Sample cover letter for Full Time position at McKinsey

write to apply for the position of Business Analyst at McKinsey and Company. After doing extensive research and speaking with James Johnson at the Yale Career Fair and McKinsey information session, I was impressed by McKinsey’s emphasis on the culture of growth, and am convinced that my background in consulting, my diverse skill set and personal values complement your company’s vision and the demands of the position. At Yale, I have cultivated strong analytical skills by pursuing a major in engineering and strong communication skills through a concentration in rhetoric within the political science major. Though diverse, these skill sets were crucial to meet the high demands of my work with DePino Associates, a political and business consulting firm. At DePino, I worked with clients from various industrial sectors on marketing campaigns, grassroots campaigns, and strategic business development projects. One of the most rewarding projects consisted of developing a strategy with a team of two associates to promote municipal aggregation systems at the state level for an energy contractor. Our strategy included three main stages, all of which I was heavily involved with. The success of the first three stages paved the way for taking our client to a fourth stage, where we pushed to mobilize higher level politicians and consequently garnered support from two mayors. I wrote press releases for both mayors, expressing their support which made legislators sympathetic to our cause. Given the success of this project, I was later hired by Chris DePino, the firm’s CEO, and worked on projects with clients from the healthcare, arts, and energy industries. Working on these projects developed my client relation skills, pushed me to learn how to take initiative as part of a team, and challenged me to retain flexibility to be a successful strategic problem solver. My work and involvement at DePino, furthermore, fostered problem solving skills that helped me develop Urban Fellows, an organization I run at Yale. After becoming President of the organization, I interviewed and selected applicants as new fellows and brainstormed with existing fellows about changes that could be made to the organization to make it more meaningful to them. I subsequently worked to meet these demands by securing popular speakers to lead a series of workshops on grant writing, political organizing, lobbying, and city administration. Additionally, I collaborated with the fellows on a marketing project to advertise a panel led by the CEO of the Connecticut Conference of Municipalities on the local repercussions of Obama’s economic policies, attracting over fifty students to the event. I am currently working on various initiatives – a website, blog, and evaluation database for agencies and for fellows – but my involvement has shown me the value of constant feedback an the importance of initiative. McKinsey prides itself on impact, choice, and growth as a cornerstone of setting itself apart from its competitors. It is the culture of growth that most attracts me to McKinsey. I share a commitment to professional development, hard work and growth, and as a result have sought out activities, work and courses that have challenged me to develop public speaking, leadership, critical thinking and problem solving skills. I believe McKinsey will further allow me to develop in all of these arenas and challenge me to explore and progress in different ones. Thank you for your consideration.