Happy new year, everyone! Hopefully, you all had a great holiday season and a safe entry into 2012. Now that I’ve had a couple of days to recover from the holidays, I figured that I should get back to posting truth and wisdom

The message below is from a reader who currently works as an intelligence analyst for the government and wants to make a transition into Management Consulting. He’s wondering whether he has a shot of making this move without having to go off to business school. As my long-time readers know, I’m a huge fan of the MBA degree, but I do recognize that it’s not for everyone. With this in mind, I totally understand where this reader is coming from with his concern.

This reader’s question was similar to one posed to me back in August (LINK), so some of my earlier thoughts on the topic were still top-of-mind for me. I haven’t heard back from the guy yet, but I hope he found my response to be useful.

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AW wrote:

Marquis,

Do you have any advice for someone attempting to start a career in consulting with no prior business experience? I’ve have about 5 years of work experience, 3 of which have been spent doing intelligence work for the U.S. Govt, both in DC and in Afghanistan. Education wise, I hold a B.A. in Political Science with a 3.6 GPA.

I feel fairly confident my skills and experience as an intel analyst are transferable to a consulting job, but my question is: do you think its likely that any of the major consulting firms feel the same way? To frame it a different way: Do you think companies like Bain, or McKinsey, or BCG would hire someone at my age (27), with no prior business experience as an Associate? Is that even possible? Or did I miss the boat by not being recruited as an undergrad? I am also wondering, would I be more marketable if I first pursued an MBA, with the goal of being hired at the Consultant level after graduation?

If possible, I’d like to avoid going into debt (aka business school) just to test out my consulting dreams, and get some experience before committing to an MBA. However, if my odds are far improved with an MBA, I would consider it more seriously.

Thanks for your help!

Best,

AW

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My reponse:

AW,

I hope this message finds you doing well. I know that it’s been a few months since you emailed me, but I tend to take a while to get back to people becauseof my schedule. Now that the holidays are here, I’m getting some time to catch up on emails. Hopefully, I’m getting this message to you in time to be helpful. 

As I read through your email, I saw 2 major questions that you’re asking. I’ve listed those questions below with some comments in response:

1. Would major consulting firms be interested in your profile?

   Based on the overview that you’ve provided, I think Consulting firms could be interested in finding out more about you. Your work experience, particularly the 3 years of government intelligence work, could catch the eye of firms, particular ones that do a lot of government work, like Booz Allen. Also, without knowing where you went to college, your 3.6 GPA looks really good on its face. Being 27 with no business experience may seem like a huge roadblock, but it doesn’t create an impossible situation. I know several folks who have made similar transitions into Consulting in their late 20s with non-business work experience. 

   The major issue that I see for you is that, with no previous business experience, you’d likely be considered as a candidate for an Analyst position, as opposed to an Associate or Consultant position, which would usually be a post-graduate school role. An MBA would be the best way for you to be considered for one of thr more senior roles. As long as you’re fine with spending 1-2 years in an Analyst role and then being promoted to the next level, you should be fine. If that wouldn’t work for you, then you might want to start looking into boutique firms where your previous experience would be more specifically relevant to the nature of your work and could allow you to move in at a higher level.

2. What can you do to make a play to get into those firms?

   Your first step to position yourself for this transition would be to revamp your resume and cover letter to highlight the skills, activities, and traits in your profile that would be desirable in a business context. Although your work has been government-focused, there are plenty of qualities about your profile that could be attractive to consulting firms. You’ve just got to make those qualities pop.

   Next, you should start researching your target firms and finding out as much as you can about them. You should also be on the lookout for opportunities to network as a way to learn more about consulting firms and, hopefully, get an in. Doing this pre-work will help you tremendously as you enter the application process with the firms. As an experienced hire, you’ll likely be applying online, but you will want to know each firm inside and out to have a good showing in the interviews.

   You’ve mentioned that you don’t want to pursue an MBA, but I’d be lying if I said that your chances wouldn’t be better if you got an MBA from a top school. Over the past few years, I’ve become a firm believer in the degree as the perfect way to reboot one’s career and take it to the next level. Of course, it isn’t necessary to earn an MBA to be successful in business, but it does make things much easier and more direct. 

   In your case, I wouldn’t recommend getting an MBA simply to move into Consulting because that is too big of an investment of time and money for that one goal. Instead, I’d encourage you to think about where you’d want your career in business to go in the longer term and then determine whether it makes since to go to business school. It certainly would require some expense, but, when it comes to the long-term benefits, I’d argue that it’s well worth the cost.

Also, I posted a response to an active duty military soldier with a similar desire to move into Management Consulting back in August that you may find helpful. His situation mirrored yours pretty well and most of the advice that I gave him would apply to you, as well. You can check it out at: LINK

I hope the comments above covered the issues that you were weighing when you emailed me. Please let me know if I left anything unanswered.

Take care and happy holidays!

Marquis