You do not need a traditional corporate job to create a credible consulting resume. Strong material can come from research, volunteer work, student organizations, case competitions, class projects and part-time roles.

The important part is converting those experiences into evidence of skills. 'Worked on a class project' is weak; explaining the problem, your role and the outcome makes it much more useful.

Use numbers carefully. Team size, users reached, funds raised, time saved, event attendance or competition ranking can add scale without inventing business impact that was never there.

Prioritize the experiences where you had real ownership. A smaller but substantive role is usually more persuasive than a famous organization where your contribution was minimal. For more detail, see the consulting resume guide.

Would research assistant work count here if the project was analytical but not commercial?