Consulting firms like Bain, BCG, and McKinsey are known for their high-profile involvement in extracurricular activities. These professionals often participate in Consultant Clubs, Business/Entrepreneurship Organizations, and other activities that can enhance their CV. These extracurriculars can help candidates identify their impact, leadership potential, drive, impact, and teamwork.
Consulting firms seek individuals who thrive in positions of responsibility and have intuition for leading teams and stepping up to challenges. Examples of leadership potential include leading a team or society on campus, organizing an event, or founding a group. Business and entrepreneurship clubs help students gain a better understanding of how companies operate, which is essential for consultants.
Consulting firms also look for individuals with a strong drive from their past educational, extracurricular, and professional experiences. They want to see candidates who have mentored high school or college students, helped with recruiting at the firm, and participated in the company’s community service initiatives.
In summary, consulting firms seek individuals who thrive in positions of responsibility, have intuition for leading teams, and have a strong drive in their past educational, extracurricular, and professional experiences. To boost a candidate’s CV, they should participate in consulting-related extracurricular activities, such as joining an entrepreneurship group or playing an active role in a student organization. By participating in these activities, candidates can demonstrate their potential and contribute to the success of their careers in the consulting industry.
📹 05 What do Consulting firms look for in candidates
Consulting firms primarily look for effective communication (clear and precise) – both verbal and written, relevant experience …
What are the key activities for consulting firms?
The day-to-day activities of a consultant vary across firms and roles, but four basic activities are analysis, communication, building influence, and business development. Analysis involves data gathering, research, and analysis using tools like Excel. Communication involves writing emails, creating presentations, and having meetings. Building influence involves building relationships with clients and aligning them with the analysis and recommendations.
Networking and developing marketing materials help consultants find their next project. For a newly minted MBA, the day-to-day of a consultant might include calls with clients, working on financial models in Excel, identifying key insights, translating them into PowerPoint decks, and meeting internally with managers for feedback. This day-to-day approach helps consultants stay organized, focused, and focused on their clients’ needs.
Is it really hard to get into McKinsey?
McKinsey is a highly selective company, with over 200, 000 applicants each year. To pass the first round of the resume and cover letter screen, candidates should choose the right academic background, such as pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree, Masters Degree, JD, MD, or PhD at a top U. S. university. The company considers schools like Harvard, Yale, Wharton, and Stanford as hotbeds of talent. If you fall into the non-target school category, focus on maintaining the highest GPA (3.
5 as the minimum) to showcase your discipline and commitment to learning. McKinsey has expanded its outreach to more schools worldwide, so if you fall into this category, focus on maintaining the highest GPA to land a McKinsey offer.
What personality types are best for consultants?
The average consultant is risk-tolerant, trustworthy, optimistic, deliberate, matter-of-fact, autonomous, and supportive. They are eager to help develop others and are loyal, supportive, and helpful. They are a stabilizing force in groups and invest time building relationships with peers. They work best in a serene work environment, avoiding chaos and sudden change. They are a matter-of-fact, unemotional, and practical individual who is autonomous and supportive.
What GPA does McKinsey look for?
McKinsey, Bain, and BCG do not have a strict GPA cutoff, but typically consider anything from 3. 6 up as a strong GPA. However, this is not straightforward, as academic results like SAT or GRE scores, where studied, and field of study are considered. Lower GPAs in tough subjects at highly competitive colleges may be assessed at the same level as higher GPAs in easier subjects at more accessible colleges. The varying average GPA across colleges and between subjects also contributes to the screening criteria.
What skills do consultants look for?
A good consultant should possess excellent communication, commercial awareness, organizational skills, analytical skills, listening and persuasion abilities, teamwork, problem-solving skills, and adaptability. Consulting recruiters seek these skills in graduates. To become a management consultant, one must demonstrate these competencies in their applications. This content is editorially independent and impartial, written and edited by the targetjobs content team, adhering to a non-advertorial policy that does not promote one organization over another.
Do extracurriculars matter for an MBA?
MBA applicants should consider their extracurricular activities to stand out in the MBA pool. Business schools value students who actively contribute to the community, and the ‘Other Info/Extracurricular’ section of the resume is often a key focus for the admissions committee. The way you spend your free time, however limited, speaks to your character and what is important to you. The best practices for showcasing your extracurricular and volunteer experience on your MBA application and resume include:
- Including your interests in your extracurricular activities: Business schools value students who contribute actively to the community. The way you spend your free time speaks to your character and what is important to you.
What are the best extracurriculars for MBA?
MBA extracurriculars can be beneficial for both students and non-students. Online or in-person clubs and societies can be found in various cities and towns, and the internet has made it possible to join clubs across the world. Hobbies and interests can also be excellent MBA extracurriculars, as they can make an individual stand out and can be leveraged in an MBA diversity essay.
Community service is another excellent extracurricular for any professional or graduate program, as it shows a commitment to community and a willingness to make an impact. However, it is important to remember that volunteering at a homeless shelter once a year is not a demonstration of passion and commitment. To achieve progress, a solid chunk of time and effort is needed.
Vocational and community service are beneficial for an MBA application because they demonstrate skills and experiences that are especially valuable to some programs. Many MBA programs are community-oriented, aiming to edify students in the context of the community. Some programs are designed to train students in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), which focuses on ethics and sustainability for businesses. Even for programs that don’t specifically utilize a community-centered approach, demonstrating leadership, interpersonal skills, and an accountable and responsible mindset is essential.
What does McKinsey look for in a consultant?
Interviewing is a two-way process that helps both potential colleagues and McKinsey understand each other. McKinsey values personal impact, entrepreneurial drive, inclusive leadership, and problem-solving skills. The assessment process for internal roles is available for those interested in McKinsey careers beyond consulting. The company aims to create an exceptional environment for exceptional people, and during interviews, assessors may discuss McKinsey’s non-hierarchical, diverse, inclusive meritocracy, apprenticeship and mentor programs, and the obligation to dissent. The company also emphasizes the importance of acquiring these skills through various means.
What skills does Deloitte look for?
Deloitte places significant emphasis on the importance of both technical and soft skills, with particular focus on communication, teamwork, problem-solving, and adaptability. To demonstrate your proficiency, provide illustrative examples of how these competencies have been exhibited in previous professional roles. The objective of these recommendations is to facilitate a sense of assurance and preparedness with regard to the application process.
How do you stand out in consulting?
In order to gain a competitive advantage within your industry, it is essential to adopt a bold, creative, and unconventional approach. It is recommended that you act in a manner that reflects expertise and give your first sale the highest priority. It is inadvisable to offer services at an undervalued price, as this may lead to a loss of reputation. Instead, it is recommended to base the price on the value of the service provided, rather than on the number of hours worked. In conclusion, the most effective method for distinguishing oneself in the field and attracting clients is to become a thought leader.
What are the extracurriculars for consulting?
The majority of consulting professionals (75 out of a total of 240 profiles) participated in five extracurricular activities: Consultant Clubs, Business/Entrepreneurship Organizations, Fraternity/Sorority, volunteer work, and holding leadership positions at various clubs. Consulting clubs are essential for future consultants to gain industry exposure and make professional connections.
One notable profile was a consulting professional who participated in the Yale Undergraduate Consulting Group, where they can enhance their critical thinking skills and provide consulting services in their most relevant areas and industries.
📹 What does a consultant actually do?
It’s a question as old as however old management consulting is: what exactly do consultants do all day? In our first-ever “case …
My dad is a really successful private consultant. A lot of friends ask me what my dad does for a living, I remember asking him the question what does he do in consulting and he just said. “Just have common sense, big corps are stupid stiff and out of touch with the basics, you just tell them the things a minimal educated person would tell them to do, it’s easy.” like bro…
My grandpa was a consultant at the steel mill he used to work at. He used to tell us about how all of his suggestions for improving the mill were completely ignored while he worked on the floor. Later when he was a consultant, his advice was met with “oh wow I never knew that was an issue” or “oh that’s a great suggestion sir”. So in conclusion, a consultant is someone you pay to listen to so that you can ignore the people who are actually bringing value to your company.
Their business model is: 1. Tell clients they’re experts. Provide one experienced consultant for a project. 2. Have most of the work done by overworked grads. As these grads are the top of their class, they can manage to figure stuff out quickly enough. 3. Bill obscene amounts to the client for every hour worked for as long as possible. Clients essentially pay obscene amounts for college grads to apply some theories learnt in college and present it well, making it a very profitable business model 😂
26 yo Management Consultant here. “Going to meetings and preparing for meetings” is a very good description. At best you take on some menial tasks that still have some tangible value at least. At worst, your job is simply to agree with the client, fiddle with some PowerPoint slides, and show up to meetings you definitely don’t need to be at so the client doesn’t feel like they’re paying for nothing. Easy money for sure.
This is great work. My grandma was a consultant in the 80s working with some bigger tech firms and still views everything in a lens of consultant-y processes, it honestly drives me insane because it really just seems like an endless vortex of buzzwords for otherwise rational and comprehensible planning/problem solving.
Something consultants do especially well is provide company management a way to pass blame for their decisions onto a 3rd party. That way they can distance themselves from unpopular decisions like laying off staff since it has been recommended by the consultant. They’re also used to provide ‘independent’ views on things like assumptions used for market forecasting etc. which come off as more credible to shareholders That’s why these companies thrive off reputation – that’s one of the largest things they can provide to a company.
I became an engineering consultant by accident despite not having a background or interest in engineering. I myself do not know what I do, which makes it REALLY hard to explain my job to people when they ask. I want to quit because I hate it and I feel useless, but also: money. I like having money because it allows me to pay for things like: staying alive, and also maybe someday a lightsaber.
Good to note, that management consulting is just one type of consulting of which they vary a lot. I am a Data and analytics type consultant in big 4 and I mostly build dashboards (reports), code and build IT architecture to manage companies storage of data. Which is real tangible work that I give to the company at the end and they continue to use after the project. Management consultants just generally give advice, so yes its mostly just building power points… (I could never do that job… yikes)
I think this mystery only really applies to management consultants. I’m a data consultant and I’m basically just brought in to develop new data capabilities (cloud migration, dashboards/reporting capability for that data, sometimes web dev). This usually requiring a bit of programming and pipeline building ability. A lot of public companies don’t pay the right money for people to do this full time so they just bring people like me in for a few weeks to build it, and then run it as a managed service. I like the fact I can explain my job so easily. It’s a very concrete set of capabilities, I just think of myself like a digital plumber for hire. And because I’m surrounded by people who do “everything” kinda roles with glossy Powerpoint presentations (the mgmt consultants), I’m usually left alone and can leave work at the right time or early quite often. It’s great!
If you overhear “I’m a consultant” don’t assume it’s a management consultant. It can be anything: many programmers are consultants. A tech company might have 50 programmers: 30 employees and 20 consultants. All doing the same thing – just different employment forms – only real difference being their contracts
I was a nanny for two high level McKenzie consultants, and they sometimes worked from when I woke up to when I went to bed, were seemingly in meetings all day, were only not traveling constantly because it was covid and taught me that there is no amount of money in the world to get me to do some jobs
This was an excellent article, and yeah, it is pretty wild that consultants make so much money for essentially just doing BS and riding on the coattails of status. I’ve met many consultants here on the east coast, and I would say the primary thing they sell is looking “smart” or “professional”., Almost like business actors, even moreso than being actual ‘brains’ because in reality they know nothing about the businesses they’re trying to help. It’s all about that business aesthetic — the Ivy League diploma and expensive suit are the primary products, not their “intelligence” or “insight”
I work at a Big 4 firm and I have noticed that there is a widespread “busy culture” where people tend to overcomplicate most tasks and processes. Everyone here thinks more work and effort = more value and better. Sometimes I think a big part of it is ego and the need to feel important and busy. For example, we have a ton of random project trackers, redundant pmo drones, and meetings that could be condensed into a more automated, streamlined workflow. If the work is simpler/more straight to the point, then people may feel like they are not accomplishing or contributing as much. It feels like someone who attends back to back meetings all day and contributes or produces nothing is seen as productive whereas the developer or analyst heads down working on deliverables and not attending any meetings is seen as unproductive or unimportant.
I’m a chemical engineer and worked at a company that had McKinsey consultants running a “transformation project” that I was asked to support on. I can 100% confirm that all they would actually produce were powerpoint presentations and the ocassional graphic on minitab, most of which were outsourced to an indian company and only slightly tweaked by the McKinsey team before meetings, and by god there were so many meetings… several each day… usually telling us we were behind schedule, which was mostly because we were stuck in so many meetings all the time telling us how far behind schedule we were. I never once saw a McKinsey employee produce a piece of work that actively progressed the project, they were far too busy prepping for meetings to discuss the progress of the project.
This was hig. Hilarious dude, please turn this into a series. People will love it. Consultancy (Flashing lights under it saying Vacancy). Deep dive into the secret world of outsourcing, data modernization, digital transformation, and consultants make-up terms They are the best at it. Keep going dude that shit was funny AF.
I’ve had consultants come to my class at uni to talk about their job. Their day to day is 9-5 with some breaks in between, emails, powerpoints and meetings so like every other office job. I think they’re different as their clients are local governments in developing countries or big orgs like u said. I still don’t know why anyone would pay so much to use them.
I’m a consultant at a software company and you run into the expert consultant types all the time. They are really bad for a customer because they talk a big game and customers love it, but they aren’t at all interested in seeing their ideas implemented or hearing feedback on their ideas. But consulting overall is very rewarding. Lots of variety compared to more single focus on a product company. I did product for years and definitely have found consulting leap years ahead of working in a product company. Though it comes down to personality and your career objectives for sure.
I’ve worked with them for many years, and 3:25 sums it up. A consultant allows incompetent management in corporations (and there’s plenty of that) to hide from the decision-making process. As long as it’s signed off by some big name, it will not be questioned and your position is and remains safe, no matter how stupid the advice is (and again there’s plenty of that as well).
I witnessed firsthand how BCG exploits graduate students. My roommate, a pHd candidate at Colombia University, asked me to join a competition with other students to improve the process flow of CAR-T cell therapy (a cancer treatment). The competition was organized and judged by BCG. Winners got an opportunity to interview with BCG and many graduates work for them or other firms. The research and solutions we came up with during the competition is worth potentially billions of dollars we shared for free, in exchange for free sandwiches and the chance to meet BCG people.
Consultants basically get hired for short term, ad hoc projects that no one at the company has time to focus on. The companies are essentially hiring a temporary executive (the consulting partner) with their team (the consultants) to solve the problem the company has. It’s easier than hiring your own internal team, and the consulting firm provides additional resources to the engagement team to help them be successful. It also gives the CEO some additional support with whatever direction they are looking to take the company
In my experience hiring one of the big four is usually hiring a scapegoat for unpopular decisions or projects that could blow up in your face. Many consultants are fresh grads and don’t have any more knowledge (usually even less) than the people they’re working with. They often bridge internal communication barriers that should not exist in the first place. And if you have to proceed with an unpopular or risky project, you can always blame it on one of the big names. However, I’ve had many better experiences with independent consultants. Unlike big four consultants they often look back on decades of specific industry experience.
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As someone who just started in consulting, here’s a summary of more substance about what a consultant is and why it’s paid so well (3 min read): What are consultants? Consultants essentially are temporary hires that either are hired to fix a structural problem (management consultants, a.k.a. problem solvers) or to temporary bring niche expertise to the company for the duration of a project that needs some experts which you otherwise wouldn’t have on a payroll for full-time because you don’t need their niche expertise full-time. The latter of the two (so non-management consultants) makes up the vast majority of consultants. Once the project is over/once the structural problem that needed to be fixed is fixed, there is no more need for the expertise or consultants. Why are they paid so well? The above would usually be a bad type of occupation where you are “laid off” and have to find a new employer every 0.5 – 2 years to have but that’s where consultancy companies come in. They hire consultants and internally train them to gain more expertise in their specific field (ones that often don’t have a university program specifically designed for that field) and find various projects at different companies where they can dispatch their consultants with niche expertise so that they are able to work full–time. A company might be hesitant to take on John the private consultant with 5 years of experience divided over 4 projects, but they won’t be if that same John is part of a big consultancy company that has a combined expertise of 300+ years of experience which always delivers as a company.
Consultants have the extraordinary skill of telling management exactly what every employee in the company already knows. But, of course, they’re blessed with an ‘external perspective’ and an ‘objective view’ (which is a fancy way of saying they know how to dress up issues and problems in a way that management likes to hear). And for this rare and invaluable talent, they are compensated with top dollar. Clearly, money well spent. On the bright side, they can bring valuable insights, methods, and strategies that a company might not have access to otherwise.
As a management consultant for 2+ years I’ll say we double or triple click on topics companies usually don’t do. Finding answers to CEOs or whoever hired us. Big companies usually don’t have the positions inside their hierarchy with the resources available to do the deep research, we get access to all data and info from the company parts (this is why confidentiality is so appreciated by management), so it is a little bit easier for us (as outsiders) to find those answers connecting the necessary dots. Of course companies could find those answers without us, we just have the means to do it a lot faster. It took me 2 years to figure it out, first time writing it down haha We also make pretty power points.
To understand what consultants do, you have to understand what business is. Business is the allocation of resources. In that sense, it is quite similar to politics and governance. The allocation of resources is a very thorny topic for two reasons. One is that it requires skill and experience to determine the most effective allocation. Another is that there are always winners and losers, and the losers are never happy about it. A consultant helps improve a business. To do this, they will do two things. The first thing is a bit of analysis to determine the best allocation of resources. The second thing is a lot of discussion to persuade everyone to agree to the new allocation. In other words: logic and rhetoric. While they do these two things, they add value in a third way: they are an outside perspective. This adds weight to both their validation of the new allocation and their impartiality towards people in the business.
Hi, cybersecurity consultant here! From my perspective, in order to achieve success as consultants we need to do a lot of grinding by ourselves (studying network security, risk management, criptography, secure software coding, cybersecurity frameworks, cybersecurity laws and regulations, etc). The more knowledge we have, the more useful we can be to our company internaly and to our external clients. Our job is to improve an organization performance, manage changes and help achieve their business objectives (and in cybersecurity, achieve the intended information security throughout the company’s projects and business decisions). I hope I’ve been able to clarify this dilemma!
Consulting at a T1 or even T2 firm is a solid start to one’s career. Travel might sound appealing but it gets old quite fast when you’ve got to go in the middle of nowhere for weeks to meet clients, pay is okay but not as good when you put hours into perspective. I’d say the main selling point is exit opportunities, you’ll get respect after working at McK – Bain – BCG and you’ll most likely have someone at least glance at your CV and offering an interview (which is huge).
I came here after spending the last four hours researching whether I’d committed a felony or not. Turns out what I did was not only legal, but is the very definition of what consultants do for a living. So here I am at 2am, smoking weed and laying in bed, trying to figure out what to call my new consulting firm.
consulting firms can have clients in the FDA and big tobacco because the teams doing the actual work are siloed/firewalled and don’t have any communication with each other. something people dont consider is just how massive these companies are and how few people employees actually interact with within the firm.
I was an IT consultant for 20 years. The benefit to the department that hired me was that they “staffed” their personal programming dept with very well skilled guys, and the didn’t have to go through their HR dept. we were a capital cost not an HR cost. They had complete ownership of us. Not like another dept could scoop us up through normal HR websites. Or we couldn’t go work for another dept in the company like you sometimes do. It was a perfect fit. Plus we were smarter than their in-house programmers.
I work at a music venue/theatre in the bars and for 2021 and 2022 we had Deloitte’s QLD wide Christmas party/end of year review event. Both times I asked many of the people attending what a consultant even is and what their work looks like. Even into the night when they all got wasted, the answers were always vague and flighty. The only full-proof perception that I’ve gained from these experiences is that consultants are groups of wealthy people who like to party
I would’ve gone into consulting a few years ago. I was done with grad school, but I was almost funneled into doing a PhD. The role would’ve been more on a techno-commercial side and there was a promise of being made “VP” or “partner” once I was done with the PhD. I wasn’t and didn’t wanna put myself through that much mental fatigue. Because I was getting emails from these Big 4 consulting guys on a freaking Saturday evening! No semblance or concept of a weekend!
oh man ! uh r doing great job by making such content, it’s super useful for us, students who are about to begin their career in such fields n don’t have much idea about different career perspective and what we have to do in daily basis. plzz keep going n keep growing ! n never stop making such revealing contents.
Basically, I think a management consultant is a smart person who can adjust their knowledge and skillset to fit the problem a business is having so as to provide a more objective, fresh-eyed perspective. And the larger the consultancy company, the more likely it is they have people already experienced and knowledgable about your particular problem. There are so many times I’ve foolishly tried to explain issues with my business to family and friends, who are bright people but have no clue what to say. Because they’re not familiar with the ins and outs of my business even though they hear me talk about it plenty, and they have no particular related skills (e.g. in marketing, data analysis, Human Resources, etc.).
The management consulting industry is built on a model that creates or accumulates knowledge in terms of leading/best practices that usually no single entity (business, private or public, or even government) can typically build. As such, they are there to solve problems and deliver value through advising top management on issues such as: 1- strategy: whether market entry strategy, marketing strategy, corporate strategy or even government strategies or visions (the 2030s visions for example), or even sectorial strategy such as how to improve the healthcare sector in a given country, or how to better build and manage governments budgets (public finance management). 2- organization development: building effective organization structure, talent management, business process maps, etc. 3- IT: from IT strategy, to infrastructure architect, to software requirement and implementation management 4- lots of programs and projects management services including managing change throughout merger and acquisition for example. 5- many many other services that consulting firms offer.
From my perspective a consultant is a “freelancer” with extra steps. I work as a consultant in the systems engineering department. I’m a software developer by trade so what I do is write code and develop systems for clients. I don’t introduce myself as a consultant because I do the same job as a regular software developer. Basically people higher up in the company will find clients that need a specific service, like a website/system or anything tech related that needs to be developed- and then come back to Deloitte and pick people from a pool to come work on said project with them. It’s usually more convenient for a client to hire people ready to go to build something for them instead of hiring several fulltime employees to build something that wont take too long. As for how consulting works outside systems engineering, I cant really say.
I’m a Hispanic working as a technologist in corporate America, and I have learned to talk more White and to wear more Patagonia clothing to fit in around my white colleagues. It worked. It’s so incredibly stupid how it’s worked just by paying for a certain kind of clothes and just talking more “white”. So yes, talking and sounding like a management consultant is just that easy.
I was working on car part development projects. It was an existing product, nothing new. So the options were to make it as close as possible of what is already on the market, but is hard to compete with a factory that has already payed off most of the initial investment in the production line. Making a different design might bring a competitive edge but is a risky bet. I could tell them this for free, but they hired a consultant that advised them to pick the first, safer option that is guaranteed to fail. This actually happened twice in 2 different companies. After that I gave up on R&D and switched to maintenance and after sales.
I don’t know about other fields but in the software field I’ve always considered Consultants as contractors cause they are basically just that except instead of contracting to you directly they have a middle man. Sometimes they are their own middle man which is bizarre to me. And they basically take jobs based on their skill set. Now I personally have no idea what kinda job a Business major gets so management consultants fuck if I know
A consultant can do just about everything. From giving you advice how to grow cucumber, to “should we extend a highway to 8 lanes”. The common thing is: His knowledge is so special, you don’t hire the specialist by human ressources department, you buy it as a service. The tax consultant is the most common one maybe. In a movie I heared the phrase “I’m too expensive to be hired by one company only, they need to share me”.
I’ve been a digital consultant for over 4 years, the saying is: « give the company the time with their own watch ». But there’s more pressure internally because your job is to bring in money by billing as much time as possible. That’s all management have got on their minds is to bill more time. So they make you do the same job in less time in order for you to make time to bill another company. Obviously, this has negative consequences on your mental health and the quality of work you’re expected to deliver.
I studied Information System and was offered to be IT consultant. I rejected, because my personality don’t fit to this profession, I hate to explain things and an introvert. Also, I’m more interested in computer science, so I switched my major 🙂 My fellow students hovewer are interested in this job, but majority of CS nerds lack required physical appearance for this
I’d always separate management consulting from other kinds of consulting. There’s a lot of technical fields where it makes sense for a company to hire consultants to advise rather than hire expertise in house. Deloitte does a lot of this in civil engineering alongside management consulting, and there’s also a vast array of self employed consultants that have very specific knowledge in a very niche field or process that are very good at fixing very specific problems companies may have. And I think that’s generally easier for people to understand where the value comes from. Management consulting is a whole different beast though.
From what tik tok has taught me, a consultant gets to work at 11am from an uber, writes some words on sticky notes, has lunch from the in office cereal bar, has a meeting with the other consultants over a smoothy then they all go out to eat for an early dinner at 4pm while laughing over said sticky notes.
I remember in my apprenticeship I first got a feel for what consultants do. I had made a project which would be shown at an event at which some big boys from that billion dollar company would be present. Some consultant then noticed something he wanted slightly differently. He then mailed another consultant which mailed him back he then mailed another consulting firm who mailed my boss boss who mailed my boss who forwarded the whole conversation to me. In the end it took them like 5x the time to get their dumb little “optimization” to me than for me to actually make the change. Not to mention they probably earned on average 10x my wage 🙂
3:22 What this guy said here. A company hires a consulting firm to tell that company what they already know, is pretty common. It means that they have external validation to justify their decisions and the people within the company can redirect accountability if the decision goes badly – they can just say “We took the advice of these consultants who have a positive record with other clients”.
Lmfao I love this article! I’ve done some consulting work in the fashion industry. It’s pretty much listening to what may be the issue the brand/designer/business has, and using your previous experience, knowledge of the industry, using forecast skills and a prayer advise the client what they should do next and give them a plan to follow, then revisit to see if the advise helped, cause every brand is very much case-by-case…. I think I spilled the beans 😬
WAY back in 1989/91 I was a ‘Plant Accountant’ in a reasonable size manufacturing plant in Melbourne, Austraya. Consultants came in and determined that I did not need the 11 employees (from Payroll to Accounts Payable and Receivable, etc.) and they could ‘Downsize’ it (remember that word?) to 10 employees. I argued that what they are saying is true BUT 10 was the absolute minimum EVERYDAY. Employees become sick, they like to take holiday leave and from time to time there needs to be a buffer for the unexpected. I lost the argument. Twelve months later the auditors were questioning why the provision for annual leave was so high? Because nobody could take time off.
talk politicians (and executives of companies) into certain laws and foundings with the nice concession that they could work for you in the future if “they” pay for their services or mckinsey is a nice example: consult a government when drafting tax laws and then consult businesses on how to avoid paying these taxes
ive seen alot of those “day in the life of a {insert business job)” and always assumed they were getting paid to essentially do nothing. Now I am 100% sure they get paid to do nothing. And here I am slaving away at minimum wage whilst trying at an Engineering degree while Trent from sales makes a Power Point and earns 6 figures.
Having talked to and worked as a undergrad consultant, the simple truth is this. People suck at doing bussness. Most companies make obvious mistakes but cannot afford to admit to it, so they hite an outside firm to analyse and compare them to their competitors. They then have to tell them that they are fucking up without without hurting their feelings lmao. Often through workshops, trying to make the client make the realisation themselves.
I’ve been a tech consultant for almost 10 years. Started as an Analyst What do I do? 1. I identify and confirm problems and risks. That means I ask a lot of questions (including “dumb” ones) and process a lot of information. 2. I think. And think. A lot… until I find potential solutions. 3. I study those solutions carefully to determine which is probably better. That means a lot of research and analysis and a whole lot more thinking. 4. Sometimes I help implement these solutions, manage the projects, lead the teams, etc. So yes, “brains for hire” sounds accurate to me 😊
True story. The company I worked for hired a consulting firm five years ago and went through a corporate restructuring recommended by them. Five years later, it went back to what it was before and guess what? Also, recommended by the same consulting firm. So, they basically recycle ideas and get paid every single time. Genius!
These billionaires which I am not one of them but they worked hard getting where they are they did not need to use this superstition that article talks about to become a billionaires they have all kinds of antiques, heirlooms and many clothes that they don’t wear anymore and it doesn’t stop being rich they work hard they know where to invest their money in and what kind of strategy to use to make themselves rich so don’t need to do this false teachings says to do.
I agree, there are far too many consultants in the industry. However after talking to some business owners I understand that there are a fair amount of people with genuinely good ideas for a product or service, that just don’t have the time to learn all the ins and outs of owning and operating a business in our economy. It can be helpful for there to be a person who studies our legal and tax system that can explain things to the business owners in lamer, more digestible terms and allow for the development of the business. Some people are capable of doing all on their own, and that’s great, but a lot of people open business as a side hustle and don’t have the time to sit and learn all about our complicated economy. You could say the solution would just be to make the who process simpler, but realistically that will never happen. I do really love your content and think your head is in the right place, but a good consultant can really help a business grow.
Tech consultant here. Mostly, we offer solutions based on the technical products we have or we don’t (learn about it later on). Basically, you combine Software Engineering with Analyzing skills. Can’t really talk a lot about Management Consultant since we might differ from the basics. Please fix me if I am wrong.
I am business consultant in dubai As you all want what we do. 1)save your time and money 2) give best advice according to your situation with our experience 3) we do work witch you think its not even possible 4)we handle the pressure of your business legally we have to make sure each and every word because one . can Destroy your business 5)We show you the guidance you want
Many people assume that consulting is primarily focused on cutting staff – I am not surprised this was the first example Mike Forsythe made. However, as someone who actually works in management consulting, I can confidently say that this is quite misleading. The majority of consulting projects are focused on improving business processes, providing market-specific recommendations, and offering temporary external support for the implementation of new technologies. With their involvement in various projects, consultants have a better visibility and understanding of what other companies are doing. It’s frustrating that people tend to choose the controversial and marginal example of staff reduction when there are many more positive and exciting examples to highlight. Leaving this aside, the article is great and so is the format!
As an administrative assistant at BCG, Tyler’s buzzword “align” was extremely triggering. Fight-or-flight level! Project Leader? Love those words as an assistant. It means I’ll be able to find time for them to align with my Partners!!!! Anyway, yeah, I’m still not 100% sure what consultants do (in detail) after having been at BCG for a little over a year as an AA but I think it’s starting to click. Really, they’re just fixing problems within companies, I think that’s what it boils down to??? In so many meetings. Like soooo many meetings.
I’m a consultant (not McKinsey). My job is how Pepper Potts describes what she does for Tony Stark in the first Ironman – “anything and everything that Mr Stark requires, including taking out the trash”. We are hired brains but also hired hands for admin or organisational or comms works that nobody wants to do, and for random periods of time. We do NOT get paid as much as the client business pays for us because the consultancy takes a big cut, of course. Mostly we’re just people who never picked a proper profession but are too smart and motivated to do nothing.
That’s interesting because I’m a consultant in France and my clients are union based in company. Basically, by law every company above 50 employees can consult the Directors about the financial situation, company’s strategy moving forward and social situation ( work-life balance, mental health, sickness rate etc…). The 50 employees are represented by 5 people. And directors don’t usually cooperate in sending the needed documents to those 5 people and even if they did, those 5 people might not understand it at all (imagine people working in factories trying to understand cash-flow statements and etc.). So by law, they can call an “Expert” to get relevant information from the directors and present it to the 5 people as detailed as possible. I find it quite interesting because it helps these 5 people to convey relevant information to the work force and allows them to understand what is going on in the company. With this intel, they can better negotiate with the directors (we can also help them there), or decide to go on strike.
This is very helpful, I finally get it. People in companies are kinda stupid, so they hire others to do the thinking for them and tell them how to do their job better. Apparently this will make them more money. I wonder how much of corporate America’s success is due to consultants from outside their companies?
Funny story, I knew a lady working for BSG and she told me abit regarding their corporate culture. no one remains stagnant apparently, you get a sizable bump in pay or position every year and in return you are expect to perform and deliver, if you can’t hit the benchmark required, you are out so fast you might get whiplash. the pay scale also apparently jump significantly once you are a few years in from whatever amount you were getting to 5 figures guaranteed. seems pretty prestigious as the son’s and daughter of famous politician, ivy leagues graduate and royalties were her colleagues.
Here’s a surprise: you’re probably underpaid because consultants say so. Most big companies hire consultants to determine how much salary they give their employees and what rate they increase it annually. When your HR says they compare it with “industry standards” or that your salaries are “competitive” that means they hired a consulting firm to tell them how much other similar companies pay their employees. And from that data, they can choose to pay an equal amount or a bit higher to be more “competitive”.
I have over 10 years of experience as a senior consultant in Strategy and Marketing in China. During this time, I led a team of consultants and worked with Kotler Marketing Group for more than 8 years. Recently, my family and I relocated to Canada at the end of last year. I am eager to continue my career in North America, ideally working as a consultant or in a related role within companies. Can you offer me some advice on how to break into this market?
Kermit D. Frog here. Consultants with merit are former employees that retired with a ton of experience. The caveat being; There are also a bunch of edgelords that migrate jobs all the time for bigger pay and then think they know everything and get hired by new people plussed by non-experience and numbers.
The quickest way to get into the financial services industry is to perform well in some sort of higher-level stem degree program at a university. Somthing like a pure math B.S. or stats B.S. with a possible transition into the financial services sector by using actuarial work as a bridge. It’s by far the easiest way to demonstrate high reasoning capabilities, so it’ll show that even if you as an older person were aimless, you have a rational-enough mind to succeed with the big dogs. Do well enough and you too may someday serve your owners as a well-payed wage slave.
“Consultants jobs is going to meetings and prepare for meetings” It comes to no surprise to me as literally everyone around me is conditioned to LOVE meetings even back from Uni days. Except that 90% consists of: Planning meetings,10% is to go to meetings, and 0% is actually preparing for meetings. No one even prepares for those.
consultant companies actually do two things: 1. traffic influences 2. subhire cheapo freelance workers (who are also conveniently called consultants to hide the fact that they do the grunt work) with little to no benefits to toil the mines for a significant lesser cost compared to a normal salaried employee
The two reporters came so close to saying the truth; bosses are every level love covering their ass and passing the buck for their own decisions. Layoffs for corporate board members stockholders and management to get big pay days become harder to argue against when it’s not just a decision management made, it’s “hey, trust in this random institution!” Consulting firms are on of the mechanisms by which our economy and society have been hollowed out the last 50 years. And like the former consulting associate said at the end, this also grew up over the last 60-70 years because the ceos and other lower management who got to pass the buck think fondly of the people they passed the buck to and hire them to work in management at their corporation, strengthening the vicious cycle. It’s a two way con
Consultants are basically extremely skilled temp employees that are hired by different companies to do specific sets of work they otherwise wouldn’t want to hire anyone to do full time. A consultant, through their parent company, might be contracted out to a few different clients (companies) per year, or specialize with one client for a year or more. For most clients, this can be financially responsible, as they get the skill, knowledge, and experience required to fix X problem in a few months without needing to hire a team full time team of employees to solve. However, consulting companies tend to sign multi-year and multi-project contracts with clients, and clients end up spending a lot more than they expected. These contracts are easily manipulated by consulting companies so the perceived value of their work is always larger than the initial cost, but this is often negated by consulting companies using proprietary technology which ensures several year contract extensions to solve (and find) more problems. Sort of like a mutually beneficial parasite. Once a company/client hires a consulting company, they are usually stuck with them.
Consultants have two functions: 1. Primary function: INSURANCE – If you have a major project, you hire insurance, so that when things go wrong, you put the blame on the consultants. For example, you are the CEO/CTO/COO of a successful company but now your shareholders/board want you to do (NEXT BIG THING) even though the company has never done it. What now? Well, obviously you say you don’t have the in house competence to do it so you need to “get externals” to do the job if the owners want it done quickly. Not only will you get a bit of knowledge transfer, you will get these consultants to do (NEXT BIG THING) for you. If they do it? Great, you take the credit because you facilitated things. If they fail? Well, that’s their fault. 2. Secondary function: You genuinely need help (usually with international stuff, such as your company entering a new market, reviewing company finances, tax stuff, etc.). Consultants will crunch numbers and draw from experience with other companies they worked with in the past.
McKinsey came to a place where I worked. We had to teach them everything because obviously they had no clue. The real point was for teh C suite to have a shinny deck for the board. The CFO hated their PPT so we had to redo it as well. So we did everything, you know the little employees, and they did squat for a fortune..total scam. As one these guys said, it’s an excuse for the CEO to enact change or layoffs or both and use them as cover
Consultant mean many different thing but on the top, consultants are paid just because of their connections. They help right people get together and fix big issues. They are often ex top managers. In case of these young 20 year old I think those are just some crazy ambitious kids who want to make a big dent in the universe so they willingly accept to be thrown around to fix whatever and be yelled at but they get the position of “consultant” that sounds important. But they are just like production assistants in movie business.
This sums up consulting, if you don’t get it, we’d love to work with you in the future. “I make car parts for the American working Man, because that’s what I am and that’s who I care about! The truth is I make car parts for the American working Man, because I’m a hell of a salesman and he doesn’t know any better.” -Ray Zalinsky