Can anyone who's received case help or has taken a class summarize what the experience was like and provide concrete examples of what you were helped with?

I entirely missed analyst recruiting during fall semester and had to work through some contacts to try to get an interview.

I really wanted to enter consulting and only managed a few interviews. So I tried to find someone with experience to help prepare me. I stumbled upon this website and emailed the contact. He replied and told me to give him a call one night. He was on a project so we worked out a schedule to meet over the phone 4 times within a 2 week period.

I've read most of the case books out there, and I had a fair amount of knowledge leading into our conversations but I guess to summarize what I got out of our meetings
1. you get a really big crash course flow chart that summarizes the key questions to think about. it's really easy to follow and understand once you go over each concept
2. he uses a lot of pop culture references and name brand companies to teach business concepts that allowed me to relate to the flow chart much easier
3. he helped me work through my answers for why I was a good fit for consulting and why i should be hired
4. his cases are pretty challenging and we talked through how to improve
I spent a couple hundred for his help but in the end I'm starting work full time in a month which i'm really excited about so I'm happy to report things worked out. Hope this helps

Thanks for the update. So you graduated last year in 07 and were trying to find a consulting position now? How hard was it to obtain interviews? How do you think the economy will play a role in the number of consulting firms that hire this year?

Yeah I graduated in 07 and took some time off. Worked this marketing job to get by and started looking for consulting positions back in February.

Getting interviews was tough and there was a lot of waiting involved as many times I was getting emails from HR reps saying there were checking on demand or looking to see if there were any openings. The people I've spoken to during the interview process however have told me that consulting demand is scorching right now. You'd think maybe like banking it would slow down a lot but apparently it hasn't. It worked out for me so hopefully the demand will continue.

Thanks Sheridan for your posts.

From the people I've spoken to plus examining demand from my own company, I actually agree with Sheridan. Demand right now for consulting is really high. My firm is actually having trouble staffing projects because there just aren't enough bodies around.

I think recruiting across all firms will stay level as to previous years. You'll always have your influx of people who leave through normal attrition who need to be replaced plus someone has to do the number crunching and data gathering. So from a numbers perspective, I don't think there should be too much concern.

However, I will make this statement. I think the competition for consulting will be higher than previous years. As Wall Street goes to shit and banks keep laying people off, I'm not sure how strong I-banking will be in terms of hiring. They'll still hire but I'm not sure at what level so I can see a lot more demand for consulting.

Sigh.. the thing is the current fosterer has no time to bring him to a vet. tried my best to help. so i just see if theres anyone has it and help that poor dog to look for his rightful owner.

Yes, this site does work, well it worked for me.
I was looking for my adopted son, who just happened to "google" his name, which turned up my post on this site.
So have faith people and if who youre looking for has any vanity, theyll eventually "google" themselves