Recruiting Journeys | Consulting: Siena Harlin ’24, Deloitte
After a summer internship at Deloitte, Siena Harlin ’24 accepted a full-time job on the consulting firm’s human capital team.
In this series, recent Yale SOM graduates break down the recruiting process that led them to their current roles.
How does the recruiting process work in your field?
At SOM, consulting recruiting begins two or three weeks into September. Applications drop around the beginning of November, and most people know if they have interviews by early December. The process goes through two main steps: networking and interview prep. On the networking side, it’s a two-way street between the companies hiring and the students recruiting. Companies kick off the process through structured on-campus and virtual events like info sessions, small group dinners, or even office visits. As a recruiting student, you meet people at these events and then follow up with coffee chats to learn more about their work and ask any specific questions you might have. This process helps companies learn more about you and helps you understand if you could be happy and do what you want to do at a particular company.
Networking gets your foot in the door, but you obviously need to nail your interviews to get the job. At SOM, we prepare for this by practicing case interviewing and behavioral interviewing throughout the semester. “Casing” is the classic consulting interview method: it’s a structured thought exercise where a live interviewer gives you a business problem that you have to solve out loud in about 20 to 30 minutes. This tests your logical reasoning, communication skills, and performance under pressure.
By February, most people know where they’re going to be interning, although smaller firms might finalize those decisions later in the year. Summer internships will often, but not always, convert to a full-time job. I interned at Deloitte last summer, and learned that I had a return offer in the last week of my internship.
Which SOM classes prepared you best for your current role?
As an industry switcher—I used to work in the nonprofit sector—I didn’t know anything about subjects like accounting or competitive strategy, so all of the core courses were helpful. What I found most interesting and applicable in many of my cases was the Customer class, where I learned useful frameworks like the “four Ps” of marketing: product, price, placement, and promotion. The Workforce class ended up being very relevant to my work because I worked in human capital consulting during my internship. SOM has many great electives that will be helpful in consulting, but you won’t be able to take these until your second year.
Learn about the Yale SOM Consulting Club and visit our consulting information hub.
Which SOM resources helped you during the recruiting process?
The CDO helped me in the early stages of cover letter review and résumé editing. They made my materials more visually presentable and helped me communicate the skills and results I achieved in my last job. They also offered behavioral interview practice sessions with a staff member and outside consultant, which made me feel confident about my interview skills. Also, a lot of the people I met at Deloitte and the other companies where I was recruiting were SOM alums, who helped me learn more about each firm through chats and introductions to other consultants.
The single greatest resource was the student-run Consulting Club, which is incredibly thoughtful in preparing students for recruiting. The club organizes weekly lessons on recruiting topics as well as many opportunities to practice with second year students. My personal favorite initiative was the case teams, which are groups of five to seven recruiting students led by a second year volunteer leader who was successful in the process the year before. The second year gives their team personalized advice, practice sessions, and moral support, and I think that’s what kept me on track and sane throughout the process. I expected it to feel competitive, but my case team actually became my support group—we could sympathize with each other, but also cheer each other on. We ended up going on a case team retreat after recruiting wrapped up, and three out of seven of us ended up working at Deloitte.
What advice would you give to current students recruiting in consulting?
First, you’re going to get asked “why consulting” a lot, and it’s important to have a clear and compelling answer for this. Knowing your “why” is also really helpful to keep you motivated and grounded throughout the process.
Second, try not to compare yourself to your peers. Especially as an industry switcher coming from outside the private sector, I realized that everyone has a different background and unique skills. What’s important is not what you’re lacking, but rather what special thing you bring to the table, and making that thing salient in how you tell your story.
Finally, pay attention to the vibe of the company you’re recruiting for, because consulting means a lot of long hours working on teams. When I was deciding which offer to accept, I went with Deloitte because they had the most people I found genuinely interesting, funny, and kind. I felt like I could really see myself in that group, and it ended up being a great decision to take that internship.
