Consulting as a career option for MBAs

There are a number of career paths an MBA can take - a lot of it depends on your previous experience and the interests and contacts you develop while undertaking your MBA.

Most business schools have student networking groups or clubs in areas such as management consulting, finance and marketing. As an MBA student, it is useful to become involved in such clubs at an early stage to pursue your future career goals. The career management office in your school will help position yourself for a career in consulting. This will include CV preparation, developing case study and general interview techniques and generating contacts with alumni who work in consulting.

Consulting is a broad term for a very broad field. Generally when people say consulting, they refer to management consulting. But what you need to be aware of is that there a number of different consulting roles in the market each requiring slightly different levels of technical expertise - economic consulting, IT consulting, business analysis, business improvement, procurement consulting, media consulting, environmental consulting, strategy consulting, market research, brand consulting, advertising agencies and HR consulting.

While there is difference in the technical expertise required across the above fields, there are also commonalities across all consulting jobs - developing proposals, client interaction, project management, research, data analysis, report writing, presentation and business development. Analysts / junior consultants do most of the research and analysis in consulting firms. MBAs generally enter such firms as associates who manage projects, interact with clients on a daily basis and develop most of the final client report. Business development is generally undertaken at the Director or Partner level.

You need to have a clear understanding of what type of consulting you would like to pursue in your career. Note that once you move into a field of consulting, you start to develop in depth experience in that field. For example, if you become an economic consultant, you may find it difficult later on in your career to make a move to management consulting as the skills and knowledge you develop are different.

Getting into consulting firms can be very competitive. Most good consulting firms have yearly recruitment activities targeted at MBAs. Consulting firms generally require people who are analytical, have good Excel skills, can think critically and have well developed problem solving ability. And due to these requirements, they generally put high barriers to entry. These include excellent academic performance, one or two case study interviews, Excel testing, Psychometric testing and interviews with hiring manager / staff / partner.The pay and conditions at Consulting firms are excellent. While salaries are generally high, good consulting firms also provide a number of other employee benefits such as bonuses, study leave, payment towards further study, onsite gyms etc.

But a consulting career is not for every one. Most firms require consultants to work long hours. While this is not stated anywhere, the nature of work forces consultants to spend long hours in office. New consultants generally work on 3 or 4 projects at a time. The key performance indicator for a consultant is 'utilisation rate' which refers to how much paid work a consultant undertakes. The more paid work a consultant undertakes, the higher the utilisation rate. So sometimes there is indirect (and at times unhealthy) competition between consultants for paid work. When you are not doing paid work, you will be working on internal projects or assisting with developing proposals to win new work.

A number of consultants also end up starting their own advisory firms. Once they become experts in their field and develop strong relationships with clients, they then do not need the security of a big brand consulting house. Clients are ready to pay them for their expertise and knowledge. Often experienced consultants can make more money this way than being employed for a salary at a bigger consulting firm.

Although consulting can be a demanding job, the future career benefits are exceptional. Most Directors or Partners at Consulting firms go on to become CEOs or Board members of major corporations. If you do the hard yards in your initial years as a consultant, you are guaranteed a successful business career.

Let us know if you have any questions in relation to 'Consulting' as a career option.