Basic Information

What is consulting?

Consulting refers to management or strategy consulting, which is the practice of helping companies increase their efficiency and profits by addressing the major operational or strategic challenges they currently face.

Although a fairly broad term, consulting is dependent on the type of industry you are in.

To be specific, consulting refers to the business of giving expert advice to other professionals, typically in financial and business matters.

What kind of consulting jobs are out there, and what do these roles entail?

Again, consulting jobs are highly dependent on the type of consulting firm you work for and the companies you work with.

Management Consultant

  • Structured career path: junior consultant → (eventually) senior consultant

  • Help in organizations’ gain of external advice and access to the consultants’ specialized expertise

  • The larger the firm, the more likely it is that you will be a generalist at the beginning; after working at the company for a few years, you eventually will specialize in a particular vertical, industry, or type of work

  • Vertical: a market in which vendors offer goods and services specific to an industry, trade, profession, or other group of customers with specialized needs

Strategy Consultant

  • Consultants who operate at the highest level of the consultancy market

  • Focus on: corporate and organizational strategy, economic policy, government policy, functional strategy

  • Carry out work assigned by CEOs, directors, and senior managers

  • Quantitative/Analytical skills are necessary

Operations Consultant

  • Consultants who help clients improve the performance of their operations

  • Job varies from advisory services to hands-on implementation support for both primary and secondary functions

  • This is the largest branch of the advisory sector

Financial Advisory Consultant

  • Consultants who work on questions that address financial capabilities and analytical capabilities within a company

  • Profiles of consultants active in this segments can differ greatly (from M&A and corporate finance advisors to risk management, tax, restructuring, or real estate consultant)

Human Resources Consultant/Human Capital Consultant

  • Consultants who help clients with human capital questions within their organizations and with improving the performance of the HR department

  • Chief topics: organizational changes, change management, terms of employment, learning & development, talent management and retirement

  • One of the smallest segments of the consulting industry

IT Consultant

  • Technology consultants help clients with the development and application of Information Technology (IT) of the company

  • Focus on transitions (projects) in the ICT-landscape → majority focus on implementation projects

Healthcare Consultant

  • Management analysts employed by the healthcare industry

  • Examine the efficiency, profits, and structure of the organization, then offer suggestions on methods of improvement

  • Preferred to have a master’s degree

  • Popular firm: PwC

The pros and cons of this career depend on your personal preferences, but here are some common components of consulting careers to consider:

  • Leadership of and collaboration with teams

  • Traveling 5 days per week (few careers are as travel-intensive as consulting)

  • Long hours (12 hour days are standard)

  • Working closely with a new team every few months

  • Must be adaptive

 

Day in the Life of Consulting

What would life look like working as a consultant?  Keep reading to find out!

As an intern, your role will look just like an entry-level consultant, making an internship in consulting a great way to see what your work would be like after you graduate.  Every day will look different, but you will focus on one to three projects throughout the summer, depending on their lengths.  For these projects, you’ll be placed on a team.  Your projects will require work such as formatting and filling out PowerPoint slides, writing memos, and conducting primary and secondary research.  Primary research includes conducting expert interviews and working with companies to learn more about their industries.  Secondary research involves learning from information that is publicly available.  You’ll spend time looking at balance sheets and profit-loss statements, as well as researching your client’s competitors.  You may also get to sit in on client meetings and listen to presentations.  Depending on the firm you work for, you may also spend time “on site,” or traveling to your clients.

If you’re hired as a first year associate, your role will be the same as a summer intern.  Though you may not have the same technical specialities as your peers who attended business schools, don’t let that worry you.  Your success as a consultant will depend less on what you came into the role already knowing, and more on how well you can learn on the job and adapt to new situations.  As you spend more time at the firm and gain more experience, you’ll be given more responsibilities.  You may work on different parts of slide decks and spend more time doing analysis in Excel rather than conducting primary research.  As you build relationships with the people at your firm over time, you’ll be trusted more and given these more complex tasks.

Overall, an internship in consulting is a great opportunity to do the work of first-year associates and experience firsthand what a position as a consultant would be like.  Feel free to reach out to upperclassman WIB members to learn more about what a role in consulting might be like!

So how do I get hired?

How do I land a consulting internship or full-time, post-grad job?

Focus all your attention on academics

  • The higher the GPA, the more likely you will land a prestigious internship

Get involved with 2-3 organizations (recommended) on campus

  • Be positioned for leadership early on in your academic career

  • Firms search for future leaders

  • Show you have the drive and the aptitude to be a strong leader outside of the classroom

Pursue job opportunities during breaks, especially the summer

  • Through this, you will build skills pertinent to a consulting job

  • For a freshman, start reaching out to companies that interest you!

Try an externship

  • Externships: 1-2 week job shadows that will expose you to different jobs

  • Check out the OCS Winternship program

An externship will help you know if consulting is what you want to do!

Learn about different consulting companies (listed below) and agencies

  • Big 5: Ernst & Young, Deloitte & Touche, Arthur Andersen, KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC)

  • Other prestigious firms: McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group, Bain & Company

Practice, practice, practice for your interview!

Recruiting

What does the recruiting timeline look like?

  • Application (based on date of designated firm)

    • Cover Letter & Resume

  • Consultant Resume Review → selection of applicants for first-round interviews

  • First Round Interview

    • Two types: behavioral/experience interview, full case study interview

  • Second/Third Round Interviews

    • Two full case study interviews

    • Occasionally includes a presentation or written component

What should I expect in interviews?

Combination of:

  • Case Study questions

  • Personal/Behavioral questions

  • Most important questions:

    • Why are you interested in being a consultant?

    • Interest and Knowledge for the Industry and Firm

    • Strengths and Weaknesses Consulting Questions

    • General Business and Current Events

I’m hooked! How can I learn more?

Street Of Walls for consulting questions and answers
Types of consultants for job descriptions
Different Consulting Firms for different firm descriptions
How to Crack Case Study Interviews for preparing for your interviews
Vault Career Guide to Consulting for a general guide to consulting