Jose Herreria
Topics of Interest: Management Consulting, PwC, Bain & Company, Mentorship, Internships
Jose Herreria recently spent his summer in Chicago with PwC as a Start Strategy Consulting Intern. “I learned how important it is to set up coffee chats with everyone you meet,” said Herreria when asked about his biggest takeaways in his consulting internship. Herreria also participated in Bain & Company’s BEL Program and will continue as an Associate Consultant Intern at their Dallas office this summer.
Read on to learn more about Jose’s internship experiences and some of his advice for students interested in management consulting!
Tell us about yourself:
My name is Jose Herreria, and I am currently a junior studying CBHP and Finance. I was born in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, but I have also lived in Michigan, and now my family lives in Frisco. Outside school, I am involved in SCORE Athletics, Austin Venture Strategy, and Texas Convergent at UT. This will also be my first year leading the Latinx Affinity Group in CBHP, which is very exciting because this group hasn’t existed for the past few years because of the pandemic. I am also a huge soccer fan (I love FC Barcelona), and I’m looking forward to going to as many soccer games as I can next semester while I’m abroad in Madrid.
What did your recruiting process look like for PwC?
I applied to PwC since they were a few companies with sophomore consulting programs. I specifically applied to the Chicago office because I had lived close by in Michigan for many years and always wanted to work there. I had two rounds of interviews for the position, each one of them containing behavioral and case components. I had never prepared for a case interview before, but many of my friends were going through or had already gone through the process, so I was always able to go to them for help. After completing my interviews, I heard back about a week later from my first interviewer with an offer for the position. Overall, I enjoyed the process because everyone I met at the company was very welcoming.
What was your biggest takeaway from your internship?
I learned how important it is to set up coffee chats with everyone you meet. I learned a lot this summer just from talking to people in the company who were on projects or had an experience that interested me. Even though I am not going back next summer, I still learned extremely valuable lessons from some conversations I had with people all over the firm, not just in the Chicago office. I also learned how important it is to have mentors within a company because they are the people I can always go to with questions. My manager always ensured that I knew that questions were always welcome, making my experience worthwhile. Finally, even though I won’t be returning to Chicago, I could appreciate the size of such a big city and everything it offers.
Is there anything you might have done differently?
I would have wanted to take more advantage of trainings the company had. PwC has great opportunities for upskilling its interns, and I think trying more of them could have been a good idea if I had to go through it again.
What advice can you share for students interested in pursuing a career in consulting?
My biggest piece of advice for students interested in management consulting would be to have dependable case partners. It definitely takes some time to get confident at case interviews, so starting early and practicing often is very helpful. On top of that, don’t underestimate networking with people. Through some of my conversations with people at Bain, I learned it is my ideal workplace.
Can you share some of your plans for next summer?
I applied to Bain’s Building Entrepreneurial Leaders (BEL) Program this past February. I thoroughly enjoyed the recruiting process and all my conversations with Bain associates. The program took place over the summer, and I had a chance to work in the Private Equity Group. Overall, everything about the program was structured very well, so I encourage everyone to apply. I realized how much I loved the culture at Bain throughout this experience, and I am super excited to return to their Dallas office next summer!