Recruitment trips | Consulting: Siena Harlin ’24, Deloitte

What is the recruitment process like in your field?

At SOM, consultant recruitment starts two to three weeks in September. Applications start coming in around the beginning of November and most people know whether they have job interviews by early December. The process consists of two main steps: networking and preparing for job interviews. On the networking side, it’s a two-way street between the companies hiring and the students recruiting. Companies are starting the process with structured and virtual events on campus, such as information sessions, small group dinners or even office visits. As a student recruiter, you will meet people at these events and then attend coffee conversations to find out more about their work and ask any specific questions you may have. This process helps companies learn more about you and helps you understand whether you can be happy at a particular company and do what you want to do.

Networking will get your foot in the door, but you obviously have to do well in your interviews to get the job. At SOM we prepare for this by practicing case and behavioral interviews throughout the semester. ‘Casing’ is the classic method for consulting: it is a structured thinking exercise in which a live interviewer presents you with a business problem that you have to solve out loud in about 20 to 30 minutes. This tests your logical reasoning, communication skills and performance under pressure.

By February, most people will know where they will intern, although smaller companies may finalize these decisions later in the year. Summer internships often, but not always, convert into full-time employment. Last summer I interned at Deloitte and heard that I had received a return offer in the last week of my internship.

Which SOM classes best prepared you for your current role?

As an industry switcher (I used to work in the nonprofit sector), I knew nothing about topics like accounting or competitive strategy, so all the core courses were helpful. What I found most interesting and applicable in many of my cases was the Customers course, where I learned useful frameworks such as the ‘four P’s’ of marketing: product, price, placement and promotion. The Workforce class turned out to be very relevant to my work because I worked in human capital consulting during my internship. SOM has many nice electives that can help you with advising, but you can only take these in your second year.