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What's it like to work in consulting?
09-04-2011, 01:58 AM
Some knowledge from friends. I'll just knowledge dump.
It seems there are two tiers.
Tier 1 McK, BCG, Bain, Monitor
Tier 2 Accenture, Deloitte, boutique firms, etc...
Tier 1, work like a dog - burnout is really high although people dont complain about it as much as I-banking. People that do it really appreciate the fact that they get work with really smart people for a change. They live out of a suitcase to a certain extent. Don't have too much choice where they get sent: Saudi, London, Houston. It's pretty random. Pay is near tops. Connections and working at the larger firms is like having gold stamp on your resume. People usually leapfrog from there to top tier MBAs or hedge funds. They give you this "mini" MBA training so you can "technically" be from any background. They just look for "smart" people or people that bullshit well.
Tier 2.
Work out of a suitcase. Pay is roughly the same as an engineer's salary. Hours are longer but not as bad as tier 1.
To some extent I think consulting doesn't make too much sense if you've seen the work that they do. It's a lot of educated guessing with a lot of assumptions.
With regards to traveling.
Had a friend pull some strings and end up in hawaii for a year, everything paid for. Had another friend that got sent to the middle of nowhere for a year as well.
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What's it like to work in consulting?
09-04-2011, 05:48 AM
my best friend from college works with Deloitte.
he is always traveling around the US.
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What's it like to work in consulting?
09-04-2011, 06:44 AM
I was talking with a CEO for a medium sized (200 partners) consulting firm here in my home town the other day.
He said it like this: If you worked with established players, you're gonna get to work very hard, with smart people, at a very low level. Most def a small fish in a big pond.
You work with a newer, younger, more dynamic less established group, you're gonna be a big fish in a small pond, and... all else being equal, I reckon that's a better deal for consulting. The experience you get from more responsibility earlier on will look better. People in the business know what BCG and McKinsey are like, and the respect for them is not that great. The awe is from people outside the industry who don't know better.
That said... I would only work in consulting after I myself felt I had some REAL life experience, like the military. I can't take people who learnt about management in a classroom seriously.
A year from now you'll wish you started today
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What's it like to work in consulting?
09-04-2011, 02:11 PM
Exactly like IB with better hours, less coin and travel.
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What's it like to work in consulting?
09-04-2011, 02:34 PM
If you're interested in working for them. You have to start planning 1-2 years in advance.
For McK. If you're still in school - you need leadership experience, stellar grades, and have demonstrated that you're interested in the field. You also need to prep doing case studies ~1-2y in advance. A unique biography doesn't hurt either.
Also remember... if you're at a decent public university. The top firms only hire maybe 3 kids from that school/year. Competition is fierce... Especially in this economic climate.
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What's it like to work in consulting?
09-08-2011, 02:27 PM
This article is very well written, in depth and will give you a good idea of what the work entails:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arch...myth/4883/
Some consulting firms offer flexible working arrangements like working from home, 4 day weeks, etc.
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What's it like to work in consulting?
09-08-2011, 02:33 PM
AJ's post is pretty much spot on. If you can power through the rough hours for a couple of years you are pretty much set to pick and choose your next position that's not at corporate major managerial levels.
If you can get in, do it. But be prepared that these firms consider their workers as a resource to be expended.
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What's it like to work in consulting?
09-08-2011, 06:26 PM
Well, I'm not exactly getting rich working as a consultant from Colombia but the freedom I get is great! I don't have to put up with bitchy people and can work on my underwear if I want to...the only drawback I see from this is not getting any 401K pension and USA medical health insurance, but I'm planning on starting to invest on real state soon so when retirement age arrives I plan on being fine...
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What's it like to work in consulting?
07-20-2014, 02:57 PM
I was just reading this thread thought it deserved a bump. If we still have any players in the game that would be kind enough to drop more knowledge on the consulting industry, please do.
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What's it like to work in consulting?
07-20-2014, 03:54 PM
AJ's post above is a great starting point.
There's a big difference between the term of art "Management Consulting" and the more general meaning of consulting which is anyone hired on a contract basis, usually for a specific project.
Management Consulting usually refers to services offered to Executive Management of large companies. It's where an established company pays a boatload of money to a private firm to have a crew of of ambitious, well-educated, well-dressed, well-trained, but inexperienced 20-somethings analyze the company; telling the executive management things they already know and recommending actions they were going to do anyway.
It seems like a huge racket to me. But if you have the opportunity and think you can handle the pressure, seems like a good way to start a business career. Pay is decent and you get a lot of experience and you travel a lot.
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What's it like to work in consulting?
07-20-2014, 05:14 PM
Read "The Management Myth" by Matthew Stewart for a biased (as if the title didn't give that away), but largely accurate account of management consulting.
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What's it like to work in consulting?
07-21-2014, 10:41 AM
Damn this thread is old. I have no interest in consulting anymore, I'm pretty set on Banking/Finance, though not investment banking (spending my 20's working 80+ hours a week and being miserable is not worth the money).
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What's it like to work in consulting?
07-22-2014, 01:44 PM
I work at McKinsey. I've been in consulting for about 2 years, before which I went to a top MBA. Are there specific questions? If so I will answer as best as I can. Wallstreetoasis is another good forum.
Summary:
Long hours M-Th (8am to 11pm average). Lighter friday. Very little on weekends.
Good money. After undergrad is around 100k all in. Post MBA is about 180 all in. 2-3 years after MBA is low mid 200s. 4-6 years after MBA is 300s. 6 plus years after MBA you can be partner (6 is quite fast), and the range there is 600k to 2M plus.
Expense account is great. Lots of good food. It helps keep your spending down during the week which is great. This combined with the fact that I'm cheap, and ill save six figures this year, which is nice. Good for enabling early retirement.
Travel is lame. I spent about 6 months where I slept on a plane every Sunday night for about 4-5 hours (and then worked 15 hour day). The upside is points. I've flown to Asia, Australia, Africa, South America, and a variety of domestic places all on points. I never pay for a hotel anymore. Maybe if I had more vacation I would run out of points...I also fly more than most. If you live on east coast of US for example, you are likely to fly less. "Alternative" travel is nice too if single (e.g., fly somewhere else other than home if the ticket price is same or less)
What else? High turnover. Sounds cool until you realize your life is work during the week -- really nothing else. So yeah, most people are 2-4 years and then they leave. I'm stubborn and don't mind it so "in" for now.
Overall good gig if young and single (good brand, good pay, travel can be leverage more if single and less downside of being away from family).
Let me know if there are any specific questions.
Post typed from phone -- sorry for any poor grammar or sentence structure.
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What's it like to work in consulting?
07-22-2014, 04:34 PM
Goodtimez - very interesting, thanks for the perspective.
I've got undergrad in business / finance and about a year in an ops role at a major financial services company, and considering grad school in 1-3 years. Opportunities to move upward in my current role are limited, so my options are either 1) move to other ops roles, possibly sell-side or 2) switch industries.
What sort of advice would you have for someone trying to break into mid-tier consulting (large firm, brand recognition) from another industry?
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What's it like to work in consulting?
07-23-2014, 01:23 AM
Best way to break into the mug tier I brought up as something that happened me - get headhunted.
That requires pretty much the same of what goodtimez above is describing though you have to have that network where you can make yourself a dot on the radar.
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What's it like to work in consulting?
07-23-2014, 05:10 PM
I was going to bite my tongue, but couldn't help but to throw in my $.02:
1. Anytime you are working a job where you have to turn in billable hours, it makes for a shitty lifestyle. Complete donkey. If young, work at these places to gold plate resume only then get the hell out. Save the "going to make partner in x years" for blue pillers. Total crock (and will for sure set you up for a "just one more year" treadmill mentality)
2. Anytime someone says that they would rather work in consulting or commercial banking over scoring a job as an investment banker at a top wall street firm because "the hours suck", it is always the case that they never truly had the offer anyway. If someone wants to get on here and tell me they told Goldman Sachs to stuff it because the hours sucked then I'm happy to eat crow. Just haven't seen this yet. "No longer interested in investment banking because of the hours" = no true job offer (or rather, there was no bid).