I was a consultant at BCG who struggled to land a project. Here's how I turned it around.

This is an question and reply pinch Jonathan Chan, the cofounder and main merchandise and exertion serviceman of Pear, an AI level that's helping to reinvent consulting. Prior to that, he spent 5 years arsenic a advisor astatine Boston Consulting Group.

I started my profession arsenic a tech developer, past did my MBA and spent astir 5 years successful strategy astatine Westpac, an Australian bank. I loved strategy, truthful I applied to major consulting firms like McKinsey, Bain, and BCG. I yet joined BCG arsenic a consultant.

I was excited. Then I recovered myself sitting connected the bench.

I had an MBA and adjacent to a decade of experience, but I wasn't getting staffed connected a existent project. I'd done immoderate mini "free capacity" work, helping teams and partners pinch likelihood and ends, but I wanted a due project.

There were astir 14 consultants successful my Australian cohort, and I felt for illustration I was 1 of the past to get staffed. I was talking to the personification responsible for staffing, and the connection was basically, "wait." So I decided to return matters into my ain hands.

I made a transportation platform astir myself. I called it "Will Write Slides for Food."

Obviously, I was being paid a BCG advisor salary. The title was meant to beryllium funny, but I was besides anxious and wanted to create thing I could nonstop to group who mightiness person power complete staffing.

The platform was fundamentally a résumé successful PowerPoint form.

I included my background, strengths, task experience, and examples of my work. I showed slides involving task planning, financial modeling, driver trees, user research, and analyzable analysis.

I didn't nonstop it retired to the full firm. Instead, I sent the platform to partners, principals, and task leaders I already knew aliases had spoken with. The responses ranged from group uncovering it funny to group telling maine to relax.

One senior partner gave maine proposal I still remember. He told maine to bask the downtime because erstwhile I sewage onto projects, the activity astir apt wouldn't stop. If you did well, group would support staffing you. He was right.

I wasn't staffed instantly aft sending the deck. I deliberation it took different 2 months, and I spent astir 3 months unstaffed successful total. Once I sewage staffed, though, I was ne'er connected the chair again. Looking back, I astir apt should person relaxed more.

If you're astatine a patient for illustration McKinsey, Bain, aliases BCG and you're not staffed, I'd usage the clip productively. Read the firm's knowledge base, do trainings, and person java chats pinch partners.

Staffing isn't only astir your capabilities. There's a quality element, too. If I had to take betwixt personification astonishing I didn't cognize and personification reliable I'd already spent clip with, location is simply a bully chance I'd unit the personification I knew. So make those quality connections.

Even if the platform didn't straight get maine staffed, it forced maine to explain who I was, what I could do, and what I wanted. More than a decade later, I still deliberation that's useful.

Today, I do 3 things: I constitute a newsletter astir really AI tin thief group activity faster. I besides do independent consulting, and I build businesses pinch AI.

One of those businesses is Pear, which we picture arsenic an "Uber for consultants" that helps independent consultants find strategy projects. In immoderate ways, it brings maine backmost to what I was trying to do pinch that platform astatine BCG — fig retired really to get my sanction retired location among the partners.

Pear now does thing akin during onboarding, utilizing AI to propulsion together a consultant's acquisition and fundamentally creates that platform for you.

Here's a look astatine the platform that Chan made to thief him get staffed connected a task astatine BCG: