Industry Insight...


Working in Management Consulting

There are many different types of management consulting, ranging from IT consulting, operations consulting, HR consulting, strategy consulting and economic consulting to name but a few.

Consulting is, in short, solving business problems for clients. A successful consultant needs to have strong analytical skills coupled with the ability to solve business issues in a structured, flexible and sometimes creative way.  A high degree of personal impact and leadership are useful attributes.

An entry-level role in strategy consulting is likely to involve research and analysis of markets, businesses, and competitors, conducting interviews with industry participants – such as customers, suppliers, industry experts etc, as well as clients, the development of parts of reports that address key issues and draft presentations and presenting findings to clients.

A typical day working as a strategy consultant might involve meeting the MD of an IT company at 9am, and taking a briefing. The client explains that company sales are flat and does not understand why. The consultant interviews the MD in order to get a detailed understanding of the company, the markets it operates in and its competitors and to develop some hypotheses to test. On the train, after the meeting, the consultant breaks down the research and data required to test each hypothesis developed during the client meeting. The consultant returns to the office and prepares a project plan with his team, outlining the data and research required in order to answer the clients’ questions. Later that afternoon he or she may sketch out a draft structure for the report to be given to client.

The consultancy team’s output may be in the form of a report to the client a month later, and sometimes may involve a degree of implementation (i.e. putting the plan into action).

Pros: very varied, exposure to different industries, intellectually stimulating, opportunities work overseas, well paid