How to Write a Consulting Cover Letter| Samples & Template

Most job seekers will tell you that a CV is more crucial than a cover letter. The cover letter is just as crucial to the application process as your resume, which gives a more thorough overview of your training, abilities, and experiences.

When applying for a job in management consulting, your cover letter might be essential. The cover letter plays a crucial chronological function during the application process because they always read it before the CV.

Typically, consulting firms will read your cover letter to swiftly ascertain what sets you apart from the thousands of other candidates. Writing an interesting and distinctive cover letter will help you stand out from the competitors and ensure your accomplishments are recognized.

By writing a powerful cover letter, you have a great chance of convincing the company why you are the best candidate for the position and why they should hire you over other applicants.

In this article, we have compiled some helpful tips on how to write a consulting cover letter.

What are the Tips on How to Write a consulting cover letter?

Tip 1 — Know What Consulting Firms Are Looking For

Hundreds of thousands of applications are submitted to the best consulting firms each year. For instance, McKinsey receives over 200,000 applications yearly, but just 2,000 result in job offers. The difficult process of selecting only the top candidates from a large candidate pool falls on consulting firms.

It costs money to interview potential employees. The company wants to make sure that every applicant they interview is qualified for the job, is ready to pursue a career in management consulting, and is a good fit for the business.

As a result, prominent consulting firms scrutinize cover letters for four key components.

• Evidence of why you’re the right person for the position
• An explanation of why you wish to enter the consulting field
• Reasons why you’re a good fit for their particular firm
• Your ability to write in a clear, concise, and compelling manner

Screeners frequently inquire after reviewing cover letters, “Did the applicant spend enough time creating a strong letter? Have they done their research on the company and the job in question? Do they have the writing abilities to create engaging emails, reports, and presentations?

A cover letter might be a difficult document to write. After working on your resume for hours, you could be exhausted when you learn that your cover letter requires just as much (if not more) time.

Consider your consulting cover letter a wonderful opportunity to highlight your talents and expertise and differentiate yourself from other applicants rather than a tedious extra step.

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Tip 2 — Make Sure the Letter Has These Five Distinct Sections

Although there is no set formula for a cover letter, there are five key areas that must be addressed. As follows:

Introduce yourself

You must include your name, address, contact information, and the position you’re looking for in the introduction. Additionally, it should be interesting, concise, and brief. It should be written so the screener can continue reading into the second paragraph.

What Makes You a Strong Candidate

This is the part where you should promote yourself. Each line should highlight your qualifications, training, and experiences while linking them to why you’d make a strong candidate. This part should  highlight your top three professional accomplishments (related to consulting).

The Benefits of Consulting for You

Remember that most consulting organizations are primarily interested in determining whether you would make a fantastic consultant if recruited.

Even with distinctive and memorable qualifications, a recruiter could not be persuaded that you’ll make an excellent management consultant with these abilities. Make sure to include a part in which you explain why you are the ideal candidate for the position.

You can connect your career aspirations to the role in question by drawing on prior experiences (such as internships, employment, or academic coursework).

Why Are You Applying for the Job?

The next paragraph should explain why you decided to apply for this specific position with this company. When making your case, give specific justifications for choosing McKinsey over Bain, BCG, Deloitte, or any other firm.

Identify specific individuals, reports, or projects that provide credence to your tale in order to construct a compelling argument. Feel free to point out specific workers or initiatives that drew your attention and piqued your interest.

A Reliable Conclusion

Reiterate in the letter’s conclusion why you think you’re a strong candidate and how you can benefit the business.

Tip 3 — Link Your Cover Letter to Your Resume

Essentially, a consulting cover letter allows you to elaborate on what you said in your resume. Why does this matter? In other words, your cover letter should showcase the distinctive accomplishments, abilities, and experiences (related to the post) that set you apart from other applicants.

Your resume and cover letter should boost your application and highlight your unique selling points.

Decide first what information you want the consulting company to have about you. Bring attention to your professional accomplishments. You may have found a firm you later sold for a sizable profit or you may have spent some time working abroad and have a wide range of talents.

To catch resume screener’s attention, emphasize distinctive experiences in the initial few paragraphs of your cover letter.

Many people who screen resumes need to read them cover to cover truly. They merely scan it to find precise details that set you apart. Resume screeners can easily miss your exceptional accomplishments because they review hundreds of resumes at once.

You have the chance to stop this by using the cover letter. You effectively catch screeners’ attention when you include specifics regarding accomplishments in your cover letter (and so increase your chances of getting an interview).

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Tip 4 — Don’t Forget About Your Resume

You need a great consulting CV to support your claims, even after mentioning your unique skills in your cover letter. A consulting resume must highlight various abilities that will help you succeed as a consultant, making it different from conventional template resumes.

These websites help you create a solid consulting CV. It will take as much care to craft a solid cover letter as it takes to write a strong consulting resume. In short, building a consulting resume requires you to consider your prior experiences, pick the ones that are most applicable to consulting, and condense them so those resume screeners can quickly review and understand them.

Top consulting businesses often check your resume for the following things:

• prestigious brands (employers and institutions)
• excellent academic standing (high GPA)
• Strong analytical abilities (as evidenced by excellent test results)
• strong communication and leadership abilities
• Achievements versus career years (screeners expect to see more achievements the longer your career is)

Tip 5 — Avoid Using a Standard Template for Your Cover Letter

It goes without saying that creating a compelling cover letter can be difficult. It necessitates extensive thought and time. The essay must be revised and edited several times before being turned in. But for your letter to stand out from other applicants, it must be intriguing, original, and personal.

The worst error you can make is to copy and paste your name and skill set into a generic cover letter template. Screeners despise conventional form letters because they are tedious to read and demonstrate your unwillingness to invest the time and effort necessary to create something original.

Recruiters can quickly spot when a cover letter is produced from a template because they read thousands daily.

Make sure every sentence in your consulting cover letter is original. While numerous templates may influence you, each word should have a personal touch highlighting your skills. For instance, instead of beginning with the standard structure:

“Dear Sir or Lady, I’m writing to request a consultant position….”

Focusing on your unique qualities at the outset can make the situation more fascinating. Here’s an illustration:

“After completing both my undergraduate and MBA degrees at Harvard, I am confident in my ability to succeed in the role of [insert job title here] at McKinsey.”

Another illustration:

“My overseas Peace Corps volunteer experiences have equipped me to be successful in [insert job position here] at BCG,” you say.

Every sentence in your cover letter should be important. They should give all of your abilities and experiences a personal touch in relation to the duties of the available position.

Tip 6 — Highlight Your Skills and Experiences via Evidence-Based Storytelling

The objective of your cover letter should be to share your narrative. Instead of just listing your qualifications, show how your life experiences have made you the ideal person for the job. Instead of telling them you have what it takes, try to demonstrate it.

Give a concrete example of a situation where you demonstrated leadership skills rather than just asserting that you have them. This research-based strategy demonstrates to potential employers that you have the skills needed for success from your prior experiences.

Your cover letter is much easier to read if you tell a story. Additionally, it distinguishes you from the tens of thousands of other candidates who may only say, “I’m a leader,” or “I’m a hard worker.”

When applying this evidence-based strategy, be sure to match each experience you describe to a particular skill set needed for the position. If good interpersonal skills are necessary for the job, describe a moment when you collaborated with others to produce noticeable outcomes. List any obstacles you faced and how you overcame them as well.

It involves more than just telling a story. Instead, you should share a narrative demonstrating your suitability for the position and what sets you apart from the competition.

You can check this: How to Create an Employee Spotlight + 10 Examples to Help You Get Started.

Tip 7 — Show Your Value

When applying for consulting roles, it’s a common error for candidates to focus entirely on their own accomplishments. Recruiters frequently go through cover letters containing many “me meme”.

This means that rather than focusing on how they may become productive workers (and eventually partners), many applicants concentrate on how they might personally gain from the position in question.

Many cover letters focus solely on candidates’ potential to advance their careers, experiences, and abilities. Such letters don’t show how you can improve the organization; instead, they just highlight your own objectives.

Keep in mind that candidates who will help the company are what screeners are searching for, not those who are just taking advantage of the opportunity to advance their careers and themselves.

In your cover letter, make sure to highlight how your expertise will help the organization. If you want to do this, you must thoroughly examine the company’s short- and long-term objectives. Then, you can use these objectives and connect them to your special skills and life experiences.

Tip 8 — One Page Is the Perfect Length

It may be tempting to compose a lengthy cover letter, particularly if you should highlight your range of talents. A much better approach is to keep it brief and pertinent to the post.

Choose only the most relevant experiences for the position you are pursuing. These experiences usually fit on just one page.

Recruiters can read through your cover letter more quickly and without missing anything if it is succinct. Reread and make any necessary changes to your original cover letter to reduce it to a brief letter. You’ll discover more words and sentences that you may cut as you read it more.

Tip 9 — Be Specific About the Position You’re Applying To

Although this may seem obvious, many applicants tend to talk incessantly about their skills and abilities without first addressing the position they are looking for. In the opening sentence, you should always mention the position and office of the job you want to apply for.

Keep in mind that you can still provide this information while emphasizing your unique qualities. Here is an illustration of an introduction from earlier in this guide:

“My overseas Peace Corps volunteer experiences have equipped me to be successful in [insert job position here] at BCG,” you say.

Screeners will more easily identify the position you are interested in if you are clear and concise about the job you’re looking for.

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Tip 10 — Give Yourself Time to Write a Quality Letter

Writing a quality consulting cover letter takes work, much like writing consulting resumes. You must consider both your accomplishments and what sets you apart from others if you want to succeed. Don’t believe you can create a compelling cover letter in a single evening. It necessitates numerous revisions, thorough readings, and prompt feedback.

Additionally, you must ensure the cover letter complements and elaborates on the remarkable abilities and experiences listed in the CV.

Tip 11 — Proofread Thoroughly

Finally, make sure the final cover letter is free of grammar or spelling errors. These errors give the impression that you are reckless, which may cause you to be eliminated throughout the screening process. Don’t allow something so straightforward to be your undoing.

Spend time editing. Ask your colleagues and fellow professionals to examine and provide feedback on your cover letter.

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Template – How to Write a Consulting Cover Letter| Samples & Template

Here is an illustration of a consulting cover letter to serve as your model while creating your own:

Michel Khia
923 Rodeo Lane
Austin, TX 32351
(555) 555-5555
[email protected]
December 1, 2019

Sean Smith
Manager
Austin Consulting Group
132 Main Street
Austin, TX 32352

Dear Mr. Smith,

I’m writing to express my interest in being an Austin Consulting Group full-time consultant. I am confident that I would be an asset to the company and that my qualifications and experience match those you seek in a consultant.

At Streamlined Business Consulting, I showed initiative, problem-solving ingenuity, and adaptability. Working closely with our team, I gave the senior partners clear and straightforward statistical information to aid their decision-making. We were able to boost productivity by 35% for one of our clients by restructuring their financial services department.

I have worked as a consultant for over five years, and have a strong foundation in business analysis and performance monitoring. Despite having a broad skill set thanks to the experiences I’ve had throughout my career, I’m especially good at:

• creating effective business solutions by investigating and assessing current procedures
• promoting the improvement of unconventional processes in order to boost operational effectiveness
• preserving important client ties

I have a good educational background, experience, and personal qualities. Also, I am thrilled to see that Austin Consulting Group understands the value of streamlining financial procedures. I would appreciate the chance to help your business succeed by fostering client connections and implementing best practices.

For more information about my history, career achievements, and talents, please see my résumé. Next week, I will follow up to set up an appointment to talk about how my experience fits your company’s needs.

Yours sincerely,
Michel Khia

FAQs – Consulting Cover Letter 

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Conclusion 

Although producing a decent consulting cover letter takes a lot of effort, we hope that our tips will help. Above all else, keep in mind that consultants want a high standard of deliverables. If you put in the effort, you can ace the cover letter, which is a short exam.

Get assistance from professional reviewers if you want to make sure that your initial impression presents you in the best possible light.

References  

• caseinterview.com/
• indeed.com 
• managementconsulted.com/ 

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