Business casual season: A look into recruiting at CMC consulting groups

These past handful of weeks, Claremont McKenna College has been overrun by blazer-clad very first-yrs and sophomores dashing to interviews for the numerous pre-specialist groups on campus. Recruitment period, a CMC staple, has been in entire swing considering the fact that the third 7 days of the semester, and the 3 consulting teams centered at the higher education have been busy discovering their upcoming generation of consultants.

The Claremont Consulting Group (CCG) typically functions with for-financial gain organizations and is an independent business only composed of CMC students. Source Nonprofit Consulting, like the title indicates, functions carefully with nonprofit groups. Graphite Group is additional centered close to consulting for modest companies and start out-ups and is the only CMC-based mostly team that hires learners from throughout the 5Cs. 

According to CCG handling director Arielle Lui CM ’22, some consulting groups’ communities are pretty “tight-knit.” 

“Two of my 3 roommates are in [CCG] as effectively,” Lui stated. “And I believe that which is very common yr around calendar year, where by most of your mates will be from [CCG].” 

Jasmine Tan CM ’25, who utilized to equally CCG and Graphite, also famous this feeling of neighborhood in Graphite, wherever she not too long ago recognized a placement as an affiliate specialist. 

“It’s not just, ‘Oh, we’re gonna function on a consulting challenge alongside one another,’” Tan stated. “There are situations, meetups — people today just cling out.” 

The approach to get into these shut-knit golf equipment can be tough, having months and many interview rounds. Some groups are also remarkably selective CCG, for case in point, has a 10 {2dfc70b1b4e66bbfdc08330bb14f8e2f4cc3208a65126a7ecd2adc69b7abe3f0} acceptance price.

This semester, all three clubs experienced a penned application as their to start with round. For qualifying candidates, CCG and Graphite then experienced an in-human being simple group interview with a company-informal dress code, in which possible users worked on a scenario with other candidates. Finally, the two groups had behavioral interviews for qualifying candidates. At Resource, soon after the created software, candidates experienced an individual assessment and job interview by Zoom.

Yahya Yousef CM ’25 observed a dichotomy in between collaboration and competitiveness all through his software approach for CCG.

“It’s undoubtedly extremely competitive,” Yousef reported. “But at the exact time, a good deal of men and women were being incredibly collaborative as effectively. Like, assisting every other out, advising just about every other … and describing distinct company terminology.”

Yousef thinks that this sense of neighborhood makes the system fulfilling.

“Honestly, I believe it was just entertaining to see individuals dressed up and go into interviews for all these clubs and points,” Yousef explained. “We’d constantly fuel every other up any time men and women were being walking by, just ‘Alright buddy, looking new. On the lookout new.’ It was a excellent time.”

Tan also claimed that these apps could get competitive, specially in the team round of the application method, when applicants were being envisioned to collaborate with each other.

“I think I obtained rather fortunate, and everybody in my group was rather chill,” Tan explained. “I feel we were all genuinely desperate to verify ourselves, which is to be expected. I did hear stories about a pair other job interview groups. There was a person exactly where seemingly two fellas had been definitely attempting to wrestle in excess of who bought to guide the group, and it was kind of detrimental to the group dynamic due to the fact alternatively of performing with each other, it was the two of them hoping to struggle for ability.” 

To Henry Lengthy CM ’25, the software course of action at the commencing of the semester can be overpowering, but he also finds it rewarding.

“I have undoubtedly talked with my good friends about this,” Long mentioned. “We constantly joke that it is like we’re implementing to college or university again … It’s sort of scary. You get on campus, you are trying to acclimate to your classes and all of a sudden, you have to utilize to these new organizations, investigation institutes, pre-professional clubs,” Lengthy said. “… At the similar time, it can be seriously worthwhile to see your application to 1 of these destinations occur to fruition.”

Despite the software process’ overwhelming character, present members from the 3 consulting teams mentioned that the recruitment season was considerably less too much to handle this year. This was partly owing to CMC’s plan transform, as very well as modifications of some consulting groups’ application constructions.

“I feel all of the clubs on campus now are essential to recruit afterwards,” Lui stated. “[Before] apps have been because of the very first week. And now they’re thanks the 3rd week, so it’s a whole lot significantly less mind-boggling than it utilized to be. But of course, it is even now a great deal, particularly if you really don’t know what you want to do as a freshman.” 

Supply junior manager Kira Hirsch CM ’23 mentioned that the group is actively using steps to turn out to be much more obtainable and much less overwhelming to learners, efforts which can be discovered in their spring selecting report. These endeavours involve moving SOURCE’s very first application deadline to Sept. 24, conducting interviews via Zoom, making purposes anonymous to reduce biases, taking away the organization casual costume code and being extra flexible with their needs.

“We are seriously cognizant of the point that individuals are coming in with very unique encounters and incredibly various privileges,” Hirsch said. “In our software procedure, we want to make absolutely sure that we’re minimizing the affect that owning all those activities, privileges and past opportunities will give you.”

This yr, Graphite Team recognized history quantities of purposes and second-spherical interviews in an energy to offer extra people with the encounter of a group job interview. Even so, Matthew San Luis CM ’23, Graphite’s director of talent acquisition, still thinks techniques need to be taken to reduce these groups’ substantial selectivity. 

“The matter with some of these businesses is they get like 67, maybe even 100 candidates and only 10 get in,” San Luis explained. “… And the children who do get into just one of the organizations have that on their resume. And they have that validation, which allows them get into the other corporation, which aids them to get the occupation. … I want to discover a way to make the process a lot more equitable, or probably include another component of our group that does not reject people to give everybody that shot to study as substantially as they can and give them an option.”

San Luis thinks that some areas of the recent recruitment year are value keeping, although.

“We want to keep up that society of staying an firm that expects a whole lot out of their candidates and their members,” San Luis reported.

Meanwhile, Lui uncertainties the total culture encompassing application time at CMC will transform a lot, as it has become predicted for learners.  

“There’s a lot of criticism at least at CMC close to freshman calendar year being incredibly stress filled simply because you are hoping to get into a large amount of clubs and institutes,” Lui explained. “And I don’t see that ever modifying … just simply because I imagine individuals come to CMC for that force. Persons know it is a incredibly pre-qualified college, and I think that they’re obtaining what they be expecting.”

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