As an Executive Resume Writer or a resume consultant of sorts, I work with many who have worked in Management Consulting or who have owned their own consulting firms.
They often ask for a resume that allows them to pursue new consulting opportunities while also exploring career options on the other side of the table – where they could go to work with a company that previously might have been a client.
Management consulting is unique in that over the course of even just 3 to 5 years, it’s possible to work on several client engagements concurrently and/or that are often similar in nature.
Equally challenging is that consultants are sometimes bound by confidentiality agreements which means they can’t publicly share the name of the client with whom they worked.
Below are 3 ways to showcase management consulting career highlights in a resume, along with my take on when it makes the most sense to use each format:
#1 Name Dropping
When looking to show the types of organizations with which you’ve worked, or to show them you’ve worked with some big or up-and-coming companies – providing you are not bound by a confidentiality agreement – there’s no better way to impress than by name dropping.
In the example below, I made sure to lead off by including a few sentences that showed the types of clients who hired my client and then showcased the services she provided.
Next, I selected a handful of clients sure to impress – and name-dropped by including their name in bold before describing each challenge and accomplishment.
#2 Industry Showcasing
Referencing the industry throughout is a great workaround when a consulting client’s name must be kept confidential.
In this example below, I shared my client’s accomplishments and gave the reader a sense for the types of organizations for which he was well-suited, without ever mentioning the client’s name – through a series of telling clues:
1) mentioned the industry, in this case financial services, in the job title and in the first paragraph.
2) showed he had worked with a Fortune 500 client in Bullet #1.
3) referenced working for a large bank in Bullet #2.
#3 Pain Points Highlighting
As a resume consultant, many of my management consulting clients are so good at their jobs they are often sought after to repeat this success across many engagements.
Rather than list every 18- to 24- month assignment, a move that would make for a lengthy resume and might lose the reader, it’s often more effective to highlight the types of problems solved.
In this example below, I have bolded the type of problem/pain point my client was brought in to tackle. If not bound by a confidentiality agreement, it is easy to include the client’s name rather than reference them using descriptive language such as that used below.
Strategies to Overcome Unique Challenges
Management Consulting job seekers face unique challenges when writing their resume – from confidentiality agreements that prevent listing their client’s name to a history that includes work on dozens of engagements.
The 3 formats outlined above address each of these challenges and allow Management Consulting job seekers to present their career story and accomplishments in a way that appeals to today’s online, skim readers.
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