What Consulting Firms Look for in Potential Employees

What do consulting firms look for in potential employees?

1. Leadership skills
2. Drive for success
3. Teamwork and collaboration
4. Enthusiasm for the firm

Consulting firms in the Philippines today are pretty clear about the traits they like to see from their applicants, even if some people believe that there is no actual written list about it. Consulting firms, especially those that are considered to be the most formulaic, clearly state on their websites the skillsets they look for. Because many of these firms compete for the same clients, it is not surprising that they look for the same kind of people to hire.

The market for recruiting graduates today is more competitive than ever. Because of this, employers are beginning to look for very specific attributes and skills from their applicants that align with their firms. Here are a few of the things consulting firms look for in potential employees.

Leadership Skills

Consulting firms want to see that you have led important initiatives successfully. The reason is that once these firms hire you, you are going to find yourself leading meetings, analysis, work streams, teams, and so on as soon as possible.

Firms look for people who have already put themselves in scenarios similar to those that they are about to encounter because it is the best way to find people who will succeed in a high-pressure environment and leadership roles.

Most consulting firms love to see candidates who have already demonstrated leadership experience. Those in the industry give much more credit to the people who are President or Head of something over those who had just supporting roles such as Vice President. They put a focus on candidates having a few quality leadership positions, not the quantity of the roles they held.

Drive for Success

The life of an employee of a consulting firm in the Philippines is not easy. Clients are coming to you and your team with difficult problems that they themselves could not solve. Because these clients are paying you top dollar, when they ask a question, they expect a recommendation in a matter of weeks.

As a result, aspiring consultants are expected to meet tight deadlines, provide a solution to unforeseen problems, and many other difficult issues with assurance. In other words, firms would like to see a strong drive from their candidates, especially in their past educational, extracurricular, and professional experiences.

Consulting firms in the Philippines want to see what walls you have broken through and barriers you have overcome in order to get the job done. If you show your interviewer that you have the drive to succeed, there will be no doubt in their mind that no matter how significant the barriers you face in your consulting career, you will be likely to break them down.

Teamwork and Collaboration

Another one of the key strengths consulting firms look for in their applicants is the ability to work well with a team. The amount of time you will be spending working with your team is important, especially since in many cases your team is going to be small.

Consulting is a team sport. Streams of work ultimately need to fit together and collaborate. Analysis from many different consultants from separate teams all works together to form an overall presentation.

It is not uncommon for there to be a “team room” on the sites of clients that everyone camps out in and out for the day with people only breaking off for phone calls or meetings occasionally. To put it simply, consulting is not for lone wolfs. Consulting firms want to know that you can demonstrate the ability to achieve something together with a team. Even if you are brilliant, if you can’t get along with people, recruiters are going to see it as a red flag.

Enthusiasm for the Firm

Lastly, consulting firms are looking for people who really, really want to be part of their team! At its core, the consulting firm is simply trying to know that if they make you an offer, you will likely accept. The firms care about the percentage of offers that are accepted over the number of offers given out, just like top universities.

Consulting firms always ask themselves if the candidate is likely to accept an offer with them. Avoid talking about your other options when interviewing for a consulting firm because they will not think that you are truly interested in consulting and end up passing on you.

It is easy for the recruiters of consulting firms to gauge the interest of an applicant, so show you are enthusiastic about consulting and the company you want to work for. You are going to have to impress your interviewer across different angles because there is a high level of talent applying to the top consulting firms.

Make sure that you find a way to genuinely and sincerely display your interest in working as a consultant for that firm.

Key Takeaway

Having a solid understanding and knowledge of your future job as a consultant can be great, but having some, if not all of these qualities, will make you that much more attractive to consulting firms.

Find the right way to demonstrate these qualities when you are being interviewed and show your recruiter that you are going to be perfect for the job.