Management Consultancy

[AB]

Anyone here working in this field? Do you enjoy it?

What is the best way in? In terms of graduate schemes?

Who are the biggest companies?

Asking on behalf of a friend as he has no contacts really.

[Jasper Gilder]

It's great - but you can't just swan in

I reckon 10 years in diverse management jobs, mainly senior management and consultancy or directorship as the choice that leads you into it

If you're any good you'll make the profits for yourself....

An MBA helps as well

[Nigel H]

I do. I'm not the MBA type, I'm more expert, so maybe not too good a role model.

Top companies. McKinsey, Bain, Boston, Booz and Co.

Have a look at www.thevault.com - some good answers for the mob I work for

[Marcellus]

Very good unblemished employment record in companies with good reputation at a high level.......

[ewenm]

Two common routes into McKinsey/Bain/etc consultancies are as experienced hire - so years doing very well in industry before switching to consultancy or as graduate hire - top degree from a top flight Uni plus post-grad qualifications in a relevant area are usually needed for this. Some of the guys I did my post-grad (Advanced Course in Design, Manufacture and Management at Cambridge) with went straight into those firms. Very few positions so competition is tough and you need to be able to distinguish yourself from everyone else.

Then there are the more generic consultancies like Accenture who again recruit through similar methods but have more vacancies. I joined PwC Consulting in 1999 after my post-grad and now work as an independent IT contractor at the MoD on an IBM project.

Any sort of consultancy will be long hours with plenty of unpaid overtime and high expectations from the clients and management. Living out of hotels every week may sound glamourous at first but rapidly becomes tiresome - one of my first projects with PwC was in Vilnius, Lithuania which involved the 0645 flight out of Heathrow T3 on a Monday morning, 4 nights in Vilnius and then an afternoon flight back on the Friday - can get very tiring after a few weeks but can also be a lot of fun if the others on the project are a good group.

[V8mate]

Your friend will need a First to get onto a graduate scheme and will need to show evidence of having saved thousands of starving Africans by single-handedly digging irrigation channels, run multiple marathons across a weekend and having walked to both Poles without a jacket. They are looking for top-flight academics who can also demonstrate a good all-round approach.

As well as the companies already listed in the thread (all great firms) also consider Ernst & Young, Deloitte, IBM, PA Consulting, KPMG, or look towards one of the big accountancy firms, like these, and ensure you become a 'high-flyer'.

[Gargamel]

V8mate said:

Your friend will need a First to get onto a graduate scheme and will need to show evidence of having saved thousands of starving Africans by single-handedly digging irrigation channels, run multiple marathons across a weekend and having walked to both Poles without a jacket. They are looking for top-flight academics who can also demonstrate a good all-round approach.

Don't forget he will also need to speak half a dozen langages and not mind living out of a suitcase

[Dakkon]

ewenm said:

Any sort of consultancy will be long hours with plenty of unpaid overtime and high expectations from the clients and management. Living out of hotels every week may sound glamourous at first but rapidly becomes tiresome - one of my first projects with PwC was in Vilnius, Lithuania which involved the 0645 flight out of Heathrow T3 on a Monday morning, 4 nights in Vilnius and then an afternoon flight back on the Friday - can get very tiring after a few weeks but can also be a lot of fun if the others on the project are a good group.

Listen to this advice.

It is not an easy life and can be very tough on relationships when you are on a long term project away. She will say everything is fine to begin with, but six months in she will be asking if you really have to fly out early on a Monday morning?

If you want to avoid a 3:30am start on a Monday morning, you can always fly out late on a Sunday, but then you have even less of a weekend at home.....

Also consider it puts massive pressure on your weekends.

You get back Friday night, generally can't be arsed to do much, Saturday mornings get filled quickly with any tasks that can't be done online in the week, banking, post office, getting that washing machine from curry's, food shopping etc. Saturday afternoons go without any effort at all. Saturday evenings get easily filled months in advance with seeing friends and family.
Sunday comes and can go really quick if you have any sort of lie-in and then Sunday afternoon / evening you are thinking about the week ahead and packing your suitcase etc.

On the other hand, if your good, promotions can happen quickly and the salaries can be very impressive, you get a lot of expereince very quickly, working with a decent team can be a lot of fun and there are some fantastic cities in Europe for going out for dinner / drinks with your project team.

Your friends will have no idea what your workload is really like and will assume you have a high life of glamour living in hotels all around the world.

Depending on the consultancy, being inbetween projects can be tough and you can be made redundant if your not placed on a new project within a specified time.

A I can categorically state that five years into this life, flying just becomes sitting in a bus with wings and having half a million air miles really does not make up for it all.