A career in consulting with less than 22 UCAS points?

Having graduated last year and currently living in the South East. I am looking to start my career in Management Consulting, and trying to get a foot in the door. It is not for the lack of trying that I have so far been unsuccessful in my endeavors to do so. I wonder whether it is due to my lack of UCAS points at A-level that I have been turned away, in spite of relevant work experience in a small niche consultancy and an upper 2nd class degree. I know that the job market is sluggish at the moment but there must still be jobs available for people with the right attitude and aptitude. If anyone has any advice on this I would be most grateful to hear from you.

Simon Richardson.

I am currently working as a management consultant for one of the biggies, I came straight from university and I only have 18 UCAS points. I also did a postgrad though.

I have to say the market is incredibly sluggish at the moment. Our company took 150ish people on last year and this year is only taking on 24 and they upped the UCAS points for entry to 26 points.

You just have to be incredibly enthusiastic and read as much as you can and learn as much as you can about the company and the industry. Really, know it inside out before your interview. For me it seemed it was my personality and determination that got me this job, not my UCAS points.

Thanks for the good advice. There is no substitute for a bit of hard work and preparation!

Have to be very careful here. I have 4 (that's right kids 4) UCAS points and work for a medium sized management consultancy firm. From my experience UCAS points are required by the big five as a sort of vetting process. Have gone up against those who have had 30-40 UCAS points (and interviewed some for positions with my firm) and frankly have been disappointed. These people seem to think that points and qualifications means automatic sellability. I'm much more interested in personality, agility, innovation and the presence of a basic consulting skill set. People can learn languages after uni, can redo a-levels but if you have poor inter-personal skills it will take a miracle (I suspect) for firms to take you on.

or nepotism

A quick point on the academic thing, not to digress from the point of the thread too much.

I am by no means an exceptional candidate in academic terms (though do make the minimum) on paper but was able to sell myself well enough in the interview to get a role in Acn.

Confidence is half the battle, half of consulting is about being a good blagger or rather having good people skills.

I got CDD at A level and still got invited to a final round interviews at two small consultancies. Obviously if you apply to a massive company who get thousands of applications they have to filter using something, and as many applicants haven’t graduated yet, A levels are the simplest way.

Therefore I only applied to a few small consultancies and put on my CV that my grades were down to personal circumstances – my parents going through their divorce; which was true, although I don’t really believe it affected my studies, I was just lazy.

I got the offer (mainly down to reading The Economist I think) and now I’m happily employed. If you know what you’re applying for, because lots of people don’t, and if you know your subject area well enough, I see no reason why you won’t be able to get a job.

If I had to give one tip from my vast experience, it would be to speak to someone who already does the job. Then there is no way you can shoot yourself in the foot by not knowing the job/firm well enough. And you’ll be able to find out about the culture of that specific office, which is hard to do over the net.

Would definately agree with the above point. I had a friend coach me through my interviews and it was absolutely invaluable.

Get networking!