How are minorities encouraged to apply to consulting?

Question

Hello!

I've been thinking about how the firms approach us minorities, and I haven't seen that much targetted efforts except for women's events and some LGBT+ events. So I was wondering, have you been at a consulting event for minorities/diversity groups where you felt that it was valuable beyond just being another point of contact with that firm? Or do you know how the firms go about doing this? This really interests me, but it's been difficult to both find events and other people's opinions of them :)

Thanks!

Answer 1

Hi there,

I'm not sure where you're looking but there are heaps of these events!

At my MBA there were multiple events targeted at minorities. Do some more googling/networking to figure out exactly what options there are in your area.

Additionally, when reaching out to people on LinkedIn, you can definitely find people similar to your background - this increases your chances of your response and of a referral. Good luck!

Answer 2

Hello,

Many consulting firms today are making an active push to make recruiting more accessible for minority candidates. Targeted efforts generally involve recruiting events geared towards candidates. As you mentioned, these events provide an additional point of contact with the firm (which is about as much as you can do to make recruiting more accessible at that stage), and also are designed to allow minority candidates to ask colleagues at the firm who have similar backgrounds about their experiences, and discuss any specific issues.

In addition, some firms offer internships specifically geared towards minority candidates. For instance, McKinsey North America operates a Sophomore Diversity Leadership Program that offers internships specifically for people who identify as Black, African American, Hispanic, Latino, and/or part of Indigenous groups in North America.

During the application process, your application should be reviewed as holistically as possible. No one will be given preferential treatment based on their identity, and interviewers should have undergone some bias training to ensure that they don't review candidates in a biased way based on their identity either.

Finally, when at the firm, there are many mentorship networks and support groups that are geared towards specific minority employee groups.

Hope that helps, and let me know if you have any more questions!

Answer 3

That's a great question.

Sharing here a resource to add to the discussion - it's an article that I wrote after interviewing an MBB Partner on the topic of diversity initiatives:

Expert Guide: How Are Diversity Initiatives Affecting Recruitment?

Hope you find it useful!
Best,
Cristian