By Kara Sherrer
Out of the MBA class of 2017, 22% of percent of graduates accepted a consulting position, commanding the highest average starting salary out of all job functions, at $127,733 per year. Whatever type of role they pursue — management/strategy, health care, or internal — Owen students are clearly finding success in the field.
But how do students secure these competitive positions, especially if they have no background in consulting work? We talked to the Career Management Center (CMC) and the Owen Strategy and Consulting Club (OSCC) to find out how aspiring consultants at Vanderbilt set themselves up for success.
Getting to Know the Firms
MBA’17 hires by job function
Source: 2017 MBA employment report
If Courtney Fain, Associate Director of Recruiting and Operations at the CMC, could give consulting hopefuls one piece of advice, it would be: “Network. Network. Network.”
“To differentiate yourself from an already fantastic class of students here at Owen, it’s the personal relationships and the network you start to build…that are going to differentiate you in the interview process,” she said.
The CMC works with firms to coordinate these networking opportunities, starting with a workshop hosted by Deloitte during the first week of classes. Deloitte returns to campus in Mod II to run a case competition for first-year MBA students. North Highland, a firm specializing in health care consulting, also hosts an on-campus case competition during the fall; winners are guaranteed a first-round interview for summer internships.
“(The case competition) is a great opportunity for students to take what they’ve learned so far in school and provide them with an experience of what it is like to work on a consulting engagement,” said Steven Summers (MBA’99), a Director at Deloitte. Summers helped judge this year’s competition.
First-year students listen to a presentation at BCG during the 2017 consulting trek
In addition to on-campus activities, the CMC hits the road over fall break for the Consulting Trek, traveling to Atlanta with students to network at Deloitte, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), and Bain. Of course, the CMC encourages students to reach out to alumni and other practitioners independently; recent alumni have accepted jobs at several other firms beyond the trek’s three stops, including Accenture, KPMG, EY, Infosys, and ZS Associates.
“(The trek and case competitions) are another way for a student to say, ‘I’m not only a good candidate, but I’m super interested, and I’ve shown you through these five ways,’” Fain said. “More and more, we’re seeing that treks and face-to-face interaction is how (students are) getting the highest results.”
More and more, we’re seeing that treks and face-to-face interaction is how (students are) getting the highest results. —Courtney Fain
Climbing the Case Prep Mountain
Networking is only part of the recruiting equation. Once interviews actually start, students must excel at another skill: answering case questions. Simulating consulting projects, case questions require candidates to walk the interviewer(s) through their strategy for addressing hypothetical business problems.
Morgan Flanders, president of the Owen Strategy and Consulting Club (OSCC), estimates that it takes students about 40 practice cases to feel comfortable and confident heading into interviews; this works out to about 60 hours of case prep.
“Probably the biggest piece of advice we offer in the club is prep early and prep often,” she said.
The OSCC takes their own advice to heart: starting in mid-August, two second-year board members begin running case prep sessions every Sunday night, until the end of October. Board members also run individual case preps or meet with students to discuss other parts of the consulting recruitment process.
“I would venture a guess that on any given week, we each spend probably three to four hours with students one-on-one, talking to them about different firms, how to prepare, (and) reviewing resumes,” Flanders said.
Beyond case prep and informal peer coaching, the OSCC coordinates other events throughout the year, including a panel with practitioners from different firms at the beginning of the year. The club also hosts lunch-and-learns to familiarize students with specialized areas of consulting, such as corporate strategy or mergers and acquisitions.
OSCC members as a proportion of the 2017-2018 MBA student body
Source: OSCC
If it sounds like the OSCC puts on a lot of programming, it does, but the numbers of events are proportional to their membership: more than a quarter of current MBA students at Owen are members of the OSCC. The club serves students recruiting for many different functions, including marketing and finance, which are beginning to require case interviews.
“I think that’s why we have such broad appeal…a lot of things fall under that strategy umbrella,” Flanders said. “We’ve really become a one-stop shop for case prep for students across a variety of disciplines.”
Hiring Owen Graduates
Students celebrate the end of a successful Consulting Trek
With only about 170 students in each MBA class, Vanderbilt Business offers a more personal level of preparation for students looking to enter the consulting world. Summers says that Owen’s close community encourages students to present on a regular basis and engage with each other and professors — providing experiences that prepare them to interact with and advise clients.
“Owen students are extremely hard-working and collaborative; these qualities are critical, and as a result, Deloitte has had great success recruiting (at Owen) for many years,” he said.
Courtney Fain agrees that the cultural fit between Owen and consulting firms is part of the driving force behind the recent uptick in consulting hires at Vanderbilt Business.
“I think as we build an alumni base (at these other companies), it’s going to be more and more apparent that Owen’s culture and students align with the hiring needs for those firms,” she said.
Whether students see consulting as a lifetime career or a launching pad, Owen prepares them to make the post-MBA move.
“To me, consulting really is an extension of business school,” Summers said. “You’re constantly learning, working at a rapid pace, and relying on your colleagues to support you and challenge you all along the way.”
It’s going to be more and more apparent that Owen’s culture and students align with the hiring needs for those firms. —Courtney Fain
