At BCG, we strive to give each applicant the chance to perform to their best ability throughout the application process. Due to the high volume of applications we receive each year, we can only interview a small proportion of applicants. We try to identify those applicants most worthy of interview, but even the best candidates can be obscured by poorly written CVs.
Here we’ve put together some helpful hints and tips to help you write a CV that really shows off your merits.
We use two criteria to evaluate your CV:
An outstanding academic record, that would include the following:
A first or 2.1 in finals at university (expected or received), or equivalent
Consistent first or 2.1 in any formal university exams, or equivalent
Any prizes, awards or scholarships won
Strong A levels (AAB and above), IB, Highers or equivalent
For PhD students, any publications, scholarship awards or presentations at conferences
A strong extra-curricular record, that may take several forms:
Extensive involvement in a number of activities, sports, societies or roles
Involvement in one activity to a high level, e.g. JCR / Hall / SU President, Captain of a University sports team, Editor of a University newspaper. For PhD students these could include teaching assignments, organising seminars or setting up international collaborations
Impressive work experience, be it business related (consulting, banking, etc.) or other (this can include community projects and NGO work)
Whatever the extra-curricular activity, we are looking for evidence of impact and legacy, significant effort, high level of commitment, initiative and responsibility
To help us really get the most out of your CV, you must convince us of your achievements. To do this, it is helpful to give as many informative details as possible.
Be specific: Include dates, relevant titles and as detailed grades as possible. If you have been educated outside the UK, please explain your grades (e.g. A is awarded to top 15% of country)
Give details: Don’t assume that we know the significance of your achievements, try to spell them out for us
If you have won a prize or a competitive scholarship, let us know what it was for, how many people were competing and how many received an award
If you are a PhD student and have published some of your work in a peer reviewed publication, tell us if you were the first author and give us a short reference and description of its significance
If you were Treasurer of a University club, tell us how much your budget was, how many people are a member of the club, what the time commitment involved was, and what you did. We’re interested in hearing about your day to day responsibilities as well as what distinguished you from any predecessors – what legacy will you leave behind for this organisation? If you were elected to the post, tell us how many people voted.
If you were a teacher for the summer, what did you learn from it? What were your responsibilities? (Rather than saying you “directed a pantomime”, be more specific - “Responsible for writing and directing a pantomime with 30 children attended by 300 people. Wrote proposal and was awarded £1000 sponsorship by the local council”
Format to impress: Make your CV as easy on the eye as possible. Keep it succinct (we recommend no more than two pages) and order your achievements in a logical, clearly structured way with your most significant achievements most prominent on the page.
We hope you’ve found this guide useful to create a CV that demonstrates both your academic and extra curricular achievements. We wish you the best of luck and look forward to receiving your application.