Building a Career in Consulting: The Ultimate Guide
A career in management consulting offers incredible opportunities – interesting and challenging work, exposure to different industries and business problems, accelerated professional development, and generous compensation. It‘s no wonder that landing a job at a top consulting firm is a dream for many ambitious business professionals.
But what does it really take to break into and succeed in the competitive world of consulting? In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll give you an inside look at the consulting career path and share expert tips to help you navigate it strategically.
What is Consulting?
At its core, consulting is the business of providing expert advice to organizations to help them solve problems and improve performance. Consultants are essentially professional problem-solvers. They leverage their analytical skills, industry and functional expertise, and experience to diagnose issues, recommend solutions, and often support the implementation of those solutions.
Consultants usually work in teams and engage with clients on a project basis. A typical project involves working closely with the client to understand and structure the problem, gathering and analyzing relevant data, determining insights and recommendations, and communicating the proposed solution to executives through presentations and workshops.
Types of Consulting
Consulting is a vast industry encompassing many different domains and types of firms. The main segments include:
Strategy Consulting
Strategy consultants advise organizations on high-level business strategy, helping them make decisions about which markets to enter, which customer segments to target, where to allocate resources, and which capabilities they need to succeed. Projects often focus on growth opportunities, new business models, pricing strategies, and competitive positioning.
Example: A global consumer packaged goods company engages a strategy consulting firm to determine how to increase its market share in emerging economies. The consultants assess the market landscape, analyze consumer preferences and behavior, evaluate competitors, and develop a go-to-market strategy and implementation roadmap.
Operations Consulting
Operations consultants focus on optimizing a company‘s core processes and functions to improve efficiency and productivity. This can include supply chain, procurement, logistics, manufacturing, and service delivery. The goal is to enable the organization to reduce costs, enhance quality, and better serve customers.
Example: An airline hires an operations consulting team to streamline its aircraft maintenance processes. The consultants map out the existing maintenance workflows, identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies, benchmark performance against industry standards, and redesign processes to maximize up-time and return planes to service faster.
Technology Consulting
Technology consultants help organizations evaluate, select, and implement new enterprise software and systems. They provide expertise on IT strategy, systems integration, cloud migrations, data and analytics, security, and digitizing business processes.
Example: A national healthcare provider wants to modernize its electronic medical record system. Technology consultants assess the company‘s current IT environment and future needs, develop the business case for investment, help select the best software vendor, and plan and execute the implementation.
There are also many specialist consulting domains like human capital, risk management, sustainability, and others. Some consulting firms are highly specialized in a particular industry vertical, such as healthcare consulting or financial services consulting.
Top Consulting Firms
The prestige, selectivity, and compensation of consulting firms is often categorized into "tiers":
MBB
McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group (BCG), and Bain & Company are known as the "Big Three" or MBB. They are the most elite strategy consulting firms, serving leading global corporations and commanding the highest fees. They offer unparalleled exit opportunities but are extremely difficult to get into (<1% acceptance rate).
Big Four
Deloitte, PwC, EY, and KPMG are the largest professional services firms in the world. As such, their consulting arms (e.g. Deloitte Consulting, Strategy&) are major players. They work across all industries and consulting domains. Compensation is lower than MBB but still very high, and they offer good exit options.
Other Top Firms
One step below MBB are highly regarded strategy firms like Kearney, Oliver Wyman, and LEK Consulting. Large technology consulting firms like Accenture, IBM, and Tata are also prestigious options.
Boutiques
There are countless small and midsize "boutique" firms that specialize in particular industries or capabilities, such as Putnam Associates in life sciences or Gartner in IT research and advisory. Working at a boutique can offer greater work-life balance than larger firms.
How to Break In
Consulting firms hire at three main entry points:
Undergrad
Many firms hire students straight out of college, usually from top universities. This requires maintaining a high GPA (3.5+), securing a summer internship, and acing the interview process. Extracurriculars, leadership, and analytical skills are also important.
MBA
Getting an MBA, especially from a prestigious business school (M7) is a major pipeline into consulting. Firms actively recruit on campus and often sponsor students‘ tuition in exchange for a commitment to work there after graduating.
Experienced Hire
Firms sometimes hire experienced industry professionals from relevant backgrounds (e.g. hiring a software engineer to be a technology consultant). This pathway is less structured than on-campus recruiting and usually requires networking to get a foot in the door.
Tips for breaking in:
- Maintain a high GPA and test scores
- Secure relevant extracurricular leadership and internship experiences
- Network extensively with firm representatives and alumni
- Practice extensively for case interviews
- Craft an accomplishment-oriented resume and cover letter that shows impact and analytical skills
Consulting Career Path
The typical consulting career path progresses as follows:
Analyst/Associate
Entry-level consultants are responsible for doing the legwork to drive insights – building models in Excel, conducting analyses, creating presentations. Base salary ~$90K + bonus.
Senior Associate/Consultant
After ~2 years, consultants progress to leading workstreams and managing junior team members. They have more client interaction. Base salary ~$150K + bonus.
Manager/Project Leader
Managers lead project teams and own the end-to-end delivery of engagements. They play a key role in shaping the problem-solving approach and recommendations. Base salary ~$200K + bonus.
Principal/Partner
After ~10 years in consulting, high performers are promoted to partner. Partners are responsible for selling work, managing client relationships, and firm leadership. Total compensation $1M+.
Tips for succeeding as a consultant:
- Develop deep expertise in a particular industry and/or function
- Build relationships and a strong professional network inside and outside your firm
- Hone your analytical, communication, and presentation skills
- Be proactive in seeking mentorship, feedback, and new opportunities
- Deliver exceptional client service and results
Exit Opportunities
After 2-5 years, many consultants decide to leave for industry roles where they can have more impact and ownership. Common options include:
- Corporate strategy and business development roles
- Operational roles in areas like supply chain or process improvement
- Product management and marketing leadership positions
- Leadership development programs at Fortune 500 companies
- Entrepreneurship (founding or joining startups)
- Investing (private equity, venture capital)
- Non-profit and government leadership
- Graduate school (MBA, JD, PhD)
Having a brand-name consulting firm on your resume opens doors to highly coveted roles that would otherwise be hard to attain. The skills built in consulting are highly transferable.
Conclusion
A career in consulting is undoubtedly challenging – the hours are long, the work is demanding, and the travel can take a toll. But for the right person, the opportunities for learning, impact, career acceleration, and compensation are unmatched.
Breaking into consulting, especially at the top firms, requires focus, effort, and a bit of luck. But once you‘re in, and you‘re able to navigate the up-or-out career path, the experience will benefit you whether you decide to stay in consulting for the long-run or use it as a springboard to other exciting careers.
While not for the faint of heart, consulting can be an incredible way to challenge yourself, build an outstanding skillset, and turbocharge your professional trajectory. For high performers with big ambitions, it‘s hard to beat.
