Author: Taylor Warfield, Former Bain Manager and Interviewer

Making the jump from engineering to consulting is more common than you might think. Firms such as McKinsey, BCG, and Bain actively recruit engineers for their analytical skills and problem-solving abilities.

 

Walk into any top consulting firm and you'll find plenty of people who studied mechanical engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, or chemical engineering. 

 

Your engineering background is an asset, not a liability.

 

If you're considering this career move, you're probably wondering whether you have what it takes and how to make it happen. This guide covers everything you need to know.

 

But first, a quick heads up:

 

McKinsey, BCG, Bain, and other top firms accept less than 1% of applicants every year. If you want to triple your chances of landing interviews and 8x your chances of passing them, watch my free 40-minute training.

 

Why Engineers Make Great Consultants

 

Your engineering background gives you several natural advantages in consulting.

 

1. You know how to break down complex problems. 

 

When a client asks "Should we enter this new market?" you'll instinctively break it into smaller questions: 

 

• What's the market size?

 

• Who are the competitors?

 

• What capabilities do we need?

 

This structured thinking comes naturally to engineers but needs to be learned by many business majors.

 

2. You're comfortable with data and quantitative analysis. 

 

You won't panic when someone hands you a spreadsheet with 50,000 rows of customer data. You understand regression analysis, statistical significance, and how to separate signal from noise. 

 

These skills directly translate to consulting work.

 

3. You can handle ambiguity and constraints. 

 

Remember debugging an engineering problem for hours when things weren’t working?

 

That tolerance for ambiguity is exactly what you need when a client says "We're losing market share but we don't know why."

 

4. Consulting firms respect engineering rigor. 

 

A 3.6 GPA in chemical engineering often impresses recruiters more than a 3.9 in a less rigorous major. They know you persisted through courses designed to weed people out.

 

5. You have specialized knowledge clients actually need. 

 

If you're working with an automotive client on manufacturing optimization, your mechanical engineering background helps you understand what's actually possible. 

 

When evaluating a tech acquisition, your computer science degree lets you assess the technical stack. 

 

This depth is hard to fake.

 

Types of Consulting Firms That Hire Engineers

 

There are many types of consulting firms that regularly hire engineers.

 

Top-tier strategy firms (McKinsey, BCG, Bain)

 

These firms offer the best general management training and exceptional exit opportunities. They often provide special on-the-job training for non-business backgrounds. 

 

Here, the work is intense with heavy travel (often 4 days per week at client sites), but the credential opens doors permanently.

 

Tech and operations consulting firms (Accenture, Deloitte, IBM) 

 

These firms focus on technology implementation and process improvement. The learning curve for business concepts is gentler, and work-life balance is often better. Salaries are competitive, typically 10-20% lower than MBB firms at equivalent levels.

 

Boutique firms specializing in your industry

 

These firms let you build on your expertise rather than starting from scratch. Your engineering background becomes your main selling point. 

 

These firms often compete directly with MBB on specialized projects and are more flexible about hiring experienced engineers without MBAs.

 

In-house consulting groups 

 

Companies such as DHL, Volkswagen, and Google have in-house consulting groups that offer consulting-style project work with more stability and less travel. You'll work across the company on diverse projects with better work-life balance. Exit paths typically lead to operational roles within the same company.

 

When to Make the Move from Engineering to Consulting

 

There are four major entry points to move from engineering to consulting. We’ll quickly cover each of these so you’ll know which one is best for your circumstances.

 

1. Right out of undergrad is easiest.

 

Most consulting recruiting happens fall of senior year at target schools. Firms visit campuses in September-October, conduct interviews in October-November, and make offers by December. 

 

This timeline is earlier than most engineering recruiting.

 

If you attend a target school (schools where consulting firms recruit on campus), the process is straightforward:

 

• Attend information sessions

 

• Submit your resume

 

• Network with recruiters

 

• Prepare for interviews

 

If you attend a non-target school, you can still break in but need to be more proactive: 

 

• Apply online

 

• Reach out to alumni at consulting firms

 

• Network aggressively

 

The bar is higher but it's definitely possible.

 

Summer internships between junior and senior year often convert to full-time offers. If you land a consulting internship after junior year, you'll likely get a full-time offer if you perform well. 

 

Most consulting analysts come through this internship conversion path.

 

2. After 1-2 years, recruiting as an early industry hire is possible but less common.

 

Your work experience needs to show business exposure or quantifiable impact. Maybe you worked on cost reduction projects, led cross-functional teams, or interfaced with customers.

 

These experiences strengthen your story.

 

The challenge is you're competing with fresh undergrads who firms hire a ton of, but you're not far enough along for experienced hire roles. You're in a middle ground that fewer firms actively recruit from.

 

Some firms have programs specifically for this group, like Deloitte's Analyst Development Program. Research these opportunities specifically. 

 

Your resume needs to clearly show progression and impact in your engineering role.

 

3. With 3-5 years of experience, an MBA is your best bet.

 

Top business schools (Harvard, Stanford, Wharton, MIT, Northwestern, Chicago) feed directly into consulting at the consultant level, skipping 2-3 years of entry-level work.

 

This is the most common path for engineers who didn't recruit out of undergrad. You work in engineering for 3-5 years, apply to top MBA programs, and recruit for consulting during business school. 

 

The cost is significant ($300K-400K including tuition and two years out of the workforce), but the credential opens doors permanently.

 

The school matters because consulting firms recruit heavily from top programs.

 

4. After 5+ years, target experienced hire positions.

 

Firms hire senior engineers for specialized roles in operations, digital transformation, or industry practices. 

 

You’ll need deep expertise firms need. Maybe you're an expert in manufacturing operations, semiconductor design, or energy systems.

 

You won't go through standard campus recruiting. You'll apply to specific postings, work your network, and potentially work with headhunters. The process is less structured but more tailored to your background. 

 

The bar is high.

 

Firms want to see:

 

• Significant achievements

 

• Leadership experience

 

• Clear reasons why you're valuable

 

You’ll enter as a mid-level consultant with higher expectations immediately. You won't get the same training and ramp-up time as junior hires. 

 

Some firms have dedicated experienced hire programs. McKinsey's Advanced Industries practice, BCG's Technology Advantage practice, and similar groups actively recruit experienced engineers.

How to Prepare Your Consulting Resume as an Engineer

 

There are several changes you’ll need to make to draft the perfect consulting resume.

 

1. Quantify everything with specific business impact.

 

Every bullet point should answer "so what?"

 

Instead of activities, show results with numbers. "Reduced production downtime by 23% through control system optimization, saving $450K annually" beats "Designed a control system for manufacturing equipment."

 

Try this exercise: take each line of your current resume and ask "who benefited and how much?" 

 

If you designed a circuit, did it reduce costs, improve performance, or enable new capabilities? 

 

Even academic projects can be framed this way. 

 

Your senior design project might become "Developed a prototype solar charging system with 15% higher efficiency than existing solutions, potentially reducing EV charging time by 3 hours."

 

2. Highlight leadership prominently with concrete outcomes.

 

Leading a senior design team, being a TA, organizing club events all count. 

 

Make it specific: "Led team of 4 students on robotics competition, placing 3rd out of 47 teams through effective delegation and problem-solving." Quantify your team size, the project scope, and the outcome.

 

Leadership doesn't need a fancy title. Being the point person who coordinated your team's senior project is leadership. Organizing study groups for difficult courses is leadership. Training new interns at your summer job is leadership. 

 

What matters is showing you've taken initiative and helped others succeed.

 

3. Show business exposure wherever possible. 

 

Any cost analysis, market research, budget management, or entrepreneurship projects prove you can think about business problems. 

 

Maybe you worked on a cost analysis for your engineering project. Maybe you helped price a product for a startup competition. These experiences matter.

 

If you don't have direct business experience, look for adjacent experiences. 

 

Did you handle budgets for a club? Did you recruit members and grow an organization? If you're still in school, consider taking an accounting, finance, or strategy course. 

 

You don't need a business minor, but one or two courses show genuine interest.

 

4. Minimize technical jargon strategically.

 

"Reduced server costs by 40% through database optimization" shows technical skill while emphasizing business impact. Include enough technical detail to show you're capable without overwhelming the reader. 

 

"Developed machine learning model to predict equipment failure" works better than listing every library and parameter you used.

 

The person reading your resume might not be an engineer. Your resume needs to be accessible to HR people and liberal arts majors who became consultants. 

 

Use technical knowledge to support business claims, not to showcase your technical vocabulary.

 

5. Get feedback from consultants, not your engineering friends.

 

Your engineering friends give bad resume advice because they don't know what consulting firms want. 

 

Find alumni at consulting firms and ask them to review your resume honestly. Their feedback is much more valuable than your career center's advice.

 

Pay attention to what they say about your bullet points. If they're confused by something, recruiters will be too. If they say your resume feels too technical, believe them and revise accordingly.

 

If you want professional help crafting the perfect consulting resume that will land you 3x more interviews, sign up for my consulting resume editing service.

 

How to Prepare for Consulting Case Interviews as an Engineer

 

While your resume will determine whether you get consulting interviews, case interviews determine whether you get an offer. Expect to spend 2-3 months preparing for consulting case interviews.

 

1. Learn the structure and evaluation criteria.

 

A case interview has phases:

 

• The interviewer presents a problem

 

• You ask clarifying questions

 

• You structure your approach with a framework

 

• You work through analysis and calculations

 

• You interpret data

 

• You deliver a recommendation

 

Interviewers will evaluate you on multiple dimensions simultaneously.

 

• Problem structuring: Can you break down ambiguous problems into logical components?

 

• Analytical thinking: Do you use data effectively and draw sound conclusions?

 

• Numerical skills: Can you handle calculations accurately and quickly?

 

• Communication: Do you explain your thinking clearly and concisely?

 

• Business judgment: Do your recommendations make practical sense?

 

• Fit: Would you work well on a team and with clients?

 

You need to be strong across all these dimensions, not just analytical thinking. Engineers often excel at analytical skills but need work on communication and business judgment.

 

2. Master case interview frameworks

 

A framework is simply a tool that helps you break down the main problem in a case interview into smaller, more manageable questions. You’ll need to develop and use frameworks in every single case interview.

 

Here are a few common frameworks you should be familiar with:

 

• Profitability frameworks: breaking down revenues and costs, then digging deeper into drivers

 

• Market entry frameworks: evaluating market attractiveness and company capabilities

 

• Pricing frameworks: weighing customer value, costs, and competition

 

• Growth frameworks: brainstorming and prioritizing the different ways a company can grow

 

• Merger and acquisition frameworks: assessing whether a company should acquire a specific target

 

You don't need to memorize 20 frameworks. Focus on core ones that cover most case types and learn when to use each.

 

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3. Practice mental math daily until it's automatic.

 

In a case interview, you’ll have to do math by hand. So, practice:

 

• Working on 10%, 20%, and 25% calculations

 

• Converting between percentages and decimals

 

• Multiplying two-digit and three-digit numbers

 

• Dividing large numbers by estimating and rounding

 

• Breaking complex calculations into simpler pieces. 

 

4. Do 20-30 practice cases with real partners.

 

Reading about cases isn't enough. 

 

You need to practice thinking out loud, handling unexpected questions, and maintaining composure under pressure. 

 

Find practice partners through your school's consulting club, online forums, or LinkedIn. Take turns playing interviewer and candidate. 

 

When you're the interviewer, you'll learn what makes cases difficult and what makes candidates strong. Use case interview prep books or online resources for cases. Mix easier and harder cases. Practice different case types.

 

After each practice case, get detailed feedback. 

 

• What did you do well?

 

• Where did you struggle?

 

• Was your structure clear?

 

• Did you communicate effectively?

 

• Were your calculations accurate? 

 

Use this feedback to improve specific skills.

 

Record yourself and watch the playback to catch communication issues. You probably have habits you don't notice. 

 

Maybe you ramble when nervous. Maybe you skip steps in your logic. Video makes these visible. 

 

Compare your first recorded case to one after 15-20 practice cases. The improvement will be obvious.

 

5. Think out loud consistently.

 

This is the hardest adjustment for engineers. You're used to working through problems internally, then presenting conclusions. 

 

Case interviews require verbalizing your thought process in real time.

 

Practice saying things like:

 

• "I'm thinking about different ways to segment this market"

• "I want to check if these numbers make sense"

• "Let me structure my thoughts here."

 

These phrases help your interviewer follow your thinking. 

 

When stuck, acknowledge it: "This approach isn't working. Let me try a different angle." That's much better than sitting silently.

 

If you need a moment to think, ask for it. "Can I take 30 seconds to organize my thoughts?" is perfectly fine. 

 

Brief pauses are okay. Extended silence while you work through something in your head is not.

 

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