Bain Resume: Our Comprehensive Guide with Examples

Bain, like other top consulting firms, is not just looking for a “great” resume. They want to see the best resumes. As a former MBB recruiter, I know Bain resumes should highlight strong academics, a track record of professional success, leadership abilities, and problem-solving and communication skills.

1. Academic Excellence

High GPAs and test scores are ideal. If your grades aren’t stellar, consider writing an addendum to provide context and demonstrate resilience. For example, were you balancing a full-time job with college? Ideally, the addendum should be one paragraph and on a separate PDF.
Highlight courses in business, economics, mathematics, and other relevant areas to show you’re prepared for the analytical demands of consulting. If you achieved top grades in these courses, you should include those as well.

2. Progressive Work Experience & Impact

Include relevant internships or jobs in consulting, finance, or other related industries.
Professional work experience should demonstrate your problem-solving skills, leadership, and ability to deliver results.
Quantifiable impacts are the gold mine of your Bain resume. Showcase the value you delivered in your roles and back it up with data. At MCO, we call this “XYZ format.” For example: Increased revenue (X) by $100,000 (Y) by landing contract after cold-calling 100 companies (Z). If you can’t quantify an experience, don’t include it.

3. Leadership

Include leadership positions in extracurricular activities, student organizations, or your job. Memberships are good, but leadership roles are better! If you’re limited on space, include leadership roles only.
Showcase entrepreneurial drive to highlight your leadership abilities, innovative thinking, and resilience.

4. Analytical and Problem-Solving Skills

Demonstrate these skills through your professional and academic experiences. Examples:
- Reduced inconsistent grading complaints by 80% by analyzing student feedback and redefining grading rubrics to remove ambiguity
- Reduced code re-execution and testing run time by 30% by streamlining the integration and deployment of code base
Include proficiency in data analysis tools, such as Excel, Tableau, SQL, etc.

5. Communication Skills

Clear and concise writing is key! Your resume should be easy to read and make a punch in less than 10 seconds.
Highlight your ability to collaborate effectively with teams, whether academic or professional.

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How to Write Your Bain Resume

Your Bain resume should be standardized and follow the format below. Ensure that each section is written in reverse chronological order, starting with your most recent experience.

The key components are:

Personal Information

Include your full name, the city and state in which you reside, your phone number, your email address, and a hyperlink to your LinkedIn page.

Education

When deciding where to place the education section on your resume consider, these recommendations:
- If you are an experienced hire, include your professional experience first.
- If you attend a “target” school (undergraduate or graduate) and are participating in on-campus recruiting, include professional experience first. You are competing with students from your school whose resumes will all start with the same school information. Putting your professional experience first can help you stand out.
- If you attend a non-target school, include the education section first.

Professional Experience

A Bain resume should utilize bullet points under each job. Three bullet points is the magic number with a limit of two lines of text per bullet point. Don’t make the mistake of writing a paragraph. It’s too overwhelming for the reader.

Leadership & Extracurriculars

If you have quantifiable impacts from your leadership experience, include them in bullet point form.

Skills & Interests

Include technical or consulting-related skills, certifications, languages, and a few personal interests that make you stand out.

How to Ensure Your Resume Stands Out from the Competition

When writing your Bain resume, you want Bain to know you’ve done your research and have what it takes to become a Bain consultant.

1. Tailor to Bain’s Requirements

Highlight experiences & skills that align with Bain’s values: Passion & Commitment, Honesty & Openness, Practical, and One Team. Dig deeper into Bain’s values on their website. You should also consider these values when writing your Bain Cover Letter.
Customize for the Role: Tailor your resume to the specific consulting role you are applying for, emphasizing relevant experience, analytical skills, and problem-solving abilities.

2. Network

Networking is key to the recruitment process. Research LinkedIn to find Bain employees with whom you share commonalities. Don’t hesitate to ask for 15 minutes of their time, and be sure to share your resume. They were once in your shoes!
Attending Bain-sponsored events on campus or in professional settings will let you talk to the speakers and ask thoughtful questions. Don’t forget to send a thank you email and LinkedIn connection following the event.
Developing a strong professional connection can lead to a referral, but it generally takes time and multiple conversations to land one. While referrals do not guarantee an interview, they do help your resume get to the top of the stack.

Successful Bain Resume Examples + Why They Work

Bain Resume Example - Undergrad

Why This Resume Works

This sample Bain resume works for a few key reasons.

1. The writer’s professional experiences are quantified and follow XYZ format.
2. The writer displays well-roundedness by including an interests section and quantifying those interests.
3. The writer’s leadership section shows diversity in interests and causes. They also included the value they delivered in each of these roles.

Bain Resume Example - Master’s

Why This Resume Works

It is well-formatted and easy to read. The writer incorporated the previously mentioned sections and kept it to one page.
Each bullet point in the writer’s professional experience section includes a measurable result. It’s all substance, no filler.
The writer nailed the skills section by listing technical capabilities that are highly relevant to consulting. If you aren’t familiar with these or similar products, consider upskilling with online courses.

5 Tips on Writing a Successful Bain Resume

A Bain resume should follow a standardized format and be concise and easy to read. Avoid using color*, photos, or any non-traditional text. Again, the goal is for the reader to easily identify your measurable results. As an experienced recruiter, I cringe at resumes that do not follow this format and am less inclined to review them.

Most resumes I put in the “no” pile suffer from one of 2 pitfalls:

They leave something to be desired. These resumes lack a necessary piece to the resume pie. Maybe you listed the tasks you did at your job but didn’t tell me what value those tasks delivered.
They say too much. This is a redundant, overly wordy, or multi-page resume. Your document likely has less than a minute to impress a Bain recruiter.

With these tips, you can find that happy medium.

*Color is acceptable to use on your name and headings if it matches the firm’s logo color.

1. Keep It to One Page

Ideally, your Bain resume should fill up one page – no more, no less! Recruiters have limited time to review the many resumes they receive, so concision is key. There are a few circumstances in which a longer resume is acceptable. You can use a 2-page resume if:

You have extensive experience: If you have over 10 years of professional experience, particularly if it’s relevant to consulting.
You’re applying for an executive role: Executive-level and leadership positions require in-depth, comprehensive experience, so you’ll need to provide more detail on your impact in previous positions.

2. No Summary Section

A Bain resume should not include a summary section. A summary typically ends up being redundant and can distract from the important pieces like your measurable impacts! As a recruiter, I regularly read summary sections that just reiterate what’s already covered elsewhere in the resume.

3. Highlight Technical Skills vs. Interpersonal Skills

Highlighting your technical abilities in the skills section is a must. Avoid listing non-technical skills such as “leadership” or “problem-solving,” as these qualities should be identifiable throughout your resume.

4. Include Test Scores & GPA

Bain will require you to submit your test scores and GPA. Leaving these scores off your resume can indicate you are trying to hide them.

5. Triple-check for Typos

Proofread your resume a few times over, then ask a trusted peer or mentor to review it. A fresh set of eyes can make all the difference. Additionally, you can utilize a paid online proofreading service or My Consulting Offer’s application review coaches.

Following these tips will give you a consulting resume you can feel good about sending to Bain.

– – – – – – –

In this article, we’ve covered:

What Bain recruiters want to see on resumes
Sections to include on your Bain resume
Things that make your resume stand out
Bain resume examples + why they work
5 tips for a successful Bain resume

Still have questions?

If you have more questions about writing your Bain Resume, leave them in the comments below. One of My Consulting Offer’s recruiters will answer them.

Other people writing their Bain resume found the following pages helpful:

Bain Cover Letter
Why Bain?
MBB Consulting Firms: What Makes Them Different?
How to Choose a Consulting Office
The Bain Case Interview
And for more resume examples, check out Consulting Resumes

Help with Your Consulting Application

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