Network effect: The inspiring origin story of the SMU MBA Consulting Club

What does a career in the consulting industry look like? And how do you get your foot in the door if you’re aspiring to enter that industry?

These were the questions that were on the minds of many members of Singapore Management University’s 2020 Master of Business Administration (MBA) cohort. To help their peers answer these questions, four MBA students from this cohort – Marc Hong, Tawan Wetayavigromrat, Samantha Goh Martin and Yuto Toyama – decided to start the MBA Consulting Club.

“Most of our classmates were not familiar with the consulting industry, their hiring processes, and how to ‘crack’ the case studies that come up during interviews for such companies,” the club’s founders explained in a group email interview. “We came up with the idea of establishing a platform that could provide such useful information.”

Such case studies are also known as case interviews and refer to hypothetical business situations that are presented during the interview process to determine how a candidate thinks about a particular problem and how they would solve it.

As they prepared to elaborate on how to shine when going through this crucial process, the club founders realised that their diverse backgrounds were a great asset. Marc, for instance, had worked in the consulting industry before he joined the MBA programme, and he set about gathering information about case interviews from sources such as reference books and websites.

The club set up an online sharing drive, which allowed its members to access useful materials for case interviews. To help members prepare for case interviews, Yuto and Samantha also paired them up so everyone could practice cracking case interviews with partners.

The founders also wanted the club to be a platform where members could learn from industry experts. Tawan, who has a background in investment banking, took the lead for this, providing reference materials and contacting various candidates for the club’s guest speaker series. He focused on those working for the Big Three consulting companies – McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group and Bain & Company – in Southeast Asia.

“Thanks to our different backgrounds, we could eliminate bias and have different points of view for running the club,” the founders shared. “We talked to one another so many times about what would be useful for our members. We tried to provide an overall view of the consulting industry and create opportunities to learn from the industry experts and practice overcoming the biggest huddle — the case interview.”

During this process, they were also supported by both the university and MBA alumni. Mr Soo Chai Chew, Senior Assistant Director of the university’s Postgraduate Career Services department, served as the club’s formal advisor. This enabled the club to connect with alumni working in the consultancy industry, who were then invited to the guest speaker series. Many MBA alumni also took the initiative to contact the club and offer their help.

“For example, one of the alumni members from the 2019 cohort provided very useful materials in preparing for case interviews,” the founders shared. In their group chat, club members would also share job postings, interview questions, and other useful tools and frameworks for consultants. “One of the members of our cohort, Mr Kevin Salim, also provided us with information about a training chatbot that could help in preparing for case interviews.”

The wealth of knowledge they gleaned from setting up the club and from the club’s events has complemented their experience during the rigorous MBA programme, the founders said. They particularly appreciated the programme’s interactive seminar-style pedagogy, the potential job opportunities that arise from its mandatory internship component, and the emphasis on real-world business issues in Asia as elucidated by world-class faculty and experienced professionals.

“The curriculum is relevant, and includes up-to-date market trends,” they added. “For example, consultants now also need to understand digital transformation and data science, and SMU has included courses on these issues within the curriculum. We also learned many things about entrepreneurship and could easily expand our networks in the field of venture capital and start-ups, because the school is located very near the main business district.”

Having already handed over the running of the Consulting Club to the class of 2021, the four founders hope that it will produce many great consultants in the years to come as its membership grows. “That will make this information-sharing platform bigger. Some of us will work for the consulting industry after graduation, so we hope we can provide relevant networking opportunities to future cohorts.”