After serving as president of the Hamilton Consulting Club, Joe Reiner ’22 will continue his passion at L.E.K. Consulting — all while working in his hometown of New York City. Previously, Reiner interned at a venture capital firm where he enjoyed supporting new portfolio companies and conducting market research.
Reiner shared a few Hamilton experiences that encouraged him to pursue consulting. During the fall of his sophomore year, the Consulting Club gave him the opportunity to work in teams improving local businesses firsthand. Come spring, he was eager to network with Hamilton alumni in the consulting profession. When connecting with alumni, he found a lot of similarities and common interests, specifically the enjoyment of problem solving with businesses and the social elements of meeting with clients and forming relationships.
When it came to the application and interview process, Reiner found the accessibility of alumni helpful. He spoke with six Hamilton alumni at L.E.K. multiple times. The time and effort they put in made him feel welcome. He found himself driven by the validation of enjoying the practice case and solving the issues in interview prep.
Major: Economics
Hometown: New York, N.Y.
High-School: Riverdale Country School
Extracurricular Activities: Tennis Team captain; Consulting Club, president
Reiner said the communication skills he developed at Hamilton helped him explain things in a comprehensible way. This is especially helpful as “a large part of consulting and interviewing uses different strategies and realms when bucket testing,” he said. “I was able to give different approaches, which helped with organized methods and problem solving.”
Considering his long-term professional goals, he said he’d like to stay in consulting for a bit and eventually attend business school. He intends to create his own start-up in 10 to 15 years, as consulting is a great place to start one’s own venture with entrepreneurship.
Reiner encourages other Hamilton students interested in consulting or searching for jobs to learn about these industries from experience and speak with people in them. Rather than just reading about the profession, networking and thinking critically about why you want to pursue a certain career is important.
