Hey there, everyone. It’s a rainy night here in Chicago, so, instead of heading out and hitting the town, I’ve decided to stay in and put a dent in my Inbox. With the busy summer I’ve had, my Inbox backlog has gotten pretty bad and, with the inevitable flow of emails that’ll come with the new application season, I’m pretty far behind. Hope I can get caught up soon.
The email below is from a reader who found me through the interview I did for ManagementConsulted.com. She’s currently working in Europe, but wants to come back to the US for grad school and eventually end up working in Consulting. She’s asking for my perspective on her fit for the industry and how she can make a move into it. After reading her profile, I had some feedback for her that may or may not come off well…let’s see how it goes.
—–
MK wrote:
“Hello!
I´ve come across an interview you did with managementconsulted.com. First of all, thanks for taking personal time to help others- this is truly invaluable for aspiring consultants. If you have the time, I wanted to shoot you an email with my brief background and to see what your thoughts are on my future ideas.
I´ve recently graduated from Quinnipiac University, a small private university in CT in May 2008 with a B.S. in Business Advertising. A month later I landed in Madrid Spain and started to work at a foundation and research institute doing various marketing and communications activities. I landed the job through extensive networking and a convincing interview despite not having EU citizenship (which is usually a dead end for all foreign interviewees). I´ve been here for almost a year now, and will probably continue on for another year. My responsibilities have been specific as graphic designer/web designer to broad as marketing and business strategy. It is a small startup, with less than 15 people and only 3 years under its belt. I´ve definitely have had my opportunity to participate in high-level meetings regarding the future of the business, and find that the most interesting part of my job.
I´m planning on going back to the U.S. to start on my Masters and to continue working. During college I had an internship at McCann Erickson, international ad agency and also Sesame Workshop, international non-profit educational organization. I´m sure I don´t want to go in the advertising industry, and I´m exploring the idea of the consulting industry.
My question is: How do you think I fit in with a prospective consulting candidate? I´m no doubtedly adaptable and fast-learning, but will the job be a big step from where I stand now?
Thanks so much for taking the time to read this. I appreciate any feedback you may have for me.
Warm regards,
MK”
—–
My response:
MK,
Thanks for checking out my blog and thinking of me as a resource for your question. I’m sorry for taking so long to respond to your email, but I’m sure you understand how it is when I’ve got people from around the globe hitting me up. I’m not sure how many of my past entries you’ve read, but I’ll start off by letting you know that I’ve never worked as a recruiter for a Consulting firm, so a lot of the advice I give is based on my own perspectives and read on how things go in these firms. What I say here isn’t the end-all and be-all, so don’t treat it as such. Rather, just take it as an informed perspective that you should consider along with opinions you receive from others with whom you discuss your situation. With that in mind, let’s get going and look into your profile as a fit for Consulting…
In your email, it seemed that you were wondering how your CURRENT profile would fit as a prospective candidate for a Consulting firm, so that’s what I took into account when thinking through this. In a few years, your profile will be totally different and, at that time, your fit for the role may change, so the items I mention below may be useful to think about in the meantime. Also, I’m assuming that you’re referring to larger global management consulting firms, so my feedback might not apply if you’re targeting smaller boutiques. So, what do I think? You’ve got an interesting background and set of experiences, but it seems like you might have a few skill gaps that should address between now and when you start applying to Consulting firms. Your profile is screaming out “I have good soft skills…”, but I’m not also hearing it scream out “…and I’ve also got the hard skills” to back them up. I’ve written several blog entries about what some of those hard skills are and, in the current job market, you’d be competing with several candidates who have a balance between the two. So, if I ran a Consulting firm and were considering you for a position, your profile would make the following questions pop into my mind:
1. Do you have the analytics and “hard business skills” that one would need in a generalist firm?
2. How are your problem solving skills currently? How might you have been able to build those problem solving skills in an undergrad Business Advertising program and with your current work experiences?
3. Would you be able to hit the ground running if I were to put you on a consulting engagement? Or, would I have to give you a lot of upfront training to position you to add value to a team?
I don’t know what the answer to those questions are for you, but you might want to figure out responses to them just in case they come up as you move into the recruiting process. One thing that could help answer some of these questions is the Master’s degree program that you plan to pursue. You didn’t mention the subject that you plan to study in your email, but, if you’re looking at an MBA, you might be good to go to make a transition into Consulting. If you’re thinking of a different area of study, you might have to put in a little more legwork to get an in with the firms. Several of the large Consulting firms recruit candidates from non-MBA grad programs, but the bulk of grad school hires come out of MBA programs. Think about that as you’re considering the types of programs to which you plan to apply.
If you’re really interested in making the move into Consulting and don’t want to get an MBA, perhaps you could focus on firms that specialize in Marketing and/or Branding. Your background in advertising and marketing could position you well as a candidate for those types of firms. Plus, the nature of that work could expose you to a variety of projects that could add to your business experience set. After a few years of that deep-dive functional focus, you could probably transition over to a larger global management consulting firm and work within a practice area focused on Marketing but aim to work on projects in other functional areas to further round out your business acumen. This might not be as direct a path as you were hoping for, but, when one starts off with a non-traditional background for Consulting, he/she might have to be creative to make the transition without attending business school first.
I hope you found my feedback/perspective helpful as you approach your grad school application process and the rest of your career. I would never refer to myself as THE authority on the Consulting industry, so you might want to seek out a few other opinions on your case to get a more balanced view. Take care and have a nice day.
Marquis
The email below is from a reader who found me through the interview I did for ManagementConsulted.com. She’s currently working in Europe, but wants to come back to the US for grad school and eventually end up working in Consulting. She’s asking for my perspective on her fit for the industry and how she can make a move into it. After reading her profile, I had some feedback for her that may or may not come off well…let’s see how it goes.
—–
MK wrote:
“Hello!
I´ve come across an interview you did with managementconsulted.com. First of all, thanks for taking personal time to help others- this is truly invaluable for aspiring consultants. If you have the time, I wanted to shoot you an email with my brief background and to see what your thoughts are on my future ideas.
I´ve recently graduated from Quinnipiac University, a small private university in CT in May 2008 with a B.S. in Business Advertising. A month later I landed in Madrid Spain and started to work at a foundation and research institute doing various marketing and communications activities. I landed the job through extensive networking and a convincing interview despite not having EU citizenship (which is usually a dead end for all foreign interviewees). I´ve been here for almost a year now, and will probably continue on for another year. My responsibilities have been specific as graphic designer/web designer to broad as marketing and business strategy. It is a small startup, with less than 15 people and only 3 years under its belt. I´ve definitely have had my opportunity to participate in high-level meetings regarding the future of the business, and find that the most interesting part of my job.
I´m planning on going back to the U.S. to start on my Masters and to continue working. During college I had an internship at McCann Erickson, international ad agency and also Sesame Workshop, international non-profit educational organization. I´m sure I don´t want to go in the advertising industry, and I´m exploring the idea of the consulting industry.
My question is: How do you think I fit in with a prospective consulting candidate? I´m no doubtedly adaptable and fast-learning, but will the job be a big step from where I stand now?
Thanks so much for taking the time to read this. I appreciate any feedback you may have for me.
Warm regards,
MK”
—–
My response:
MK,
Thanks for checking out my blog and thinking of me as a resource for your question. I’m sorry for taking so long to respond to your email, but I’m sure you understand how it is when I’ve got people from around the globe hitting me up. I’m not sure how many of my past entries you’ve read, but I’ll start off by letting you know that I’ve never worked as a recruiter for a Consulting firm, so a lot of the advice I give is based on my own perspectives and read on how things go in these firms. What I say here isn’t the end-all and be-all, so don’t treat it as such. Rather, just take it as an informed perspective that you should consider along with opinions you receive from others with whom you discuss your situation. With that in mind, let’s get going and look into your profile as a fit for Consulting…
In your email, it seemed that you were wondering how your CURRENT profile would fit as a prospective candidate for a Consulting firm, so that’s what I took into account when thinking through this. In a few years, your profile will be totally different and, at that time, your fit for the role may change, so the items I mention below may be useful to think about in the meantime. Also, I’m assuming that you’re referring to larger global management consulting firms, so my feedback might not apply if you’re targeting smaller boutiques. So, what do I think? You’ve got an interesting background and set of experiences, but it seems like you might have a few skill gaps that should address between now and when you start applying to Consulting firms. Your profile is screaming out “I have good soft skills…”, but I’m not also hearing it scream out “…and I’ve also got the hard skills” to back them up. I’ve written several blog entries about what some of those hard skills are and, in the current job market, you’d be competing with several candidates who have a balance between the two. So, if I ran a Consulting firm and were considering you for a position, your profile would make the following questions pop into my mind:
1. Do you have the analytics and “hard business skills” that one would need in a generalist firm?
2. How are your problem solving skills currently? How might you have been able to build those problem solving skills in an undergrad Business Advertising program and with your current work experiences?
3. Would you be able to hit the ground running if I were to put you on a consulting engagement? Or, would I have to give you a lot of upfront training to position you to add value to a team?
I don’t know what the answer to those questions are for you, but you might want to figure out responses to them just in case they come up as you move into the recruiting process. One thing that could help answer some of these questions is the Master’s degree program that you plan to pursue. You didn’t mention the subject that you plan to study in your email, but, if you’re looking at an MBA, you might be good to go to make a transition into Consulting. If you’re thinking of a different area of study, you might have to put in a little more legwork to get an in with the firms. Several of the large Consulting firms recruit candidates from non-MBA grad programs, but the bulk of grad school hires come out of MBA programs. Think about that as you’re considering the types of programs to which you plan to apply.
If you’re really interested in making the move into Consulting and don’t want to get an MBA, perhaps you could focus on firms that specialize in Marketing and/or Branding. Your background in advertising and marketing could position you well as a candidate for those types of firms. Plus, the nature of that work could expose you to a variety of projects that could add to your business experience set. After a few years of that deep-dive functional focus, you could probably transition over to a larger global management consulting firm and work within a practice area focused on Marketing but aim to work on projects in other functional areas to further round out your business acumen. This might not be as direct a path as you were hoping for, but, when one starts off with a non-traditional background for Consulting, he/she might have to be creative to make the transition without attending business school first.
I hope you found my feedback/perspective helpful as you approach your grad school application process and the rest of your career. I would never refer to myself as THE authority on the Consulting industry, so you might want to seek out a few other opinions on your case to get a more balanced view. Take care and have a nice day.
Marquis
