Archive | professional advice

Question from a Black college student about race, upbringing, and finding success

Categories: Business, career, Education, professional advice, real life stuff, Self-confidence

In the 9+ years that I’ve maintained this blog, I have made an effort not to mention race too often because it’s a somewhat obvious topic for a Black dude to write about. Instead, I’ve focused on things like business school, MBA admissions, management consulting, careers, and business in general, all of which are colorblind for the most part.

The way I see it, I’m a Stanford MBA graduate, former Consultant, and current businessperson who just happens to be African-American and, further, my insights/advice are applicable regardless of the racial background of a given reader. That said, every now and … Read the rest

Recently-graduated Chemical Engineer interested in Consulting

Categories: career, consulting, professional advice, transition

The email below came to me from a recent college graduate who wants to make a transition into management consulting. He majored in Chemical Engineering and went into a pharma company right out of college. Now, he’s realized that consulting is the right path for him and he’s looking for my advice on whether it makes sense to make a move and, if so, how he can make that move.

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VC wrote:

Hi Marquis,
I have looked through your website and many other websites now and have not found an adequate answer to this question.
I am a recent

… Read the rest

Advice for a paralegal looking to move into Consulting

Categories: Business, career, career path, consulting, management consulting, professional advice, transition

The email below is from a relatively recent college grad who currently works as a paralegal at a large law firm, but strongly desires to make a transition into management consulting. One complication for him is that he’s only been in his current job for about 6 months and isn’t sure how making a jump so soon into his job will affect the way that consulting firms will look at him.

Tough situation, right? Check out the text below to see the advice that I shared with him.

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JH wrote:

Hi Marquis,

I’ve graduated from the U. Va. in

… Read the rest

Junior Chemical Engineering major targeting an MBA and considering changing his major

Categories: Business School, career, consulting, Education, mba, professional advice

The email below came to me from a college junior who is interested in getting an MBA one day and is wondering whether he should change his major from Chemical Engineering. Junior year is pretty late in the game to be considering this sort of change, but I understand where this guy is coming from with his request. I’ve done my best to give him some actionable advice, including telling him about the possible risks of making a change so late in his college career.

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MF wrote:

Hi Marquis,

My name is MF and I am a junior Chemical

… Read the rest

Prospective McKinsey consultant seeking advice on connecting with current staff

Categories: career, consulting, management consulting, McKinsey, professional advice

I received the following email from a reader who is interested in applying for a position at McKinsey & Company’s London office, but is hoping to speak with someone working in that office before submitting his application. As I mention in my response to him, he may have a bit of an uphill battle with connecting with someone from McK before applying, but, if he’s willing to hustle, he may be able to make it happen.

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NE wrote:

Dear Marquis,

I’m interested in applying to McKinsey in London. However, before submitting an application, I wanted the opportunity to find

… Read the rest

Advice for an MBA summer intern worried about chances for a full-time offer

Categories: Business School, career, career path, consulting, internship, mba, professional advice, recruiting

Hey, folks. The email below came to me from a rising second-year MBA student from a top program, who is currently in the middle of a summer Management Consulting internship with one of the MBB firms. He has reached out to me because he recently had his mid-summer performance review and the feedback that he received was not positive. Now, he’s worried that he won’t get an offer st the end of his internship and he’s worried that it’ll impact his candidacy when going into the full-time recruiting process in the Fall.

This isn’t a situation that I’ve faced myself, … Read the rest

Questions from a college Freshman interested in Management Consulting

Categories: Business School, career, consulting, internship, professional advice, recruiting

The message below is from a reader who has just completed her first year in college and is interested in getting a job at a Big 3 Management Consulting firm when she graduates in a few years. She is seeking my advice on some options for college majors that would position her well to attract the attention of these firms in the recruiting process.

As I’ve mentioned before, I really like it when kids are thinking about career issues this early in the game. I hope my tips were helpful to her.

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KT wrote:

Hello!

I just wanted to

… Read the rest

Question from a medical student considering Consulting as a career

Categories: career, career path, consulting, management consulting, professional advice

The email below came in from a reader who is currently in medical school and is considering joining McKinsey & Company after graduation. His question is about job security as a Consultant and whether he’d be making a risky move by passing up a surefire career in medicine to learn about business in Management Consulting.

Unfortunately, it took me a while to respond to this reader’s email, so I might have sent it to him too late to be helpful in his thinking around the decision. I hope that isn’t the case though.

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DN wrote:

Hi,

I am a

… Read the rest

Work-life balance advice for a soon-to-be McKinsey intern

Categories: career, career-life balance, consulting, management consulting, professional advice

The email below came to me from a college junior who has scored a unique opportunity for a summer internship at McKinsey that is unlike any other that I’ve ever heard of. He found out about me through the interview I did for ManagementConsulted.com a couple of years ago and asked for my advice on how to maintain a work-life balance during his internship. In my interview, I mentioned that as one of the toughest parts about making the transition into the Consulting industry.

I have a feeling that he’ll be surprised by my response because it wasn’t as touchy-feely … Read the rest

Question about transitioning to a “Big 3″ Consulting firm as an experienced hire

Categories: career, career path, consulting, Financing the MBA, management consulting, mba, professional advice, transition

The email below is from one of my visitors who was seeking advice on how to transition to a Big 3 Consulting firm (i.e., McKinsey, Bain, and BCG) in an Analyst role as an experienced hire. Consulting firms usually hire Analyst-level talent directly after school, so the move that this reader is targeting can be a tricky one. I know a few people who have done this, so I definitely have a few ideas on the topic.

His question is similar to ones that I’ve received a few times before, so, luckily, I was able to refer him to a … Read the rest

Question from a college Soph targeting a technology management career

Categories: About Marquis, Business, career, career path, consulting, Education, IT consulting, pre-MBA grad degrees, professional advice, Technology, Technology management, Technology-related

The email below was written by a student from the Indiana University group that I mentioned a few entries ago. I met him during a student trip to Chicago held in mid-January. He and I chatted a bit about his desire to move into IT after his college graduation and, since I used to work in the industry, he thought I’d be able to give him some good advice. Please read below for his questions and my answers to those questions and a key question that he didn’t ask but that I thought would be important.

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AK wrote:

Marquis,

… Read the rest

Most important traits for an undergrad in this economic environment

Categories: About Marquis, career, career path, Education, professional advice

The email below comes from a Freshman student at Indiana University who I met during MLK Weekend. She’s part of a program for the top students in IU’s undergrad business school and I spent some time hanging out with them on the Saturday of the weekend and organized a panel discussion with some of my Aon colleagues for them on the Monday morning. After returning to Bloomington, this student contacted me for advice on some issues that are top-of-mind for a lot of college students.

The student asked me 2 separate questions, but, as I was responding, I realized that … Read the rest

Reader wondering how to get into McKinsey from a school with less brand name

Categories: Business, career, consulting, management consulting, professional advice

Long-time visitors to this site are probably used to seeing folks ask me questions about how to get into McK (or one of its peer firms). In this case, the author of the email below was seeking advice on how he could position himself to get into McK’s Philippines office. He believed that his situation was complicated by the fact that he comes from an academic institution that doesn’t have a top brand in his country, which, according to him, can have great impact on one’s chances at the top firms. Because I don’t know the policies in his office… Read the rest

Moving from government work to Management Consulting

Categories: Business, career, consulting, management consulting, mba, Networking, professional advice

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 … Read the rest

Question from a recent LBS MBA grad starting at McKinsey London

Categories: Business School, career, consulting, professional advice

The message below is from a longtime reader of this site who recently graduated with his MBA from London Business School. Also, he scored a post-MBA position with McKinsey’s London office, which is a huge feat given the office’s popularity. Now that he’s started the job, he asked for some tips on how to position himself well at the start of his time at The Firm. Hope he finds the following advice to be useful.

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AH wrote: