Multi-Industry Recruiting Timelines (Summer 2024)

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The finance industry tends to set the pace for the recruiting season. In recent years, larger banks have begun to start recruiting earlier in the year.

• Spring Recruiting: 

  • Starting as early as January, many large to medium-sized organizations begin their pipeline-building programs. These programs tend to focus on 1st or 2nd-year students to help them learn more about the organizations, roles, and recruiting process. During this time, firms also host events focused around diversity initiatives.

  • Around March 1st, firms will start to open their investment banking and revenue-side roles for 2024. This can include both internship and full-time positions. Hiring generally moves quickly for these positions, so the earlier you can apply, the better! 

• Summer & Fall Recruiting: 

  • While the big banks will have hiring underway, medium to small-sized organizations will start their recruiting in the summer months. We often see July 1 as a kick-off date for such organizations. The recruiting can continue well into the fall semester as they continue to fill positions. 

  • If you’re looking for a role with a larger organization, many of their non-investment roles (like technology)  will still be posted in July and through the summer, but recruiting is generally wrapped by September.

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Much like the finance industry, the hiring timelines for consulting firms can vary depending on a number of factors such as the organization’s size, focus, location, global environment, and overall business strategy. However, there are a few common trends among many consulting firms.

• Summer Recruiting: 

  • Many consulting firms begin recruiting initiatives in the Spring (between the months of February and March). These initiatives usually focus on early career exploration, as well as diversity and inclusion recruitment. Applications for internships and full-time roles for large consulting firms open throughout the summer (starting around late June or early July). Some applications may open earlier than anticipated, while others may experience delays as timelines are finalized or adapted.

• Fall Recruiting: 

  • Many consulting firms have a formal recruiting season that begins in the Fall, usually in September or October. This is the time when firms actively start recruiting for full-time positions and summer internships for the following year.

• Rolling Recruitment: 

  • Some consulting firms may have a rolling recruitment process, which means they accept applications and conduct interviews on a continuous basis. They may also have multiple recruiting cycles throughout the year, rather than just one season.

Below are deadlines for some of the employers we work with:

McKinsey

• 2024 Full Time Business Analyst deadline – July 14, 2023
• 2024 Summer Business Analyst deadline – Aug 30, 2023
• 2024 Sophomore Summer Business Analyst deadline – Sep 29, 2023

Interested in connecting with the McKinsey recruiting team? Visit the McKinsey x Columbia recruiting website to learn more about their summer programing.

Bain

• 2024 Associate Consultant Full-time deadline – June 25, 2023 
• 2024 Associate Consultant Intern deadline – Sep 10,2023

BCG

• 2024 BCG Associate Full-time deadline – June 28, 2023
• 2024 BCG Summer Associate deadline #1 – June 28, 2023 
• 2023 BCG Summer Associate deadline #2 – Sep 13, 2023

Oliver Wyman

• 2024 Full-Time Consultant deadline – June 30, 2023 

While there is volatility in the tech industry right now, recruiting timelines have remained consistent from previous years. Due to staffing changes, applicants may see increased competition for coveted roles, however, tech skills are highly valued in many different industries.

• Summer & Fall Recruiting: Larger companies will often open postings for internships & early-career roles in late summer/early fall with application deadlines continuing into late winter/early spring.  

• Spring & As-Need Recruiting: In the spring semester, recruitment for both internships and full-time roles tend to ramp up at many smaller companies. We also see startups hiring more aggressively for summer internships; however, many will hire year-round, on an as-needed basis.

Finance, Consulting, and Tech represent three industries that tend to have more cyclical recruiting timelines; however, many others tend to be a little less structured. Those industries can include:

• Media & Communications

• Law & Government

• Healthcare 

• Arts & Entertainment

• Consumer Packaged Goods 

• Non-Profits & Education 

In these industries, larger organizations tend to recruit earlier in the academic year. Many of these companies have more structured internships or early career programs.

For example: 

• Museums and media companies tend to open their summer internship positions in the late fall/early winter.

• Many larger law firms kick-off their programs for  full-time analysts and paralegals from September through February/March. 

Smaller companies tend to recruit a semester ahead, especially for internships, as many have more formalized summer internship programs. For example, recruiting for summer internships takes place in the spring semester.

Full-time hiring can often be less structured as they are not recruiting for larger cohorts of new staff. Their hiring tends to be need-based and they will post open roles as staff leave the organization or they get funding for additional roles.