Best Practice For Management Consulting Cover Letters

When applying for management consulting positions at industry giants such as McKinsey, BCG, Bain and Booz, cover letter is the first step to anchor. A good cover letter should be concise, impressive and informative so that it can help you move on to next levels. This article will show you how to structure a great management consulting cover letter.

As a first time applicant, you are like a clean white paper to employers. Think about how you can make the reviewer become interested in you within a minute of reading your cover letter. In this regard, the purpose of a cover letter is not to ace the position right away, but to arouse their interest for you and save you from the "Unqualified" category.

For a cover letter, 3 elements matter the most: format, content and language. You need to nail all three, to leave the right impression. Even if you have a nice looking cover letter, great qualifications, and great content, your cover letter will not leave the right impression if something is wrong with the language. That is just one example.

Firstly, you need to focus on the layout of the cover letter. Generally speaking, the whole writing piece could be divided into following blocks:

1) Application information and applicant information
2) Introduction section
3) Content section
4) Closing section

Cover letter format needs to be clear-cut and well-structured. It is highly recommended that you use a font sizing 10-12. One should also bear in mind that cover letter format should be rather conservative. Play too much with aesthetics and you might look unprofessional. So just keep it simple and conform to the custom.

As illustrated above, the number of body paragraphs are not strictly limited to 4, however, more than 5 paragraphs is inappropriate because. The more you write, the more likely you will commit fallacies or mistakes. Also, the more a reviewer reads, the more likely he/she will grow impatient. You need to meet the requirements and avoid the risk of making the reviewer raise too many questions.

Starting from the top, your consulting cover letter should be addressing to the right person in the right office. If you have a wrong delivery at the very beginning, there will be no slice of chance at all no matter how well you perform in next parts. A name of a person is very important, as it leaves a more personal impression.

Every section should address no more than two points, so you need to be very concise. The introduction section is very important. Get straight to the point of why you are applying, and also mention some names of people within the consulting firm who you know and who have recommended you. The first paragraph is meant to be clear cut with stated goals. Never try to beat around the bush or use too much euphemism. These will have a counter effect.

In second paragraph, elaborate on your skills and capabilities in various fields such as analytic skills, communication skills and leadership. These are important for management consulting firms, such as McKinsey, BCG, Bain and Booz. The important thing is to not just tell what you've done, but also how well you've performed these duties. To impress the reviewer, you need highlights on outstanding traits you have.

It is also recommended that you give a brief account of academic background and certificate you have, which will add another strong point for the cover letter.

A common practice for the closing part is to first re-highlight your strong points and then express that you will appreciate if you have a chance to discuss the opportunities further. The last part should be short, but courteous.