Along with the CV, it's the second piece of documentation in your application file, which is evaluated during the screening phase. However, it is not systematically read, if at all, by the human resources and/or consultants who evaluate your application. But if you don't, or if it's badly done, you risk being rejected.
So how do you write that cover letter? Here's our advice on how to write a successful cover letter, an essential part of your job application to a strategy consulting firm.
What is the purpose of a cover letter?
As you've probably guessed, the cover letter is often a headache because of its cunning nature. No one knows whether it will actually be read, but everyone knows that it can be eliminatory. It's important to accept this, but you mustn't take the risk of botching it. So there's no point in trying to figure out why the cover letter is always in demand, just concentrate on how it can help you.
Approach it as the first pillar of your fit. Writing your cover letter means thinking about your background and your motivations. Forcing yourself to write a well-structured, coherent cover letter will give you a solid foundation for your interview.
Your cover letter should answer three questions:
- Why this firm?
- Why strategy consulting?
- Why you?
First of all, it's important to understand that the cover letter complements the CV, and is by no means a detailed rewrite of it. The wrong approach is to unroll and detail each experience on your CV, following the chronology of your career.
Instead, take a thematic approach: what are the guidelines of my career and personality that logically lead me to strategy consulting and this firm? The trick will be to set them to music, to create a clear and logical thread.
See also: 10 things to know before applying for a job
The form of the cover letter
The format: simple, classic and professional
As with your CV, you're taking an unnecessary risk in differentiating yourself on the form of your cover letter. Don't opt for an original format. Stick to a simple, classic and professional format.
- Structure it into large interchangeable parts that answer the three fundamental questions
- Why this firm?
- Why strategy consulting?
- Why you?
- Write it in black on a white background
- Use a professional standard font such as Arial, Times New Roman or Calibri
- Use a size 11 font or one that never falls below 10.
- Make your cover letter 1 page long: if it doesn't fill half a page, review your cover letter to see how it can be improved.
Once again, as with the CV, you can easily start from an existing format. The easiest way is to call on your professional network, particularly alumni of your school or university who have gone through the same path as you. You can also ask your school's Career Center to provide you with some sample cover letters.
At first glance, your cover letter should be pleasing to the eye, spaced out, clear, easy to read and, above all, with a structured approach.
Your cover letter must be consistent in form from beginning to end to ensure the best possible readability.
- Structure your cover letter by skipping a line before and after each part in the body of the letter.
- Indent before the beginning of each paragraph and at each line break.
See also: CVs, our tips for screening strategy consulting firms
The language, style and spelling of the cover letter
We recommend that you write your cover letter in English, so that you only have to write one, which will be accepted everywhere. French firms will accept it without a problem, and you won't have to translate it if you're applying to foreign offices. What's more, some firms, such as Oliver Wyman in the Paris office, only accept applications written in English.
However, if you're not 100% bilingual, writing a cover letter in English the first time can be a challenge. Our advice: think it through and write your first letter in French. If you're not an English expert, find a bilingual friend to help you with the translation later! Finally, pay attention to spelling and typographical errors. Many cover letters have one or more typos in their final version, and at this level of competition, it's the direct elimination of your application. To avoid these mistakes, have your cover letter proofread by several different people.
Just like your CV, your cover letter should be a work of art. You can scan your signature and use it to sign your cover letter. You'll see how much classier it makes the whole thing.
To avoid any problems, remember to save your prose in PDF format and open it before sending. Sometimes the conversion from Word to PDF can be chaotic.
The cover letter
Organizing your cover letter
First and foremost, at the beginning of your cover letter, you need to present who you are and what you're looking for. In the two lines that make up the 1st paragraph of your letter, you should say :
- Your current academic background: the School and Program you are following
- Where you are in your studies: master's degree, gap year, end of studies
- If you're looking for an internship or a permanent contract
- When are you available?
For example, in French it might read: "Étudiant en dernière année du Programme Grande École d'HEC, je vous fais part de ma candidature pour rejoindre McKinsey en stage de fin d'études à partir de janvier 2025."
Then you'll get to the heart of the matter in the body of the letter with the second paragraph. From this point on, we recommend that you organize your cover letter in such a way as to answer the three questions mentioned above:
- Why this firm?
- Why strategy consulting?
- Why you?
To write these paragraphs and choose what you're going to put in them, you need to prepare them thoroughly, in the same way as you prepare your fit.
Preparing the content of your cover letter
As mentioned above, the cover letter is also a key element in preparing for the fit. In the article "Preparing for the fit in strategy consulting", we mentioned writing your life story as the 1st essential step in preparing for the fit. To build your cover letter, we also recommend starting from your life story.
To do this, you need to draw up a detailed chronology of your life, starting with your CV. This personal chronicle should include elements such as your academic background, exchange experiences, internships, and even more personal aspects such as sports, associative activities, volunteering, and your passions. You should list all your academic, professional, associative and personal experiences. For each experience, it's essential to think about several aspects:
- What you've done
- The reasons that led you to make these decisions
- Outstanding experiences, highlighting powerful anecdotes and challenges overcome
- What each experience has given you, both personally (development of qualities and skills) and on a human level (encounters and social intelligence).
Once you have completed this exercise, you can choose the most relevant elements to include in your cover letter to answer the three fundamental questions:
- Why this firm?
- Why strategy consulting?
- Why you?
The paragraphs corresponding to the answers to the questions "Why strategy consulting?" and "Why you?" hardly need to change from one letter to the next - they're fixed. What does change, however, is your answer to "Why this firm? This paragraph should be personalized and written for each firm.
See also: Passing the strategic consulting case study test
Writing a cover letter
Why this firm?
You don't have to start with this paragraph, but it's certainly the most important one in your cover letter. To be as effective as possible, we recommend that you gather information about the firm via three channels:
- Networking with consultants
- Participation in firm events at their offices and at your school
- Internet and social network searches
The first two sources of information are the most important and powerful, because you're going to find information that can't be found on the Internet, and this will be highly valued by the consultants who read your cover letter. On the other hand, if you put too general an emphasis on your reasons for joining this firm, you may be at a disadvantage.
If you've spoken with consultants, this is probably the most important element to include in your cover letter. You can even put it in your first introductory paragraph. It's the best proof of your motivation. Likewise, don't hesitate to specify whether you've taken part in a particular event. Here, even more than in the other paragraphs, your arguments need to be personalized and ultra-punchy.
Finally, don't make an endless list of arguments to explain your choice to apply to this firm. The best thing to do is to identify a maximum of 3 reasons why you'd like to join this firm, and link them to you. You can relate them to an academic, professional or associative experience, or to an interest you have.
See also : Strategy consulting firms
Why you? Why Strategy Consulting?
The two questions are dealt with together because we advise you to link them. If you write two separate paragraphs, you run the risk of repeating yourself, or of having one paragraph less powerful than the other. To demonstrate that you're the right person for strategy consulting and this firm, you need to talk about your experiences. The easiest way to do this is to organize your paragraphs by type of experience. For example, you could have the following organization:
- Academic experience + associative experience + interests
- Professional experience
The idea, once again, is that the paragraph on your professional experience should be the most important, as in your CV. Above all, recruiters are looking for candidates with a consultant profile who can be up and running quickly.
Each time you present an experience, highlight what you've done, the results you've achieved, the skills you've developed, especially consulting skills, and finally what you've retained. Of course, you won't have the space to detail every experience to this extent, but the person reading your cover letter should feel that this experience is logical and contributes to making you an interesting profile to be a consultant.
Finally, if you can, try to include arguments for the firm when you talk about yourself. Basically, the paragraphs about strategy consulting and you are always the same, whatever the firm. But for example, if you've done an internship in Private Equity and are applying to Bain, make the connection between the two when you talk about your experience. Once again, by doing this, you make your cover letter personalized, punchy, coherent and relevant. And you'll have succeeded.
See also: How do schools prepare their students for strategy consulting?
Conclude your cover letter with a flourish
Even though it may not be read, you need to end your letter on a high note. So add a sentence, skipping a line, after your last paragraph, in which you restate your reasons for joining the firm. In this way, you end on a positive note, demonstrating once again your determination to enter the recruitment process, be interviewed and join the firm. The cover letter is a difficult exercise, but one that deserves to be approached seriously if you are to put all the chances on your side and enable your application to make the difference.
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