Consulting Cover Letter Guide

When you need a letter

If the portal asks for one, write one. If the office still reads them, write one. If a referrer asks for a PDF they can forward, write one. If the firm says the letter is optional and your resume already carries the office proof, spend the hour on cases.

A letter cannot rescue a soft resume. Grade the page first.

250–350 words. No fourth paragraph. No 'I am uniquely passionate.' No quote from the values page.

The only structure that works

• Paragraph 1. The ask and the office. Role, office, one proof you actually know the place.
• Paragraph 2. Why consulting, why this firm. One story with a number. One distinctive fact that is not prestige or people.
• Paragraph 3. Why you, and a close. One result they could put on a study. Ask for 15 minutes, or say you will follow the portal. Stop.

Worked letter

Use this as a model, not a Mad Lib.

Dear Ms. Okonkwo, I am applying to the London office for a Business Analyst role. I spent last summer in Shoreditch working a grocery-margin project for a 40-store chain, and I want to stay in the office that actually staffs UK retail. I want consulting because I like messy P&Ls more than I like clean lab results. On that grocery project I split contribution by banner and found £1.8m sitting in a private-label SKU the client was about to delist. I want BCG because the retail work I have seen from your London teams starts from the store P&L, not a slide about omnichannel. I can do the job. I led a four-person analysis, I presented to the CFO, and the SKU stayed. I would welcome 15 minutes with someone on the UK consumer team. Sincerely, Amira Chen

Count the numbers: one office proof, one £1.8m, one outcome. Count the 'I's. That is the point.

Fill-in, if you must

Dear [Name of a real person, or Recruiting Team], I am applying to [Office] for [Role]. I want this office because [one thing you did in that city, sector, or language]. Why consulting: [one story, one number, one decision you owned]. Why [Firm]: [one distinctive proof. A study, an office, a staffing model. Not prestige]. Why me: [one result a partner would steal]. I would welcome 15 minutes with [team]. Sincerely, [Name]

If paragraph 2 has no number, it is not done.

Office line

Bad: 'I want New York because it is the centre of business.'

Better: 'I want New York because I spent two years on a midtown PE deal team and I already know which offices staff consumer diligence.'

Bad: 'I want Munich because I speak German.'

Better: 'I want Munich because I wrote my thesis on German grocers and I can do the first-round case in German if that is useful.'

Bad: 'I want London because I studied abroad in first year.'

Better: 'I want London because I ran a grocery-margin project in Shoreditch and I want the office that still staffs UK retail from the store P&L.'

Firm flavour

One distinctive line. Not a values-page quote.

• McKinsey: a problem type or office you can name, and why the PEI story you will tell matches the work.
• BCG: a study or sector habit you have actually read, tied to a number from your own work.
• Bain: results and a team you would want to be staffed on. Specific, not 'culture'.
• Strategy arm (Monitor, Strategy&, Parthenon): name the entity. A letter that says 'PwC' when the seat is Strategy& reads careless.

Cut these

• 'Ever since I was young'
• 'Your people are the smartest in the room'
• A second page
• Repeating three resume bullets in prose
• 'I am confident I would be a great fit'
• Name-dropping a coffee chat without a specific thing they said

Write-in draft

Paragraph 1 — ask and office

Paragraph 2 — why consulting, why this firm

Paragraph 3 — why you, and close

Checklist

1. 250–350 words. Three paragraphs.
2. One office line that is not tourism.
3. One number in paragraph 2.
4. Named person if you have one.
5. Read it out loud. If you would be embarrassed to slide it across a dinner table, rewrite.

Then put the resume under it through the grader. A pretty letter on a soft resume still dies in the portal.