Hey, I'm an undergraduate student at Birmingham University studying for a Business Commerce degree about to enter my final year. Consulting is an industry I'm really interested in getting involved with but I'm having trouble getting the work experience I think I need to start applying for graduate placements. Does anyone have advice on what i can do, and or whether work experience is essential.Cheers

Hi Devon,In todays recruitment market, good work experience or internships are essential in setting yourself apart from your peers.Unfortunately I don't think Birmingham Uni is a key recruitment point for some of the more prestigious companies. Even more reason why you need some really good extra-curriculars on your CV.When it comes to work experience anything is better than nothing. It's very difficult to get short term work at most consultancies, but they will look very favourably on experience from banks and industrial programme management.Hope this helps... and good luck!

They tend not to employ people called Devon or, indeed, from Devon so this could also count against you. If you are entering your final year, this is probably something you should have thought of earlier. What you did during the current Summer is going to count for a lot.