Booz Allen Hamilton Resume Overview

Booz Allen Hamilton, headquartered in the greater Washington DC area, is known for its public sector work and increasing penetration into the commercial market (specifically in tech integration and cybersecurity).

A Booz Allen Hamilton resume must succinctly and quantifiably identify what you have to offer this particular consulting firm. It may be tempting to use your existing resume, but your Booz Allen Hamilton resume will need to stand out in a sea of thousands of applicants to ensure you receive an interview.

Given its history and focus in the public sector, any previous military experience or public sector work experience is an advantage for landing a job at Booz Allen Hamilton.

Approximately 60% of applicants are screened out of the initial interview process from their resumes alone. That’s why it is crucial to know how to specifically construct a Booz Allen Hamilton resume.

The Booz Allen Hamilton Consulting Resume: How is it Different?

To receive an interview invite, your resume must highlight your achievements, not just your previous job descriptions. Do you have a track record of accomplishment throughout your career? Have you displayed analytical skills to drive impact? Have you led teams?

Your educational background is also important. Be sure to include top scores, extra-curricular activities, quant classes, and scholarships.

Your Booz Allen Hamilton resume should also clearly articulate your personal interests. This is the only line of the resume that humanizes you; it also acts as a great icebreaker during the Booz Allen Hamilton interview (more on that later). All consulting firms – and Booz Allen Hamilton is no exception – are human capital driven organizations. They want to know how you will (or won’t) fit into the culture they have built.

What Should a Booz Allen Hamilton Consulting Resume Include?

Your Booz Allen Hamilton Consulting Resume should include 3-4 key sections:

1. Academic Background

This section must show your academic achievement and can also display your intellectual curiosity if applicable. Focus on highlighting high GPA, awards and scholarships won, and test scores (i.e. SAT, GMAT).

2. Professional Experience

Succinctly and quantifiably show your ability to lead workstreams. Highlight how, and where, you have led others to achieve metric impact (i.e. how did your work help your company or client’s bottom line?). Your analytical competencies are also of great interest to BAH and should be highlighted.

3. Leadership Experiences

What have you done that you weren’t paid or graded to do? Lead a nonprofit? Teach underprivileged kids? Sit on a Board? If you’ve displayed transferable skills in this kind of work, structure it like a professional experience and – you guessed it – highlight the impact you achieved.

4. Personal

Be specific about what you like to do outside of work. If you competed in and won a 5K in December, share this information. If you cook, articulate if you are a pastry chef or bake cakes for weddings. Details matter in the Booz Allen Hamilton resume. Do you speak other languages? Recruiters want to know who you are as a person, in addition to your other accomplishments. Finally, be sure to include any security clearances you hold.

Booz Allen Hamilton Consulting Resume Tips: Three Ways to Make Your Resume Stand Out

1. Quantify Everything

Your Booz Allen Hamilton resume must include measurable results. Each line should contain at least one number. If you led a training initiative at your old company, how many people did you train? If a report you wrote was read by the CEO, how many pages was it?

2. Use Strong Action Words

An action word should be the fulcrum of each bullet point on your Booz Allen Hamilton resume. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to lead each bullet point with an action word but be sure that when it’s time to use an adjective, it communicates that you took initiative. For example: you weren’t assigned something; you led a workstream.

3. Follow The 1-Page Rule

Your entire resume must fit on one page. The only exception – if you have 15+ years of professional experience. Each experience on your resume should have at least 3 bullet points. If it doesn’t, you either haven’t thought deeply enough about your experience, or it may not be robust enough to include on the resume.

Refer to Consulting Resume: Complete Guide for more additional consulting resume tips.

Booz Allen Hamilton Consulting Resume Mistakes to Avoid

• Not Proofreading

With thousands of applicants per year. Booz Allen Hamilton is looking for any reason to disqualify you in the screening process. One typo, and you’re out. Sounds harsh, but it’s true.

• Including Irrelevant Experience

If it’s from high school, it doesn’t count. If you spent a summer ranching in Wyoming, that’s cool. But will Booz Allen Hamilton care about it? Probably not.

• Lack Of Specificity

Follow our CAR format – Context, Action, Results. Every bullet should share the context of the project, client, etc., give the specific action you took, and then share the results of your work. Even if you can only estimate your impact, include it. In consulting, many deliverables are just projections anyways.

• Not Networking

Okay, okay. This isn’t technically a resume tip but goes hand-in-hand with the resume. If you don’t network, and just apply blindly through the online portal, you hamstring your chances of landing an interview. Consulting firms interview people they’ve talked to during the process. Firms think of networking like a Round 0 interview – don’t neglect this important part of the process.

Booz Allen Hamilton Interview: The Ultimate Purpose of your Booz Allen Hamilton Resume

One of the overlooked reasons to create a killer resume is to use it during the interview! You don’t just want your resume to get you an interview, you want to help you get a job!

One of the most common questions you’ll be asked in a Booz Allen Hamilton interview is “Walk me Through Your Resume.” If you structure your resume in an easy-to-follow, chronological way, you’ll do yourself a huge favor as you are articulating your story. Your own resume will help keep you on track, and help your interviewer follow your story.

So, do yourself – and your interviewer – a favor. Put some thought into the flow and structure of your resume now.

Next Steps for your Booz Allen Hamilton Resume

Taking the time to create a tailored consulting resume is key to getting that coveted Booz Allen Hamilton interview. Follow the tips above, network, and then get ready for the interview!

Additional Reading:

• Consulting Resume: Complete Guide
• Consulting Cover Letter: Ultimate Guide
• Case Interview: Complete Prep Guide
• Booz Allen Hamilton Firm Profile