Management Consultant Jobs on your mind?
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Re: Management Consultant Jobs on your mind?
Post by mbadropout » September 5th, 2013, 8:24 am
From what you have posted, sounds like manufacturing / operations consulting within automobiles is the ideal (and obvious) route for you. Since you will be bringing in another variable (MBA) into the equation, lots of other options could open up, depending on how you frame your argument. Some of the ones I can think of are:
1. Quality Management / Consulting - You already have some experience in manufacturing / operations and your engineering degree has given you quality-related (six-sigma, lean, etc.) fundamentals. If you could choose the right portfolio of courses during your MBA, a good argument could be made for a Quality Management role. Consulting companies are regularly brought in by biggies in the automobile industry with the intent of achieving better efficiencies - reduce turnaround / production / cycle / idle time, reduce costs, achieve six sigma, etc.
2. Supply Chain Management - Similar argument as above, only that instead of a portfolio of quality-related courses, you will need to focus more on supply chain-related ones. Apart from the biggies, a host of boutique consulting firms play in the supply chain consulting arena, and you could find yourself a cushy position at one of them.
There are probably many other possibilities, a lot of which will become apparent once you start your MBA.
Note - if you follow any of the above, or for that matter anything related to manufacturing / operations / supply chain, if I were you, assuming that you are looking at US schools, I would choose one with a great engineering department. The best example I can think of is MIT Sloan where you can follow the Enterprise Management track, focus on operations / supply chain, and take a good number of electives from their famed engineering school.
-Amit
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Re: Management Consultant Jobs on your mind?
Post by harshgupta16 » September 15th, 2013, 11:47 pm
I am an engineering (mechanical) student from a not-so-eminent college in Delhi-NCR, currently in my final year. I plan to apply for consultancy jobs in and around New Delhi. I want to land such a job because I feel that I have the necessary skill sets and life interests to tackle such a profile. Moreover, I feel this is the right kind of work for me and I could actually be an asset to the firm I am work for.
Grades: 10th- >90%
12th- ~90% (from a very prestigious school in Delhi-NCR)
Graduation- 65% (First division/ top half in a batch of 120)
Extracurricular- Pretty decent- Was a cricketer for school, won various painting competitions, also an active quizzer.
In college, took part in dramatics, been working for a reputed NGO for more than a year, involved in a lot of their projects and activities.
Apart from this, I've developed a passion for sports writing and journalism. I've writing semi-professionally for over two years. Interned for a similar role, been a freelance contributor for famous national and international blogs and media platforms. Also reached pre-final round of I Lead India, the pan-India youth movement campaign by TOI.
I also worked on my own startup last year, although it unfortunately had to be shut down for lack of required personnel and paucity of time.
Eventually, my career goal is to be an entrepreneur, launch my own startup in the sports industry which would be based upon innovative business models and would also have a social outreach wing.
For now, I am also preparing for management entrance tests, because I feel that good B-schools are conducive to entrepreneurship as they provide the right mix of students from diverse backgrounds, people who are like-minded and ambitious. Plus, their industry network, alumni interaction and faculty profiles are very strong.
Do I have a realistic chance of getting placed in a good consultancy firm straight after graduation? (Companies such as McKinsey, ZS Assoc., Deloitte, Avalon, UC etc.)
I am skeptical about my chances because of the average reputation of my college, my above-average grad scores and lack of managerial experience.
I want to have a fair idea of my chances so that I can plan my career accordingly. If I can get through their shortlisting and interviews, I would like to work for some time and then go for an MBA. If not, then I would be left with no option but to grind a result out to get into a decent Indian B-school. Mechanical engineering is not where I want to stay and, hence, working for a core company is not on my list right now.
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Re: Management Consultant Jobs on your mind?
Post by mbadropout » September 23rd, 2013, 5:37 am
Don't worry too much about your college. Given the law of inverse proportionality, its weight is going to depreciate over time. Concentrate on what is (and will be) in your control - things you can build and change.
The various elements in your profile look ok. The easiest way to make it into a good consulting firm is to be able to get some face-time with recruiters from those firms. A good business school, in way, guarantees such face-time. Therefore, you are on the right track - do everything that you need to to get into a good bschool (in a few years' time - see final paragraph of this post).
As far as I am aware, the companies in your list look for strong analytical skills. Assuming that you will be applying to analyst / senior analyst-level positions, you will need to have a thorough grounding in basic math and statistics, along with a working knowledge of analytical / database software. Additionally, domain specific knowledge (ZS - healthcare, Deloitte - IT, McKinsey & Accenture - depends on which group you interview with, etc.) will help you build a strong case.
Since you are in your final year of college, given the job situation in India (and elsewhere), it would help if you are not too selective. Once you have a few years of work experience, you will be able to gain more from your MBA and then pick and choose your dream job.
-Amit
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Re: Management Consultant Jobs on your mind?
Post by Vinay.chopda » September 24th, 2013, 5:56 pm
Thank you for starting this thread.. I got your ref from Sameer
I am CA n CS from india currently completed my MBA from Kington uni London. I am having 2.5 years of my post CA exp in Deloitte Mumbai Audit exp and know looking forward for consulting as my profile after my MBA. I would be glad if you can share your opinion.
Thanking you
Kind regards
Vinay
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Re: Management Consultant Jobs on your mind?
Post by mbadropout » September 25th, 2013, 9:28 am
This thread was started by Sameer - I am just the housekeeper. All the credit goes to him.
I am assuming that you would eventually like to get into some flavor of management / strategy consulting, and you want some advice on how to get into a firm that specializes in this line of work. With your current profile, your best bets would be to either use the services of the placement cell / office at your college, or to network with he right people, to gain facetime with recruiters at consulting firms.
Such firms typically look for candidates that have strong quant / analytical skills and are gifted / trained to think logically. From the interview panels I have been on, my observation has been that the consensus is to tilt towards hiring engineering and statistics / math graduates. When interviewing an otherwise stellar (in terms of work experience, scores, etc.) candidate with a CA or CS designation / certification, the panel tends to grill them a little more (as compared to engineering / math graduates) just to be extra sure that everything rings true. A possible way to avoid this additional scrutiny would be to take up a few quant-heavy electives during your MBA, and highlight them in your resume.
Another way to make things a little easier for you would be to get into the big 4. I understand that you were working for one of the big 4, but then there is no harm in joining the same firm at a rung or two higher than where you were before your MBA. With 3 to 4 additional years of experience, you might be able to switch more easily to a pure-play management consulting firm (with ~7 years of experience, you will be seen as potential SME material). If the switch does not work out for some reason, you will still continue to work for an audit / accounting consulting / advisory firm, which isn't a bad option at all.
Those were my quick thoughts on queries I thought you had in mind. Let us know if you have any additional questions.
-Amit
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Re: Management Consultant Jobs on your mind?
Post by Vinay.chopda » September 25th, 2013, 11:54 am
Ok.. Thank you to both of you for helping all the people in the thread.
You seem to have read my mind. I am looking for Strategy consulting profile and i am in talk with my previous firm for the same let see if they like my profile for Consulting in place of Audit & Assurance earlier. I am a student of science background un till my HSC with 98% marks in mathematics, i think i need to stress on this in my Resume after you mentioned about the point of grilling. I liked your idea about continuing in Big 4 but i would not love to work on Audit now.
Talking about my Modules well i had four modules on strategy in my MBA.
1. Strategic Decision making
2. Strategy Execution and implementation
3.International Business Environment
4.Global Business
And my Final Dissertation topic was Strategic expansion of Big four Accounting firms in Emerging Economies.
I would be glad if you can help me with Interview Prep strategy and reading material i should ref. Also your comment on my reply above.
Thanking you
kind regards
Vinay
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IT Strategy Consulting Jobs ??
Post by genuser1234 » September 27th, 2013, 8:03 pm
I have been following your posts and this site in general and must say you guys have taken a great initiative!
I wanted to ask you few questions regarding Management Consulting, and IT Strategy Consulting in particular and also if my profile is suited for a transition to a Strategy Consulting firm.
So here is my profile:
Work-Ex - 3 years working as a Technology Consultant for Deloitte.
- Primary Domain experience in SAP CRM.
- Strong Technical knowledge of CRM as well as basic CRM Functional knowledge.
Academics - Graduated from BITS-Pilani.
- Strong extra-curriculars.
- Good academic record at school and college level.
Being an engineer, have strong problem-solving skills and also relevant Technology Consulting Experience. Now i want to transition to Strategy Consulting and since my experience is in IT Consulting, i guess IT Strategy would be most suited for me.
Can you shed some light on how i can achieve this(if it is achievable).
Also,if yes then which firms should i start with?
Thanks and Regards.
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Re: Management Consultant Jobs on your mind?
Post by genuser1234 » September 28th, 2013, 10:45 am
One more question - do you know any boutique consulting firms which operate in the IT Strategy domain??
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Re: Management Consultant Jobs on your mind?
Post by mbadropout » October 7th, 2013, 5:32 am
Having a science & math background is going to help. As you have rightly stated, you should stress on this facet of your profile.
All of the courses you have listed are relevant, but then others interviewing with you would have also taken similar modules / courses. Therefore, stress on them, but not too much.
For your interview, I believe Sameer and team have an offering that might be useful to you - please speak to them directly about any help they might be able to extend. In general, these are the points you should focus on:
1. Quant skills - All through your interview, "prove" that you are very comfortable in speaking the language of numbers.
2. Practice solving case studies - You are not expected to come up with a perfect solution. The panel is only looking to see if you can simplify a complex real world problem into simpler parts, solve the parts, and then weave them back into a meaningful and practical whole. And all of this needs to happen in around 20 minutes.
3. Logic / sense-check - Panels spend some time in evaluating your sense of logical thinking and "sense-checking." For instance, if the panel has asked you to estimate the total length of metalled roads in New Delhi, and after your calculations, you come up with 100,000 km, then a quick sense-check will tell you that that is impossible, and that somewhere along the line, you should have revised one / few of your assumptions.
4. Miscellaneous - Panels love to hear about your other skills and achievements, those that are not apparent from your resume, etc. Be ready to speak about 2 or 3 hobbies that you pursue. These should be topics that you can speak passionately on for a few minutes. It is very likely that someone from the panel would know a thing or two about your interests and might prod and probe you further. Another good way to impress the panel is to be aware of current affairs. I have interviewed candidates that had no idea about what had been happening around the world in the last 6 months - they never cared to pick up the newspaper or watch the news on TV. Panels like to throw a googlie or two on current affairs, for instance - How do you think the current impasse (government shutdown) that the US government is going through can be resolved? Expect a few of such googlies.
Let me know if you have any other queries.
-Amit
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Re: Management Consultant Jobs on your mind?
Post by mbadropout » October 7th, 2013, 5:35 am
Strategy consulting is the next logical step for someone with your credentials / qualifications. With 3 years of experience though, the switch might be a little difficult. With an MBA, it is going to be smooth.
IT firms fill their strategy consulting positions with MBAs, and as exceptions, with a handful of high-achievers from the technology (development / mainteinace) track. The exceptions are resources with many more years of experience (the number of years depends on the firm) than what you have currently, and they also have stellar performance records - hence my suggestion to look at the MBA option.
Though there are boutique firms that do IT strategy consulting, their footprint is miniscule. Also, they play on very thin margins (translation - salaries are not that great) and have patchy pipelines (for future business opportunities). The reason for this is that large corporations (clients) that need any IT work done usually sign an overarching contract with the biggies where the latter are responsible for both strategic and operational parts. That way costs are lower and efficiencies are higher. To make a long story short, I think that it is not a good idea to join a boutique IT strategy consulting firm. All major IT players have their own strategic consulting divisions, which is what you should ideally aim for.
For a list of such firms, browse to any site that has a list of top IT firms (most of them should have a strategy group).
-Amit