A consulting resume template is not a design. It is a section order, a length budget and a bullet grammar, and all three are close to fixed across McKinsey, BCG, Bain and the tier below them.
That is why most "consulting CV template" downloads make things worse. They hand you a two-column layout with an icon bar and a skills-rating graphic, none of which an applicant tracking system can read, and none of which a consulting recruiter was looking for.
This page gives you the template as plain text you can paste into a blank document, plus the rules that decide whether each line survives a 30-second skim. Everything here is format-level and firm-agnostic. Where a firm genuinely differs, we say so and link to that firm's guide.
US readers: consulting resume and consulting CV mean the same document here. Consulting firms use the two words interchangeably across their US, UK and EMEA offices, and the format below is the one all of them screen.
The consulting resume template, as plain text
Paste this into an empty document, replace the placeholders, and delete nothing. The order is the template. Recruiters skim top-to-bottom and expect these five blocks in exactly this sequence.
| Block | Lines | What goes in it |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Header | 2 | Name · city · one phone · one email · LinkedIn URL. No photo, no address, no icons. |
| 2. Education | 4 to 6 | Institution, degree, dates, grade in the local scale. Two bullets maximum, both achievements. |
| 3. Professional Experience | 14 to 20 | Reverse chronological. 3 to 5 bullets per role, each one a quantified outcome. |
| 4. Leadership & Extracurriculars | 4 to 6 | Where entrepreneurial drive and inclusive leadership get proven. Not a hobby list. |
| 5. Additional | 2 to 3 | Languages with levels, technical tools, test scores if genuinely strong. |
The skeleton, verbatim. Everything in angle brackets is a placeholder:
Header
- <FULL NAME>
- <City, Country> · <+CC phone> · <email> · linkedin.com/in/<handle>
EDUCATION
- <University>, <City>, right-aligned <Month YYYY – Month YYYY>
- <Degree>, <Subject>. <Grade> (<local scale, e.g. top 5%>)
- • <Scholarship, ranking, thesis distinction, or competitive selection, with the number>
- • <One relevant leadership or quantitative achievement>
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
- <Employer>, <City>, right-aligned <Month YYYY – Month YYYY>
- <Job Title>
- • <Action verb> <what you did> <for whom / on what scale>, <result with a number>
- • <Repeat, 3 to 5 times, most impressive first>
LEADERSHIP & EXTRACURRICULARS
- <Organisation>, <Role>, right-aligned <YYYY – YYYY>
- • <What you built, led or changed, and the number that proves it>
ADDITIONAL
- Languages: <Language (Native)>, <Language (C1)>, <Language (B2)>
- Technical: <Excel, SQL, Python, Tableau: only what you would defend in an interview>
- Tests: <GMAT 740 / GRE 328: include only if above the firm's median>
Why plain text, and not a .docx download
Because the file is where consulting resume templates go wrong. A downloaded template carries its own tables, text boxes and column breaks, and those are the exact structures ATS parsers flatten or drop. Building from plain text in a blank document means the only structure in your file is structure you chose.
The formatting rules that decide whether it parses
Consulting resume formatting is unusually prescriptive because two different readers have to get through it: a parser first, a human second. These rules satisfy both.
| Rule | Setting | What breaks if you ignore it |
|---|---|---|
| Length | Exactly 1 page (pre-MBA and post-MBA alike) | Page 2 is generally not read; some portals truncate it |
| Columns | One. Never two | Parsers read across column boundaries and interleave your text |
| Font | Arial, Calibri, Garamond or Times, 10 to 11pt | Non-embedded fonts render as boxes in some viewers |
| Margins | 1.5cm to 2cm all round | Below 1.2cm and print/PDF conversion clips edges |
| Tables & text boxes | None | Content inside them is frequently dropped entirely |
| Headers & footers | Empty | Many parsers never read the header/footer region |
| Dates | Mon YYYY – Mon YYYY, consistent throughout | Mixed formats produce gaps in the parsed timeline |
| File format | PDF, unless the portal names .docx | Some older portals extract nothing from PDF; read the instructions |
| File name | Firstname_Lastname_CV.pdf | Nothing breaks, but it is the first thing a recruiter sees |
| Graphics | None. No skill bars, no logos, no photo | Skill bars carry no machine-readable value at all |
The photo question, settled
German, Austrian and Swiss applications historically included a photo. Consulting firms in those markets no longer expect one and most now ask you to leave it out. If a specific job posting requests one, follow the posting. Otherwise: no photo. It costs you vertical space you need for a bullet.
The bullet formula, and how to apply it
Every bullet on a consulting resume is the same sentence: action verb, scope, result with a number. If a bullet has no number, it is a description of a job, and descriptions of jobs do not differentiate you from the other applicants who held that job.
“Responsible for managing a team on a cost reduction project.”
“Led a 4-person workstream on a €40M procurement review, identifying €6.2M of annual savings adopted by the client's board.”
Names the scope (4 people, €40M), the action (led a workstream), and the outcome (€6.2M, adopted). All three are checkable in an interview.
“Helped improve the company's reporting process.”
“Rebuilt the monthly management report in SQL and Tableau, cutting preparation from 3 days to 4 hours and freeing 2 analysts for client work.”
Converts a vague 'helped improve' into a before/after with two units of measure.
“Strong analytical and communication skills.”
“Presented the pricing recommendation to 12 regional directors; 9 of 12 markets implemented it within one quarter.”
Never claim a soft skill. Show the situation where it was necessary and the result it produced.
“Worked on market entry strategy for a client.”
“Sized 3 candidate markets for a mid-cap industrials client, recommending entry into Poland on a 5-year €18M revenue case.”
Adds the count (3 markets), the client type, the recommendation, and the size of the case.
If you genuinely have no numbers
You almost always do, they are just not financial. Count what you touched: people coordinated, markets covered, documents processed, weeks saved, percentage of a backlog cleared, size of the audience you presented to. A number that is honest and small beats a number that is impressive and invented, because the second one gets tested in the interview.
What the template does NOT change by firm
This is the part most consulting resume template pages get wrong: they imply each firm wants a different document. They do not. The format above is common to all of them. What changes is which of your bullets you put first, and which vocabulary you use inside them.
| Firm group | Same format? | What actually differs |
|---|---|---|
| McKinsey, BCG, Bain | Yes | Emphasis. McKinsey reads for personal impact and entrepreneurial drive; BCG for quantified business results; Bain for results orientation and team fit. |
| Roland Berger, Oliver Wyman, Kearney, Strategy& | Yes | Sector proof. These firms screen harder for a demonstrated industry or functional angle than MBB do. |
| Deloitte, PwC, EY, KPMG consulting arms | Yes | Delivery language. Transformation, implementation, and named technologies carry more weight than pure strategy vocabulary. |
| Restructuring (AlixPartners, Alvarez & Marsal, FTI) | Yes | Speed and cash. 13-week cash flow, liquidity, stakeholder management under distress. |
| Boutiques (L.E.K., OC&C, Simon-Kucher, ADL) | Yes | Depth over breadth. One deep, well-told case beats five shallow ones. |
The firm guides below take this same template and show the wording, the keyword set and the bullet ordering each firm rewards. Start here, then tune with one of those.
Consulting resume template mistakes that cost interviews
Run this list against your draft before you submit
- Two columns, a sidebar, or a coloured band down one edge
- A skills section with rating bars, stars or percentages
- A photo, a date of birth, a marital status or a full postal address
- An objective or summary paragraph at the top (it costs 3 lines and adds nothing)
- Bullets that start with 'Responsible for', 'Assisted with', or 'Involved in'
- Any bullet with no number in it
- More than one page
- Grades given without their scale (a 2.1 or a 1.7 means nothing to a US screener, and a 3.8 GPA means nothing to a German one)
- Acronyms with no expansion on first use. The parser matches strings, not meanings
- A generic template header still reading 'Curriculum Vitae' as a title
The single most common one
A two-column layout. It looks organised on screen and it is the most reliable way to have your work history parsed into nonsense. If your current template has a sidebar, that alone is worth rebuilding for.
Adapting the template by experience level
| Profile | Order the blocks | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Undergraduate / pre-experience | Education → Experience → Leadership → Additional | Education leads. Internships count as experience. Leadership block does real work here. |
| 1 to 3 years' experience | Education → Experience → Leadership → Additional | Still education-first at most firms, but experience bullets should outnumber education bullets 3:1. |
| MBA / advanced degree | Education → Experience → Leadership → Additional | Pre-MBA experience stays, compressed to 2 bullets per role. Keep one page. |
| Experienced hire (5+ years) | Experience → Education → Leadership → Additional | This is the one profile that flips the order. Your track record is the argument. |
| PhD / advanced research | Education → Experience → Leadership → Additional | Translate the research into business language. Nobody is screening for your publication list. |
One page, at every level
Experienced hires ask about this most often. Consulting firms still expect one page from candidates well past ten years of experience. Two pages signals that you could not decide what mattered, which is the exact skill the job is about.
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Frequently asked questions
Is a consulting resume template different from a consulting CV template?
No. Consulting firms use resume and CV interchangeably across their US, UK and EMEA offices, and screen the same one-page format either way. The template on this page is the one all of them expect. The only practical difference is what you call the file, and that has no effect on screening.
Should a consulting resume be one page or two?
One page, at every experience level, including experienced hires and post-MBA candidates. Consulting screening explicitly rewards prioritisation, and a second page reads as an inability to choose. The rare exception is an academic or public-sector application that names a longer format in the posting.
What is the correct section order for a consulting CV?
Header, Education, Professional Experience, Leadership and Extracurriculars, Additional. The only profile that changes this is the experienced hire with roughly five or more years of relevant work, who leads with Professional Experience and moves Education below it.
Do consulting firms accept a two-column resume template?
They accept the file, but the applicant tracking system frequently mis-parses it. Two-column layouts cause parsers to read horizontally across the column boundary, interleaving unrelated text and producing a garbled work history. Use a single column, with no sidebar, no text boxes and no tables.
How many bullets should each role have on a consulting resume?
Three to five for your most recent and most relevant roles, two for older or less relevant ones. Every bullet needs an action verb, the scope of the work, and a quantified result. A bullet without a number is a job description, and it does not distinguish you from the other applicants who held the same job.
Should I include a photo on a consulting CV in Germany or Switzerland?
No, unless a specific posting asks for one. Consulting firms in the DACH market have moved away from expecting a photo, and it consumes vertical space that a quantified bullet would use better. Follow the posting where it differs.
Does this template work for McKinsey, BCG and Bain specifically?
Yes. The format is common to all three. What differs is emphasis and vocabulary: McKinsey screens for personal impact and entrepreneurial drive, BCG for quantified business results, Bain for results orientation and team fit. Build from this template first, then use the firm-specific guides to reorder your bullets and adjust wording.
What file format should I submit, PDF or Word?
PDF, unless the application portal explicitly asks for .docx. PDF preserves your layout across viewers, and modern parsers read it reliably. Where a portal names Word, follow it, and re-check the document after export because Word-to-portal conversion sometimes reflows a tight one-page layout onto two.