Le Roux - 3 Month Mastery: Keys to Becoming a Top Rated Management Consultant

Copyright 2013 Jungle Guides, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

No part of this book or its contents may be reproduced, modified, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher (Jungle Guides, Inc.).

For years, weve offered aspiring consultants world-class resume/cover letter editing and interview prep servicesplus comprehensive products such as our Consulting Interview Bible, Case Bank, Networking Toolkit, and Consulting Resume and Cover Letter Bible.

We solved a problem (lack of good resources and assistance), but created another onewe have now built an unprecedented community of future consultants, completely unarmed for the task before them.

Youve been through the interview process and you got the offer. Now what? The work starts here. Now, for the first time, we offer action steps and insider secrets on mastering your new role as a consultantwith a key focus on the first 3 months, the critical proving period that will dictate the likely path for the rest of your career as a consultant.

• • Interns
  • Full-time hire pre-MBA
  • Full-time hire post-MBA
  • Experienced hire transitioning to a new firm
• • Firm selection
  • Office selection
  • Sell weekend
  • Preparation
  • Orientation
  • Commitment cycles
• • Maximize face-time
  • Dress nicely
  • Come prepared
  • Be rested
  • Be alert
  • Listen and smile
  • Stand out
  • Dont overdo it
  • Day-before-orientation checklist
• • Prep Step 1: Microsoft Excel
    • Key functionality
    • Versioning
    • Key skills
    • Online tutorials
  • Prep Step 2: Microsoft Access
    • Online tutorials
  • Prep Step 3: Microsoft PowerPoint
    • 8 examples of firm presentations
    • Style
    • Headers
    • Flow
    • Structure
    • Footnotes
    • Graph styles
    • Key skills
    • What you will NOT have to know in PowerPoint
    • Online tutorials
  • Prep Step 4: Customer information
    • Surveys
    • Focus groups
    • Online resources
  • Prep Step 5: Accounting
    • Docs to be familiar with and where to find them
    • Online resources
    • Quizzes and terms
    • Books on Amazon
  • Prep Step 6: Market research
    • Key skills
    • Core client types
  • 6 Prep Steps wrap up & action items
    • Excel - Action items
    • Access - Action item
    • PowerPoint - Action items
    • Customer information - Action items
    • Accounting - Action items
    • Market research - Action items
• • Not taking yourself, and the job, seriously enough
    • 5 tips for being serious
  • Asking too many questions
  • Being silent
  • Assuming youve already proven yourself
  • Working with staff that are too senior
  • Not introducing yourself to support staff
  • Missing face-time opportunities
  • Working from remote locations
  • Not being a pro-active communicator
  • Not pre-planning for meetings
  • Not clarifying expectations
• • Firm-specific books
    • McKinsey
    • Bain
    • BCG
  • Best-selling authors
    • Michael Porter
    • Jim Collins
  • More strategy books
  • Subscriptions
  • Company propaganda
  • Company blogs
  • Credit cards
  • Loyalty programs
  • Airlines
  • Hotels
  • Rental cars
  • Bank accounts
  • Health insurance
  • Plan for retirement
  • The move! Getting set and getting settled
  • Housing
  • Utilities
  • Car
  • Public transportation and parking
  • Dry run
  • Change of address
  • Last Will and Testament
• • When are suits required?
  • Training and travel
  • What about casual Fridays?
  • Your first day
  • Men
  • Women
  • Body art
  • A top performers wardrobe
  • 4 traits of the best consulting attire
• • Professional networks
  • What you can and cant say
• • Networking with more senior members of staff
  • Transfers and grad school sponsorship
  • Conclusion
• • Resume/Cover Letter Editing
  • Coaching/Interview Prep
  • Packages
  • Job Hub
  • Keep in touch

This is the most practical book you can read on getting ready for your career as a management consultant. Why? Because its based on real MBB experience. It will make the difference between your ability to guide your career where you want it to go, or your decision to go along with the rest of the herd.

When I started at Bain, I was an experienced hireId been out of school for about two and a half years, but to say that I was truly an experienced professional in Bain terms would be a stretch of the imagination because for a year of that I had been backpacking and volunteering around the world.

After a brief stint in a PR firm, where I worked on campaigns for US Airways and the US Olympic Committee, I had set out to travel the world for a year with my best friend. I shaved my head and lived off of cucumbers and peanut butter (super tasty, by the way, especially in the Nicaraguan jungle or on a Thai beach). It was a tremendous adventure, and in retrospect, I did some short projects that taught me about businesswhile in school, my major in Economics had been ethereal, but around the world I was seeing business practices in implemented formnot as beautiful or theoretical, but full of innovation and relationship and power.

After my year of travel, I moved to South Africa (one of my favorite destinations up to that point) on a one-way ticket and set up my own consulting practice. I worked to connect entrepreneurs living in the shack villages with social entrepreneurship programs. I was finding business projects that were happening in the impoverished areas in South Africa and connecting major corporations to them. It was really dynamic and more exciting than anything I had ever done. Looking back now, I cannot believe the confidence I had to take on what I did! I mean, I led a couple of major country-wide projects connecting entrepreneurs to a joint mentoring program funded by the Swiss and South African governments and ran national conventions I was completely fearless!

So when I decided to pursue consulting and accepted an offer from Bain, my friends and family were hardly surprised. Bain wasnt my only choiceI had also applied to McKinsey and BCG as well as other major companies like US Airwaysbut Bain was where I felt the strongest fit. Looking back now, I think I did what was an on-par job of setting myself up for success. Think about my qualificationsI had learned a lot of interpersonal skills as a volunteer overseas, and had fostered an entrepreneurial passion and a love for risk in South Africa, but most of the work I did was structured by me and for me in a very footloose and fancy-free time. For example, I had never worn anything business formal to work. And now, Bain was on my horizonand I needed more than just a new wardrobe. I needed a new mindset.