Student clubs and organizations play a critical role in MBA programs, especially when it comes to the careers and recruiting process. To illustrate just how this all comes together, we had the chance to speak to Chris Andrews (Foster, ‘21) and Devin Doyle (Foster, ‘21) two members of the Executive Board of the Foster Consulting Society. During our interview, Chris and Devin spoke in detail about the specific role that the FCS plays in helping students navigate the recruiting process, as well as their advice.
MBASchooled: What is the role of the Foster Consulting Society?
Devin: The goal of the Foster Consulting Society (FCS) is similar to that of any other MBA consulting club, mainly to expose our MBA students to the consulting industry and provide them with opportunities for internships and full-time positions. As consultants are wont to do, we break down our club’s value proposition into three buckets:
1) To educate students on the industry
2) To prepare them for case interviews
3) To enable networking opportunities with firms
We’re run by a Board of nine second-years, each with responsibilities ranging from firm communication to operations to case preparation. We also have a team of trained second-year recruiting coaches who help first-years prepare for their case interviews, which is by far the most rigorous aspect of the recruiting process.
The dynamic of the club is twofold: first, it’s largely second-years–many of whom have interned at a consulting firm or have gone through the application process–helping first-years get ready to recruit, and second, it’s FCS and the Career Management (CM) office providing opportunities for first-years to learn from firms directly through case workshops, info sessions, and networking events.
Chris: I think that Devin stated the value propositions of the club perfectly. Something else that our club is focused on is strengthening or establishing relationships with firms. Seattle isn’t a large market, but the city’s recent growth has led many firms to expand their local offices and reallocate recruiting resources.
Bain, for example, opened its local office only three years ago, but now has over 100 consultants here. Although Foster’s Career Management office does an exceptional job managing the school’s relationship with firms, our club can certainly support this effort. Our goal is to ensure that firms new to Seattle view Foster as a reliable source for consulting talent.
Devin: I think the last piece is our alumni board with consultants from firms like McKinsey, Deloitte, Accenture, and PwC. The FCS Board collates their feedback on year-to-year hiring trends, coordinates coffee chats between them and first-years, and organizes a networking dinner in their honor each Winter. We have similarly extensive efforts behind-the-scenes for case interview preparation as well.
MBASchooled: What are the main focus areas for FCS for this year?
Chris: This year we’ll need to be especially focused on enabling students to network. Case interview practice has translated online well, however there isn’t a perfect replacement for happy hours or coffee chats, which are an essential part of the recruiting process. Our club is also focused on preserving relationships with firms.
We need to ensure that we can continue to build demand for consultants from Foster, so that we’re prepared for a return to normalcy. We can’t allow this disruption to undo all of the headway that the club’s previous leaders had made.
Devin: Another thing we’re trying to do is strengthen the credibility of our school’s student profile in the eyes of the firms. We hope students who are interested in consulting will work with FCS to improve their case interviewing skills, but for those who don’t, Foster runs the risk of sending unprepared students into high-stakes interviews with firms, which over time, can damage the reputation of a school. It’s a tricky problem to work through: how might we create a prepared core of candidates while still being inclusive of students at all stages of their consulting journey?
MBASchooled: You mentioned that you work closely with the Career Management office. In what ways do you work with them? How about firms and companies?
Devin: One thing every consulting club needs to figure out is how corporate relations are divided between the club and the Career Management (CM) office. Oftentimes in an MBA program, the CM office coordinates info sessions, workshops, and on-campus interviews. Sometimes however the CM office’s bandwidth is stretched too thin across industries or maybe an individual student has a special connection with a consulting firm, so FCS will work alongside the CM office to coordinate events. The right balance of responsibility will differ from school to school, but it’s important to remember that high turnover exists among MBA students and firm recruiters whereas the CM office staff is perennial, so FCS should largely serve an ancillary function.
FCS also garners feedback on how students from past years have performed during the case interviews. We incorporate this feedback into the way we evaluate first-years during their case preparation. FCS second-years who have been through the mill with interviews are the most effective stewards of feedback for first-years.
MBASchooled: How did FCS help you as a first year navigating the management consulting recruiting process?
Devin: I would not have gotten an internship and full-time offer had it not been for the Foster Consulting Society. I’d argue the most important part of landing an internship is acing the case, and there’s no better resource to prepare for that than working with second-years. Our Career Management (CM) office does a fantastic job of providing workshops with all the case gurus (Cosentino, Ohrvall, Le Roux), but you cut your teeth through practice, practice, practice, and the second-years worked with me several times a week leading up to the interviews to get me in shape. I am eternally grateful to Ruchi Singh, Nathan Haley, Morgan Friedman and others who were always there to give me a case.
Another benefit of the FCS is that it’s able to bring all the case interview resources into perspective. All these coaches have different approaches and styles towards case prep, so it was helpful to rely on second-years to draw connections between my learning preferences and the resources available.
MBASchooled: What should prospective MBA students who are interested in a career in consulting evaluate when looking at MBA Programs
Devin: First thing I would do is to consider the region of your prospective school and determine whether this region hosts the industries you see yourself consulting in. I Iove working on problems in the tech industry, so it was a no-brainer to go to a West Coast school. This is not a requirement per se as a lot of the big firms are agnostic to location during the recruiting process, but I will say my recruiting was likely more successful because I was networking directly with consultants working in industries I was passionate about and networking in offices I could see myself working in.
Devin: Also LinkedIn is your best friend here. If a college you’re looking at has very few consultants in a firm (or firm unit) you absolutely want to recruit for, then it might not be the best fit. You can of course reach out to CM offices and ask about which firms recruit on campus, but that answer changes from year to year; LinkedIn provides the most objective data on what a school’s alumni are doing. Be very specific too in this search. MBA recruiting teams at big firms don’t necessarily have a pipeline into the consulting unit you might be interested in. For example, Deloitte’s Human Capital unit hasn’t recruited at Foster, but their S&O has a substantial recruiting relationship with Foster. If you’re looking to start your consulting career with an HR focus, it’s important to know that at Foster you would need to do a little more independent legwork to get the opportunity you’re looking for.
Chris: I like Devin’s recommendations and would like to reemphasize talking to members of the career management team before applying. The academic and professional development focuses of the MBA program are quite separate and oftentimes can even seem at odds with one another.
Understanding what role the Career Management office will play in your MBA experience and what resources they’ll provide is extremely important to successfully recruiting at consulting firms. Also, I would encourage prospective MBA students to reach out to current students! Our club has a public page that lists our board members and their contact information. I always appreciate the opportunity to speak with prospective students and try to be as transparent as possible whenever I do.