At BCG, we strive to give each applicant the chance to perform to the best of their ability throughout the application process. Due to the high volume of applications we receive each year, we can only interview a small proportion of applicants. Therefore, we recommend you read our tips below to ensure you submit a CV that really shows off your merits.
We use two criteria to evaluate your CV:
An outstanding academic record, that would include the following:
- An HD/D average at university
- Any prizes, awards or scholarships won
- Strong high school result - UAI (in top 5-10%) or equivalent
- For PhD students, any publications, scholarship awards or presentations at conferences
A strong extra-curricular record, that may take several forms:
- Extensive involvement in a number of activities, sports, societies or roles
- Involvement in one activity to a high level, e.g. President of a University committee or sports team
- Impressive work experience, be it business related (for instance, consulting or banking) or other (which may include, for example, community projects and not-for-profit work). If you have been in the workforce for a significant period, you need to provide evidence of your impact and progression through your career to date
- Whatever the extra-curricular activity, we are looking for evidence of impact and legacy, significant effort, high level of commitment, initiative and responsibility
To help us really get the most out of your CV, you must convince us of your achievements. To do this, you should provide as much supporting detail as possible.
Be specific: Include dates, relevant titles and as detailed grades as possible. If you have been educated outside Australia, please explain your grades (for example, A is awarded to the top 15% of the country; provide the grading % level as well).
Give details: Don’t assume that we know the significance of your achievements, try to spell them out for us.
- If you have won a prize or a competitive scholarship, let us know what it was for, how many people were competing and how many received an award
- If you were Treasurer of a University club, tell us how much your budget was, how many members the club has, what the time commitment involved was, and what you did. We’re interested in hearing about your day-to-day responsibilities as well as what distinguished you from any predecessors – what legacy will you leave behind for this organisation? If you were elected to the post, tell us how many people voted
- If you were a teacher for the summer, what did you learn from it? What were your responsibilities? (Rather than saying you “directed a pantomime”, be more specific)- “Responsible for writing and directing a pantomime with 30 children, which was attended by 300 people. Wrote proposal and was awarded $1000 sponsorship by the local council”
Format to impress: Make your CV as easy on the eye as possible. Keep it succinct (we recommend no more than two pages) and order your achievements in a logical, clearly structured way with your most significant achievements most prominent on the page
We hope this guide helps you create a CV that demonstrates both your academic and extra curricular achievements. We wish you the best of luck and look forward to receiving your application.