About this template
The Consulting Deck template is a professional cover letter in Source Sans 3 styled like a one-slide consulting deck: header bar with title and date, three boxed sections (problem, approach, why me) and a footer with practice line. Less a letter, more a recommendation page, the model picks up the visual grammar of McKinsey, BCG and Bain client decks. Compatible with the ATS at MBB and Big Four strategy (Workday at Bain & Company, Lever at Roland Berger NA, Greenhouse at Kearney, SmartRecruiters at Oliver Wyman) and corporate strategy offices (P&G, J&J, Microsoft Office of the CEO, Alphabet Corporate Development).
Who is it for?
It fits strategy consultants (associates, managers, principals), post-MBB transformation managers, in-house corporate strategy teams and ex-consultants moving to industry. Profiles fluent in Barbara Minto's pyramid principle, who would rather pitch on a slide than narrate over five paragraphs. Particularly pertinent for applications to operating-PE roles (Vista Equity Operations, Blackstone Portfolio Operations), to venture studios (BCG Digital Ventures, Atomic, eFounders), or to Chief of Staff roles to a CEO with a consulting background.
How to use it
The three boxed sections demand strict editorial discipline. Box 1 (problem): reframe the role as the firm's or company's business issue, not as a response to a job description. Box 2 (approach): three bullets maximum describing the methodology you would apply, in MECE language. Box 3 (why me): three quantified proofs drawn from your case experience (never self-referential adjectives). The footer practice line specifies your specialty (Strategy, Operations, Digital, PMI, Restructuring). Avoid full sentences inside the boxes: this is a slide, not a letter.
Frequently asked questions
Does the slide format pass consulting-firm ATS?
Yes. Workday (Bain), Lever (Roland Berger), Greenhouse (Kearney) extract text from the boxed sections cleanly, as long as the content stays as text and not raster image. The risk lies elsewhere: a partner skimming the letter in 12 seconds must identify your practice and your quantified proofs without re-reading. If the practice footer is missing or ambiguous, the letter is screened out before the body is read.
Does it suit an industry application outside strategy?
Mostly not. The pitch-deck format signals an ex-MBB profile and can read out of place for a classical operational leadership application (CHRO, CFO, CTO). For those functions, prefer letter-prof-management or letter-slate-professional, which are more neutral and more narrative. The slide format remains pertinent for transformation, post-merger integration, corporate strategy and venture capital roles.
How do I respect client confidentiality?
Describe the client by sector category and order of magnitude ("Fortune 100 industrials", "European scale-up $200-500M ARR, Series C closed 2024") without naming the firm. Competing-firm recruiters recognise the deal class instantly and appreciate the deontological rigour. A confidentiality breach spotted in a letter disqualifies you across all MBB, which share a single standard on this.
