Consultancy remains one of the most well-known career paths for MBA graduates, who access an outstanding variety of jobs, and with high salaries.
However, it could be hard to know how to distinguish yourself from the crowd when you try to begin a career in management consulting.
To better understand this, we need to answer some of the following questions and include:
- What is a management consultant?
- Why become a management consultant?
- What can you do to become a management consultant?
- How can you find a job to become a business consultant?
What Is A Management Consultant?
Management consultants assist firms to solve problems, enhancing business performance, generating value, and maximizing growth.
spot solutions for business challenges and dish out pieces of advice for adjustments to be made. The work taken on by management consultants can vary, which includes e-business, marketing, supply chain management, and business strategy.
The day-to-day duties of the job include conducting analyses of firm figures; interviewing employees of the client; presenting and creating business proposals, as well as managing the team, supervising the execution of these suggestions.
There is a significant distinction between consulting firms, which range from popular big firms like McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, Bain, Deloitte, PwC, and KPMG, to smaller (specialist) ‘boutique’ firms.
Boutique firms often handle more specific sectors, such as healthcare consulting or design consulting.
While big firms take care of a wide scope of industries, with top companies offering operating consulting, strategy consulting, IT consulting, and many more.
Check Out: 30 Best Business Management Books In 2022
Why Become A Management Consultant?
Management consulting can be an absolutely rewarding career in both job satisfaction and remuneration. According to figures from most sources, the average consultancy salary in the United States is about US$83,408 per year.
However, salaries are possibly considerably higher, with MBA graduates from, for instance, Wharton’s MBA class of 2018 reporting a median salary of US$150,000 for consulting jobs.
Although high salaries are a kind of motivation for aspiring consultants, they are just a minor element in making the choice of this career path. Consultancy goes well for people who thrive on diversity, as days can be amazing and unpredictable.
For instance, they could need you at client sites at the very last minute, and there becomes a lot of travel, and you then get to meet a broad range of exciting, amazing people.
Whilst the tough deadlines and environment filled with anxiety can be repulsive for some, it may maximize the experience for those with a consultant’s mentality.
The brant learning curve of life as a junior consultant implies you’ll be working with senior clients and given a great level of responsibility earlier in your career.
Meanwhile, the culture involves training and learning with frequent opportunities for development. If you work with firms that are not specialized, you will as well learn a lot about various sectors you may not have encountered before.
Benefits of Management Consultant
The skills that you develop in consulting, like strategy, research, and communication, are actually transferable in case you choose to change your career in the future.
Right now, it is such a competitive market to get into, you’ll most likely have top-quality colleagues with a comparable intelligence and way of thinking.
Whilst they can know the hours for being long and anti-social, the B-side is you’ll develop close connections with colleagues, and most consulting companies offer great perquisites like free meals, company cars, sabbatical opportunities, and gym memberships.
The advancement of the consulting industry is closely connected with developments in the global economy, according to reports. When the economy booms, firms have greater budgets and will spend more on consultants, but then, the opposite is true in challenging economic times.
One big story is that although the industry confronted a downturn in the wake of the 2007-2008 global financial crisis, it has been steadily rising ever since 2011, and, now valued at US$251 billion globally in 2016.
Whilst North America and EMEA (Europe, Middle East, and Africa) hold the bulk of the market (40 and 41 percent respectively), Asia-Pacific is undoubtedly the region with the highest growth momentum.
Read Also: Money Management International Reviews 2022 | How Does It Work?
What Can You Do To Become A Management Consultant?
The following line of thoughts addresses the above question:
Education
You don’t need any particular qualifications to become a management consultant.
However, competition is vicious and applicants with MBAs or business master’s degrees will find it considerably easier to be handed the opportunity to be a part of the advancement of the field.
It can as well assist you to get a degree that applies to the industry if you desire to go into a specialized consulting field, like engineering or IT.
Skillset
There is a broad range of skills for a management consultant. Below are some of the most vital:
- Quantitative and analytical skills.
- Good interpersonal and communication skills.
- Ability to work under pressure and cope with challenging situations.
- Good teamwork skills.
- Flexibility.
- Understanding of business environments and commercial awareness.
- Problem-solving skills.
Interview Process
One thing potential consultants can be certain about is a long, multi-stage interview process.
This normally begins with rounds of ‘personality’ interviews, which evaluate how well you would fit in with the culture of the company. These will include your recognized interview questions, like ‘What do you consider your strengths and weaknesses?’
And after this, some companies will have a group interview stage. You are then, of course, put in a small group with fellow candidates to solve a problem together to present to the interviewing panel. This evaluates your ability to work in a team and be able to proffer a solution.
The final stage is the most known, which is the ‘case interview’. Where they ask you a ‘real life’ consulting question like ‘The CEO of a fast-food chain wants to close one of its outlets. Should she go ahead with it?’
With an interview, the interviewer is not concerned with a perfect response to the question. They only want to see how you can think and approach a problem logically.
Additional Qualifications
You can gain consultancy qualifications from consulting institutions like the Institute of Consulting in the UK and the Institute of Management Consultants in the US.
Even if you don’t make the choice of gaining a qualification, joining these sorts of establishments can show your devotion to the field.
How Can You Find A Job As A Management Consultant?
Most consultants get into the field at the graduate level, with a firm academic background. Top companies recruit hundreds of the best and brightest graduates onto their graduate blueprints each year.
They will refer to graduates as ‘analysts’ and uphold senior consultants. Many schemes operate a kind of revolutionary system, so you get to experience a range of practices and areas of consulting.
MBA graduates get to a higher level, like those entering another field with previous work experience. They usually refer to this as ‘experience hire’ entry-level roles.
Having an MBA or management master’s degree will amplify your chances of being hired as a consultant, but it remains a very competitive job market.
Consultancy establishments are some of the most working recruiters at universities and are a good first stop on your journey to becoming a business consultant. Many big institutions offer summer internships and ‘sample’ placements which can assist you to get your foot in the door.
Just like most competitive careers, an important part of getting a job as a management consultant is networking. This is even more suitable in consulting, where networking is an immanent part of the role.
Most big consulting companies will have various events where students interested in networking can do so. These include office hours and corporate presentations, as well as general networking events. Office hours make provision for one-on-one time with recruiters, so it becomes easier to distinguish yourself.
Information calls or statements with members of the recruiting team are also other ways to showcase your skills and happen around the end of October – the start of November. They’re opportunities to state your skills and find out more about the company.
Once you must have networked your way to the interview stages at a big company, there are some useful pointers that could serve as a remembrance to assist you to land a position.
Even if you have had no experience with consulting, it’s worthy of note that you highlight skills that apply to the position, like communication and analytical skills.
But of course, you are most likely to be asked less about your experience and more about your ‘fit’ for the field, like willingness to travel and take on long hours.
It’s important to show some of your personality in your interviews, as hiring managers or recruiters will desire to know how well you will acquaint yourself with others at the firm.
One wonderful piece of advice anyway is “Be yourself, and ensure it comes naturally!”
Management Consultancy Types of Work
- Business strategy
- E-business
- Financial and management controls
- Human resources
- Information technology
- Marketing
- Supply chain management.
Business Consultant Salary
Management consultant salaries in the United States will differ by position and experience.
Starting from the base, fresh graduates (from undergrad institutions) earn an average base pay of about $83,500 from top-tier consulting firms.
Their performance bonuses range from $12,000-$18,000, with a signing bonus of $5,000.
Hard Skills for Consulting
- Creative thinking.
- Thinking conceptually and practically.
- Problem-solving.
- Communicating clearly and empathetically.
- Collaboration with all job levels.
- Organization and time management.
- Curiosity.
- Credibility.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
The time of a business consulting project differs and is based on several factors, including:
This depends on the business goals, challenges, and size of the organization. They commonly determine a project scope during the previous consultation sessions.
They structure business consulting solutions to be flexible, have targets, and even bear modular solutions for countless challenges.
Absolutely, yes. The reason is that if you’re looking for a career path that gets you good money, a business consultant is a good choice.
Not really, as this depends on the industry or field of expertise. However, there isn’t a specific certification or qualification to practice literally as a consultant.
Conclusion
The whole summary is that the impact of a consultant is that clients can gain access to deeper degrees of expertise than would be practicable for them to hold on to in-house, and may buy just as much service from the outside consultant as truly desired.
References
- https://www.intelivate.com/faq/business-consulting
- https://www.topmba.com/jobs/how-become-management-consultant
Recommendation
