NETWORKING GUIDE
You finally find one.
Same degree. Similar research. Now at McKinsey, BCG, Bain, or another consulting firm.
You have thirty minutes.
So you prepare twenty questions.
Do not try to ask all twenty.
The value is not in completing the list.
It is in discovering the question you did not know to ask before the conversation started.
Start with their transition... but do not stop at "why consulting?"
- What made you start considering consulting during your PhD?
- When did you know you were serious about leaving academia?
- What surprised you most during recruiting?
- Which part of your PhD helped you most in the process?
- What did you have to unlearn?
Now listen.
If they say case interviews were easy but networking was difficult, go there.
If they say their research background mattered less than expected, ask when it did matter.
The follow-up is usually better than the script.
A coffee chat should feel like a conversation with structure, not a questionnaire with a human attached.
For examples of questions that create useful conversations rather than generic answers, see Good vs Bad Coffee Chat Questions.
Then ask about the first year... because the transition does not end with the offer
- What felt hardest in your first three months?
- Which academic habit transferred surprisingly well?
- Which academic habit slowed you down?
- How did you learn to communicate more answer-first?
- When did you first feel comfortable making recommendations with incomplete information?
- Did your technical background affect your staffing?
- How quickly did you stop feeling like "the PhD" on the team?
These answers do something recruiting advice cannot.
They let you picture the work after the application disappears.
That is where career fit gets real.
The firm questions sound generic... until you make them comparative
Do not ask, "How is the culture?"
Almost nobody can answer that usefully in two minutes.
Ask questions that force a comparison:
- What feels different about your office from what you expected?
- What separates people who ramp up quickly from those who struggle?
- How much choice do junior consultants actually have over staffing?
- What kind of feedback changed your performance most?
- What does a strong Associate or Consultant do that a new joiner often misses?
Notice what happened.
You are no longer asking for a brochure description.
You are asking the person to interpret experience.
Save the recruiting questions for when you have earned some context
Near the end, you can move toward your own process:
- If you were applying again with my background, what would you emphasize?
- Is there anything in my profile you would investigate further before applying?
- Who else would you suggest I speak with to understand this transition from another angle?
That last question can quietly change your networking.
Not because everyone will introduce you.
They will not.
But a strong conversation can reveal the next person, team, office, or question you had not considered.
Informational Interview With Consultant explains how to structure the broader conversation from opening to follow-up.
And notice what is missing from the twenty questions.
"Can you refer me?"
There may be a time for that.
But if the conversation is good enough, something more valuable happens first.
They begin understanding who you are.
Once that happens, the next question may not need to come from your list at all.