Meet Ashton Alexander - incoming BCG Summer Associate
Ashton's story + my take on his experience
Ashton’s Story
Ashton Alexander is a Sophomore at Harvard, currently on a gap year, and will be interning as a Growing Future Leaders Intern during the Summer of 2021 in BCG’s Austin office. Here is his story on recruiting:
"A year ago, when I first applied for interviews with MBB, I knew nothing about the actual interview process, little about consulting, and wouldn’t have been prepared to case had I even advanced that far.
But the feeling of doing horribly my first rounds motivated me to hit the ground running when I would apply again the next year. I decided I would take control of what I could control and trust God for the rest.
I spent the whole year attending every available zoom session, collect every email of every associate, partner, or recruiter I could meet in person or on LinkedIn, and having as many phone and zoom conversations as I could with people who worked at MBB.
My goal was to not only understand what consulting comprised of, but the culture of MBB firms as well as what motivates individuals to continue working at each of the firms. Therefore, by the time I interviewed, not only did I understand consulting, but what made each of the MBB firms special.
Then, I spent the final two months before interviews reading Case-In-Point, practicing cases, and attending virtual case workshops. I reached the conclusion in my mind that, if a wasn’t to receive an offer from MBB, it wouldn’t be because I was not prepared.
And after doing all the practice and all the research I could, God granted me favor with the interviewers and I was given an offer!"
My take on Ashton’s experience
What I love about Ashton’s story is his hustle and mentality of “leaving it all on the field”. He prepared with intent, but most importantly: he started early.
Here are some other thoughts:
Ashton focused on learning and building relationships when chatting with consultants instead of making the calls solely about getting a referral
He got the email and followed up with the people he met during physical and virtual events. Major key - few students actually do this.
He controlled what he could control. You can’t control what an interviewer thinks of you, but you can control how much you prepare. Give yourself the best chance to succeed.
Overall he prepared in advance assuming he’d have the interview instead of waiting until he got an interview. Many times people are good candidates on paper, apply, get the interview, but don’t prepare until it’s too late. You can’t “finesse” these interviews.