A consulting coffee chat is a 20-minute meeting, usually video, sometimes coffee. It is not the cold email that booked it, not an info session with 80 people, and not the “any questions for me?” at the end of a case. Those have their own pages: networking emails, events, interviewer questions. This page is how you do not waste the 20 minutes.
What the 20 minutes are for
You are trying to learn one true thing about staffing, office, or the work — and to be easy to talk to. The consultant is trying to decide whether this was a pleasant use of a lunch break. A referral, if it happens, is a later email, after they have a reason to remember you. Asking in minute three is how you become a story in a group chat.
If you already have an interview, a coffee chat can still help you answer “why this office” with something other than the skyline. It is not secret case prep. Do not ask them to leak interview questions.
Before the call (15 minutes of work)
Read their LinkedIn for office, tenure, and practice, not for a speech about their alma mater. Prepare three questions that only they can answer. Bad: “What’s the culture?” Good: “You’re in the Dallas office on healthcare — when you staff, is it mostly local health systems or national travel?”
Write a 30-second intro: who you are, what you are recruiting for (intern vs full-time, undergrad vs MBA), why you asked them. Stop. They did not agree to a TED talk.
Confirm time zone. Be in a quiet room. Have a notebook. Do not screen-share your resume unless they ask.
A simple agenda that fits 20 minutes
| Minutes | You | Them |
|---|---|---|
| 0–2 | Thank them, 30-second intro | Settle in |
| 2–14 | Your three questions; follow one thread | They talk; you listen |
| 14–18 | One question about their path or a recent project type (not confidential detail) | Optional stories |
| 18–20 | Thanks, one sentence on what you will do next, stop | They offer next steps or not |
If they expand a topic, let them. The agenda is a guardrail against you rambling, not a script they must follow.
Camera on. Mute Slack. Treat it like a client call because that is the professional standard they live in.
Questions that work in a coffee chat
Coffee-chat questions are curious and specific. They are not interviewer questions (“How does the PEI get scored?”) and not event questions (“When does the portal open?” — that is a recruiter / careers-page job).
Use this menu; pick three:
- Staffing: How much of your last six months was one client versus jump-around? How far in advance do you know next week’s plan?
- Office: What work does this office actually sell (industry mix), versus the national brand?
- Travel: Monday–Thursday pattern, or local? Who gets the remote-heavy studies?
- Apprenticeship: Who marks up your slides — EM, partner, both? How fast is feedback?
- Path: What did you believe before you joined that was wrong?
- Yours, tightly: “I did X internship. People with that background — what do they get staffed on first here?”
Follow-ups beat a list. If they say “it’s feast or famine,” ask what famine looks like in that office.
Avoid: compensation (use the salary guide and the offer letter), “can you refer me,” and anything that requires them to break confidentiality.
How to talk about yourself without pitching
They will ask “tell me about you.” Give a 90-second arc: school or job, one proof of analytical work, why consulting this year, why this firm is on the list. Then toss the ball back. Long autobiographical answers turn a chat into a failed interview.
If they ask why McKinsey versus Bain, answer with work and people you have actually spoken to, not rankings. Empty prestige talk is a filter.
Closing without the referral lunge
End at 20 minutes even if they seem happy. “I want to respect your time” is a consulting skill.
Close with: one takeaway you will act on (“I’m going to read the healthcare staffing model before I apply”), thanks, and “if it’s useful I can send a short note after I submit.” That invites a thread. It does not demand a flag in the ATS.
If they offer to refer, say yes, send the one-page resume that day, and name the exact posting. If they do not offer, the thank-you email still goes out within 24 hours. Wording: follow-up templates.
A second chat is rare and earned. Do not book four “just checking in” calls with the same associate.
Afterward: make the meeting change your packet
Write four lines while it is fresh: what they staff, what they warned you about, a phrase you can use in “why this office,” and whether a referral is even plausible. Put it in your tracker next to the networking row.
If they described a travel model that you would hate, believe them. The day in the life and working at McKinsey pieces exist so you do not romanticize the hours. A coffee chat is how you test whether this office matches those ranges.
If they said your story is vague, fix the story before the interview process starts. The chat was free feedback.
What a coffee chat is not
It is not case practice. Do not ask them to give you a case unless they volunteer and you both have time.
It is not an info session. You should not be asking questions whose answers are on the first page of the careers site.
It is not a substitute for events. Events create weak ties at scale; coffee chats deepen one tie.
Run the 20 minutes like a professional. That is the whole skill.
Sources
- UC Berkeley Career Engagement, informational interviews as 20–30 minute career conversations
- CoachNed, Networking email templates and follow-up templates
- CoachNed, Working at McKinsey (hours and travel as context for staffing questions)