Consulting Storytelling

Hello there,

Your experience can be a strong asset in consulting interviews if framed strategically. Since your National Service in Nigeria was most likely mandatory, the focus should be on what you did, what you learned, and how it applies to consulting.
 

Structuring Your Story: Use STAR+Learnings or PARADE

To make your answers compelling, use a structured approach like 

• STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) + Learnings, or
• PARADE (Problem, Anticipation, Role, Action, Decision, Effect incl. learnings for you). 

Important is that you highlight what you have learnt from the experience and how it helped/will help you in future endeavours, being it in other jobs, tasks or consulting projects.
 

Key Aspects to Highlight

1. Problem-Solving & Analytical Thinking
   • Example: Did you analyse infrastructure projects, assess financing options, or support decision-making?
   • Why It’s Important: Consulting requires breaking down complex problems systematically.
   • Learning: How did this improve your ability to structure problems, work with data, and think critically?
      
2. Initiative & Ownership (What did you drive forward?)
   • Example: Did you take on responsibilities beyond your role, propose improvements, or self-start projects?
   • Why It’s Important: Consulting values proactive problem-solvers who go beyond assigned tasks.
   • Learning: How did this shape your ability to take ownership and deliver impact in uncertain environments?
      
3. Stakeholder Management & Communication (Who did you engage with?)
   • Example: Did you interact with senior professionals, government agencies, or consultants?
   • Why It’s Important: Consulting involves managing clients and influencing stakeholders.
   • Learning: What did you gain in terms of professional communication, persuasion, or stakeholder alignment?
      
4. Aligning with Consulting & Firm Values (Why does this make you a strong candidate?)
   • Example: How does your exposure to large-scale projects, financial modelling, or industry insights translate to consulting work?
   • Why It’s Important: Firms want candidates who understand their work and can bring relevant skills.
   • Learning: How has this experience reinforced your interest in consulting and your ability to thrive in the role?

Final Tip

End your story with a reflection, for example:
"This experience taught me X, which I now apply in how I approach problems. It reinforced my interest in consulting, where I can refine these skills further."

This approach ensures your story is structured, compelling, and directly aligned with what consulting firms look for. 

Want help refining your specific stories? 
I’d be more than happy to support you. Just DM me. 🙂

All the best with your interviews!
Best wishes,
Johannes

Hi there, 

There are a lot of elements here to craft a compelling story. In short, you will have to show that your background (academic, professional) built foundational skills that are relevant for the job and convey a clear rationale for why consulting is a good fit. 

I would be happy to discuss in more detail over a call or coaching session. In the meantime, these are elements I encourage my coaching clients to consider when crafting their story: 

1. Clear headline: start your story with a 1-2 liner summary that is compelling and memorable to the interviewer
2. Structured narrative: whether it’s thematic or chronological, you deliver 3-4 points in no more than 2-3 sentences each — be concise
3. Strong closing: link your background to your motivation to become a consultant at the firm 

If you want to work through a draft together, feel free to DM me. 

Hello!

You can definitely link your internship experience to consulting or motivation to join consulting. You can consider the following (either or both):

1. Weave into personal story by finding similarities between the internship job and consulting, or my explaining how doing this internship convinced you that consulting would be a good path for you. You can ask yourself a few questions that can help determine the best answer for you (it has to be personal and authentic):
   1. Did you need to solve any problems during your internship? Consulting is a 'problem-solving job', so you could mention how working on solving those problems helped you decide this is an activity you want to do day to day
   2. Did you enjoy working on infrastructure / infrastructure finance topics, but would like to have a broader view of the industry? You could mention that the topics you worked on were very interesting and consulting would give you the opportunity to work with multiple clients across infrastructure and solve higher level problems they face (e.g., work with CxOs on strategy topics) and thus have a higher impact
   3. Did the internship help you discover a different passion? E.g., if you interacted with other industries and became interested in exploring more
   4. Did you learn anything from networking with Management Consultant in the African region that attracted you more to consulting?
2. Prepare stories around specific situations during the internship for behavioral questions during the consulting interview: Are there any leadership / personal impact / entrepreneurship stories from your internship that you could prepare for the interviews? E.g., did you suggest any new ideas or a new approach to solve a problem, did you take any initiative, did you have any challenges? Each of these could be an interesting and relevant story for your interviews

Good luck with the interviews!

Maria

hey!

You can leverage your experience at the Infrastructure Development Finance firm by focusing on the transferable skills you gained, such as problem-solving, analytical thinking, and project management. Highlight how you worked on infrastructure projects, interacted with consultants, and developed a deeper understanding of strategy and finance in a real-world context. Emphasize your ability to collaborate with diverse teams and how this aligns with consulting work. Also, mention your project management qualification as a demonstration of your commitment to continuous learning and your interest in structured, results-driven environments. Tailor your storytelling to show how these experiences will add value to a UK consulting firm.

Alessa

Hi there!

You can build your stories based on any previous work you have made, what is important here is that they show the interviewer your ability to navigate difficult situations, solve problems and get things done. Google “McKinsey PEI dimensions” to understand what consulting firms usually evaluate and check if you have experienced in the context you mentioned that could fit them. 
If you have additional questions, feel free to DM me, I’ll be happy to help!
Best of luck,

Mari

Hey there,

Consulting firms are not necessarily looking for consulting experience when they screen profiles. They are looking for potential and evidence that someone has the foundations and capabilities to be a great consultant! 

So in your case, think about all impact and achievements you generated whilst at the Infrastructure Development Finance intern position, and also leverage all other positions you may have held or led in any other community projects, etc. Ultimately, You want to be able to show that you know how to solve problems and deliver impact! 

Let me know if you'd like us to go deeper on how to implement this in practice. 

All the best 

Hi there,

Your internship can be positioned effectively for consulting by focusing on transferable skills:

1. Leadership: Highlight instances where you took initiative, collaborated with teams and across teams, led teams and/or influenced stakeholders.
2. Problem-solving: Showcase how you tackled challenges, analyzed data, and contributed to decision-making.
3. Impact: Quantify your contributions (e.g., research influencing a project, streamlining a process).

Frame your stories using SCORE Framework (you can find more on Google) and link them to consulting skills. Given your project management qualification, emphasize structured thinking and execution (while keeping in mind that top consulting firms usually do not place a lot of weight on these types of certifications).

All the best,

Florian

Hi,

You can leverage your prior internship experience by really think through the experience you gained in terms of leadership, feedback from peers, team dynamics, points of improvements... During the behavioural interview, you will be able to leverage those stories/experiences. Always structure your answer in a structured way, by using the STAR method. 

Feel free to reach out if you want to practise. 

Mattijs

Hi,

You have a great story to tell! That’s awesome. Do leverage that to your advantage.

As for the internship – it doesn’t matter that it is not in consulting. The key is whether you learned anything that is transferable to consulting work? E.g., analytical skills, problem solving, managing stakeholders etc.? The skills are more important than the type of company or the job title.

Best,
Emily

Hi,

It's important to realize that firms are not looking for consulting related experience per se, but rather the abilities and traits that are relevant for consulting. 

Top consulting firms hire from a diversity of academic and professional backgrounds - so you do not necessarily need to have done a consulting internship.

To make your story relevant, i would start backwards -> Understand first what the firms are looking out for, then figure out how your intern experience fits in. 

Hi there,

I would be happy to share my thoughts on your question:

• First of all, can you please provide a proposal that I can review?
• Moreover, of course, it depends on what situations you faced during this internship in terms of how you can use them to answer experience-based personal fit questions.

You can find more on this topic here: How to succeed in the final interview round.

If you would like a more detailed discussion on how to best prepare for your upcoming interviews, please don't hesitate to contact me directly.

Best,

Hagen