For many business and engineering school students in France, the gap year (année de césure) is the real entry point into strategy consulting. Two internship periods, often six months each, make it possible to test the job, accumulate experiences that count at CV screening and, above all, land a pre-hire offer. Firms know this and organise part of their recruitment around these internships. You still need to choose your periods well, the order of your applications, and prepare for cases without sacrificing your academic year. This article describes these choices step by step.
Why the gap year matters so much in consulting
The gap year offers three decisive advantages for a future consultant.
It provides long experiences. A six-month internship lets you work on several engagements, be assessed over time and come back with concrete achievements. A two-month internship, by contrast, leaves little trace on a CV.
It opens the door to pre-hire offers. Boston Consulting Group thus presents, on its school pages 🔗, its gap-year internships as pre-hire internships, just like final-year internships, and states that about 85% of its interns receive a full-time offer at the end of their experience.
It lets you test several environments. Two internships, in two families of firms or in a firm and a company, help you choose with full knowledge before your final year.
Choosing your internship periods
The legal framework sets a first constraint. The French administration’s Service public 🔗 website points out that internships in the same host organisation may last six months at most per academic year, and that a stipend is compulsory beyond two months. The Ministry of Higher Education’s student internship guide 🔗 specifies that this limit corresponds to 924 hours of attendance in the same organisation.
In practice, a gap year is most often split into two periods of five to six months, from January to June and from July to December, or the reverse depending on the school calendar. Firms have their own requirements: BCG, for example, states that its internships at the Paris office cannot last less than five months.
Two strategies coexist:
- a first internship outside consulting, a second in a firm: the first period serves to gain significant professional experience (a strategy department, corporate finance, investment banking, a start-up), the second to get into consulting;
- two consulting internships, at two different firms: rarer, because some large firms require a first experience before taking a gap-year intern.
BCG thus asks candidates to apply for the second part of the gap year, once they have gained a first significant professional experience. This requirement steers many students towards the first strategy.
In what order to target firms
The order of applications depends on the calendar and on your chances.
For the first period, target organisations that take students without consulting experience: strategy departments of large groups, mid-sized firms, sector boutiques, strategy teams of the large networks. A successful first experience in one of these organisations clearly strengthens your application for the second period.
For the second period, target the firms you are aiming at for your career, starting with those that recruit earliest. BCG recommends applying four to six months before your desired start date. McKinsey publishes on its careers in France page 🔗 separate application deadlines for its Business Analyst Intern positions.
Diversify within each wave. Applying only to the most selective firms exposes you to ending up without an internship; adding mid-sized firms and boutiques secures your path. Our overview of strategy consulting firms helps you identify these different families.
Also think about process timelines: a firm that runs three rounds of interviews over four to six weeks, like BCG in Paris, cannot be targeted at the last minute.
Preparing cases during the year
The difficulty of the gap year is preparing for demanding interviews while attending classes or already working in an internship. Effective preparation is spread over several months, at low intensity.
- Three to four months before the first interviews, start with the basics: case structures, mental arithmetic, reading the sample cases published by firms.
- Two months before, move on to cases played out loud, with a partner, two to three times a week.
- In the last weeks, work on your fit interview stories and review the specifics of each target firm.
School consulting clubs and workshops organised by firms on campus are valuable resources: BCG recommends taking part in its recruitment events and preparation workshops, and gives access to a coaching portal once the first round is scheduled.
For online tests, which often come right after the application, our article on consulting firms’ online tests describes the formats to expect. And for the detail of a large firm’s process, the article on recruitment at BCG describes its three rounds.
The CV for a gap year
A gap-year candidate’s CV has a particular structure, which recruiters know well.
- The summary states the period: “Gap-year student at [school], looking for a six-month strategy consulting internship from January.” The recruiter must be able to file the application immediately.
- Education stays at the top, with the school, the programme, the current year and usable results.
- The first gap-year internship is detailed like an engagement: question addressed, method, deliverable, audience.
- Association activities and the case club have their own section, because they show serious preparation.
The strategy consulting intern CV template matches this case exactly: a grande école student coming out of a strategy department internship and aiming for a second internship at a firm. To rewrite experiences outside consulting, the article on the CV with no consulting experience shows the method line by line.
Turning the internship into an offer
Once the internship is secured, the goal becomes the pre-hire offer. It depends on three elements.
Engagement reviews. Like a consultant, an intern is reviewed by their managers at the end of each engagement. Reliability of analyses, quality of slides, involvement and ability to improve are the main criteria.
Visibility. The partners who have seen you work weigh in the decision. Make the most of steering committees, practice meetings and informal moments to make yourself known, without overdoing it.
The conversation about what comes next. Towards the end of the internship, talk openly with your mentor or HR about your wish to come back. Some firms hold an end-of-internship interview; others decide in committee.
If the offer comes, it often concerns a start after graduation, sometimes more than a year later. If it does not, the internship remains a strong line on your CV for what follows, and BCG, like other firms, accepts new applications after a waiting period.
To keep your CV ready from one internship to the next, the ConseilCV editor keeps the layout with each update and produces a PDF that screening software reads correctly: you just add the new internship.
Frequently asked questions
Can you do two gap-year internships at the same firm?
In practice it is rare, and the legal framework limits internships in the same organisation to six months per academic year. It is better to diversify your experiences.
Do you need to have done a consulting internship already to apply for a gap year?
No, but a first significant professional experience helps a lot. Some firms, like BCG, explicitly ask candidates to apply for the second part of the gap year.
Is a gap-year consulting internship paid?
Yes: beyond two months, the stipend is compulsory and its minimum is set by law. Strategy firms generally pay a stipend well above the legal minimum.
What if you do not get a consulting internship for the second period?
An internship in a strategy department, an investment bank or a start-up remains an excellent choice. It brings experiences you can showcase for the final-year internship, which is another entry point into consulting.
Sources
- Boston Consulting Group, HEC Paris school page, Paris office process 🔗
- Service public, Stage d’un étudiant en milieu professionnel 🔗
- French Ministry of Higher Education, Guide du stage étudiant 🔗
- McKinsey & Company, Carrières en France 🔗