The Summer Before Recruiting: A Week-by-Week Consulting Prep Plan
Eight weeks, one finished deliverable per week: audit, resume, networking, frameworks and math, mock cases, fit stories, logistics, and a dress rehearsal. A plan for the summer before consulting recruiting opens.
Many candidates treat the summer before recruiting as a holding pattern. They plan to start seriously when classes resume, and by the time they do, the first deadlines are days away. The summer is one of the few stretches of the year when nobody is evaluating you, which makes it the right time for the slow work: the resume, the relationships, the base skills and the stories that otherwise get assembled in a panic.
This plan assumes it is early July and you have about eight weeks. It is written for people whose recruiting cycle opens in the fall: undergraduates heading into their junior or senior year, and MBA students about to start their first or second year. It assumes eight to ten hours a week, which is realistic alongside an internship or a job. If you have more time, do not add topics. Add reps in weeks four through eight.
Eight weeks from early July ends in late August, so check where your own cycle starts. Incoming MBAs: the MBA calendar describes recruiting starting at August orientation, so finish weeks one to six before it. Rising juniors: your target is this fall's internship cycle, covered in the undergraduate calendar. Rising seniors: read the senior-year section of that same post. If you are starting from zero case experience or from a school where firms do not recruit on campus, treat these eight weeks as the start of a longer runway, not the whole of it.
The plan at a glance
| Week | Focus | Finish the week with |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Audit | A one-page gap sheet and one recorded baseline case |
| 2 | Resume and target list | A resume a stranger can skim in 30 seconds; 6 to 10 target firms and offices, one reason each |
| 3 | Networking rhythm | A tracker with 12 names and your first three messages sent |
| 4 | Frameworks and math base | Four one-page case structures in your own words; five days of math drills with errors logged; two full cases, one with a human |
| 5 | Mock cases with feedback | Three mocks, written feedback on each, and a top-three habits list |
| 6 | Fit stories | Six to eight story outlines, each spoken aloud once; two full cases, one with a human |
| 7 | Logistics | One calendar of deadlines, an application folder, a tested interview setup; two full cases, one with a human |
| 8 | Dress rehearsal and rest | A full mock interview morning with someone new, then a lighter week |
Application windows and interview dates differ by school, firm, office and year, and they move. For the general shape of each path, read the MBA recruiting calendar or the undergraduate recruiting calendar. For your actual dates, use each firm's careers page, your recruiter's emails and your career services office.
Week 1: Audit
Rate yourself from 1 to 5 on seven things: case structure, case math, speaking clearly under pressure, fit stories, resume, network and logistics. Be blunt. Then do one case cold, out loud, with a voice memo running. Listen to it once and write down the three things you would change.
The point is to find out where the hours should go. Many people over-invest in what they enjoy (reading frameworks) and under-invest in what they avoid (speaking, and math under a clock). A rough baseline today is worth more than a polished one in September.
Deliverable: a one-page gap sheet with your seven ratings and the baseline recording saved.
Week 2: Resume and target list
Start with the resume because other people need it before you can use them. Read what the screening pass looks for, then rewrite so each bullet leads with what you did and ends with a result you can defend. Ask two people who have been through the process to mark it up, and fix what they flag. Resumes improve with outside feedback, not with a fifth solo rewrite.
Then build the target list. Write the office as well as the firm, because offices recruit separately and details vary. Next to each entry, write one specific reason you want it. If you cannot, you are not ready to write a cover letter for it; the cover letter post covers what specific means.
Deliverable: a resume version you would send today and a list of 6 to 10 firm-and-office targets, one reason each.
Week 3: Networking rhythm
Set up a rhythm instead of a burst. Three messages a week through the rest of the summer is a pace you can sustain, and it should put several conversations on the calendar before September. Keep a simple tracker: name, how you are connected, date, what you learned, next step. The outreach templates have message structures that work.
Go into each conversation with two questions that a search engine cannot answer, such as what the person wishes they had known about staffing at their office, and what surprised them in their first six months. Send a short thank-you within a day that names one thing they said. In the first conversation, ask for advice and listen. Do not ask for anything else.
Deliverable: a tracker with 12 names and your first three messages sent.
Week 4: Frameworks and math base
Do not memorize frameworks. Write a one-page structure in your own words for four case types: profitability, market entry, M&A and pricing. Write each as the questions you would ask, not boxes to fill. The posts on profitability, market entry, M&A and pricing are good raw material; the one-pagers should still sound like you.
For math, spend 15 minutes a day on percentage changes, growth rates, break-even and simple market sizing. Use the shortcuts post for technique and the market sizing post for estimation. Say the working out loud from day one; the narration habit is harder to add later than the arithmetic.
Test the one-pagers on live prompts: run two full cases this week, one with a human, using a different case type each time.
Deliverable: four one-page structures, a log of five days of drills with every error written down, and two full cases, one with a human.
Week 5: Mock cases with feedback
Do three full cases out loud with someone who will be honest: one with a peer, one with someone who has already been through recruiting, and one recorded on your own. If you cannot find a partner this week, a solo case that you record and review is a better use of the hour than skipping the rep.
After each case, write one thing to keep and one thing to change. Change one thing at a time, otherwise you will not know what helped. When you get stuck mid-case, which you will, practice the five-step reset rather than restarting your structure.
Deliverable: three feedback notes and a list of your top three habits to fix.
Week 6: Fit stories
Build the bank now, while the details are fresh. Six to eight stories cover most of what you will be asked; the story bank post lays out which ones, and the PEI buckets show how one firm grades them. For each story, write a headline, the stakes, what you personally did, the result, and what you would do differently.
Then say each one aloud once and time it. A story that reads well and sounds rambling is common, and you only find out by speaking. Draft your answer to why consulting and why this firm at the same time (the why-consulting post covers the failure modes).
Do not let story work crowd out case reps. Run two full cases this week as well, one with a human.
Deliverable: six to eight outlines, each spoken once and two recorded, plus two full cases, one with a human.
Week 7: Logistics
Logistics are the cheapest source of avoidable failure. Put every deadline you know of on one calendar, with the source next to it. Create an application folder with your resume as a PDF, transcript, test scores and reference contacts. Find out which firms on your list use online assessments; the Solve guide is a starting point for one of them. If you are applying across borders, read the international recruiting post and sort out work-authorization questions early.
Then test the interview setup: camera at eye level, light in front of you, headphones and microphone checked, a backup connection such as a phone hotspot, and a room where you will not be interrupted. Run a call with a friend and ask what they saw and heard. Then use that setup for two full cases this week, one with a human, so the test is on a real session and not just a video check.
Deliverable: one deadline calendar, one folder, one tested setup and two full cases, one with a human.
Week 8: Dress rehearsal and rest
Run a full interview morning with someone who has not seen your prep: a 10-minute fit segment, then two cases, in the room and on the laptop you will actually use. Debrief that afternoon, and write a short list of what to work on in September. Then make the next few days lighter. Rested and slightly under-practiced beats exhausted and over-practiced.
Deliverable: a debrief note and a September plan.
Five ways this plan goes wrong
- Reading instead of doing. Finishing a casebook is not the same as solving a case aloud.
- Waiting for the perfect partner. An imperfect partner this week beats a perfect one in October. Recording yourself is always available.
- Endless resume polishing. Past the second round of outside feedback, returns are small. Move on.
- Networking in a burst. Thirty messages in a weekend look like a campaign. Three a week look like interest.
- Cramming the last week. Skills consolidate when you rest. Sleep is part of the plan.
Keep the order and stretch the weeks. The three things with real lead time are the resume, the relationships and the stories, so protect those first and let case volume fill whatever time is left. The six-week plan for people with full-time jobs covers the case-practice side of that squeeze.
A summer will not make you ready for everything. It can remove the avoidable problems: a resume that does not read, a network that does not know you, stories you have never said out loud, and an interview setup nobody tested. Those problems are avoidable, and they can hurt otherwise capable candidates.
The plan includes about a dozen full cases (the week-one baseline plus eleven more across weeks four to eight). Treat that as a foundation, not full preparation, and keep adding reps after week eight; the undergraduate calendar sets a higher bar for people recruiting this fall.
Frequently asked questions
How many hours a week does this plan need?
It assumes eight to ten. Weeks one to three are light on cases; weeks four to eight carry most of the practice. If you have fewer hours, keep the order and stretch the weeks rather than dropping the resume, networking and story deliverables, because those have lead times that case practice does not.
What if I have never done a case before?
Do the baseline in week one anyway. It is meant to be rough, and a first attempt that goes badly is still useful because it shows you where to start. Read one or two walkthroughs first so you know what a case looks like, then spend the time doing cases out loud rather than reading more.
Should I start before July?
If you can, yes. Starting in June just means each week below can stretch to ten days. What matters is the order and the fact that every block ends with something finished.
My recruiting cycle opens earlier or later than most. Does the plan still work?
The sequence works; shift the weeks. If your first deadlines fall early, compress weeks two and three and move your first mocks forward. Confirm your own dates with each firm and your career services office, because timing varies by school, firm and office.
Do I need a casebook or a prep course?
Neither is required. One or two good written sources are enough for vocabulary. The variable that moves performance is the number of cases you solve out loud with feedback, so spend money and time there before you spend it on more reading.
Case Prep With a Full-Time Job: A Realistic 6-Week Plan
If your summer is mostly work, a tighter plan built around weekday micro-drills and weekend sessions.
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