A consultant CV has to do what a good consulting deck does: make the answer obvious on the first page. Recruiters at UK consultancies and the Big Four screen for three things quickly: strong academics, evidence that you can structure problems, and results you have delivered for clients. The best consultant CVs open with a sharp profile, then show engagements with the client type, your role and the impact in £ or %.
Whether you are a graduate applying for analyst roles, a management consultant moving up to manager, or a technology, strategy or HR consultant, the structure below works for UK consulting jobs. Pick one of the consultant CV templates above to get a clean, ATS-friendly layout, then use the example, skills lists and tips on this page to write content that stands out.
A complete example you can use as a starting point. Pick a template above and the builder will pre-fill similar content for you to edit.
Daniel Ashcombe
Management Consultant – Operations & Supply Chain
Manchester, UK · daniel.ashcombe@example.com · 07700 900942
Personal statement
Management consultant with five years of experience in operations, supply chain and cost transformation for manufacturing, retail and logistics clients. Leads workstreams of two to four consultants, builds the analysis behind board recommendations and stays on site to see changes through. Recent work has delivered £11m of annualised savings across four clients. MBA candidate and PRINCE2 Practitioner.
Experience
Consultant, Penrose Hartley Consulting
Sep 2023 – Present
- Led the warehouse network workstream for a national food retailer, recommending two site consolidations worth £4.2m a year.
- Built an inventory optimisation model in Excel and Python that cut safety stock by 18% without hurting availability.
- Ran 30+ workshops with depot managers and planners to redesign shift patterns, lifting pick productivity by 12%.
- Managed two analysts day to day, reviewing outputs and preparing them to present to client directors.
Business Analyst, Penrose Hartley Consulting
Sep 2021 – Aug 2023
- Completed spend analysis across £220m of indirect procurement for a manufacturing client, identifying £3.5m of savings.
- Produced steering committee packs and tracked benefits for a 15-month operating model programme.
- Interviewed 40 front-line staff to map order-to-cash processes and quantify rework costs.
Education
MBA (part-time, in progress), Alliance Manchester Business School
2025 – 2027
BSc Mathematics with Management, 2:1, University of Leeds
2018 – 2021
A levels: Mathematics A*, Further Mathematics A, Economics A, Loreto College, Manchester
2018
Key skills
Operations and supply chain analysis · Financial and Excel modelling · Workshop facilitation · Stakeholder management · PowerPoint storylining · PRINCE2 Practitioner
Profile with your level and specialism
Open with three or four lines stating your level (analyst, consultant, senior consultant, manager, director), your functional or sector focus and one strong result. "Operations consultant in consumer goods" tells a recruiter far more than "results-driven professional".
Engagements and client impact
For each role, describe the engagements you worked on: the type of client, the problem, your specific contribution and the measurable outcome. Keep clients anonymous unless the work is public, e.g. "FTSE 100 retailer" or "NHS trust". Quantify savings, revenue, efficiency or adoption in £ and %.
Education and academic results
Consultancies still screen on academics, especially for analyst and graduate roles. Include your degree classification, A level grades (or equivalent) and any MBA. Put education first if you are a student or recent graduate, and add dissertation marks or relevant modules where they help.
Tools, methods and certifications
List the methods and tools you actually use: Excel modelling, PowerPoint, Alteryx, Power BI, SQL, Lean Six Sigma, Agile, process mapping. Add certifications such as PRINCE2, APM, Better Business Cases, CMI qualifications, Certified Management Consultant (CMC) or ICAEW and CFA where relevant to your specialism.
Business development and leadership
From senior consultant level upwards, show that you help win work and develop people: proposals you wrote, bids you won, follow-on work you generated, teams you managed and juniors you coached. Firms promote consultants who can sell and lead, not just deliver.
Consulting skills
- Problem structuring and hypothesis-led analysis
- Business case development
- Workshop facilitation
- Process mapping and improvement
- Change management
- Benefits realisation
Analytical and technical
- Excel and financial modelling
- PowerPoint storylining
- Power BI, Tableau or Alteryx
- SQL or Python for data analysis
- Market sizing and research
- Survey and interview design
Client and leadership skills
- Stakeholder management at board level
- Clear written and verbal communication
- Proposal and bid writing
- Team leadership and coaching
- Commercial awareness
Graduate / analyst
Economics graduate (First, University of Bristol) with a summer internship at a strategy consultancy and two years leading pro bono projects for local charities. Comfortable building Excel models, running desk research and turning findings into clear slides. Looking for an analyst role where I can work on operations and sustainability problems for a range of clients.
Consultant / senior consultant
Technology consultant with five years delivering ERP and CRM implementations for public sector and retail clients. Lead requirements, vendor selection and data migration workstreams, and have helped bring three programmes worth £5m to £12m live on time. Known for translating between business users and technical teams and keeping projects moving.
Manager / director
Management consulting director with 15 years in operations and cost transformation. Lead a practice of 30 consultants, sell around £8m of work a year and have delivered over £100m of client savings across retail, utilities and the public sector. Focused on building long-term client relationships and developing the next generation of managers.
- Write every bullet as a mini case study. Situation, action and result in one line: "Redesigned a council contact centre model, moving 40% of calls to digital within a year" beats "Worked on customer service projects".
- Lead with impact numbers. Savings, revenue uplift, time saved, adoption rates and team sizes give a reader instant scale. Use realistic figures you could defend in an interview.
- Keep it to one or two pages. Most consultancies expect a one-page CV for analyst and graduate roles and no more than two pages for experienced hires. Cut older roles to a line each.
- Respect client confidentiality. Describe clients by sector and size rather than name, and never include confidential figures that could identify a client or deal.
- Tailor to the firm and practice. Strategy houses, Big Four advisory, technology consultancies and boutique HR or public sector firms value different things. Mirror the language of the advert and put your most relevant engagements first.
How long should a consultant CV be?+
For graduate and analyst applications in the UK, one page is the norm and many strategy firms expect it. Experienced consultants, managers and directors can use two pages. If you have a long list of engagements, summarise the most relevant ones and keep older roles brief rather than adding a third page.
How do I write a consulting CV with no consulting experience?+
Lead with education and grades, then show consulting-style work from elsewhere: internships, student consulting societies, pro bono projects, case competitions, analytical dissertations and part-time jobs where you improved something. Write bullets that show you structured a problem, analysed data and delivered a measurable result, as that is what consulting recruiters look for.
Should I include my A level grades on a consultant CV?+
Yes, if you are applying for analyst, graduate or early-career roles. Many UK consultancies, particularly strategy firms and the Big Four, still look at A level or equivalent results alongside your degree classification. Once you have several years of consulting experience, your degree and any MBA are usually enough.
Should a consultant CV have a photo?+
No. UK consultancies do not expect a photo, and leaving one out helps avoid bias in screening. Use the space for engagements and results instead. The same applies to date of birth, marital status and nationality, unless an advert specifically asks about your right to work in the UK.
Which certifications help on a consultant CV?+
It depends on your specialism. PRINCE2, APM qualifications and Agile certifications help in delivery and technology consulting; Lean Six Sigma in operations; CIPD in HR consulting; Better Business Cases in public sector work; and ICAEW, ACCA or CFA in finance and deals advisory. The Certified Management Consultant (CMC) award is recognised for experienced generalists.
Do I need an MBA to become a management consultant?+
No. Most UK consultancies hire graduates straight from undergraduate degrees and promote from within. An MBA can help career changers move into consulting at a more senior level, or support promotion to manager and above, but strong client results and the ability to lead work matter more than the qualification itself.
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