Down On Consulting

I would appreciate if someone answers my query!

Do MC companies recruit MBA students who have had work experience in their family businesses prior to their MBA?
or they've got no chance??

This is a great thread on Consulting providing detailed insight on the life style.

Thanks a ton to all the contributers !!

Considering they'll hire people with ZERO direct business experience (scientists, engineers), I'd have to say yeah, they'll hire someone who has actual business experience.

RF

First of all, thanks to all the contributors on this thread. I've learned a ton about the industry lifestyle here.

I've read through most all of the posts, but you'll have to forgive me if any of these questions are redundant. I may have missed earlier answers/insights.

What really differentiates McKinsey, Bain and BCG? I've heard mumblings about their different cultures (e.g. Boston is for intellectuals), but I've never heard anything comprehensive. Is there one among them that tends to focus more on specific industries or problems/tends to attract a different kind of person/be more family and free time friendly?

What is the duration of the typical signing contracts Associates get coming out of their MBAs? Is it just for one to two years or longer? Is there any negotiating in this process or do all MBA grads get roughly the same package?

Does it behoove an MBA to focus on a particular industry so that he can have a specialization going into the job or are most Associates at the big 3 basically all general management and strategy folks? Are there attractive or necessary concentrations within the major consulting firms that MBAs should aspire to become proficient in?

Is it easy to move offices once you're with the company? And conversely, is it common for the company to reassign you to a different office?

Do consultants in U.S.-bound offices typically get a lot of assignments in overseas or, more logically, do the European offices handle all the Europe assignments, Middle East office handle all the ME assignments, etc.? I'm working on polishing a couple foreign languages right now, and I'd like to know if this is even useful.

Are there a lot of opportunities for pro bono work?

Any advice for a former military officer who wants to get into consulting?

Thanks again, this thread has been extremely helpful!

Wannabe consultants might find this article helpful:

http://www.economist.com/node/18774614

Thanks for all the great insights on consulting.

Quick question: I would like to specialize in Hi tech or Greentech/environment companies. Which firms have the most expertise in each of these industries ?

Thanks

thanks. this seems useful.

Any other material - blog,magazine,websites - we can look into for good insight on mgmt consulting.

You might find this site helpful.

http://managementconsulted.com/

Hey all. Firstly, I have been on and off ghosting this forum for about a year now. I originally was curious about GMAT prep, even though it's a ways off for me, but after looking through the site a bit more, there are some wonderful insights into various industries, including consulting, which I have some questions about.

So I'm about to be a sophomore at IU Kelley, doing undergrad, and it's going quite well. However, I'm really having trouble thinking about what kind of career I'd like to have when I graduate, so I've been researching MC. This thread and Rhyme's thread on recruiting have been interesting, but I have some general questions that I haven't seen answered.

First off, Is getting a big 3 (or really any) MC job more difficult for an undergraduate business major, or majorly different in any way then if you're an MBA grad?

Secondly, I'm definitely considering going back to grad school, though I have quite a while before I will have to know, and I'm wondering if consulting is a good fit for someone who is looking into an MBA/JD program. I mean to say, do business schools have any preference when it comes to MC? For it? against it?

Third, in anyone's experience, is hard-work rewarded in the MC industry to a greater extent that face-time with the partners? What I mean to say is that I respect the idea of working your way upward in a company, rather than networking your way upward. I know that a certain amount of both is required to be successful, but I feel like there are definitely industries where advancement relies on one more than the other, and I'm wondering how the MC dynamic is.

I hope I didn't sound too ignorant, and that I didn't miss these answers somewhere else.
Thanks!

Want to go into consulting, have an entrance level job (Production Assistant) with Deloitte. I have my in, now what do I need to get into a Consulting position? Possible Designations? I'm obviously considering an MBA at some point too, hopefully Part time in 2012.

Thanks

im currently an auditor hoping to make the switch to consulting (pre-MBA to a smaller firm and post-MBA to MBB hopefully). any advice on doing this? i have a year of work experience and my cpa, any specific consulting firms i should target that will be open to my skillset?

I just want to thank all the people who have contributed their insights and experience in this thread...i've obtained a lot of useful info about consulting...was wondering if it is right for me and all these discussions will really help me make my decision....thanks a lot for posting

Hi there,

I'm a CXO who has been a client for MBB firms on three occasions (once as the client lead for a multinational company). I've friends who have done consulting. I thought some might be curious about a client's perspective.



No.

I'm currently recruiting a new Director role and would avoid someone from a MC role. The key reasons are those given in The Atlantic article:

"Moreover, a consultant’s voice is not the voice of direct experience; most of the problems that consultants analyze are ones they have never faced. And although consultants asking for your business may talk about the trove of industry intelligence they have to share, in practice, the sharing is limited: contracts forbid sharing anything really juicy, and some firms work with only one client per sector at a time. In fact, the arguments for hiring a consultant are often the same as those for seeing a psychiatrist. Both experts have helped an awful lot of people work through prob­lems, which makes them good at listening and gives each one an arsenal of best practices to suggest to their new clients."

MC firms are valuable for bringing smart, fresh insight. They are also valuable for carrying out grunt work, like an industry analysis, with added intelligent insight.

Frequently, however, the strategy is the easy part. Getting a large multinational organistion to actually implement the strategy is the hard part. Consultants have no management experience of the latter.



* I agree. This is what can make MC a bad choice of first job. If you've only worked in consultancy, then you can sometimes struggle to get into industry. Another one of my friends graduated from Oxford and went straight into strategy consulting. Despite an awesome CV, she had a nightmare trying to get into industry. Nobody wanted to hire a jack of all trades. (In contrast, another friend who went from industry into consulting as an 'experienced hire' has had a fast track career; a couple of years consultancy served him very well.)

* As for being hated, my experience was that being a jack of all trades caused this. Consultants come in without much industry sector knowledge. This means you're paying them to learn your industry! They can make all sorts of poor recommendations because of low sector knowledge.

I believe MC can be great for your career if you do some time industry, before joining a MC firm as an experienced hire. You have lots more credibility with clients. You'll have lots more career options to progress on from consulting.