Did you increase sales, optimize a process, negotiate a cost savings, implement a new strategy, build a product, etc.? Add metrics that quantify your work, e.g. increased by $X or Y%.
Write about what you accomplished. Remember, you are trying to convince the recruiter or hiring manager to choose you. Sell yourself! What have you done that is impressive, that stands out? Write it down.
Assume that the recruiter knows nothing about you. Don’t assume they read your cover letter or your LinkedIn profile. Everything they need to know about your candidacy—why you are the best person for this job—should be on your resume.
Not only do you want to stand out to a recruiter, you often first need to pass a screening by an applicant tracking system (ATS). Many times, an ATS will screen your resume before it ever reaches a human. You want to ensure your resume passes this step and a human reads your resume. How can you do this? Use key words.
Research the job you are targeting. What skills are listed on the job description? Add as many of these skills as possible to your resume. The key here is to show transferable skills.
If you want a sales job, but you don’t have any sales experience, add experiences that show you have transferable skills that are relevant to sales. Have you used influence to arrive at a decision, used persuasion obtain buy-in with your team or manager, etc.? If you want a position at a top consulting firm—one of those most competitive job markets in the world—include research and analyses you have done, strategies you have developed, and the outcomes that resulted from them. Analysis for analysis’ sake isn’t enough—how did you use the research and analyses?
Above all, be outcome-focused. Demonstrate how you made a difference in your previous positions and your education. Stand out. You are selling yourself in a competitive job market, so make sure you sell yourself well. This is not the time to be modest.
2. Practice your elevator pitch
An elevator pitch is how you introduce yourself to the world. It should take 30 seconds or less, and should tell the listener a good deal of information about you. Because an elevator pitch is so short, you should practice it beforehand to make sure you can deliver it smoothly and effectively.
Like your resume, every word should be carefully chosen. Write it down, edit it, and once you feel the pitch represents you well, memorize it and practice giving it while looking in the mirror. It may feel awkward at first, but the practice should help give you confidence when it comes time to use it.
When do you use an elevator pitch? Use this whenever you introduce yourself: when you meet professionals, when you run into your Managing Director in the elevator, when you are at a networking event, and at the beginning of an interview.
What should it say? Your elevator pitch should describe you, your background, your experiences, and your goals. It should give the listener a good idea of who you are in a very short amount of time. This is a great way to start off a positive and productive interview or networking call.
3. Expand and use your network
If you want to get that dream job, you are going to need to knock on a few doors. Applying to a company’s website is not enough. Be proactive and reach out to your network to learn more about the companies and role(s) you are targeting.
Networking accomplishes a few things:
a) Networking will help you learn about the company and role so you can evaluate if it is a good fit. Just because a company has a great reputation does not mean it is a great fit for you. Do your research to create a solid list of companies and jobs to target.
b) Active networking builds and strengthens your network. This goes without saying. It always helps to have a strong network of people who can help you and whom you can help as well. Networking is quid pro quo—so build strong relationships with individuals that you care about and respect. One day, you might be able to help that connection find a job, and vice versa.
c) Networking will give you valuable information about key skills required for a position. Add the transferable skills you already have to your resume. For skills that you do not yet have, find a way to develop them. Is there a course available online that you can take? For students, leverage your classes to develop skillsets that you need but do not yet have. For professionals, is there a project that you can take on at work that will help you develop that skillset? Remember, you don’t have to be a global expert to include a skill on your resume. Become an agile learner and grow yourself!
4. Prepare for fit and behavioral interviews
Fit interview questions are standard for interviews, and you should prepare for them before your next interview.
Examples of fit interview questions:
Tell me about yourself (use your elevator pitch here)
Why are you interested to work at this company?
What interests you about this role?
Why are you leaving your current job?
Why do you believe you are a good fit?
What are your future goals?
Where do you see yourself in five years?
You can expect behavioral interview questions in nearly every interview. These are the questions that ask how you responded in specific circumstances. They often start with, “tell me about a time when…”
Examples of behavioral interview questions:
Tell me about a time when you had a conflict with a team member
Tell me about a time when you had to deliver bad news to a client
Tell me about a time when you failed
Tell me about a time when you disagreed with your boss
Tell me about a time when you were at your best at work
Tell me about a difficult work situation that you overcame
Tell me about what you liked best, and least, about your last position
You can use the STAR method to respond to most behavioral interview questions. STAR = Situation, Task, Action, Result. What was the situation, what did you have to do, what did you do, and what was the result? This method creates a nice anecdote so you can tell a succinct story to answer the question.
I recommend that you reverse the order of STAR and begin with the results. Be answer first. Talk about the outcome you achieved. Companies and managers want to hire results-oriented employees. By beginning with the results, you can choose how deep in the details you need to go. Often, you don’t need, or want, to dive too deep. Tell a succinct story about how you accomplished positive results to demonstrate why you are the best candidate for the job.
In an interview, above all, be honest and put your best foot forward. Keep the conversation positive and constructive.
5. Prepare for case interviews
If you are interested in consulting, you can expect case study interviews. Consulting firms, banks, and many other companies realize the value of case interviews to test a candidate’s ability to solve a problem, think creatively, and make strategic recommendations. To do well in case interviews, preparation is critical.
How many hours do you need to prepare? I will answer using a consultant’s favorite answer: it depends. Many top universities require their students to practice a minimum of 80 hours of case interviews to be eligible to recruit for management consulting positions. You might need much less, or much more, than that. Ultimately, it will depend on your experiences to determine how much you need to practice. As a rule of thumb, the more good practice you have, the better.
There are many great resources to help you prepare for case interviews, including Marc Consentino’s Case in Point and Victor Chang’s case interview prep. I’ve written an article with my top 8 tips to ace your case interviews, if you’d like to dig deeper.
My recommendation is to learn to pose questions and develop your own framework. Resist the temptation to memorize frameworks. Case interviews are designed to emulate real casework where there is no answer key.
As consultants, we are hired to solve problems. We don’t have a magic framework or formula that we can apply to every case. In the real world, situations are nuanced. There are patterns of course, but no cookie-cutter answer for all companies. I wouldn’t give the same strategy to a start-up as a Fortune 100, or the same advice to a private equity company as I would to a healthcare or technology company. We are paid to give specific, actionable advice and strategies.
Similarly, case interviews will require you to think through the problem, the company, the industry, the products, etc. Ask questions and think through options to help form your own framework specific to each case.
Practice makes perfect. Practice case interviews on your own, with friends and classmates, and with professional consultants. Ask for constructive feedback as you practice. Use the feedback to improve and build on your skills.
The Takeaways
Start by building a strong resume. Even if you become the best interviewee in the world, it won’t matter if you never schedule an interview. Focus first on your resume, and make yourself stand out as the strongest applicant possible. Then practice your elevator pitch, leverage your network, and prepare for behavioral, fit, and case interview questions to ensure you will shine in your interview. You can do this.
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About the Author: Brittany Blackamore is a Management Consultant at Boston Consulting Group (BCG). She also serves as the CEO and Founder of Suitcase of Joy, a nonprofit organization that delivers school supplies, toys, sport equipment, and other materials to underserved children in Africa and around the world. Prior to joining BCG, Brittany worked as a Director of Strategy and oversaw a global team at Experian. Brittany earned her Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) at UCLA Anderson School of Management, where she also earned a Specialization in Global Management. Brittany earned her Bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, from Pepperdine University.