Most people who read this will probably dissmiss it straight away. Im a realist and expect this kind of response. However after reading an article about a trainee accountant who placed a JOB WANTED advert in the recruitmetn section of a large broadsheet newspaper, i have decided that life is too short not to take risks. I am a recentUniversity graduate (2005) with a degree in Accounting and Finance. Whilst i lack any appropriate work experience i.e within a blue chip company, i feel that i hold all the right credentials required to be a successful management consultant. University life opened up a huge window of opportunity to me to improve both my outlook on life and my personal attributes. I beleive that i took the bull by the horns so to speak and made the most of this chance. I was treasurer for the ski and snowboard club for 2 years. I captained one of the university football teams during my final year and was a fully active memeber of the Investment Society.These roles allowed me to further enhance my communicational, interpretational and team work skills. All of which i beleive are a more effective "tool" in the work place rather than the average personal work experience level that the majority of fist time job hunters posses. I have also travelled extensively in recent years with prolonged periods of time spent in the Caribbean and Sub-Saharan Africa. I posses a great understanding of cultural diversity, a skill which can be transfered into the work place to overcome differing views and opinions between both clients and colleagues.I feel that credentials like these can only be gained through life experiences colated at an early stage in ones career, whilst work experience is continually built apon for the rest of ones working life. A man can continue to gain work experience for the next 20years, but can he gain life expereice from within the confines of an esablished career?The belief i hold in my determination and dedication to suceed in my chosen career is my main attribute. I refuse to be just another graduate who wastes their potential by simply acceptin what ever life throws at them. I aim to overcome all difficulties and set backs as i face them in order to achieve my goals and ambitions.I have spent countless hours researching the world of management consultancy. I have contacted organisations such as IMC and trawled the postings on this forum extensivley in a bid to braoden my knowlede and understanding. I can now only hope that this bears fruit and i am soon able to begin my career within the world of management consultancy.Many thanks for your time. Any suggestions or comments will be greatfully recieved.

Your message is like sonar....It pings the image of a thinking, creative, analytical and meaningful person with solid self awareness looking to invest who he is in the world....As a thinker many will be threatened by you...even those senior to you...My advice is to be less 'iffy'....you dont believe you know...Keep trawling, researching etc. but with the confidence that you are looking to attract a like-minded organization/team/individual....I would bet on you having an interesting and rewarding life if you do not sell your ideals out to the pursuit of corporate success alone....the credentials you speak of will hopefully be an ongoing part of your life's quest....Good luck....

Risks are there to be taken, increase the rewards by taking the highest risks! Place adverts! Invest in the stockmarket! Smuggle drugs! Gamble everything!!!! For, after all you only get one shot as this life and you only regret the things you don't do.Have you done the "Get the Edge" course by Tony Robbins by any chance?

I switched off when you claimed you had "communicational" skills.Join the queue, apply for a job. Any moron can do a post in a forum - it's not very innovative.

Like I said Phil....Ping who you really are and the like minds will come...delete the rest ...you are not part of the herd...so do not be sucked into mediocrity....

Whether a moron, a thinker or a risk taker, you'd come off a damn sight better if you bothered to run your impassioned plea through a spell check before you sent it.I wouldn't accept a CV from someone with a 2:1 or even a 1st with incorrect spelling and lowercase 'I's - this is not due to pedantry, but concern about what this lack of care demonstrates. The reader has to assume that either you don't know how to cut and paste into a Word document and check the spelling, that you don't care all that much, or that you have disturbingly poor attention to detail. Please don't feel wronged, you are more than likely none of the above, but you really should think about the underlying messages you communicate if and when you send out further appeals.In the meantime, why not look at a management scheme with a blue chip, for example? They are still recruiting, your experiences would come across well in an interview, and they are really great training grounds. If you do well it is possible to get into consulting later, especially if you get into an MBA programme (as with many of my uni friends, you might start with this path in mind, then like it so much you choose never to leave industry). Alternatively, smaller or more specialist consultancies can be more flexible about grades, especially in this market, but it is still likely to be uphill work.Best of luck

These consulting people sometimes think they have a golden butt. They don’t. You just have to meet a few to realise it straight away, not sure about the strategists but the IT and operations consultants, if you take the attitude away, look like other very normal corporate people that do routine work. I think the consulting recruitment market is inflated. Because of the “prestige” that apparently is attached to being a consultant, too many “prestigious” people who come from certain “prestigious” backgrounds want to work in consulting. Therefore the recruitment market is inflated and they treat you like commodity. I think there are many other careers out there which can potentially reward you a lot more. And they are now undervalued, so if you’re smart you’ll have the opportunity to move up the ladder quicker. The world in 10 years will be a very different place. Working in capital markets, 30 years ago, was unfashionable for the prestigious people. Look at it now!

I disagree on two parts:1) if you strip away the prestige the job is the same: yes for analysts, but the job changes as you move up2) consultants are not undervalued - I decided to go for consultancy instead of engineering for the reason that engineers are undervalued compared to their business counterparts. consultants get a damn good deal.

You don't say what you want- you allude to it, but mainly exercise the chip on your shoulder.To be successful in consulting, perhaps more than any other career, you need to take the complicated, intense, heartfelt, chaotic and emotional, and reduce it to clarity. What do you want? Why? How are you going to get there? What are you actually asking this forum for?

I started a cool new job I am very happy about, in a different industry, to a certain extent comparable to MC but potentially even more rewarding, populated by extraordinary creatures I am already meeting and loving. I am emotional, yes, about this site I am, it’s a great thing and I spent so much time on here reading, writing and learning, I already feel a bit nostalgic. The point is that management consulting has been too often compared to the army, with rigid structures and semi-identical and interchangeable parts, the consultants. My personality isn’t like that, I wouldn’t fit in this environment and when I realised it I felt sad as I wanted to become a MC so much. I think it’s such a fascinating form of business! And, also, many consultants writing on here are not very presentable, if you read some of the comments made by, I am sure, existing consultants you see they have no much culture and … many more things I could write and if you’re a local of the site you’ll know what I mean. But that’s everywhere, in every industry, country, all-over the world, I just had too high expectations and I thought you guys were so cool and I met some cool guys too and what I learnt trying to get a job in MC is of great value anyway and I know so much more about business and things thanks to Top-Consultant. What do I want? A Top-Consultant for my new industry.Why? Because it's a great thing and I love to write here.How am I going to get there? I won't, unless Tony does something about it!What am I asking this forum for? Answers to my questions about business, business, business and politics and life and everything. Also a place where I can write and be critical (in a constructive way) and express ideas and feel the power of media and communication.Ok, I’ll leave it to you now, I promise!Bye.................................................................................................................................

I'm interested to know what this new industry is. But if it's as good as you say, your response might prompt a flood of applications from the readers of this board!- Bostal

Hey phil It seem's to me that we are in the same boat I too am a uni graduate in Marketing and have spent along time traveling building my life experience. I too lack work experience in a blue chip company but really want to get into consultanting although speaking from experience there are more knock backs than offers. You need thick skin but I would advise that you use this web-site to help get a grip on what consultanting is all about. It's safe to say there are some negative comments from negative people on this, but I have found most to be straight forward and honest which is all one can really ask for. So keep the chin up mate

WOW! get 'John McBride'!Just joined ACN as an excel monkey and now knows everything about the industry!John - bet you told ACN that you have great 'communications' skills. Bet they switched off like you did.Why not shut your trap and give somebody who wants to join the industry the same break that you got.You are too young and wet behind the ears to be this cynical effectively, so don't bother. Go back to your testing.

Laughed at the post above this one but taking away the vitriol from Mr McBride, there are some serious points. Being involved in recruitment with my own consulting firm, you'd be amazed just how many applications come in saying how people think they'd "make a great consultant" but have very little evidence to back it up. My question to the grads who've come out of university with no work experience but still managed to travel the world is if you're so full of drive and ambition, how come you've never worked a day in your lives? Surely you noticed the people at university who went off to work, some simply trying to make ends meet working in a pub, others going off to do internships in the summer. When the CVs of these people land at consultancies, they can honestly say they've got some experience and drive and regardless of what they actually did whilst working, that's at least something. What's a recruiter going to ask you, "Did you manage to get to Phuket whilst you were in Thailand?". Whether consultancy truly is all its cracked up to be, there's no shortage of applicants willing to find out and I'm afraid unless there's some substance to the message you're trying to get across, you can try all the innovative self-promotion techniques you like and it won't get you far.

fao bri500,I couldn't agree more. If grads are going to pitch travelling as a key selling point highlighting drive/ambition, why not go the whole hog and try this line in the covering letter:"I have rich parents. Mummy and Daddy funded my sloaney year off travelling the well-trodden path around south east asia. On my return they subsequently funded the deposit for my flat and bought me a Boxter. What better evidence could there be of my drive, determination and calibre?"Anybody for Pims? W$%^*&s! To the barricades!!!

I switched off after the first paragraph. GET YOUR HEAD DOWN, STOP WAFFLING AND DO SOME WORK!