Consulting CV example for management consultants

What a consulting recruiter reads for

Consultancies hire people to solve problems for clients they have not met yet, so the CV screen is a proxy for three questions. Can this person break a messy problem into parts and work through it? Did their work change anything that a client would pay for? And have they been trusted with more each year? A CV that answers all three in the top half of the first page is in a strong position before anyone reads the education section.

Length matters more here than in most fields. Many strategy firms prefer a single page, and even for experienced consultants two pages is the ceiling. That forces choices, which is part of the test: the reader is watching how well you prioritise.

Write each engagement as situation, action, result

Under each employer, group bullets by engagement rather than listing tasks. Start with a short line that sets the scene (sector, size, the problem), then two or three bullets on what you did and what came of it. The result should be something the client measured or decided: a cost taken out, a service redesigned, a business case approved, a programme started.

Be precise about your role. "Led the modelling workstream" and "built the model" are different claims, and interviewers probe them. If a figure came from the client's business case rather than your own analysis, say "estimated" or "forecast" and be ready to explain it.

Keeping clients confidential

Consulting contracts usually restrict what you can say about clients, and recruiters expect you to respect that. Describe clients by sector, size and type: "a FTSE 250 retailer", "a large NHS trust", "a central government department", "a regional housing association". Round figures, and avoid details that would identify the client when combined, such as a named product launch in a particular month. If an engagement was public, for example a published report, you can name it, but check first.

Getting this right is itself evidence. A CV that names every client and quotes internal figures tells a partner you might do the same with theirs.

Show progression, not just a job title

Titles vary between consultancies, and a "consultant" at one firm may be a "senior associate" at another. The reader judges your level by the scope of your work. For each role, make the step up visible: from analysis to owning a workstream, from supporting client meetings to running them, from being staffed on proposals to writing them. If you were promoted early or chosen for a demanding engagement, give it a line.

• Analyst level: data gathering, modelling, slide production, interview notes.
• Consultant level: owning a workstream, presenting to client managers, shaping the storyline.
• Senior consultant level: running day-to-day client relationships, managing analysts, contributing to proposals and sales.

Operations to strategy: repositioning your experience

If you are moving from an operations or implementation consultancy to a strategy firm, the CV has to do some translation. Strategy readers want to see the question behind the work: why the client needed a new operating model, what options you assessed and how the choice was made. Lead each engagement with the decision the client faced, and move implementation detail lower down. If you built a business case, market sizing or options appraisal, put it first even if it was a small part of the job.

Moving into consulting from industry

The National Careers Service lists direct entry with experience in business management, finance, HR, project management or IT as one route in, and notes that an MBA may help. From industry, the task is to present internal work as if it were an engagement. Name the internal client (the operations director, the finance team), the problem, your analysis and the decision. Cross-functional projects, turnaround work, process redesign and business cases are the closest match, so give them the most space.

Specialist experience is often why you are being hired. A procurement manager joining a public sector consultancy, or a data lead joining a digital practice, should make that expertise the headline of the summary rather than hiding it to look like a generalist.

Graduate consulting CVs

Graduate applications are compared on a small amount of evidence, so every line matters. Give your degree, university, expected or final classification and A level grades. Then show analysis and leadership with outcomes: a society you ran and what changed, a consulting club project for a charity, a case competition result, an internship with one clear piece of analysis. The National Careers Service also lists a Junior Management Consultant Level 4 apprenticeship and a Chartered Manager Level 6 degree apprenticeship as routes in, which belong on the CV in full if you took one.

Many firms use case interviews after the CV screen. Your CV will not be tested in the case itself, but the interviewer will usually ask about one or two lines on it. Choose bullets you can talk about for five minutes.

Professional bodies and qualifications

Consulting has no compulsory licence, but professional recognition exists. The National Careers Service points to the Institute of Consulting and to Chartered Management Consultant status through the Chartered Management Institute. If you hold either, list it with the year. Methods and tools qualifications, such as Lean or Six Sigma belts, PRINCE2 or financial modelling courses, are worth including when the advert or the practice you are joining uses them.

Mistakes that sink consulting CVs

• Naming clients or quoting their internal figures.
• Bullets that describe the engagement but not your part in it.
• Savings figures with no sign of where they came from.
• Three pages of detail, which reads as poor prioritisation.
• Consulting jargon in place of results: "drove alignment" and "delivered value" say nothing.
• Hiding a specialism that is the reason a firm would hire you.

Management consultant pay

The National Careers Service gives an average of £27,000 a year for a starter management consultant and £60,000 for an experienced one. Pay varies widely between firm types and locations.