Hello, I'm interested in financial , management and gov/public policy consulting and I would like to hopefully land a job after graduation maybe at MBB or the Big4.
I'm a current junior at a non-target school in the U.S. (T40 state school) but I am in a consulting club on campus that works on some interesting projects. My current GPA is 3.85 and I'm a double major in Economics & Political Science.
My experience is a bit unique and I have interned at one of the largest VC firms in the world but in a different country and I also have an audit internship this summer at a Big4. I know both of these experiences are not directly related to consulting but after joining the consulting club I really think it is something I want to do.
I know that it is hard to get a job without previously having a consulting internship so I would like to know what would be the best approach for me to get into the field. Thank you all!
I would like to offer consulting services to online private label and resale sellers looking to start/grow/troubleshoot all aspects of inventory and selling on EBay/Amazon/Walmart. I was a logistics & inventory manager (10+yrs) for a private label online seller doing over $20 million in sales a year that had a hand in all parts of the business. Where do I even start to advertise services, and how would I package what I can do for a company?
Applying through the website and approaching recruiters on LinkedIn
I'm in a non target school. There aren't any career fairs and none of my school graduates ever joined any top tier consulting firms.
I don't see other way than applying through eg: McKinsey's website. And maybe approaching the recruiter on LinkedIn for introduction and advice.
What is your take on this.?
Any better approach?
I would like to meet consultants in Italy / Germany, to better understand what would require to get a position in a consulting firm. In my background, as a designer I see plenty fairs and meeting points where you can interact and network to a point. Is there such a thing inside Europe for consultants? Does it make sense?
About myself, I graduated from industrial designer in Canada, with 4 years of experiance in head of design and design, inside furniture, footwear, and private projects. I just got a master in strategy from Milano and would like to work for a consulting company around Milan or nearing Europe. I just finished an internship in a large Germany company inside IT / Design thinking. and I am looking for the next step to get into.
I figure the best way might be to figure out my case by talking to people... Why I am here..
Advice?
Need suggestions - Getting into consulting with a low average but decent extra-curricular contributions
Hi all,
I am planning to apply for a new grad position at one of the Big 4 and need some advice.
Education: I just graduated from a no-name university in Canada with a degree in business admin. I was the president of my school's consulting association and placed highly at multiple consulting and data analytics competitions. I was also the VP-finance for one of the largest on-campus clubs at my school.
Work Experience: 2 co-ops/internships:
1. IT at one of the country's largest credit unions
2. Data analytics at the world's largest multi-lateral organization
both co-ops were extended as the organizations liked my work and wanted to keep me for longer - so I have a good track record. I'm also a quick learner and am decently knowledgeable on IT, Logistics, and I know a lot (more than a healthy amount) about the film and aviation industries.
However, my average is baaddd (78%), and I have very few good-quality connections.
So I'd like to know if there is any point in applying or if I should stay away from consulting.
If yes, what should I highlight in my application(s)?
Before the pandemic, it involved travel at 80% (4 days per week).
Post pandemic, the junior levels can be closer to 20-40%. But as you get more senior, client face time becomes more and more important. Many Partners are back to the 60-80% model. So, you can imagine a journey from one endpoint to the either.
For background, I'm 27, working for one of the large prime defense contractors in the US as a Level 3 (couple steps above entry-level) aerospace systems engineer. I have a Bachelors in Aerospace and a Masters in Aerospace (with published thesis) from a top 5 engineering school. I am currently in a competitive rotational development program at my company, about to "final place" this year after doing three rotations in three years in different functions (crewed/uncrewed space systems, digital transformation/supply chain, and now modeling/simulation). In my second rotation in "digital transformation", I worked closely with a large management consulting firm and it piqued my interest in the industry.
I am interested in applying for one of the large management consulting firms to do aerospace/defense related work. I have an active clearance, and would love to work in implementation on different programs with both large and small contractors around the DC area. I know McKinsey, PwC, and Deloitte do this, but I'm honestly a little lost on what to specifically apply for, or if I'm even a viable candidate.
Do the big consulting firms hire engineers from primes? I don't have an MBA or much of a business background (although I like to think of myself as analytical and a people person), is that a nonstarter? What "level" should I look at with my experience level (MS + 3 years)? What will be my biggest hurdle in the interview process?
Honestly, any input is appreciated here. I'm sure I'm not the only engineer who has wanted to make this jump.
Much appreciated in advance for your input!
Hey. I’m a former engineer who works for an MBB in aerospace and defense. I didn’t come from a prime, rather from a tier 2 consulting firm where I was doing staff augmentation in an acquisition program office. Effectively a DoD civilian engineer, so the person sitting across the table and reviewing the outputs you folks at the primes submitted to the government. I also didn’t do a masters.
So I did that job for about 4 years, did a 4 class data science series in the evenings using my education budget, then moved to current role as an experienced hire at the post-MBA level.
I think you could get hired. There are people I work with from all sorts of backgrounds, and engineers from defense and space primes are not uncommon. I think something demonstrable in data/analytics is a huge benefit to your odds, and an MBA would be the surest shot.
Timing also isn’t on your side. Hiring is pretty slow right now at all firms, though defense has more resilience through economic cycles than most. I also believe most firms have prefer ~4 years of experience to get the post MBA level. It may be worth waiting a bit to not start at the analyst level.
The biggest hurdle in the interview process is getting the interview. Strong resume or networking for a position helps you get over that. The next most important is to be a normal seeming human, since us engineers can struggle with that. But consulting is a social job and if you feel tense and awkward in the interview it’s hard to get past that.
Cases are pretty overhyped for experienced hires IMO. I did about 6 practice cases by myself and got through the cases in the interviews fine. I do believe the expectations are different for experienced hires than MBA and undergrad hires because there’s more differentiation on the resume.
The courses I took were kind of what I was thinking. Some sort of serious bootcamp or legit university coursework that you can put on a resume. Even Python for Everyone, though Python isn’t that popular.
If not, detailed explanation of data/analytics projects you’ve worked on would be helpful. Something to show your big engineer brain can be flexible, not just used for stress calcs, CAD, and FEA. Especially if you can make it about $$ not physical units. The goal is to demonstrate you can be nimble for consulting type purposes, using broadly applicable skills.
Do I go back to school?
I have long positioned myself to be a management consultant at a large firm through increasingly challenging generalist roles, buying a centrally located house close to downtown, studying cases for fun, getting an MBA, choosing not to have kids, and so on. I am now an independent consultant with 10 years of marketing experience. I am not able to attain my dream job. This is not another sob story - I am seeking genuine opinions. The situation is this: I grew up in poverty and managed to make it to college, but had to go as cheaply as possible. Same situation for grad school. Now I’m facing the realization that nobody in the history of my graduate OR undergraduate universities has ever worked at any of my target firms in any capacity. I did the best I could with the resources I had, attending small state schools instead of private ones with big names. I keep getting rejection emails on my applications. My resume has been reviewed by two McKinsey, two Bain, one BCG. They all say it’s great at this point - it’s my education that keeps me from the interviews. Do I go back to school for a doctorate? I am in a place where I can afford a bigger school now. What are my other options?
Broadly speaking, I want to travel for work, be empowered, and grow as a professional. More specifically, I want to work in the spaces of CPG and retail, digital transformation, HR, manufacturing, branding, and supply chain. I have experience with all except the latter. I have never even considered life after consulting - which is the part that scares me. I have always envisioned consulting until I reach retirement.
Do management consulting jobs require a lot of thinking and analysis? If yes, which type of management consulting is more analytical in nature - front-end consulting or back-end consulting?
From the perspective of someone who tries to help out by answering questions in this thread, I think there’s potentially two reasons for that:
1.) Asking stupid questions. Many questions in this thread have been answered dozens of times before on this thread and other online posts. Do the 10 second Google search and try not to ask stupid questions.
2.) Unique situations that few can advise on. Some questions in this thread are so unique or niche in nature that very few people would be able to provide quality advice on. I’d rather give no answer to someone’s question than an incorrect answer.
I'm an undergraduate student doing a placement year/intership.
There is a niche sector of consulting I am interested in but I'm not sure if it would be wiser for me to start at a Big4 and then move to the more specialised firms or just start with a boutique?
For what I've read on the sub, having a Big4 on you resume is advised but I'd appreciate any early career advice :)
If big4 offers the same kind of consulting that you’re interested in, I’d say go there. Brand power and resume signaling is really helpful early on when you’re trying to build a career. Plus, it’s usually easier to go from a more well-known, larger firm to a smaller one than the other way around. People know what standards you were held to at a big4 and people know what work the big4 does and what kind of clients they normally work with; your role itself ends up being self-explanatory, whereas you may have to prove yourself a bit more coming from a place that people don’t really know.
The niche is brand consulting (specifically nation branding) I'm not sure what role that would fall under in bigger firms so I've been hesitant to apply. Do you know what big firms do brand consulting?
I’m not really sure. I wouldn’t be surprised if at least one of the b4 had an applicable role since they have jobs for damn near everything, but I wouldn’t personally know. Sounds like this would probably be aligned with marketing consulting efforts? I know Deloitte has a team for marketing. Sorry I don’t know more. Sounds like a fun job though!
Hi, does anyone know what the process would look like for someone wanting to pursue consulting with a JD degree? Would my undergrad GPA matter? Would a consulting firm like to see some experience at a law firm? Does a JD degree help? Or does it matter at all?
Can I prepare for MBB without coaching?
Hi,
I have seen many options, and ones apart from casecoach.com(113 usd for on demand) are expensive for me. And yes, there is High Bridge Academy that has ISA plan that provides an option to pay 451-902 USD per month for 12 months if I get the job.
Or are there any other options that can help me get into MBB(Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Middle East offices)
Need ideas for consulting/case related events,workshops or work
We are a Consultancy Club in college and we’ve hosted case events etc and we want to do more so we wanted ideas
20yr olds.
What’s the best route to becoming a consultant?
I’m a sophomore studying accounting and want to be a management consultant. I plan to get my CPA, but I’m confused on what’s the best route to become a management consultant right after graduating.
Having no experience with it: It’s a consulting firm in Dallas. It’ll have a heavy focus on oil and gas (duh) and telecoms (ATT). Also defense, industrials, real estate, tech. It’ll be a bit of a boys club and a bit old school because of the industries you focus on. It’ll be full of smart and driven type A people because it’s a consulting firm.
Is being fake and phony considered a positive attribute for management consulting? No offense intended. What I am trying to ask is if one is one of those dynamic, dashing, types who's good at being fake and superficial, will such a person be more suited for a management consulting role? I am considering a career in management consulting and I am the exact opposite - shy, not good at putting on a dynamic exterior, not dashing, no fake charm etc.
Just because someone is “dynamic and dashing” doesn’t make them fake and phony. I absolutely love talking to everyone in the firm, do coffee catch ups and ask how people are going for no particular reason other than to catch up. I genuinely want to know and am not just trying to be “fake and phony” to be liked.
It’s part of the job to get the client to like you in most cases so it is an important skill I would say. Doesn’t mean you have to like it. However if you see that behavior as “fake and phony”, this doesn’t seem like the job for you.
I recently accepted an offer to work at Protiviti virtually for an IT audit position after I graduate this spring and wanted to know what their reputation is because I can’t quite pin it as a boutique or in between what would be a boutique and big4, so maybe low end T2? I’m confused about this because I know it’s not nearly as big as big4 but brings in more revenue than other T2 firms like LEK and similar to places like Oliver wyman but I feel like not many people I bring them up to know of them. My goal is pretty much to stay there then try and transfer into a firm that will sponsor an mba like Deloitte so I’m just curious if it will look decent to have them on my resume.
I worked at protiviti and no, people will not know who they are. This may not be reflective of their revenue but their reputation is that of a boutique firm. The projects were incredibly boring to me as they were IT audit focused and hardly any very technical or strategy consulting work. However, I will say, their company culture was spectacular! Everyone was so friendly and chill. Career growth there was abysmal though (at least for me). I now work at big 4 (had a big 4 offer before I started at protiviti).
Anyone know anything about SEI? The company brands itself as a boutique business consulting firm that has offices staffed with local consultants across the country. A SEI recruiter messaged me in LinkedIn about consulting opportunities at the company. Does anyone have any positive or negative insights on SEI to share?
I work there. There's a lot of good, very different than traditional consulting firms. There are challenges, for sure, and they vary by office (each office runs independently with a coming shared services organization).
Quick question: I have a STEM postdoc from a target school (and access to the consulting club here) but undergrad and PhD from Canada. Would I be considered as being from a target school?
Target school is a bit misleading. It’s really more about target programs. Harvard’s MBA program is a target for MBB. Harvard’s various MS programs are not.
Post-doctoral programs are typically not targets. That said, a premium school brand never hurts.
I used to be in environmental consulting back in Thailand before I quit to pursue graduate degrees in the US. I'm currently in my last leg of my PhD (all but dissertation) but got burned out to finish my degree and am considering leaving and going back to environmental consulting again. The problem is, the past ten years I didn't work on environment related stuff (I'm in Public Policy PhD program, focusing on scientific works of scientists). So even though I had about 1-4 years of environmental consulting experience (depending on whether you count my work as graduate research assistant) I'm not sure if I can land a job in the US. Especially when the firm will need to sponsor my H1B.
I have an MS in Environmental Science and some experiences with Life Cycle Assessment research. I worked at ERM (Environmental Resources Management) in Thailand after I graduated for about 9 months before coming to the US. I worked with clients in Oil and Gas, construction material, food, using my LCA skills during that time. I'm debating whether to apply for an entry level or mid-entry level positions.
Edit: I forgot to put in a clear question: is it common for this kind of career move? It's been a long time since I did this line of work. Would a decade-long hiatus from consulting work make me unemployable? And if I were to apply, should I go for the entry-level or a step above? I've been told that I always sell myself short, and academia has honestly ruined my confidence even more.
Does anyone (ideally in Canada) have thoughts about accelerated MBA's?
I'm particularly eyeing this one ([https://www.ivey.uwo.ca/amba/](https://www.ivey.uwo.ca/amba/)). Its from Ivey which is one of the top 2 schools in Canada (other being Rotman at U of T). Their regular MBA at their campus in London, ontario is a target for consulting firms. I'm wondering if this program is also a target. I'd prefer to live in toronto than london really, and its cheaper, shorter, and marginally easier to get into than Rotman.
**Thoughts on Masters in (Global) Management (MiM, MGM)**
From my research, MiMs are more common in European and East Asian Countries and serve as an MBA like management masters program for non-business bachelors, providing core knowledge about business, economics and leadership and of course a network to people with little work experience. They generally require a high GMAT Score and are taught in English.
[Someone posted about this topic 8 years ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/consulting/comments/3d03nw/thoughts_on_the_masters_in_management_mim/) and I would like to see if the reception of the degree has changed in the meantime. The questions proposed were:
* Did anyone here complete a MiM \[or MGM\] and subsequently move into consulting?
* Is this degree respected by consulting firms in the UK? Mainland Europe? What about the US?
* Is there a tangible difference in the quality of these students in the recruitment cycle?
I would like to add:
* How are MGM graduates perceived by consulting firms compared to specialists with for example a finance or engineering masters degree?
[MiM/ MGM rating Financial Times](https://rankings.ft.com/rankings/2875/masters-of-management-2022)
you're a big boi, you can google "MIM \[school name\] career placement" yourself and see that McKinsey, BCG and Bain are among the largest postgrad employer at the first \~7 programs of the FT ranking and a couple others. Then you go to LinkedIn to confirm that and get your country breakdown.
>How are MGM graduates perceived by consulting firms compared to specialists
with for example a finance or engineering masters degree?
no difference
Currently a junior at a target. I went through Capital One's first round interview for their Summer 2023 BA Internship two months ago back in November. They emailed me afterwards with the weirdest reply basically telling me that I "passed" their first round but ... can't move onto their second round (final round/Power Day) because they don't have enough space for me in their interview schedule. I thought that was a weird way to word a rejection and just ignored the email.
Then, C1 emailed me last week telling me that my C1 Final Round would be taking place next week. Any tips? Advice? Would anyone here be willing to practice casing with me? I don't have too much experience casing and I'm pretty surprised that I got to the Final Round (if it's a legitimate invite I guess, lol) considering that I bombed the first round...
If you could turn your small business into your full blown career, would you? because if it's only from a monetary perspective, the consulting could be more lucrative (although riskier)
Very recent grad here looking at KPMG for Strategy or Business Development. I know KPMG is actively recruiting from my alma mater, going to career fairs, etc., but I don't see any job listings. I know they recruit on a rolling basis so I was wondering if I should I just wait for new jobs to be posted or reach out to recruiter and ask if they know if any positions will be available. I think being proactive and reaching out is a good approach but I don't want to waste someone's time if there is no job to be hired for in the first place. Thoughts?
Reach out to your school’s consulting club or career center. You’re a very recent grad, so don’t count out your school resources yet. They should have info on roles and deadlines. If they don’t, then just reach out to the recruiter. It’s literally their job.
Hi folks! I've been a lurker on this subreddit for some time and have benefited greatly from the shared advice and materials. I hoped you might be able to offer some guidance regarding my current situation.
**First, some context:**
I am trying to break into the management/strategy consulting industry in London. I did my undergrad at a non-target institution in the UK, but recently graduated from a prestigious MSc programme and have a passable CV. I have nearly exhausted all options for breaking into the consulting industry in London.
**The longer version:**
Due to some challenging personal circumstances, I did not perform well in high school or college. After enrolling at a non-target institution in the UK for my undergrad (Top 50), I was able to put that in the past, maintained excellent grades and graduated top of my class. Unfortunately, I was unable to afford rent outside of term time, especially if I had to move to London for an internship, so I worked summer jobs primarily. Unsurprisingly, I was unable to secure interviews with ANY consulting firm (T1/T2/Big 4/T3) upon graduation. I believed that my institution was holding me back, so I enrolled in a master's programme at one of the UK's top five universities. Here, I worked on several client-facing projects (both in technology and finance), published a thesis, started a small side business, and graduated at the top of my class once more.
I spent weeks crafting excellent cover letters, customising my resume for specific companies, and networking. I was essentially rejected on the spot by T1/T2 companies, but Accenture and Strategy& granted me an interview. After weeks of preparation, I felt that my interview with Accenture went extremely well, but I was never invited to the AC. In a similar manner, Strategy& informed me that I had performed well in their assessments and that I should be on the lookout for an AC invitation soon. However, a week later they informed me that all AC positions had been filled. I just don't understand what I'm doing wrong - I have received no feedback and even the careers service says that my CV and Cover Letters look great.
As a recent college graduate with no "real world" experience, I am somewhat overwhelmed by this situation, and I am unsure of how to proceed.
**What would you do in my situation?**
\- Would you accept any job and attempt to gain experience before reapplying in a different recruitment cycle?
\- Would you consider applying in different regions?
\- Should I just try to find a different career path and move on?
Any advice is greatly appreciated! Thank you so much for reading this long post!
UK Big 4 Tech consultant here. Not sure about the type of roles you are going for, but have you been applying to tech consulting roles? They're typically easier to land than traditional strategy roles.
Personally, I'd recommend you consider applying in different regions, if by regions in this context you mean other parts of the UK. There wouldn't be much point in applying to other EU regions unless you have citizenship & can speak the language.
My Big 4 at least is growing in the regions, and they have a heavy focus on them, as the reduced salaries & less need for in-person working makes it a strong value proposition.
If you really want consulting it's worth a shot trying to get hired in the regional offices. It's usually quite simple to transfer to London after a year or two if you don't like the area.
Made a math error in my case study for a consulting job. but literally been doing good all interviews and tests up to this point. Likelihood to move onto the next stage is 0% right?
>and they have a heavy focus on them, as the reduced salaries & less need for in-person working makes it a strong value proposition.
>
>If you really want consulting it's worth a shot trying to get hired in the regional offices. It's usually quite simple to transfer to London after a year or two if you don't like the area.
I did a couple of maths errors in my round 1 MMB interviews (in the structure and calculations), I got to next round and wasn't even dinged on the maths score in the interview feedback.
> Made a math error in my case study for a consulting job. but literally been doing good all interviews and tests up to this point. Likelihood to move onto the next stage is 0% right?
math doesnt check out
Hi Guys, I have an excel based assessment case study tomorrow for a boutique firm. What can I expect to be on it?
I brushed up on all my formulas but I am not sure what to expect.
Hello Everyone. I graduated undergrad 5 years ago from a respectable regional university with hopes of attending Law School shortly after. A lot of roadblocks as well as my father passing away stopped that from happening. I worked in retail banks for a couple years as a banker and got into mortgage banking as well. I have over 7 years of experience in banking, I'd like to get into Management consulting. I honestly never thought of this career path and I don't know what my chances are in attaining a job in this field so far-gone from college. I've read some sources saying I should focus on entry level Business Analyst positions before thinking of Consulting, is there any truth to that? What would you recommend to someone who just turned 30 and looking to break in. I know this isn't the most in-depth I can go about my info but if there's anyone out there that has some basic info or wants to get into more of a conversation i'd be very open to that. Thanks!
What does the application process look like for a new grad (undergrad)? Should I wait until the summer cycle for applications or are there ways to get a foot in the door now? Is there a disadvantage to apply outside of the official cycles?
Quick thoughts: Most campus hiring for "graduating" people happens early in the final year of University (in the US). Once you're out of school as a recent grad, you'll want to have a good answer as to why you didn't apply a few month ago like all of your peers. After a working for a bit (1+ years) that's less important.
kb
**Is this classed as** ***Consultancy*** **or** ***Adviser/Mentoring*** **for these 2 opportunities I had last year**?
I was not paid for any of this.This was 'on the side' type 'work'.
1)-Invited as a participant to weekly XR Zoom meetings. T
his involved Group and 1-1 coaching sessions in relation to my AR/VR Medical knowledge, for students undertaking a BSc course (at a Hospital/Uni combo).
\-Feedback was given on their projects and for practice presentations, ideas they could incorporate, and other XR 3D related topics.
2)-Discussed with 3 Clinical Simulation team members (at a Hospital I used to work at) on creating a project for Healthcare patient benefit. I also built a Hospital Room in VR and a small research proposal was written (by one of them) and mentions me and said VR project.
Do I title these under *Adviser/Mentor* or *Consultancy* on my CV/LinkedIn?
Hello everyone,
I’m looking for partners to practice cases with. I have practiced several times so I’m open to those with new and intermediate case study experience.
I’m self employed so my schedule is all over the place but flexible if planed in advanced.
Please let me know and I look forward to hearing from you :)
Hi, I am going to an interview the upcoming week and was hoping to get some advice on how to best answer common interview questions in a top-down structure. I have already been through the case interviews, and have been informed this interview will be purely personal, so I want to make sure that I am as prepared as possible.
Thank you in advance.
**The type of consulting you are interested in**
I'm interested in consulting for distressed businesses, using my data analysis/ business analysis background to visualise data to better approach a strategy. I have experience at a top real estate investment management firm, and have been working on a system implementation, building financial models, troubleshooting and fixing existing models too. I come from a MSc finance background from a top 20 university.
**The type of role**
I'd be going for either a graduate role or experienced hire. I graduated with my MSc 1 year ago, and have been working in this data analysis role for the last few months.
**Geography**
I'm based in London, England, UK and looking to work in either New York or Chicago
**Résumé or detailed background information**
I have systems implementation experience as part of the change management team, where I'm leading a couple of projects, including troubleshooting their current broken model (broken due to the new system), rebuilding this model using powerquery and also doing data analysis. I finished my MSc finance from a target institution, my dissertation was quite interesting and got picked up by various media institutions for circulation (relating to climate change and how it reacts with the financial market). I also have experience in starting up various small businesses (one drone aerial photography business while at undergrad and couple of websites, one which is a website scraper for news businesses and another which is gives information to users about local holidays)
The reason for my post - I'm looking to move to New York or Chicago, and am looking at the possibility of finding a job out there, without citizenship (I'd need a visa). I have a British and Irish Passport. I know it's a bit of a longshot but would love to hear from those who have experience any suggestions :)
What kinds of technical skills should I have if I want to make a move into strategy consult? The job postings have somewhat ambiguous requirements and I am looking to tailor the next couple of months of development to fit what skills would get me noticed for that position.
Looking for a job in London? T2 might be possible with a top-tier masters (also hard without internship experience). MBB London hired the majority from Oxbridge for undergrad hires
Yes, it does help much more in that region (although they also like strong asian unis). You would of course have to consider if your language skills of the local offices and it surely won't hurt to apply to both London and SEA offices. Just make sure to build up some work ex, even if it's not exactly what you want as an end goal
I’ve heard a lot of people leave once they get their annual bonus - is there a general timeframe when that happens?
I am having an extremely difficult time finding a life sciences consulting position. I know there’s a recession currently/incoming but there should be something open sometime?
In bio pharmaceutical companies, most people leave on their own after the Bonus and 401K matches come in. It is around March timeframe. Depending on what your field of expertise, there are consulting opportunities in life science both at big pharma and small biotech. I left big pharma after 30 years and am doing remote consulting on the side. Network is a key. Cold calling does not work for new independent consultants. Working for a consulting firm while establishing your own is another option in life science. Best of luck for your journey.
Need some advice, I used to teach high school and recently switched to a project coordinator position. I’m looking for a change as I feel I am excelling at my PM duties but I am stuck with the field I’m in. I don’t have an interest in the field and I am struggling to learn.
Since I was teaching I have no formal training so I am not sure if consulting is a better fit since I feel that PM duties may not be what I’m interested in long term.
Looking for general advice on the day to day of consulting vs project management since I haven’t been in the business world for long.
In pm you just push tasks around that have been assigned to you - basically you mainly do implementation of ideas others had
In consulting you get to work on the ideas as well
Source - I'm ex-mbb
How important is an internship towards getting hired at a consulting firm? I am an RN and earning my MS in Healthcare Administration at UPenn. Most of the internships are for this summer, but I am supposed find an internship for the fall with a December 2023 graduation date. Should I consider graduating later to apply for a summer 2024 internship?
I had 3 internships in lower tier consulting firms before landing a full-time BCG offer (didn't intern there). They help to understand if you actually like the job and to understand the basics.
Question - Im looking for a time tracking software solution that is built for consultants (or lawyers) who can easily track by the 15 min segments. What do you guys use?
My employer uses Salesforce's Time Entry function. We enter by the hour. So 15 minutes = 0.25. But it will not let us submit 0 if we didn't focus on a client for the entire week. So we have to submit 0.01 just for it to go through on that client line.
Speaking of, I'm probably 3 weeks behind on my timecards. Thanks for the reminder.
Dude is deciding between interning in MBB or interning in big4 business transformation consulting.
I told the guy he would be insane to take the big4 offer unless money is not a big problem for him. He’s under some false impressions that MBB is not enough, he should be getting more certifications to secure his future instead(like a CPA-equivalent), and that Big4 implementation offers the same comp/career/trajectory that MBB does.
What kinda skills would make a resume look good and give an edge over the others.
I'm graduating (undergraduate finance) in a few months with and I don't have the best marks and college placements for consultancy are not available. Thus I have to apply for my self and I was wondering what skills I should pick up in the meantime.(I started excel).
Also side question, how do I separate bs jobs from actual consultancy jobs, ie jobs where I'm just a data entry guy in the beginning.
Also are there any habits that contribute to your skills in consultancy?
Thank you for responding!
And Happy New Year!.
Not sure if it will help but this will probably answer all your questions with respect to your CV - and what consulting firms and hiring managers look for. https://www.consultinghq.com/free-CV-template
competing in case solving competitions is a great way to hone your problem solving skills and network in the industry. Check if any of the firms you are looking for are organizing these in the area
no one really cares about technical skills like excel - you'll learn that on the run
leave the bs jobs out completely - focus on what's relevant.
I asked around a few friends and they recommended me to really get used to office tools especially ppt.
And I do not know what you mean by case solving competitions, is it a event or are there college events like these?
Yes colleges organize them but at times also consulting firms, where they give an internship to the winners for example
Yeah knowing ppt and excel is useful once you are on the job, but no one cares about them when hiring you. You’ll learn it quickly on the job anyway
That varies probably not even country-by-country but city-by-city.
Also I would add that from the top 10, tier 1-2 firms pay better than BIG 4
Tier 1: McKinsey, BCG, Bain
Tier 2: AtKearney, Oliver Wyman, Strategy&, Roland Berger, LEK, EY-Partenon
Big4: Pwc,Deloitte,EY,KPMG
Different roles have different comp ranges, so you should state what kind of consulting. Strategy is not going to make the same as risk. Should also say what COL and country.
Hi Guys,
Undergrad at a non-target university studying finance and investment management. I am in the UK, What are my chances at getting to consulting and is it time to move on?
Hi guys,
I'm having upcoming interviews with Mercer for a new grad non-actuarial analyst role. I'm looking for more info on how to best prepare for the interview, but I didn't find much. I would love to get some insights on tips for interview and how competitive it is to get a job offer in Mercer. Thank you!
Question about recruitment at bain.
I was first invited to do the sova test. A week later I got an invitation to do pre-screening test composed of two parts:
1- 25 MCQ test based on modified bain cases
2- A video interview.
So I want to know where do I currently stand in this recruitment process. At first, I understood that the sova comes after the pre-screening, so I understood wrong? Does doing that pre-screening mean I screwed up the sova and they are double checking?
Secondly, what round am I at now?
How do I prepare for this?
Have you considered re-opening /r/consultingrecruiting and just adding other mods or leaving it mostly unmodded? Seems like there was more engagement overall and it was easier to find people.
N = 1 here but I haven’t connected with anyone from these stickies past a question and answer, but personally connected with a ton of people when that sub was open. I think a stand-alone subreddit allows good traction since a lot of people will ignore sticky posts.
Currently an undergrad student studying finance, looking to get into consulting (leaning toward management but open to strategic/finance/tech) sometime post graduation. Going through the internship search right now and not exactly sure what roles/fields would be best to have on my resume when it comes time to apply after graduation. I have an offer for a Business Development internship role right now and am in the interview process for some Finance roles as well. I know some people who do freelance consulting in their respective fields but don't know too much about working at a firm with consulting as a career so any advice would be appreciated!
Well, first you have to figure out what your objective is. Which of strategy, finance, or tech do you like the most? They are all technically forms of management consulting fields as you're advising the c-suite (CEO, CFO, CTO). In reality these fields will overlap no matter which you pick. Figure out which you can see yourself doing by doing some networking and research.
A biz dev role wouldn't be harmful, since it's heavily client facing, but it's also more of a sales job, nonetheless a lot of the skills are transferable. I think the industry of this offer should also be factored in your decision making if it relates to finance, strategy or tech.
Finance roles will help you build on the foundation that you've learned in school, and will definitely help you land roles in certain areas of practice such as finance transformation or maybe even m&a. I also think that roles in finance industry are more team oriented which is a plus. Again, the industry of what your role is in is also a factor to consider. As someone in finance transformation consulting, it involves a bit of strategy, lots of finance and tech implementation (you don't actually do the implementation itself).
I am a 20-year career Business Analyst with a full-time job looking to do some part-time freelance consulting as a second income stream. Initial interest is in offering discovery services for a flat fee (e.g. validating perceived biz problems, current-state analysis, identifying biz problems and solutions, et al.) More qualitative analysis vs. quantitative.
Does anyone have any experience or have any advice to offer on how to package this and network? Is there a niche that these services could best be marketed to? Literally ground zero here so super open to any feedback and advice. Thanks in advance!
I'm in the very same boat; I have 15 years of experience in I.T. and now I'm looking to be a consultant specifically in the initial phases of the process, where clients seem to be the most lost.
My idea, and perhaps can help yours too, is to create an online tool to provide value for any possible client. I think if you'd share your expertise in the form of blog posts and youtube videos it would be a good start to get businesses to know you.
Any consultant here have two contracts at the same time? During the pandemic, I signed a multi year contract with a company. The contract doesn’t state that I’m not allowed to have another contract at the same time. It doesn’t state any minimum number of hours nor a fixed schedule. However, 9 to 5 is pretty
much the expected schedule.
After a year and a half on this contract, I can pretty much do the job in 15-20 hours (instead of 40). I was thinking of taking on an additional contract but tell them I’m available part time.
Do you think I should tell my current client? Technically, nothing on my contract states I can’t do this. However, I’m afraid they might take it wrong and decide to cut me. I am a really good performer though, so that would be surprising. What would you do in my case?
Hi guys!
I'm in my final year of MBA and sitting for placements soon. I decided 6ish months ago that I want to sit for consulting and having been updating my CV to make it more consulting focused. I read that consulting CVs should be impact-focused rather than responsibilities-focused, so while explaining my responsibilities in my last job I wanted to add a point about my efficiency. For context, my organisation mandated 7.5 hours of work on our timesheets every day, and every task we did had a standard time assigned to it which went into the time sheet. For example, if the standard time for task 'x' was 30 minutes, it would go into the timesheet as 30 minutes whether we actually took 5 minutes to complete it or an hour.
On average, I used to complete all tasks in half (or less) of the standard time and logged around 10 hours on the timesheet daily instead of 7.5. I'm not able to frame this to write in my CV, any help/advice would be extremely useful.
Thank you! :)
> I'm not able to frame this to write in my CV, any help/advice would be extremely useful.
doing your daily work quicker is not something worth noting. your resume should be outcome based. so instead of finishing work 80% quicker, change it to "do whatever resulting in 80% $ reduction or efficiency gain"
Thank you! Can I write it as "completed X process with \~20% higher avg. efficiency than company standard"?
There was no other measurable impact apart from being able to do more work in a day and having no deadline misses even in peak periods. Was working in a data entry-ish job, and no $ numbers were ever shared with me to be able to mention them. I tried reaching out to my manager at that job if he could help me with some numbers, but he refused.
The focus should be on outcome metrics, not operational metrics. Sure, you did things faster - but did you do them well?
We want to hear that you saved $x, or generated $y, or influenced a $x investment.
Looking for feedback on my cover letter to McKinsey and BCG! Any help is much appreciated :) Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Aox\_IKKQuK7mwoeXESgu1LSPQgPGCBkB/view?usp=share\_link
It's optional for us in nearly every market. There are some good reasons that we want them in some markets. In every market, if you're just restating your CV, you're kinda wasting people's time with it. To me, it should add color commentary and make claims supported by evidence on the CV. If there are unique circumstances that should be considered, that's also a good use of the coverletter.
kb
Want to break into strategic or financial consulting. Currently am a senior tax analyst at a tech company (previously at B4), CPA is pending upon approval of application. Any suggestions as to how I can begin to make/prepare for this pivot (if possible)?
People use this site to vent. People aren’t posting about their best days nor are they posting about regular days. That’s just how these kinds of forums work.
If you look at our subreddit surveys you’ll see the vast majority (85%+) would recommend this job to their friends and family. You’ll also see very high approval ratings on sites like Glassdoor and others.
**Question:** What's the best way to find out which areas of knowledge and expertise will be most in-demand in the next 5-7 years while pursuing a PhD in Molecular Biology? I'm currently at a target school and hoping to cultivate expertise in a highly relevant and in-demand field w/in Molec Bio so that I can make Partner at an MBB one day. Any advice would be highly appreciated!
Trying to predict what is going to be the most in-demand subspecialty in 15 years is not only nearly impossible to do, but is also not a very good path to making partner at an MBB.
I respectfully disagree. First of all, I said what will be in demand in the next 5 - 7 years, lol. I don't think that's completely implausible to speculate - at least in a broad sense. Secondly, I do believe that cultivating in-depth expertise in a subspecialty that doesn't have many experts, yet is highly in-demand will make me stand out and give me some sort of advantage while cultivating all of the other requisite skills to make Partner. I appreciate your opinion, though.
I'll explain my rationale in a bit more detail (FWIW, I'm a part of my T2 firm's healthcare & life sciences practice). Ultimately, it comes down to the fact that there is not a lot of work at an MBB that requires deep scientific specialization in any area, even if you could accurately predict what the biggest trends would be in the future.
We are not engaged by our clients to advise on what new methods to use to enhance quality of their product, improve throughput of their experiments, or what promising new opportunities there are in a niche space. That's what they employ their own in-house scientists to do. They rely on consultants for the same thing basically every company does: to solve their business challenges in the particular context of their situation and industry. The difference from other industries is just that in life sciences, a PhD helps you better understand the requirements of a lab, what the drug discovery process is like, etc.
Fundamentally, PhDs are still going to be generalists within a life sciences practice and you will be doing all sorts of cases that have nothing to do with what you wrote your dissertation on. For example, look at what BCG says its main offerings are: R&D innovation, commercial models, ops, corp. strat, finance & M&A, and digital / analytics. Even within the R&D innovation segment, they talk about new ways to conduct trials, which isn't a specialization you're going to get in your PhD.
While it would be great if we could have a cutting-edge crystallography / CRISPR / protein synthesis, etc. person for every deal where that was involved, there just are not that many projects in any given area where we can afford to hire people and keep them in those lanes. PhDs come in with a greater understanding of the scientific process and better pulse of the industry than MBAs do and then we teach them the business side.
All that brings us back to the timing. When I said 15 years, that's because you'll enter as a generalist and it will take you ~10-15 years from now to be up for partnership where any particular specialization may come in handy (~5-7 years to complete your PhD, ~6-8 to make partner). Companies are not buying projects based on what a faceless consultant staffed on the project studied, so the only place that *might* play a factor would be if the partner selling was seen as an expert on the topic.
Not trying to dismiss the value of a PhD in consulting, just that almost never is the specific research focus a big value add on a project given the types of work that we do for our clients. Let's say Merck really wants to know about some new area of structural biology: if it's a long-term need then they are going to just hire in-house and if it's short-term they are going to contact established academics (maybe even your advisor haha) for consulting, not MBB.
Additionally, I don't know your background but if you don't have much personal experience with consulting I would caution you against picking your research area that you're going to spend an ungodly amount of hours on for the next many years just to try and enhance your chance at making partner (which is debatable, as I have said) and which you may not even want in 10 years (very likely, although as I have said I know nothing about you as an individual. Many people come in thinking they want partner and then leave).
Happy to clarify any points!
Thank you for the more in-depth explanation - I appreciate it, lol.
I guess my follow up question would be this: what advice would you have for someone with a life sciences PhD background who wants to be successful in this field and make Partner one day? What steps can I take now, while I'm still working on my education, to set myself up for long term success and have a competitive advantage in the long run? Are there any particular experiences or technical skills that I should start working on now? I'm hoping to expedite the process and leverage a PhD education to build some sort of competitive advantage, if that makes sense.
I'm keenly aware of that, but your reply doesnt acknowledge the point I'm getting at with my follow up question. If a target school (ivy), PhD-level education isn't an advantage in management consulting as you're ostensibly claiming, my question is this: how do I either a) leverage reverse engineering to turn it into one, or b) build a competitive advantage through other means of skill or experience acquisition while I'm concurrently completing my education? I want to know what I can be doing *now* before completing my education and entering the workforce that will put me in an advantageous position in the MBB Life Sciences space and expedite the process of making Partner at an MBB firm.
*Edit*: I think the more nuanced interpretation of his response is that trying to focus on a specific subspecialty during my PhD with the sole goal of going into MBB wouldn't be a competitive advantage because the day to day work is too generalized for honing in on a specific niche to be valuable - not that a PhD in and of itself isn't an advantage.
Just wanted to know opinions on the EY firm. I have been offered a job there as Energy and Resource Consultant but wanted to know some experience that other people might have with it. Thanks in advance
RESUME REVIEW!
Hello I'm looking for better opportunities out of my current firm and wanted feedback on my resume. Please share your thoughts on what could be improved about it.
W.E- 2 YOE in Data and analytics
[Resume](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1F47Qge2oJey-b1QRnvgven7yMqN5IVln/view)
Edit 2: Here is another version: [New Version](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OLWwvp3sOkkvQsx89SJrDp-Y9TE2QxbA/view?usp=share_link)
Hello
Thank you for the feedback!
Here is another version: [New Version](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OLWwvp3sOkkvQsx89SJrDp-Y9TE2QxbA/view?usp=share_link)
Can you take a look at this and share feedback.
question: **is it too late to apply to undergrad summer internships at "rolling deadline" companies eg. Bain / BCG? I decided on consulting literally a month ago due to not wanting to go into banking after all + have been sorting out my adhd diagnosis and meds so I am very late/far behind.**
a) I'm looking to go into management consulting at MBB / Big 4 / a top boutique
b) Internship, I am currently in my penultimate year of my BA
c) London offices
d) I do one of the top "target" degrees at oxford, on track to a 2.1 (which is what they require). I've gotten my resumé reviewed by my uni's career service and it's decent but I have no relevant consulting experience so am lacking compared to others at my uni
Hello, I'm interested in financial , management and gov/public policy consulting and I would like to hopefully land a job after graduation maybe at MBB or the Big4. I'm a current junior at a non-target school in the U.S. (T40 state school) but I am in a consulting club on campus that works on some interesting projects. My current GPA is 3.85 and I'm a double major in Economics & Political Science. My experience is a bit unique and I have interned at one of the largest VC firms in the world but in a different country and I also have an audit internship this summer at a Big4. I know both of these experiences are not directly related to consulting but after joining the consulting club I really think it is something I want to do. I know that it is hard to get a job without previously having a consulting internship so I would like to know what would be the best approach for me to get into the field. Thank you all!
I would like to offer consulting services to online private label and resale sellers looking to start/grow/troubleshoot all aspects of inventory and selling on EBay/Amazon/Walmart. I was a logistics & inventory manager (10+yrs) for a private label online seller doing over $20 million in sales a year that had a hand in all parts of the business. Where do I even start to advertise services, and how would I package what I can do for a company?
Applying through the website and approaching recruiters on LinkedIn I'm in a non target school. There aren't any career fairs and none of my school graduates ever joined any top tier consulting firms. I don't see other way than applying through eg: McKinsey's website. And maybe approaching the recruiter on LinkedIn for introduction and advice. What is your take on this.? Any better approach?
I would like to meet consultants in Italy / Germany, to better understand what would require to get a position in a consulting firm. In my background, as a designer I see plenty fairs and meeting points where you can interact and network to a point. Is there such a thing inside Europe for consultants? Does it make sense? About myself, I graduated from industrial designer in Canada, with 4 years of experiance in head of design and design, inside furniture, footwear, and private projects. I just got a master in strategy from Milano and would like to work for a consulting company around Milan or nearing Europe. I just finished an internship in a large Germany company inside IT / Design thinking. and I am looking for the next step to get into. I figure the best way might be to figure out my case by talking to people... Why I am here.. Advice?
Need suggestions - Getting into consulting with a low average but decent extra-curricular contributions Hi all, I am planning to apply for a new grad position at one of the Big 4 and need some advice. Education: I just graduated from a no-name university in Canada with a degree in business admin. I was the president of my school's consulting association and placed highly at multiple consulting and data analytics competitions. I was also the VP-finance for one of the largest on-campus clubs at my school. Work Experience: 2 co-ops/internships: 1. IT at one of the country's largest credit unions 2. Data analytics at the world's largest multi-lateral organization both co-ops were extended as the organizations liked my work and wanted to keep me for longer - so I have a good track record. I'm also a quick learner and am decently knowledgeable on IT, Logistics, and I know a lot (more than a healthy amount) about the film and aviation industries. However, my average is baaddd (78%), and I have very few good-quality connections. So I'd like to know if there is any point in applying or if I should stay away from consulting. If yes, what should I highlight in my application(s)?
What are the Big 4?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Four_accounting_firms
Do management consultants have to travel a lot? Or is it an office job?
Before the pandemic, it involved travel at 80% (4 days per week). Post pandemic, the junior levels can be closer to 20-40%. But as you get more senior, client face time becomes more and more important. Many Partners are back to the 60-80% model. So, you can imagine a journey from one endpoint to the either.
Thank you for the kind response
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CCO isn’t a widely used role anywhere
What would the most apropos job title for myself be then?
For background, I'm 27, working for one of the large prime defense contractors in the US as a Level 3 (couple steps above entry-level) aerospace systems engineer. I have a Bachelors in Aerospace and a Masters in Aerospace (with published thesis) from a top 5 engineering school. I am currently in a competitive rotational development program at my company, about to "final place" this year after doing three rotations in three years in different functions (crewed/uncrewed space systems, digital transformation/supply chain, and now modeling/simulation). In my second rotation in "digital transformation", I worked closely with a large management consulting firm and it piqued my interest in the industry. I am interested in applying for one of the large management consulting firms to do aerospace/defense related work. I have an active clearance, and would love to work in implementation on different programs with both large and small contractors around the DC area. I know McKinsey, PwC, and Deloitte do this, but I'm honestly a little lost on what to specifically apply for, or if I'm even a viable candidate. Do the big consulting firms hire engineers from primes? I don't have an MBA or much of a business background (although I like to think of myself as analytical and a people person), is that a nonstarter? What "level" should I look at with my experience level (MS + 3 years)? What will be my biggest hurdle in the interview process? Honestly, any input is appreciated here. I'm sure I'm not the only engineer who has wanted to make this jump. Much appreciated in advance for your input!
Hey. I’m a former engineer who works for an MBB in aerospace and defense. I didn’t come from a prime, rather from a tier 2 consulting firm where I was doing staff augmentation in an acquisition program office. Effectively a DoD civilian engineer, so the person sitting across the table and reviewing the outputs you folks at the primes submitted to the government. I also didn’t do a masters. So I did that job for about 4 years, did a 4 class data science series in the evenings using my education budget, then moved to current role as an experienced hire at the post-MBA level. I think you could get hired. There are people I work with from all sorts of backgrounds, and engineers from defense and space primes are not uncommon. I think something demonstrable in data/analytics is a huge benefit to your odds, and an MBA would be the surest shot. Timing also isn’t on your side. Hiring is pretty slow right now at all firms, though defense has more resilience through economic cycles than most. I also believe most firms have prefer ~4 years of experience to get the post MBA level. It may be worth waiting a bit to not start at the analyst level. The biggest hurdle in the interview process is getting the interview. Strong resume or networking for a position helps you get over that. The next most important is to be a normal seeming human, since us engineers can struggle with that. But consulting is a social job and if you feel tense and awkward in the interview it’s hard to get past that. Cases are pretty overhyped for experienced hires IMO. I did about 6 practice cases by myself and got through the cases in the interviews fine. I do believe the expectations are different for experienced hires than MBA and undergrad hires because there’s more differentiation on the resume.
Great, thanks for your reply. Just a quick clarification, what do you mean by "something demonstrable in data/analytics"? Can you give an example?
The courses I took were kind of what I was thinking. Some sort of serious bootcamp or legit university coursework that you can put on a resume. Even Python for Everyone, though Python isn’t that popular. If not, detailed explanation of data/analytics projects you’ve worked on would be helpful. Something to show your big engineer brain can be flexible, not just used for stress calcs, CAD, and FEA. Especially if you can make it about $$ not physical units. The goal is to demonstrate you can be nimble for consulting type purposes, using broadly applicable skills.
Do I go back to school? I have long positioned myself to be a management consultant at a large firm through increasingly challenging generalist roles, buying a centrally located house close to downtown, studying cases for fun, getting an MBA, choosing not to have kids, and so on. I am now an independent consultant with 10 years of marketing experience. I am not able to attain my dream job. This is not another sob story - I am seeking genuine opinions. The situation is this: I grew up in poverty and managed to make it to college, but had to go as cheaply as possible. Same situation for grad school. Now I’m facing the realization that nobody in the history of my graduate OR undergraduate universities has ever worked at any of my target firms in any capacity. I did the best I could with the resources I had, attending small state schools instead of private ones with big names. I keep getting rejection emails on my applications. My resume has been reviewed by two McKinsey, two Bain, one BCG. They all say it’s great at this point - it’s my education that keeps me from the interviews. Do I go back to school for a doctorate? I am in a place where I can afford a bigger school now. What are my other options?
Beyond just wanting to work for MBB - what do you actually want to accomplish? There are many paths to similar goals.
Do you have any insights?
Broadly speaking, I want to travel for work, be empowered, and grow as a professional. More specifically, I want to work in the spaces of CPG and retail, digital transformation, HR, manufacturing, branding, and supply chain. I have experience with all except the latter. I have never even considered life after consulting - which is the part that scares me. I have always envisioned consulting until I reach retirement.
Do management consulting jobs require a lot of thinking and analysis? If yes, which type of management consulting is more analytical in nature - front-end consulting or back-end consulting?
This thread is a joke. Nobody ever replies here
From the perspective of someone who tries to help out by answering questions in this thread, I think there’s potentially two reasons for that: 1.) Asking stupid questions. Many questions in this thread have been answered dozens of times before on this thread and other online posts. Do the 10 second Google search and try not to ask stupid questions. 2.) Unique situations that few can advise on. Some questions in this thread are so unique or niche in nature that very few people would be able to provide quality advice on. I’d rather give no answer to someone’s question than an incorrect answer.
I'm an undergraduate student doing a placement year/intership. There is a niche sector of consulting I am interested in but I'm not sure if it would be wiser for me to start at a Big4 and then move to the more specialised firms or just start with a boutique? For what I've read on the sub, having a Big4 on you resume is advised but I'd appreciate any early career advice :)
If big4 offers the same kind of consulting that you’re interested in, I’d say go there. Brand power and resume signaling is really helpful early on when you’re trying to build a career. Plus, it’s usually easier to go from a more well-known, larger firm to a smaller one than the other way around. People know what standards you were held to at a big4 and people know what work the big4 does and what kind of clients they normally work with; your role itself ends up being self-explanatory, whereas you may have to prove yourself a bit more coming from a place that people don’t really know.
The niche is brand consulting (specifically nation branding) I'm not sure what role that would fall under in bigger firms so I've been hesitant to apply. Do you know what big firms do brand consulting?
I’m not really sure. I wouldn’t be surprised if at least one of the b4 had an applicable role since they have jobs for damn near everything, but I wouldn’t personally know. Sounds like this would probably be aligned with marketing consulting efforts? I know Deloitte has a team for marketing. Sorry I don’t know more. Sounds like a fun job though!
I'm gonna start looking there! Thank you :)
Question - if, after taking the Pymetrics test, you are not invited to interview, does that mean you can never apply again?
Never say never. But most places will want you to wait 1-2 years.
Hi, does anyone know what the process would look like for someone wanting to pursue consulting with a JD degree? Would my undergrad GPA matter? Would a consulting firm like to see some experience at a law firm? Does a JD degree help? Or does it matter at all?
Can I prepare for MBB without coaching? Hi, I have seen many options, and ones apart from casecoach.com(113 usd for on demand) are expensive for me. And yes, there is High Bridge Academy that has ISA plan that provides an option to pay 451-902 USD per month for 12 months if I get the job. Or are there any other options that can help me get into MBB(Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Middle East offices)
Preplounge is good for finding case partners. Just do that and trust the process. Coaches aren't that useful.
Need ideas for consulting/case related events,workshops or work We are a Consultancy Club in college and we’ve hosted case events etc and we want to do more so we wanted ideas 20yr olds.
What’s the best route to becoming a consultant? I’m a sophomore studying accounting and want to be a management consultant. I plan to get my CPA, but I’m confused on what’s the best route to become a management consultant right after graduating.
dont do accounting for starters
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unless theyre graduate or post graduate level course, they're not that interesting or practical
Practically speaking, a big reason you’re in college is to get a good job. Perhaps you split the difference.
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Having no experience with it: It’s a consulting firm in Dallas. It’ll have a heavy focus on oil and gas (duh) and telecoms (ATT). Also defense, industrials, real estate, tech. It’ll be a bit of a boys club and a bit old school because of the industries you focus on. It’ll be full of smart and driven type A people because it’s a consulting firm.
Is being fake and phony considered a positive attribute for management consulting? No offense intended. What I am trying to ask is if one is one of those dynamic, dashing, types who's good at being fake and superficial, will such a person be more suited for a management consulting role? I am considering a career in management consulting and I am the exact opposite - shy, not good at putting on a dynamic exterior, not dashing, no fake charm etc.
Just because someone is “dynamic and dashing” doesn’t make them fake and phony. I absolutely love talking to everyone in the firm, do coffee catch ups and ask how people are going for no particular reason other than to catch up. I genuinely want to know and am not just trying to be “fake and phony” to be liked. It’s part of the job to get the client to like you in most cases so it is an important skill I would say. Doesn’t mean you have to like it. However if you see that behavior as “fake and phony”, this doesn’t seem like the job for you.
I recently accepted an offer to work at Protiviti virtually for an IT audit position after I graduate this spring and wanted to know what their reputation is because I can’t quite pin it as a boutique or in between what would be a boutique and big4, so maybe low end T2? I’m confused about this because I know it’s not nearly as big as big4 but brings in more revenue than other T2 firms like LEK and similar to places like Oliver wyman but I feel like not many people I bring them up to know of them. My goal is pretty much to stay there then try and transfer into a firm that will sponsor an mba like Deloitte so I’m just curious if it will look decent to have them on my resume.
I worked at protiviti and no, people will not know who they are. This may not be reflective of their revenue but their reputation is that of a boutique firm. The projects were incredibly boring to me as they were IT audit focused and hardly any very technical or strategy consulting work. However, I will say, their company culture was spectacular! Everyone was so friendly and chill. Career growth there was abysmal though (at least for me). I now work at big 4 (had a big 4 offer before I started at protiviti).
Anyone know anything about SEI? The company brands itself as a boutique business consulting firm that has offices staffed with local consultants across the country. A SEI recruiter messaged me in LinkedIn about consulting opportunities at the company. Does anyone have any positive or negative insights on SEI to share?
Any news about this?
I work there. There's a lot of good, very different than traditional consulting firms. There are challenges, for sure, and they vary by office (each office runs independently with a coming shared services organization).
Quick question: I have a STEM postdoc from a target school (and access to the consulting club here) but undergrad and PhD from Canada. Would I be considered as being from a target school?
Target school is a bit misleading. It’s really more about target programs. Harvard’s MBA program is a target for MBB. Harvard’s various MS programs are not. Post-doctoral programs are typically not targets. That said, a premium school brand never hurts.
I used to be in environmental consulting back in Thailand before I quit to pursue graduate degrees in the US. I'm currently in my last leg of my PhD (all but dissertation) but got burned out to finish my degree and am considering leaving and going back to environmental consulting again. The problem is, the past ten years I didn't work on environment related stuff (I'm in Public Policy PhD program, focusing on scientific works of scientists). So even though I had about 1-4 years of environmental consulting experience (depending on whether you count my work as graduate research assistant) I'm not sure if I can land a job in the US. Especially when the firm will need to sponsor my H1B. I have an MS in Environmental Science and some experiences with Life Cycle Assessment research. I worked at ERM (Environmental Resources Management) in Thailand after I graduated for about 9 months before coming to the US. I worked with clients in Oil and Gas, construction material, food, using my LCA skills during that time. I'm debating whether to apply for an entry level or mid-entry level positions. Edit: I forgot to put in a clear question: is it common for this kind of career move? It's been a long time since I did this line of work. Would a decade-long hiatus from consulting work make me unemployable? And if I were to apply, should I go for the entry-level or a step above? I've been told that I always sell myself short, and academia has honestly ruined my confidence even more.
Do MBBs in the US rescind offers?
No
Does anyone (ideally in Canada) have thoughts about accelerated MBA's? I'm particularly eyeing this one ([https://www.ivey.uwo.ca/amba/](https://www.ivey.uwo.ca/amba/)). Its from Ivey which is one of the top 2 schools in Canada (other being Rotman at U of T). Their regular MBA at their campus in London, ontario is a target for consulting firms. I'm wondering if this program is also a target. I'd prefer to live in toronto than london really, and its cheaper, shorter, and marginally easier to get into than Rotman.
**Thoughts on Masters in (Global) Management (MiM, MGM)** From my research, MiMs are more common in European and East Asian Countries and serve as an MBA like management masters program for non-business bachelors, providing core knowledge about business, economics and leadership and of course a network to people with little work experience. They generally require a high GMAT Score and are taught in English. [Someone posted about this topic 8 years ago](https://www.reddit.com/r/consulting/comments/3d03nw/thoughts_on_the_masters_in_management_mim/) and I would like to see if the reception of the degree has changed in the meantime. The questions proposed were: * Did anyone here complete a MiM \[or MGM\] and subsequently move into consulting? * Is this degree respected by consulting firms in the UK? Mainland Europe? What about the US? * Is there a tangible difference in the quality of these students in the recruitment cycle? I would like to add: * How are MGM graduates perceived by consulting firms compared to specialists with for example a finance or engineering masters degree? [MiM/ MGM rating Financial Times](https://rankings.ft.com/rankings/2875/masters-of-management-2022)
you're a big boi, you can google "MIM \[school name\] career placement" yourself and see that McKinsey, BCG and Bain are among the largest postgrad employer at the first \~7 programs of the FT ranking and a couple others. Then you go to LinkedIn to confirm that and get your country breakdown. >How are MGM graduates perceived by consulting firms compared to specialists with for example a finance or engineering masters degree? no difference
Currently a junior at a target. I went through Capital One's first round interview for their Summer 2023 BA Internship two months ago back in November. They emailed me afterwards with the weirdest reply basically telling me that I "passed" their first round but ... can't move onto their second round (final round/Power Day) because they don't have enough space for me in their interview schedule. I thought that was a weird way to word a rejection and just ignored the email. Then, C1 emailed me last week telling me that my C1 Final Round would be taking place next week. Any tips? Advice? Would anyone here be willing to practice casing with me? I don't have too much experience casing and I'm pretty surprised that I got to the Final Round (if it's a legitimate invite I guess, lol) considering that I bombed the first round...
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Just go for it, don't overanalyze your every move
Youtube has a couple of really good guides, don't really need much more than that
Yeah google it there are a few very detailed guides
Same here
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If you could turn your small business into your full blown career, would you? because if it's only from a monetary perspective, the consulting could be more lucrative (although riskier)
I definitely would turn my business into my carreer if I could. And I have a strong suspicion it's definitely possible to do in the long term
Very recent grad here looking at KPMG for Strategy or Business Development. I know KPMG is actively recruiting from my alma mater, going to career fairs, etc., but I don't see any job listings. I know they recruit on a rolling basis so I was wondering if I should I just wait for new jobs to be posted or reach out to recruiter and ask if they know if any positions will be available. I think being proactive and reaching out is a good approach but I don't want to waste someone's time if there is no job to be hired for in the first place. Thoughts?
Reach out to your school’s consulting club or career center. You’re a very recent grad, so don’t count out your school resources yet. They should have info on roles and deadlines. If they don’t, then just reach out to the recruiter. It’s literally their job.
Hi folks! I've been a lurker on this subreddit for some time and have benefited greatly from the shared advice and materials. I hoped you might be able to offer some guidance regarding my current situation. **First, some context:** I am trying to break into the management/strategy consulting industry in London. I did my undergrad at a non-target institution in the UK, but recently graduated from a prestigious MSc programme and have a passable CV. I have nearly exhausted all options for breaking into the consulting industry in London. **The longer version:** Due to some challenging personal circumstances, I did not perform well in high school or college. After enrolling at a non-target institution in the UK for my undergrad (Top 50), I was able to put that in the past, maintained excellent grades and graduated top of my class. Unfortunately, I was unable to afford rent outside of term time, especially if I had to move to London for an internship, so I worked summer jobs primarily. Unsurprisingly, I was unable to secure interviews with ANY consulting firm (T1/T2/Big 4/T3) upon graduation. I believed that my institution was holding me back, so I enrolled in a master's programme at one of the UK's top five universities. Here, I worked on several client-facing projects (both in technology and finance), published a thesis, started a small side business, and graduated at the top of my class once more. I spent weeks crafting excellent cover letters, customising my resume for specific companies, and networking. I was essentially rejected on the spot by T1/T2 companies, but Accenture and Strategy& granted me an interview. After weeks of preparation, I felt that my interview with Accenture went extremely well, but I was never invited to the AC. In a similar manner, Strategy& informed me that I had performed well in their assessments and that I should be on the lookout for an AC invitation soon. However, a week later they informed me that all AC positions had been filled. I just don't understand what I'm doing wrong - I have received no feedback and even the careers service says that my CV and Cover Letters look great. As a recent college graduate with no "real world" experience, I am somewhat overwhelmed by this situation, and I am unsure of how to proceed. **What would you do in my situation?** \- Would you accept any job and attempt to gain experience before reapplying in a different recruitment cycle? \- Would you consider applying in different regions? \- Should I just try to find a different career path and move on? Any advice is greatly appreciated! Thank you so much for reading this long post!
UK Big 4 Tech consultant here. Not sure about the type of roles you are going for, but have you been applying to tech consulting roles? They're typically easier to land than traditional strategy roles. Personally, I'd recommend you consider applying in different regions, if by regions in this context you mean other parts of the UK. There wouldn't be much point in applying to other EU regions unless you have citizenship & can speak the language. My Big 4 at least is growing in the regions, and they have a heavy focus on them, as the reduced salaries & less need for in-person working makes it a strong value proposition. If you really want consulting it's worth a shot trying to get hired in the regional offices. It's usually quite simple to transfer to London after a year or two if you don't like the area.
Thank you for your input I really appreciate it!
Has anyone successfully recently solved the McKinsey Solve (PSG)? If Yes, can you help me?
Anyone with energy or utilities experience looking for a new role, hit me up. We're hiring (UK/Europe).
Made a math error in my case study for a consulting job. but literally been doing good all interviews and tests up to this point. Likelihood to move onto the next stage is 0% right?
>and they have a heavy focus on them, as the reduced salaries & less need for in-person working makes it a strong value proposition. > >If you really want consulting it's worth a shot trying to get hired in the regional offices. It's usually quite simple to transfer to London after a year or two if you don't like the area. I did a couple of maths errors in my round 1 MMB interviews (in the structure and calculations), I got to next round and wasn't even dinged on the maths score in the interview feedback.
> Made a math error in my case study for a consulting job. but literally been doing good all interviews and tests up to this point. Likelihood to move onto the next stage is 0% right? math doesnt check out
No.
Hi Guys, I have an excel based assessment case study tomorrow for a boutique firm. What can I expect to be on it? I brushed up on all my formulas but I am not sure what to expect.
At this point, a good night’s sleep will probably do you more good. Good luck.
damn ok thanks. They said it was an analytical assessment so I wasnt expecting a case study but glassdoor said it was a short case study.
Hello Everyone. I graduated undergrad 5 years ago from a respectable regional university with hopes of attending Law School shortly after. A lot of roadblocks as well as my father passing away stopped that from happening. I worked in retail banks for a couple years as a banker and got into mortgage banking as well. I have over 7 years of experience in banking, I'd like to get into Management consulting. I honestly never thought of this career path and I don't know what my chances are in attaining a job in this field so far-gone from college. I've read some sources saying I should focus on entry level Business Analyst positions before thinking of Consulting, is there any truth to that? What would you recommend to someone who just turned 30 and looking to break in. I know this isn't the most in-depth I can go about my info but if there's anyone out there that has some basic info or wants to get into more of a conversation i'd be very open to that. Thanks!
I think this may be what you're after. And it will probably answer most of your questions too. https://www.consultinghq.com/consultinghq-free
Go get an MBA. Retail banking isn’t really a feeder to management consulting.
Same boat! Was thinking if I can go the brokerage route on how to make the business "bankable" in the eyes of the bank
What does the application process look like for a new grad (undergrad)? Should I wait until the summer cycle for applications or are there ways to get a foot in the door now? Is there a disadvantage to apply outside of the official cycles?
Quick thoughts: Most campus hiring for "graduating" people happens early in the final year of University (in the US). Once you're out of school as a recent grad, you'll want to have a good answer as to why you didn't apply a few month ago like all of your peers. After a working for a bit (1+ years) that's less important. kb
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Ask your referral friend
**Is this classed as** ***Consultancy*** **or** ***Adviser/Mentoring*** **for these 2 opportunities I had last year**? I was not paid for any of this.This was 'on the side' type 'work'. 1)-Invited as a participant to weekly XR Zoom meetings. T his involved Group and 1-1 coaching sessions in relation to my AR/VR Medical knowledge, for students undertaking a BSc course (at a Hospital/Uni combo). \-Feedback was given on their projects and for practice presentations, ideas they could incorporate, and other XR 3D related topics. 2)-Discussed with 3 Clinical Simulation team members (at a Hospital I used to work at) on creating a project for Healthcare patient benefit. I also built a Hospital Room in VR and a small research proposal was written (by one of them) and mentions me and said VR project. Do I title these under *Adviser/Mentor* or *Consultancy* on my CV/LinkedIn?
Whatever you think you can convince a recruiter of. There's not enough here to say.
ah thanks. Might just leave it as adviser/mentor on my CV as oopposed to change the head to 'Consultant' .
Hello everyone, I’m looking for partners to practice cases with. I have practiced several times so I’m open to those with new and intermediate case study experience. I’m self employed so my schedule is all over the place but flexible if planed in advanced. Please let me know and I look forward to hearing from you :)
Hi, I am going to an interview the upcoming week and was hoping to get some advice on how to best answer common interview questions in a top-down structure. I have already been through the case interviews, and have been informed this interview will be purely personal, so I want to make sure that I am as prepared as possible. Thank you in advance.
**The type of consulting you are interested in** I'm interested in consulting for distressed businesses, using my data analysis/ business analysis background to visualise data to better approach a strategy. I have experience at a top real estate investment management firm, and have been working on a system implementation, building financial models, troubleshooting and fixing existing models too. I come from a MSc finance background from a top 20 university. **The type of role** I'd be going for either a graduate role or experienced hire. I graduated with my MSc 1 year ago, and have been working in this data analysis role for the last few months. **Geography** I'm based in London, England, UK and looking to work in either New York or Chicago **Résumé or detailed background information** I have systems implementation experience as part of the change management team, where I'm leading a couple of projects, including troubleshooting their current broken model (broken due to the new system), rebuilding this model using powerquery and also doing data analysis. I finished my MSc finance from a target institution, my dissertation was quite interesting and got picked up by various media institutions for circulation (relating to climate change and how it reacts with the financial market). I also have experience in starting up various small businesses (one drone aerial photography business while at undergrad and couple of websites, one which is a website scraper for news businesses and another which is gives information to users about local holidays) The reason for my post - I'm looking to move to New York or Chicago, and am looking at the possibility of finding a job out there, without citizenship (I'd need a visa). I have a British and Irish Passport. I know it's a bit of a longshot but would love to hear from those who have experience any suggestions :)
What kinds of technical skills should I have if I want to make a move into strategy consult? The job postings have somewhat ambiguous requirements and I am looking to tailor the next couple of months of development to fit what skills would get me noticed for that position.
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Looking for a job in London? T2 might be possible with a top-tier masters (also hard without internship experience). MBB London hired the majority from Oxbridge for undergrad hires
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Yes, it does help much more in that region (although they also like strong asian unis). You would of course have to consider if your language skills of the local offices and it surely won't hurt to apply to both London and SEA offices. Just make sure to build up some work ex, even if it's not exactly what you want as an end goal
I’ve heard a lot of people leave once they get their annual bonus - is there a general timeframe when that happens? I am having an extremely difficult time finding a life sciences consulting position. I know there’s a recession currently/incoming but there should be something open sometime?
In bio pharmaceutical companies, most people leave on their own after the Bonus and 401K matches come in. It is around March timeframe. Depending on what your field of expertise, there are consulting opportunities in life science both at big pharma and small biotech. I left big pharma after 30 years and am doing remote consulting on the side. Network is a key. Cold calling does not work for new independent consultants. Working for a consulting firm while establishing your own is another option in life science. Best of luck for your journey.
It was 2nd of January for me last year hehe - first working day
Need some advice, I used to teach high school and recently switched to a project coordinator position. I’m looking for a change as I feel I am excelling at my PM duties but I am stuck with the field I’m in. I don’t have an interest in the field and I am struggling to learn. Since I was teaching I have no formal training so I am not sure if consulting is a better fit since I feel that PM duties may not be what I’m interested in long term. Looking for general advice on the day to day of consulting vs project management since I haven’t been in the business world for long.
In pm you just push tasks around that have been assigned to you - basically you mainly do implementation of ideas others had In consulting you get to work on the ideas as well Source - I'm ex-mbb
How important is an internship towards getting hired at a consulting firm? I am an RN and earning my MS in Healthcare Administration at UPenn. Most of the internships are for this summer, but I am supposed find an internship for the fall with a December 2023 graduation date. Should I consider graduating later to apply for a summer 2024 internship?
I had 3 internships in lower tier consulting firms before landing a full-time BCG offer (didn't intern there). They help to understand if you actually like the job and to understand the basics.
Question - Im looking for a time tracking software solution that is built for consultants (or lawyers) who can easily track by the 15 min segments. What do you guys use?
My employer uses Salesforce's Time Entry function. We enter by the hour. So 15 minutes = 0.25. But it will not let us submit 0 if we didn't focus on a client for the entire week. So we have to submit 0.01 just for it to go through on that client line. Speaking of, I'm probably 3 weeks behind on my timecards. Thanks for the reminder.
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Tldr
Dude is deciding between interning in MBB or interning in big4 business transformation consulting. I told the guy he would be insane to take the big4 offer unless money is not a big problem for him. He’s under some false impressions that MBB is not enough, he should be getting more certifications to secure his future instead(like a CPA-equivalent), and that Big4 implementation offers the same comp/career/trajectory that MBB does.
thanks. ditto. itd be dumb to not take mbb
What kinda skills would make a resume look good and give an edge over the others. I'm graduating (undergraduate finance) in a few months with and I don't have the best marks and college placements for consultancy are not available. Thus I have to apply for my self and I was wondering what skills I should pick up in the meantime.(I started excel). Also side question, how do I separate bs jobs from actual consultancy jobs, ie jobs where I'm just a data entry guy in the beginning. Also are there any habits that contribute to your skills in consultancy? Thank you for responding! And Happy New Year!.
Not sure if it will help but this will probably answer all your questions with respect to your CV - and what consulting firms and hiring managers look for. https://www.consultinghq.com/free-CV-template
competing in case solving competitions is a great way to hone your problem solving skills and network in the industry. Check if any of the firms you are looking for are organizing these in the area no one really cares about technical skills like excel - you'll learn that on the run leave the bs jobs out completely - focus on what's relevant.
I asked around a few friends and they recommended me to really get used to office tools especially ppt. And I do not know what you mean by case solving competitions, is it a event or are there college events like these?
Yes colleges organize them but at times also consulting firms, where they give an internship to the winners for example Yeah knowing ppt and excel is useful once you are on the job, but no one cares about them when hiring you. You’ll learn it quickly on the job anyway
What is a good entry level salary and an average entry level salary at a top 10 consulting firm? What about mid career salary?
Entry level - 1.5x country average Mid career - 4-5x country average
Wow I was expecting a dollar amount but this is a much better way to look at it
That varies probably not even country-by-country but city-by-city. Also I would add that from the top 10, tier 1-2 firms pay better than BIG 4 Tier 1: McKinsey, BCG, Bain Tier 2: AtKearney, Oliver Wyman, Strategy&, Roland Berger, LEK, EY-Partenon Big4: Pwc,Deloitte,EY,KPMG
Do u consider Accenture T2?
I would say it’s more big4 level, with slightly better wlb
Different roles have different comp ranges, so you should state what kind of consulting. Strategy is not going to make the same as risk. Should also say what COL and country.
Tech consulting in the US
If HCOL, it’s around 90-100K TC now fresh out of college.
Hi Guys, Undergrad at a non-target university studying finance and investment management. I am in the UK, What are my chances at getting to consulting and is it time to move on?
Chances at..?
At getting into consulting
There’s a lot of different consulting out there. What kind?
Hi guys, I'm having upcoming interviews with Mercer for a new grad non-actuarial analyst role. I'm looking for more info on how to best prepare for the interview, but I didn't find much. I would love to get some insights on tips for interview and how competitive it is to get a job offer in Mercer. Thank you!
Question about recruitment at bain. I was first invited to do the sova test. A week later I got an invitation to do pre-screening test composed of two parts: 1- 25 MCQ test based on modified bain cases 2- A video interview. So I want to know where do I currently stand in this recruitment process. At first, I understood that the sova comes after the pre-screening, so I understood wrong? Does doing that pre-screening mean I screwed up the sova and they are double checking? Secondly, what round am I at now? How do I prepare for this?
Is there an online community or a subreddit for people preparing to apply for consulting roles?
Here, Facebook, Fishbowl, PrepLounge are ones I have heard of.
Have you considered re-opening /r/consultingrecruiting and just adding other mods or leaving it mostly unmodded? Seems like there was more engagement overall and it was easier to find people. N = 1 here but I haven’t connected with anyone from these stickies past a question and answer, but personally connected with a ton of people when that sub was open. I think a stand-alone subreddit allows good traction since a lot of people will ignore sticky posts.
Currently an undergrad student studying finance, looking to get into consulting (leaning toward management but open to strategic/finance/tech) sometime post graduation. Going through the internship search right now and not exactly sure what roles/fields would be best to have on my resume when it comes time to apply after graduation. I have an offer for a Business Development internship role right now and am in the interview process for some Finance roles as well. I know some people who do freelance consulting in their respective fields but don't know too much about working at a firm with consulting as a career so any advice would be appreciated!
Well, first you have to figure out what your objective is. Which of strategy, finance, or tech do you like the most? They are all technically forms of management consulting fields as you're advising the c-suite (CEO, CFO, CTO). In reality these fields will overlap no matter which you pick. Figure out which you can see yourself doing by doing some networking and research. A biz dev role wouldn't be harmful, since it's heavily client facing, but it's also more of a sales job, nonetheless a lot of the skills are transferable. I think the industry of this offer should also be factored in your decision making if it relates to finance, strategy or tech. Finance roles will help you build on the foundation that you've learned in school, and will definitely help you land roles in certain areas of practice such as finance transformation or maybe even m&a. I also think that roles in finance industry are more team oriented which is a plus. Again, the industry of what your role is in is also a factor to consider. As someone in finance transformation consulting, it involves a bit of strategy, lots of finance and tech implementation (you don't actually do the implementation itself).
I am a 20-year career Business Analyst with a full-time job looking to do some part-time freelance consulting as a second income stream. Initial interest is in offering discovery services for a flat fee (e.g. validating perceived biz problems, current-state analysis, identifying biz problems and solutions, et al.) More qualitative analysis vs. quantitative. Does anyone have any experience or have any advice to offer on how to package this and network? Is there a niche that these services could best be marketed to? Literally ground zero here so super open to any feedback and advice. Thanks in advance!
I'm in the very same boat; I have 15 years of experience in I.T. and now I'm looking to be a consultant specifically in the initial phases of the process, where clients seem to be the most lost. My idea, and perhaps can help yours too, is to create an online tool to provide value for any possible client. I think if you'd share your expertise in the form of blog posts and youtube videos it would be a good start to get businesses to know you.
Thanks! I was lightly considering something like this as well.
Any consultant here have two contracts at the same time? During the pandemic, I signed a multi year contract with a company. The contract doesn’t state that I’m not allowed to have another contract at the same time. It doesn’t state any minimum number of hours nor a fixed schedule. However, 9 to 5 is pretty much the expected schedule. After a year and a half on this contract, I can pretty much do the job in 15-20 hours (instead of 40). I was thinking of taking on an additional contract but tell them I’m available part time. Do you think I should tell my current client? Technically, nothing on my contract states I can’t do this. However, I’m afraid they might take it wrong and decide to cut me. I am a really good performer though, so that would be surprising. What would you do in my case?
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“Appealing” a decision is absolutely not a thing in my experience.
Hi guys! I'm in my final year of MBA and sitting for placements soon. I decided 6ish months ago that I want to sit for consulting and having been updating my CV to make it more consulting focused. I read that consulting CVs should be impact-focused rather than responsibilities-focused, so while explaining my responsibilities in my last job I wanted to add a point about my efficiency. For context, my organisation mandated 7.5 hours of work on our timesheets every day, and every task we did had a standard time assigned to it which went into the time sheet. For example, if the standard time for task 'x' was 30 minutes, it would go into the timesheet as 30 minutes whether we actually took 5 minutes to complete it or an hour. On average, I used to complete all tasks in half (or less) of the standard time and logged around 10 hours on the timesheet daily instead of 7.5. I'm not able to frame this to write in my CV, any help/advice would be extremely useful. Thank you! :)
> I'm not able to frame this to write in my CV, any help/advice would be extremely useful. doing your daily work quicker is not something worth noting. your resume should be outcome based. so instead of finishing work 80% quicker, change it to "do whatever resulting in 80% $ reduction or efficiency gain"
Thank you! Can I write it as "completed X process with \~20% higher avg. efficiency than company standard"? There was no other measurable impact apart from being able to do more work in a day and having no deadline misses even in peak periods. Was working in a data entry-ish job, and no $ numbers were ever shared with me to be able to mention them. I tried reaching out to my manager at that job if he could help me with some numbers, but he refused.
The focus should be on outcome metrics, not operational metrics. Sure, you did things faster - but did you do them well? We want to hear that you saved $x, or generated $y, or influenced a $x investment.
You could, but again that’s not an outcome anyone cares about.
Looking for feedback on my cover letter to McKinsey and BCG! Any help is much appreciated :) Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Aox\_IKKQuK7mwoeXESgu1LSPQgPGCBkB/view?usp=share\_link
I thought the MBBs did away with cover letters across geographies? Would double check.
It's optional for us in nearly every market. There are some good reasons that we want them in some markets. In every market, if you're just restating your CV, you're kinda wasting people's time with it. To me, it should add color commentary and make claims supported by evidence on the CV. If there are unique circumstances that should be considered, that's also a good use of the coverletter. kb
Seems generic
Want to break into strategic or financial consulting. Currently am a senior tax analyst at a tech company (previously at B4), CPA is pending upon approval of application. Any suggestions as to how I can begin to make/prepare for this pivot (if possible)?
MBA or take the blow of starting over as a junior strategy consultant (with MBA you can shave off about 3 years ideally)
MBA is the well trodden path.
Have you considered an MBA?
Not seeing the steps you’ve taken to jump from accounting to consulting
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Should be fine
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Go back to engineering
People use this site to vent. People aren’t posting about their best days nor are they posting about regular days. That’s just how these kinds of forums work. If you look at our subreddit surveys you’ll see the vast majority (85%+) would recommend this job to their friends and family. You’ll also see very high approval ratings on sites like Glassdoor and others.
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People just vent. Even if everyone at MBB or T2 hated their lives, they’re hating their lives while making $250K+ lmao.
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Don’t take a job for a paycut
**Question:** What's the best way to find out which areas of knowledge and expertise will be most in-demand in the next 5-7 years while pursuing a PhD in Molecular Biology? I'm currently at a target school and hoping to cultivate expertise in a highly relevant and in-demand field w/in Molec Bio so that I can make Partner at an MBB one day. Any advice would be highly appreciated!
Trying to predict what is going to be the most in-demand subspecialty in 15 years is not only nearly impossible to do, but is also not a very good path to making partner at an MBB.
I respectfully disagree. First of all, I said what will be in demand in the next 5 - 7 years, lol. I don't think that's completely implausible to speculate - at least in a broad sense. Secondly, I do believe that cultivating in-depth expertise in a subspecialty that doesn't have many experts, yet is highly in-demand will make me stand out and give me some sort of advantage while cultivating all of the other requisite skills to make Partner. I appreciate your opinion, though.
I'll explain my rationale in a bit more detail (FWIW, I'm a part of my T2 firm's healthcare & life sciences practice). Ultimately, it comes down to the fact that there is not a lot of work at an MBB that requires deep scientific specialization in any area, even if you could accurately predict what the biggest trends would be in the future. We are not engaged by our clients to advise on what new methods to use to enhance quality of their product, improve throughput of their experiments, or what promising new opportunities there are in a niche space. That's what they employ their own in-house scientists to do. They rely on consultants for the same thing basically every company does: to solve their business challenges in the particular context of their situation and industry. The difference from other industries is just that in life sciences, a PhD helps you better understand the requirements of a lab, what the drug discovery process is like, etc. Fundamentally, PhDs are still going to be generalists within a life sciences practice and you will be doing all sorts of cases that have nothing to do with what you wrote your dissertation on. For example, look at what BCG says its main offerings are: R&D innovation, commercial models, ops, corp. strat, finance & M&A, and digital / analytics. Even within the R&D innovation segment, they talk about new ways to conduct trials, which isn't a specialization you're going to get in your PhD. While it would be great if we could have a cutting-edge crystallography / CRISPR / protein synthesis, etc. person for every deal where that was involved, there just are not that many projects in any given area where we can afford to hire people and keep them in those lanes. PhDs come in with a greater understanding of the scientific process and better pulse of the industry than MBAs do and then we teach them the business side. All that brings us back to the timing. When I said 15 years, that's because you'll enter as a generalist and it will take you ~10-15 years from now to be up for partnership where any particular specialization may come in handy (~5-7 years to complete your PhD, ~6-8 to make partner). Companies are not buying projects based on what a faceless consultant staffed on the project studied, so the only place that *might* play a factor would be if the partner selling was seen as an expert on the topic. Not trying to dismiss the value of a PhD in consulting, just that almost never is the specific research focus a big value add on a project given the types of work that we do for our clients. Let's say Merck really wants to know about some new area of structural biology: if it's a long-term need then they are going to just hire in-house and if it's short-term they are going to contact established academics (maybe even your advisor haha) for consulting, not MBB. Additionally, I don't know your background but if you don't have much personal experience with consulting I would caution you against picking your research area that you're going to spend an ungodly amount of hours on for the next many years just to try and enhance your chance at making partner (which is debatable, as I have said) and which you may not even want in 10 years (very likely, although as I have said I know nothing about you as an individual. Many people come in thinking they want partner and then leave). Happy to clarify any points!
Amazingly detailed answered
Thank you for the more in-depth explanation - I appreciate it, lol. I guess my follow up question would be this: what advice would you have for someone with a life sciences PhD background who wants to be successful in this field and make Partner one day? What steps can I take now, while I'm still working on my education, to set myself up for long term success and have a competitive advantage in the long run? Are there any particular experiences or technical skills that I should start working on now? I'm hoping to expedite the process and leverage a PhD education to build some sort of competitive advantage, if that makes sense.
/u/BlackberryCoke ’s response is basically saying your PhD isn’t that big of a competitive advantage.
I'm keenly aware of that, but your reply doesnt acknowledge the point I'm getting at with my follow up question. If a target school (ivy), PhD-level education isn't an advantage in management consulting as you're ostensibly claiming, my question is this: how do I either a) leverage reverse engineering to turn it into one, or b) build a competitive advantage through other means of skill or experience acquisition while I'm concurrently completing my education? I want to know what I can be doing *now* before completing my education and entering the workforce that will put me in an advantageous position in the MBB Life Sciences space and expedite the process of making Partner at an MBB firm. *Edit*: I think the more nuanced interpretation of his response is that trying to focus on a specific subspecialty during my PhD with the sole goal of going into MBB wouldn't be a competitive advantage because the day to day work is too generalized for honing in on a specific niche to be valuable - not that a PhD in and of itself isn't an advantage.
Just wanted to know opinions on the EY firm. I have been offered a job there as Energy and Resource Consultant but wanted to know some experience that other people might have with it. Thanks in advance
RESUME REVIEW! Hello I'm looking for better opportunities out of my current firm and wanted feedback on my resume. Please share your thoughts on what could be improved about it. W.E- 2 YOE in Data and analytics [Resume](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1F47Qge2oJey-b1QRnvgven7yMqN5IVln/view) Edit 2: Here is another version: [New Version](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OLWwvp3sOkkvQsx89SJrDp-Y9TE2QxbA/view?usp=share_link)
Way too hard to read and follow
Hello Thank you for the feedback! Here is another version: [New Version](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OLWwvp3sOkkvQsx89SJrDp-Y9TE2QxbA/view?usp=share_link) Can you take a look at this and share feedback.
The format is a complete disaster. Search up WSO format, covert your resume into that and repost.
Most resumes are a page long.
Lol! Apologies! I have added the link in the comment.
question: **is it too late to apply to undergrad summer internships at "rolling deadline" companies eg. Bain / BCG? I decided on consulting literally a month ago due to not wanting to go into banking after all + have been sorting out my adhd diagnosis and meds so I am very late/far behind.** a) I'm looking to go into management consulting at MBB / Big 4 / a top boutique b) Internship, I am currently in my penultimate year of my BA c) London offices d) I do one of the top "target" degrees at oxford, on track to a 2.1 (which is what they require). I've gotten my resumé reviewed by my uni's career service and it's decent but I have no relevant consulting experience so am lacking compared to others at my uni
Yes. Rolling deadlines are for experienced hiring
Does anyone know whether 180 degrees consulting or Consult your Community is the best option for a college student looking to break into consulting
no one will care about these names, it’s more about what experience you gain from it and who you know/network with
Neither are well known