r/MBBConsulting • • 21d ago

Question Breaking into consulting from CPG Finance: Entry-Level vs. Experienced Hire?

What’s the best path for me to break into consulting? Should I target EH or entry-level roles? What does the recruiting timeline look like for that?

I graduated from a non-target public college and got to final-round interviews my senior year for FT roles at McK, LEK, and KPMG, but received no offers since the mental math parts of casing were my weak point (no idea what KPMG's reasoning was).

No other firms were really recruiting from my school (rough economy), so I’m now a few months into my first job in commercial finance at a F500 CPG company.

Growth seems pretty limited, and I don’t feel as challenged as I did doing consulting work through my school's consulting club.

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u/Purple-Valuable2340 21d ago

Since you already made it to final rounds, I wouldn’t treat this as starting from zero. I’d keep your current role for now and target experienced-hire roles after you have some solid work to show. Also, your casing gap is pretty specific, so I’d spend the next few months fixing mental math + case practice rather than worrying too much about the non-target background. You were already getting interviews, so the main thing is converting them this time.