Say MBB people and me (with B4 experiences) are eyeing on the same corporate strategy position, do I basically lose every time?

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What a stupid premise.

If you get the interview, you have a shot. Firms don’t interview for fun. Do better on the interview and they’ll pick you. Go in with the inferiority complex and you’ll lose.

MBB is great, but it’s not THAT great. It’s not a superpower. You have a real shot. But you have to believe in yourself.

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Exactly, it’s like having an Ivy League degree on your resume. It’ll make you more likely to get an interview, but the playing field is pretty level once you’re in the room.

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It depends. I did have a couple HR screens for roles that went well and then got feedback that I wouldn’t be moving forward because the hiring manager was looking for candidates “from different firms” or explicitly MBB. Could be this was just an excuse and HR lied to me about how well our initial discussion went (in both cases they said “I was really advocating for you but...”). In both cases the hiring managers themselves came from McK so to a certain extent I understand their preference (they want someone with a similar mindset, culture, etc.). But I also think I dodged a bullet- I’d rather not work for leaders who have such narrow views on talent. If you are able to get to the interview stage with the hiring manager, I would say you should give it your best effort and assume you have an equal shot.

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I feel once you are in the door and perform better in the interview process you could have the upper hand. I would rather hire someone who I felt was a better fit for the role based on interview as opposed to hiring only for credentials

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Stop making excuses. Improvise, adapt, overcome. Nail that interview

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He who dares, wins.

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Resume doesn’t matter once you get an interview. At that points it’s how you do on those actual interviews that will make or break you

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It’s a tight labor market, now is the time to strike. I joined a corporate strategy group where literally the whole team is MBB except for me - I was deloitte. They hired me.

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I didn’t have inferiority complex at all but how do you “do better in interviews” when you both demonstrated you have relevant experiences and solved the cases, then wouldn’t it just come down to the fact that someone has better credentials when you get introduced to work on a project in the company

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Consider this:
They also need you. Don't try to be like someone else on paper.
But you have to be you, always, or else you will be stuck in an unhappy place working with a team you can't connect with.

Try to do some research on the team you are being hired for. Who was there before and why they left? Connect with current people on other channels. Ask the right questions ( these should be coming from you... if you are googling what questions to ask... you are already failing)

^

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Assuming you have the same work experience type and length, same answers in interview, same personality/fit in the team, same expectation on comp, and same education, then yeah they are probably going with MBB, but I doubt it’s getting to that point.

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Consider saying that you’ve looked at the bios of the team and it seems like a lot of folks come from a strategy consulting background; you think you can be additive in this environment having supported clients to actually do stuff. Don’t underappreciate the learnings that come from sticking around after the shiny ppt to actually try and drive change

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Industry experience helps a lot

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Like if all your projects were focused on that sector

I think you know this isn’t true unless all the boxes P1 mentioned are checked off... the chance of your interviewer being an alum from your college or EY is probably higher

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What about industry experience /passion/ focus? Also humility and ability to connect across the organization?

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A lot of companies have that kind of rubric baked into the interview process.

I already failed that on site interview but is planning for the future lol This is specific corporate strategy, so B4 experiences as you know are more operational when MBB prob more strategy. The industry experience point is a good idea. Also wondering if analytic skills should be highlighted, I am from more analytical background vs some MBB with history/English major?

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You would think being in the room gives you a fair chance....but when it comes to being different than the norm or than the rest of the interviewees, maybe not
https://hbr.org/2016/04/if-theres-only-one-woman-in-your-candidate-pool-theres-statistically-no-chance-shell-be-hired

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These type of studies are complete and utter garbage. Undergraduate students - who are still kids and have no work experience - are not representative at all of senior leaders who make hiring decisions.

It may be true similar trends are found in hiring, but this certainly does not provide it, and it’s appalling HBR posts such shitty experiments.

In b school I had interned with a t3 firm and beat out 3 other folks in full time recruiting for a pretty prestigious FS strategy role. They all had better consulting experience including MBB and went to HBS, Wharton, MIT. I went to an M7 but not HSW.

You can differentiate on your knowledge of the industry. I had an FS background and could clearly articulate specific trends in the market and how they likely impacted the business. Things like active vs passive portfolio management and how this particular firm was likely thinking about the problem. If you go in an case generically you will likely lose, but if you can show you know your shit, it’s a big value add.

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Name brand matters to get in the door. Once there, interview performance and FIT matter much much more. If any team chooses someone based on a name on a resume instead of what they hear and see in an interview, then you don’t want to be on that team anyways

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Assuming we generally perform the same in interviews. Is there anything at all I could address to make people pick me vs the MBBer?

Looking for advices as I do think there’s something I should highlight in the interviews, but not sure what specifically they are

Yeah I have. I generally have no problem getting offers from other consulting firms, also was having great conversations with the interviewers for this positions, but will practice more next time:)

Emphasize your specific industry experience and hands on work “in the trenches.” MBB (especially at lower levels) tend to be more generalist.

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