Profile reality
Where the candidate stands today against the firms they are targeting, including academic signal, work experience, written evidence and interview risk.
Elite Careers Strategy intake
Request a private Diagnostic.
Elite Careers Strategy is a private, one-to-one career advisory led by Hassan Akram. This first call is where he works out which part of the recruitment process your child is losing, and whether we can help.
We do not publish prices and this is not a sales call. The short form tells us whether we can help before we take up your time.
100+
documented client outcomes
10,000+
applications reviewed
~30
private clients per year
24h
usual first review window
Founder in the room
This is not an enquiry call with a salesperson.
It is a structured assessment led by Hassan Akram personally, using the same judgement he brings to teaching this work at business schools and advising candidates one to one.
Harvard Business School
HBS MBA student-club context. Strong institutional rooms without implying partnership or endorsement.
Wellington College
Festival of Education speaking context. The trust signal is serious audiences and direct founder delivery.
MIT Sloan room
Live strategy session with a graduate audience. The work is applied in front of serious candidates, not hidden behind generic advice.
Yale SOM session
Full-room teaching at Yale SOM. The point is founder-led judgement, not delegated intake or generic motivation content.
Founder-led explanation
Hassan teaching the structure behind elite-firm selection. The Diagnostic applies the same thinking to one candidate profile.
Candidate context
A campus conversation with a Stanford student. ECS works best when the profile, target and timeline are specific.
What gets decided
What actually gets decided on the first call.
ECS uses the Diagnostic to establish whether the candidate has an addressable conversion problem. If suitable, the family then moves into Programme Scoping and a Family Decision Call before any engagement decision.
Failed-stage diagnosis
The specific blocker between ambition and offer conversion: firm targeting, application quality, commercial fluency, assessment centre or final interview.
Ninety day plan
A concrete next-step view of what needs to change, whether or not ECS is the right working relationship.
Who should request it
For families and candidates with a real offer-conversion problem.
Families who want a serious read before committing time, reputation or money.
Candidates targeting Magic Circle, US elite, bulge bracket, elite boutique, private equity or equivalent routes.
Parents, sponsors or advisers who need discretion, proof and a founder-led first assessment.
House rules
The process is selective because the work is selective.
A parent, sponsor or decision-maker must attend the Diagnostic, unless the candidate is an independent adult funding the engagement themselves.
Scope, cadence and investment are discussed privately through the Scoping and Decision calls only after fit is established.
ECS can decline an enquiry where the profile, timeline or expectations are not a fit.
How it works
Three conversations. You can stop after any of them.
01
The diagnosis
A private call with Hassan. He goes through the applications, the rejections, the firms being targeted and the timings, and tells you which part of the process is being lost.
02
The plan and the cost
Only if we can help. You are shown what the work would be, how often you would meet, which firms are in scope and what it costs.
03
Your decision
A final conversation for whoever is making the decision. Nobody is asked to commit on a call.
Ready for review
Ask for the first call when you want a straight answer.
The short form tells us enough to know whether we can help and who should be on the call. Everything after that happens only if the first call is worth continuing.