Three tips to make your Consulting application stand out

Thousands of people apply to become a consultant every year. The reality is they all look pretty similar. How do you make your application stand out from the crowd?

In this blog we’re going to give you three tips to help your consulting application get noticed. Implement these strategies to get noticed by top firms.

Highlight Core Consulting Competencies

Recruiters are looking for evidence of specific consulting core skills in applicants.

Here’s the checklist of core skills you need to demonstrate:

Teamwork
Analysis
Problem solving
Critical thinking
Communication
Leadership

Map your experience onto these core competencies and make this jump out of your CV to the recruiter.

Demonstrate Entrepreneurial Drive

There’s surprising overlap between consulting and entrepreneur skills. If you can demonstrate some entrepreneurship in your application then you’ll stand out against the people who’ve only got big corporate names on their CV.

You don’t have to be creating the next Facebook. Here’s some examples of experience you can use:

Small side hustles exhibit proactivity and strategic thinking e.g. print on demand eCommerce business, YouTube channel, blog
Founding a sports club or organising an event displays leadership
Working at a startup provides blended, hands-on experience

Quantify Your Impact

Consultants are ultimately measured on the positive impact they make for their clients. So demonstrate to the recruitment team that you already have this capability by proving it with data.

Prove you drive real change vs just completing tasks by including the metrics that demonstrate tangible results. For example, “as a result of this project revenue increased by 10%.”

Check Formatting

Make sure you’ve checked the following:

Spelling, grammar and punctuation. Nothing worse than saying you’ve got good ‘attetnion to detail’...
You’ve supplied everything required including all the online application questions
You’ve got the correct firm’s name in your cover letter. You don’t want to tell Accenture how excited you are by the prospect of working at Deloitte

Stand Out, Get Noticed

Yes it’s a competitive market but with a strategic approach, you can craft an application impossible for firms to ignore. Show them you have what it takes to excel in consulting!