I’m two and a half years into consulting and circling corporate strategy roles. The ambiguity is real: JDs blur “strategy,” “ops,” “M&A,” and “product.” I’m trying to isolate the handful of signals that actually trigger recruiter callbacks and hiring manager interest.
From conversations with folks who’ve hired ex-consultants, the patterns I hear most are ownership of a real business lever (pricing, retention, unit cost), and standing up an operating mechanism that leaders actually use (QBRs/OKRs with measurable adoption). I’ve also been told lightweight SQL or strong Excel is a plus, but not a blocker if the business impact is clear.
If you’ve screened or hired for corp strat, what two projects on a resume made you say “yes”? What wording made the difference? I’m thinking along the lines of “moved gross margin +120 bps in 10 weeks via pricing test; scaled to 6 regions,” or “instituted monthly exec review tracking 8 KPIs; 90% adoption across Sales/Finance.”
Bonus ask: if you had to design a 90‑day signal-building plan while still in consulting, what specific project would you chase, which metric would you commit to move, and how would you package the story so it survives a 20‑second resume scan?
two signals matter: you owned a lever that hits the p&l (pricing, churn, cogs) and you shipped an operating ritual people actually use monthly. drop the “partnered with cross-functional teams” fluff. show before/after numbers and time-to-impact. sql is nice; no one’s hiring you to be a data eng. in 90 days: pick a client where the cfo knows the pain, run a tight pricing or retention test, move a metric 1–2 pts, get a quote from the exec, print it on the resume.
i’m a jr at mbb. built a churn “save” playbook for a saas client; reported weekly in a qbr. phrased it as “reduced churn 1.8 pts in 8 weeks; scaled to 3 segments.” got 3 corp strat callbacks fast.
Your instincts are correct: reviewers anchor on ownership, results, and scale. Two reliable archetypes shift outcomes. First, a pricing or packaging initiative with a clear financial delta and a rollout beyond a pilot. Second, an operating cadence you designed and institutionalized—think QBR/OKR framework with measurable adoption across functions.
Phrase each entry with context, action, and outcome. Include the metric moved, the baseline, the time window, and the population covered. Note stakeholder altitude (e.g., CFO sponsor, Sales VP rollout) to signal you can influence decision-makers.
For a 90-day plan while still in consulting, target an account with access to data and a willing sponsor. Prioritize a narrow lever (churn cohort or SKU margin), run a test, publish a recurring dashboard, and secure an executive quote you can reference.
You’re asking the right questions! Focus on one clear P&L lever and one durable operating mechanism. Put numbers first, timeline second, and scope last. Package it tightly and you’ll stand out. You’ve got this.
I moved from consulting to F500 corp strat last year. The line that got me callbacks wasn’t fancy: “introduced usage-based pricing; +2.2% gross margin in 6 weeks; scaled to 9 markets.” The other was about ritual: “stood up monthly exec review tracking 10 KPIs; 95% attendance; cut decision time from 14 to 5 days.” Recruiters quoted those back to me. For a 90‑day plan, find a painful, measurable lever, run a small pilot, document the before/after, and get the sponsor to vouch in one sentence.
On screens, readers spend 15–30 seconds, so quantified outcomes dominate. Signals most correlated with onsite invites in my experience are P&L impact, mechanism durability, scale, and basic tool fluency. A strong line reads like this: “raised gross margin 120 bps in 10 weeks via packaging test; rolled to 6 regions; CFO sponsor.” Another: “instituted QBR cadence covering Sales/Finance; 88% attendance; 3 decisions advanced per month.”
For a 90-day plan, choose one lever with measurable baseline, run an A/B or time-bound pilot, publish a simple dashboard, and commit to a numeric target.