The Summer Before I Hit The Ruthless Job Market

Here I was in my early twenties, no connections, no frat brothers, no friends in the business world (consulting, or I-banking), and I wanted to get into the business world. I didn't take any finance or business classes in college so I knew I had to educate myself over the summer so I could at least interview with the smart kids who majored in finance and business.

The spring before the summer of 2006, I attended a Bain Internship Information session on my college campus, and I heard that to get a job in high level consulting you needed to" crack a case" flawlessly. I didn't know what a case was, and I certainly didn't know how to solve a business problem in a structured format, so I had to teach myself. I was also frightened with the number of people in these sessions. There were more than 100 people vying for only 2-3 spots so I knew I had to prepare hard.

That summer I did as much reading as I could. I felt I needed to understand more accounting and finance concepts so I picked up the Vault guides in finance and case interviews, and I crammed and memorized them all summer long. I studied all the valuation techniques, financial statements, and how to solve business problems. I learned how to look at businesses from a cost and revenue basis, and how to affect the gross margins in business. I thought I knew it all, and I was waiting for the fall so I could nail all the cases.

My girlfriend, wasn't too excited because I spent most of my weekends studying and studying, instead of spending more time with her.

I was also very scared going into the whole thing so I prayed everyday, that God would enable me get into the firm of my choice - Which was Bain.

After the Bain Info Session in the Spring I was convinced that strategy consulting was best for me. It looked so exciting, so glamorous and it looked like the perfect job. So I made management consulting my desired profession, and I decided to pursue them that Fall.