Consulting CV:
template, examples and recruiter advice.

How a consulting CV is read

The CV screen is an early filter in most consulting recruitment processes. Recruiters need to find the strongest evidence quickly, so decide what they should notice first rather than fitting as much as possible onto the page.

A first read tends to follow the layout. The eye goes to the education block and its grades, then down the left side to organisation names and job titles, then to the first bullet under each role. If the strongest evidence is buried in the third bullet of an older role, or hidden inside a dense paragraph, it may not be seen at all.

This is why content and template have to be designed together. The content decides which achievements deserve a place. The template decides whether a reader can find them quickly: a clear hierarchy, consistent dates, short bullets and enough white space to scan.

What screeners look for in a consulting resume

Different firms phrase their criteria in different ways, but the same four areas come up across practitioners' accounts of the screen. For each one, the question is what the page shows as evidence, not what you say about yourself.

You do not need equally strong evidence in every area. Choose the achievements that best demonstrate your strengths, whether they come from study, work or activities outside your job. What a screener cannot do is assume a strength the page does not show. If your best evidence is leadership, it should be visible in the first lines a reader sees, not left for an interview you may not be invited to.

Recruiters also need context to assess an achievement. Include the team size, budget, number of sites or level of responsibility where it helps explain the significance of your work.

The complete example, annotated section by section

The CV below illustrates an early-career application: Alex Morgan has a master's degree and about two years of work experience. The candidate and achievements are fictional. Tap any image to enlarge it. For a different profile, explore our experienced-hire CV example.

The image shows the layout. The notes below explain what each section does and why it is built that way, so the reasoning does not depend on the picture.

Header: only what the reader needs

The header gives the name, city and email address: "Alex Morgan, London, UK, alex.morgan@example.com". There is no photo, date of birth, nationality or personal summary. The city matters because offices consider where you are based and where you can work; the rest takes space without helping the screen.

A one-line professional summary at the top is rarely useful at this stage of a career. The structure of the CV already tells the reader who you are, and a summary tends to repeat generic claims that the bullets then have to prove anyway.

Education: first, with grades and two pieces of evidence

For an early-career candidate, education comes first because it is still the strongest comparable evidence. Each entry follows the same pattern: university and dates on one line, degree and result on the next ("MSc Management · Distinction", "BA Economics · First Class Honours"). The grade is placed where the eye goes, not at the end of a sentence.

Under the master's degree, two bullets add evidence the grade alone cannot give. "Completed a strategy project assessing market entry options for a consumer goods business" shows exposure to a consulting-style problem. "Led a team of five in a business simulation, presenting commercial recommendations to a faculty panel" shows leadership and presentation. The bachelor's degree has no bullets, because nothing there would add to what the later entries already show.

Professional experience: three bullets with different strengths

Each role opens with one line: organisation, title and dates ("Northbridge Retail · Business Analyst, 2023 to present"). Under the current role, the three bullets were chosen so that each one proves something different:

1. Analysis with a measured result. "Analysed sales across 40 stores and identified assortment changes that increased category revenue by 8% during a three-month pilot." The scale (40 stores) gives the work weight, and the result is limited to what was actually measured: a pilot, not the whole business.
2. An operational change. "Redesigned onboarding across three teams, reducing average setup time from 10 to 6 days." A before and after that anyone can read in a second.
3. A tool that other people use. "Built a weekly performance dashboard used by six regional managers to prioritise actions on stock availability." There is no financial figure here, and none is invented; the evidence is adoption by others.

The internship has two bullets and fewer numbers, which is normal for a short role. "Combined customer interviews and transaction analysis to identify three retention opportunities" shows a mix of qualitative and quantitative work. "Presented findings and implementation priorities to the project manager and client team" shows client contact, which matters for consulting.

Leadership and activities: proof of working with people

This section carries the people evidence that a junior job may not provide. "Led four students on a pro bono project for a local charity" gives a team size and a real client. "Organised six case practice workshops for more than 50 students" gives scale and initiative. One recognisable activity with a clear role is worth more than a list of memberships.

Skills and interests: short and specific

The last section uses three labelled lines: languages with their level ("French, conversational"), tools actually used (Excel, PowerPoint, SQL), and interests. Interests are specific enough to start a conversation ("distance running, hiking"), which is their only purpose. Generic qualities such as "team player" or "strong communicator" are left out, because the bullets above already show them.

Template choices: order, length and format

The template is the part candidates most often treat as an afterthought, and the part a screener notices without thinking about it. A good consulting template does not draw attention to itself; it lets the reader find dates, organisations and results without effort.

Order of sections

Use reverse chronological order within each section, with the most recent role or degree first. Firms expect to read a timeline, and practitioners advise against grouping experience by skill, because it hides when and where you did each thing.

Length

One page is the norm for students and recent graduates. Candidates with several years of experience can go to two pages if the second page carries real evidence, not older detail that nobody will use. If you cannot fill a second page with material you would want to be asked about, one page is the better choice.

Formatting

Keep one font and two or three sizes at most. Put organisation names in bold, align all dates on the right, and use the same punctuation, tense and date format throughout: past tense for past roles, present tense only for what you are doing now. Keep bullets to one or two lines. Leave margins and spacing that let the page breathe, rather than shrinking the font to fit more in.

Avoid the features that make a CV look designed rather than readable: multiple columns, icons, logos, skill bars, coloured backgrounds and photos of the office you worked in. Many applications also go through online systems, where complex layouts can lose information.

What to leave out

Leave out what does not help the screen: an objective statement, a list of generic soft skills, "references available on request", personal details beyond contact information, and school results once you have a degree and work experience. Every line you remove gives more room and attention to the lines that matter.

If you would rather start from a template already built for consulting, the CV review puts your own content on one, set up for your profile.

Bullet points: bring out your most significant evidence

Bullets are where most CVs lose their strength. The common problem is not vocabulary; it is that the bullet describes a responsibility and leaves the reader to guess what you contributed. A useful bullet helps the screener see what you did yourself, how big the work was, and what changed as a result.

That is a set of questions to answer, not a formula to apply to every line. Some bullets will have a clear result; others will be stronger on scale, on a decision you influenced or on your personal contribution. Start from the facts of your own work and bring out the most significant evidence you have, without forcing a number where there is none.

For more rewrites, including bullets with no financial result and the mistakes that make a rewrite worse, read consulting CV bullet points: before and after.

Every line can be probed in the interview

A CV is not only a screening document. Interviewers often pick a line and ask you to talk about it: how you measured the result, what you did personally, what went wrong, what you would do differently. A figure you cannot explain does more damage than no figure at all.

When you choose which bullets to keep, prefer the ones you can turn into a story. A good test is whether you could speak about the bullet for two minutes: the situation, what you decided and why, the obstacles, the result and what you learned. The same achievements will come back in fit questions and in experience interviews such as the McKinsey PEI.

For how to use these experiences in interviews, see the case interview preparation guide.

Special cases: experienced hires, career switchers and gaps

Experienced hires

With several years of work, experience moves to the top and education becomes a short block at the end. Show progression clearly: if you were promoted within the same organisation, list the titles under one employer with their dates, so the reader sees the step up. Give the most space to recent, consulting-relevant work (projects, cross-functional problems, client or senior stakeholder contact) and condense older roles to one or two lines.

Ratings, promotions ahead of schedule and selection for demanding programmes are useful performance evidence when they are real and verifiable. Two pages are acceptable, but each line still has to earn its place.

Career switchers

If your background is in engineering, medicine, law, the public sector or research, the reader may not know what your role involved. Translate it: describe the problem, the people involved, the decision and the result in plain words, and remove internal jargon and unexplained acronyms. The same work can usually be described around what consulting values: structured problem solving, working in projects, leading people and dealing with clients or senior decision makers.

Explain your motivation for the switch in your cover letter and interview. Use the CV to demonstrate the relevant skills through your achievements.

Gaps and non-linear paths

A gap is easier to read when it is stated than when it is hidden. Use the same date format everywhere (month and year, or year only, applied consistently), and if a period needs explaining, add one neutral line: a career break, further study, relocation, caring responsibilities. Do not adjust dates to cover a gap; a screener notices inconsistencies, and the interviewer may ask.

The same honesty applies to a less familiar university or employer. Add a few words of context where it helps the reader judge the achievement, such as the size of the organisation or an official ranking within your cohort, but only where the information is accurate and verifiable.

Mistakes that cost a good profile

These are the problems that make a strong candidate look ordinary on paper. Most of them are easy to fix once you see them.

• Responsibilities instead of results. "Responsible for", "involved in" and "supported" tell the reader your job description, not what you achieved.
• Crowded text. Three-line bullets, small fonts and narrow margins make the page slow to read, and the best evidence gets lost.
• Inconsistent format. Dates in different styles, mixed tenses and uneven punctuation suggest a lack of care, which matters in a profession that sells precision.
• Numbers you cannot explain. Rounded-up, estimated without saying so or borrowed from the team's results: each one is a risk in the interview.
• Jargon and empty vocabulary. Internal acronyms and words such as "synergy" or "world-class" take space without adding evidence.
• The strongest evidence in the wrong place. A major achievement placed in the last bullet of an older role may never be read.

Checklist before you send your CV

Go through your CV with the list below. Each point is something a screener notices in the first read.

Give recruiters a clear view of what you have achieved and what you could bring to their firm. For personal help choosing the right evidence and presenting it clearly, start your CV and cover letter review.

About Franco

Franco Borgonovo

Former BCG Principal · 10-year tenure · Official BCG coach

Franco spent ten years at BCG, from intern to Principal, interviewing and selecting candidates as a global lead recruiter. He is still an official BCG coach for new hires, and today works one to one with candidates on applications, McKinsey Solve and interviews.

More about Franco →