edit by rhyme: Stickied, seems appropriate... I've been thinking all along that I would like to work in consulting after school, but the more consultants I talk to, the more I think it may not be for me. Literally every single one of them that I have talked to has absolutely no social life and no significant other. The worst part is that they don't seem to recognize that as a serious problem or void in their life. More like they just see it as a funny sort of side-effect of working in consulting, like, "Oh yeah, one thing that kind of sucks is I don't have any friends other than the concierges at the hotels that I live in." Does consulting attract people that don't have anything going on with their life besides their careers, or am I reading too much into what the five or six people I have talked to have said? In other words am I just dealing with a small sample size of people who have no social lives? Is anybody else struggling with this? I really think I can kick *ss in school and land a consulting gig at a good firm, and I think the work would be incredibly interesting and challenging, and I would enjoy travelling and the lifestyle, but only up to a point. I just don't think I could handle 80 or 90% travel. I know some places like Bain apparently have much less travel so I think I could handle that, but in general I just don't think I could deal with hardly ever seeing my girlfriend or other friends.

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GMATT73

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22 Mar 2007, 07:32

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usctrojan098

Consultants are the doctors of business (and sometimes, the psychiatrists).

A doctor can prescribe all she wants, but a patient will never get better unless he actually takes the medicine.

kidderek

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22 Mar 2007, 07:55

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pelihu

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kripalkavi

3. Most people say that consultants just restate the obvious using 'business jargon'. Is this true?

No, my colleagues and I provide high value-add deliverables that include actionable recommendations based on best practices. We also provide robust next steps to help our clients move the needle in a way that revolutionizes their business. The takeaway from all of this (at 30,000 feet, anyway) is that we develop a synergistic relationship with our clients that leverages their core competencies and our IP to deliver a compelling value proposition.

This is your evidence of not using "business jargon", or was this a joke?

1. high value-add
2. deliverables
3. actionable
4. best practices
5. robust next steps
6. revolutionize
7. takeaway
8. synergistic
9. leverages
10. core competencies
11. IP
12. compelling value proposition.

:lol:

Synergistic? That's the cherry on top of all that smoke.

GMATT73

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kidderek

Synergistic? That's the cherry on top of all that smoke.

That's the universal buzzword I included during both my first job and MBA interviews. It still works after all these years :wink:

rhyme

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Anyone been to scribd.com?

You wont believe what you can find there. Try a search for mkinsey for example. I wont link directly to it, cause im not so sure all that stuff isnt copyrighted, but you can find a lot of stuff there. Complete wetfeet guides... etc. Or try a search for "MBA".

kidderek

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22 Mar 2007, 08:21

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rhyme

thanks rhyme, now i can look busy staring at my monitor all day.

usctrojan098

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kripalkavi

3. Most people say that consultants just restate the obvious using 'business jargon'. Is this true?

You also forgot:
13. move the needle
14. at 30,000 feet

But you passed the test.

usctrojan098

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usctrojan098

You call that last paragraph of mine nothing?

Like I said, I didn't mean to offend anybody.

Rhyme and I were being facetious, buddy. Sorry about that.

usctrojan098

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22 Mar 2007, 08:35

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GMATT73

usctrojan098

Consultants are the doctors of business (and sometimes, the psychiatrists).

A doctor can prescribe all she wants, but a patient will never get better unless he actually takes the medicine.

Bingo, but a great doctor will convince the patient to take the medicine and then monitor their progress.

rhyme

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22 Mar 2007, 08:39

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usctrojan098

GMATT73

usctrojan098

Consultants are the doctors of business (and sometimes, the psychiatrists).

A doctor can prescribe all she wants, but a patient will never get better unless he actually takes the medicine.

Bingo, but a great doctor will convince the patient to take the medicine and then monitor their progress.

But if you didn't drink and smoke so much, you probably wouldn't have gotten sick in the first place.

GMATT73

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rhyme

Yeah, they even have the full text of the 911 Commission Report. Great database.

usctrojan098

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As for what consultants actually provide? I take a slightly more cynical approach... I think that in some cases, consultants add a lot of value because they bring a fresh perspective, but I also think that consultants are more often than not hired not for their expertise but because they provide plausible deniability. If things go good, "hey It was my idea to bring in Deloitte". If things go to the crapper, "Look, Deloitte told us to do it."

Being able to point the finger at somebody else is, indeed, a benefit of hiring an external consulting firm. Especially for layoffs. When you see a consultant appear and then employees disappear a few days later, don't always believe that it was the consultant who drove them out. Especially if the CEO says "Well, Consulting Firm X told us to do it." You don't make those kinds of life-changing decisions without at least scrutinizing the consultant's analysis.

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22 Mar 2007, 08:50

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usctrojan098

GMATT73

usctrojan098

Consultants are the doctors of business (and sometimes, the psychiatrists).

A doctor can prescribe all she wants, but a patient will never get better unless he actually takes the medicine.

Bingo, but a great doctor will convince the patient to take the medicine and then monitor their progress.

But if you didn't drink and smoke so much, you probably wouldn't have gotten sick in the first place.

Yeah, but those substance abuse problems are probably the result of issues that started in early childhood.

kripalkavi

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22 Mar 2007, 20:43

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usctrojan098

rhyme

usctrojan098

GMATT73

usctrojan098

Consultants are the doctors of business (and sometimes, the psychiatrists).

A doctor can prescribe all she wants, but a patient will never get better unless he actually takes the medicine.

Bingo, but a great doctor will convince the patient to take the medicine and then monitor their progress.

But if you didn't drink and smoke so much, you probably wouldn't have gotten sick in the first place.

Yeah, but those substance abuse problems are probably the result of issues that started in early childhood.

Enough with the analogies people! We get the point! :-D

Rhyme

Harldy. Consultants utilize best practices to synthesize data into actionable result oriented recommendations. We leverage internal intellectual property and due diligence skills to develop best of breed industry practices across our core competencies. By initiating our drill down efforts from the helicopter view, we level set the issue and and tackle low hanging fruit first. In so doing, we dial in the right areas and ensure our final deliverables bring value add to the table.

lol!! Business jargon?! Where? When?

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24 Mar 2007, 08:48

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Edit: lol, i'm probably offending someone, i'll edit this out.

usctrojan098

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One more note from me, and this is an obvious but not-often-talked-about piece of advice.

If you want to be in a consulting firm after b-school, please take into account the offices that you are applying to. It matters - more than the consulting firms will tell you. Consider these facts:

- Supply and demand matters. If you want to work in New York, well so does everybody else. Put New York as your first choice and you are jumping into an excessively competitive pool.
- Diversity matters. Nobody wants their office to be full of people all from the same school. So if you're from Stanford and want to work in San Francisco, or Kellogg and want to work in Chicago, then you're placing yourself into an excessively large pool. On the other hand, if you're from Stanford and want to work in Chicago, or Kellogg and want to work in San Francisco, then you've just made your life that much easier.
- Fit matters. Want to work in Los Angeles? Sounds great...do you think you fit in with LA people at your b-school? Trying to prove to a consulting firm that you "fit" is difficult enough without also trying to adjust your personality to match a local office.

DO YOUR RESEARCH - put just as much effort (or more) into studying the culture of each consulting firm as you did when you applied to b-schools. Do not declare office preferences without thinking this strategic element through. If you're dying to be a consultant, but aren't tied down anywhere and know you're going to be traveling all the time, then play it as safe as you can. I hear Cleveland and Denver are nice.

pelihu

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26 Mar 2007, 19:33

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usctrojan098

DO YOUR RESEARCH - put just as much effort (or more) into studying the culture of each consulting firm as you did when you applied to b-schools. Do not declare office preferences without thinking this strategic element through. If you're dying to be a consultant, but aren't tied down anywhere and know you're going to be traveling all the time, then play it as safe as you can. I hear Cleveland and Denver are nice.

Funny, I've never heard that about Cleveland. :lol:

Of course, I'm sure you are right that competition for jobs there will be less intense.[/quote]

aceman626

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Hi guys, very useful thread here, thanks to all the people who shared their experiences. I have a couple questions:

1) I am a hard working and ambitious person...but if I want to sleep 8 hours a day and work out twice a week, is that feasible as a MC? I am assuming IB is not possible if I want that kind of lifestyle, but maybe MC?

2) How good is the compensation? Is it much worse than IB or comparable? What's the salary range say coming right out of bschool, after 3 years, and after 5 years? What's the career progression?

3) Anybody know about MC in Asia? Is it the same lifestyle? same pay as the western world? I am talking about McK BCG and Bain in particular.

4) Is it possible to work in MC for a few years, then switch to PE/VC/HF? Is that option available?

5) What do you guys think of an MC internship? I heard it's not necessary to get into the field? So what would you recommend for internship? Maybe an IB internship?

Thanks

usctrojan098

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28 Mar 2007, 14:30

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aceman626

1) I am a hard working and ambitious person...but if I want to sleep 8 hours a day and work out twice a week, is that feasible as a MC? I am assuming IB is not possible if I want that kind of lifestyle, but maybe MC?

It is feasible to do it if you are productive, although you may need to sacrifice some other things. It's more feasible after the first year or so. Work-life balance becomes better over time.

aceman626

2) How good is the compensation? Is it much worse than IB or comparable? What's the salary range say coming right out of bschool, after 3 years, and after 5 years? What's the career progression?

You're looking at a six figure salary out of b-school. I think that compensation is maybe half of IB, but I'm not sure. MC compensation would probably double within 3 years, including bonuses. Career progression is that you're a consultant out of b-school, leading to manager and then partner. From analysis of a specific part of a project, to controlling the entire recommendation, to selling new projects.

aceman626

3) Anybody know about MC in Asia? Is it the same lifestyle? same pay as the western world? I am talking about McK BCG and Bain in particular.

In my firm, Asia definitely works more hours than the US. The compensation is different, although I'm not sure if it's more or less. A consultant in Asia will have a great quality of life.

aceman626

4) Is it possible to work in MC for a few years, then switch to PE/VC/HF? Is that option available?

That option is available and not uncommon. Those fields often leverage headhunters that consistently go after consultants.

aceman626

5) What do you guys think of an MC internship? I heard it's not necessary to get into the field? So what would you recommend for internship? Maybe an IB internship?

You should do an internship in an area that you would like to do full-time. So if that's MC, try to get MC. Make sure you apply other places in case you need to use a backup. But no, you don't need a MC internship to get the full-time offer.

mba07

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27 Apr 2007, 00:09

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aceman626

3) Anybody know about MC in Asia? Is it the same lifestyle? same pay as the western world? I am talking about McK BCG and Bain in particular.

4) Is it possible to work in MC for a few years, then switch to PE/VC/HF? Is that option available?

Thanks

PE is coming up in a big way in India. A lots of PE shops (the bigs ones esp) are increasing their presence in India, and most of their recruits are ex McK people. Blackstone and Warburg Pincus are examples.

pats

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Hi,
Sorry in case my questions are very silly.
I am working for a well known MNC as an IT Engineer and have a good technical and client interfacing role

I would like to expand my scope to management and interaction with business team and clients.

How is MC different from this in the perspective the kind of job they do ?

Is it much more technical ?
Or it is business analysis, pre sales etc ?

Also in case I take up an MBA from a top school (top 20 or so) in US with the knowledge and degree can I get good ROI in an Asian country ?

Can anybody with a software background elaborate on the kind of work profile a MC has after an MBA ?

Thanks in advance, hope I have not digressed much from the topic under discussion.