Timing for application - Summer period

Question

Hi all,

Glad to have found this website for the prepation and have already found a couple of nice mates to work with.

However my current situation is the following and I'd like to have your thoughts on it:

After my engineering degree I have worked a year abroad (in consulting in technology) and realised I really wanted to nail it down to strategy consulting. Thus I joined a corporate strategy master in a top economic institution in France. All in all, I have quite a good student loan and after this master I couldn't take one or two months off to crack down on my preparation for the biggest consulting firms. I was however doing an internship in a digital strategy consulting firm and they wanted me to stay so made me an offer that I turned down but came back with a nice project in London.

I accepted it but changed it for UK short-term contract. Now I got the financial stability to be fully prepared but the timing will be:

- End of contract in March

- 1/2 month of full preparation

- 1/2 months of applications

Meaning that all in all, with some cushion, if successful, I might be in the final rounds around June/July.

I am a little bit skeptical as I guess like in every industry, the summer period is likely to be flatter.

Do you think I should rework on the planning or it might be okay anyway? I will specifically look for the london offices of the consulting firms.

Many thanks for your thoughts,

Jerome

Answer 1

Hey Jerome,

I agree with the reply below, but let me add two additional points

- answering directly your question, most of the European offices take a formal break only in August, but activity in July is often reduced so it can indeed impact the capability to progress quickly with interview processes

- I would be careful on other topic too: for non-experienced candidates there is often a lag/turnaround period getting hired and the firm being able to accommodate to incorporate the new hire, so depending on the office it can be highly unlikely for someone hired in June (especally July) to be offered to start working immediately in September

best

Bruno

Answer 2

I think the timeline you proposed is on the optimistic side. Likely the process will be longer 4-6 months total. This because I think you should add two items to your timeline:

Networking/reach out (concurrent or before preparation). One or two months. Very important to not under estimate the importance of this. If people know you and remember your name, the likelyhood of your application to be considered is much higher
Interview process after application can be as fast as the 1/2 months you highlighted under "application" but can drag up to 3/4 months

That said, I think you can and indeed should start with preparation and networking/reach out right now while you are working. So your timeline of getting an offer before the summer would still work.

Hope it helps,

Andrea

Answer 3

As long as you are able to get interviews scheduled before end of July you are good as other stated. It might impact your start date (e.g. September) but won't impact your ability to get an offer. Also notice that UK doesn't have a closure in August.

Hope it helps,

Andrea

Answer 4

Hi,

Agree with the previous. I would devote more time on prep.

Secondly - I would check with HR on the particular timelines in the office you are applying to. You should plan everything in accordance to that. Also, collect some feedback from other candidates who successfully made it with the same company and can give you some guidelines on timing.

Best

Answer 5

Hi again, thank you all for your feedback. It helps me a lot and I did consider to network before but might have underestimated it. I think I will accept the next project they are offering me between London and Amsterdam to have time to be really prepared. In the meantime, networking and contacting HR will be my main priority.

Many thanks to all,

Would be a pleasure to meet the ones in London (this is not part of the work!)

Have a great evening,

Jerome