If you want to get a job at BCG, you might ask yourself how does the BCG recruitment process work?
Or if you would fit with the Boston Consulting Group culture?
Creative. Team player. Impactful. Passionate.
These are the characteristics of a Boston Consulting Group consultant.
Do these characteristics describe you?
The second largest of the prestigious “MBB” (McKinsey, The BCG, or Bain & Company), Boston Consulting Group is one of the most selective of the Top 3 consulting firms, just behind McKinsey, using a rigorous and challenging hiring process.
In this article, I will remove the mystery of the BCG recruitment process, including the resume and cover letter screening, an aptitude test to screen candidates, the One Way Interview, the behavioral interview, and the case interview.
Let’s get started!
From the time you apply until the moment you accept the job offer, you will have to progress through a series of steps in the BCG recruitment process.
Most of the time, the BCG recruitment process takes between two and three months, often 14 days between steps on average.
However, the two rounds of interviews can be planned for two consecutive days.
Ultimately, the Partners and Principals are involved in compiling and reviewing scores to make an offer decision.
Let’s see which deviations from the standard BCG recruitment process, as shown in the picture above, can happen.
For instance, your interview process may vary if you apply to positions outside of the core consulting practice at BCG Digital Ventures.
In fact, BCG has three major business units outside consulting: BCG Gamma, BCG Platinon, and BCG Digital Ventures. BCG also owns three standalone strategic consultancies: Expand, INVERTO, and BrightHouse.
Each separate strategy group emphasizes different competencies, such as analytics, design thinking, early-stage ventures, and more.
For instance, your interview could include coding tests and project discussions with product engineers, portfolio reviews with other designers, or discussions about coaching and agile methodologies with our agile coaches.
It’s even possible that some interviews outside the core consulting practice do not have case study interviews.
Your resume, with a cover letter, is the first step to a very lucrative job at BCG.
Yet, less than 30% of applicants receive a call for an interview.
So, what is BCG looking for when screening your resume and cover letter?
A recent study from poetsandquants.com shows which schools are the top MBA feeders in the consulting industry.
For instance, top MBA programs with good placement in the consulting industry include MIT, London Business School, INSEAD, and Columbia Business School.
Boston Consulting Group is looking for people with certain characteristics and skills.
BCG describes ideal candidates as “passionate, open-minded individuals” with “curiosity to ask the right questions, the courage and creativity to blaze new paths, the ability to collaborate with colleagues and clients, and the leadership skills to transform your ideas into action.”
Therefore, all your resume and cover letter content should demonstrate that you have mastered these skills.
To be more precise: your resume and cover letter content must show how you used these skills and the IMPACT you had.
BCG wants to understand your motivation to join BCG : Are you genuinely interested in joining BCG over McKinsey or Bain?
Thus, your cover letter must show that you have researched the firm, talked to its consultants, and have persuasive and tailored arguments about why BCG is your first choice.
Are your cover letter and resume ready for applications?
Check these 2x articles to learn how to write winning resumes and cover letters and get lots of examples: consulting resume: 17 advanced writing tips, and how to write a persuasive and customized cover letter.
In most cases, the HR screening interview is conducted by phone and is aimed at briefly reviewing your background.
For instance, the HR screening interview can include a list of questions such as :
For this stage, you can expect a 20-minute interview.
Note : This guide will teach you how to answer those questions later.
Alternatively, to a phone screen, you may be asked to complete the One Way Interview (or One Way Video Interview).
The BCG one-way interview is a series of 3 interview questions asked (similar to the questions above) and answered via the video interview website Spark Hire.
Hence, you won’t be speaking with a live interviewer.
Instead, you’ll receive the interview questions when you log onto the site from your laptop.
Spark Hire will record a video of your answers for a BCG recruiter to review at a later time.
To conclude: you won’t have a case interview at this stage.
