MBA Crystal Ball

Hey Amit,

Really appreciate your advice and the initiative to start this thread.
I am writing to ask for some advice too.

I am a 22 year old enthusiastic and strong willed woman, wishing to pursue a career in management consulting.
I did a BBA from Symbiosis Centre for Management Studies in Pune specialising in Corporate Management.
Then I was on a break for 3 months during which I volunteered at an NGO.
Then went on to pursue an MSc. in International Marketing from University of Strathclyde in UK, graduated in Nov'12.
Now I want to work in India and since the entrepreneurial bug bit me about 3 years ago, I wish to start my own venture but after gaining some work experience.
I feel management consulting is my niche because that is what I have been doing alongside my studies all this while, but only with smaller businesses of relatives or NGO's. I used to charge a nominal fee from the businesses just to make sure they took me seriously. I did do an excellent consultancy project with Scottoiler,an SME in UK looking to enter the Indian market as a part of my course at Strathclyde.

Now, I wish to work in an inspirational workplace with bright people.
My questions are:-
1) Do Consultancies hire people who have no work experience and are quite young by industry standards?
2) Most consultancies seem to be hiring only from Top B schools in India or US B schools. My education fits in neither, even though my International university is highly ranked for running an incredulous course and is known for producing marketing pioneers. How do I surpass this?
3) I am an entrepreneur at heart and it is my ultimate goal.I am honest and vocal about this goal, does that make me a wrong fit for a consultancy "job"?
4) What is a good way to approach these companies--LinkedIn, Emails to HR, Websites like "Naukri.com"..A video resume.. ??

Would highly appreciate your time and expertise.
Be the guiding light that this little moth can recognise and follow.

Much Thanks
Ishita

Hey Amit,

This is Rahul here. I'll tell you about my profile here. Kindly, evaluate it for some consulting role. I mean which type of consulting role will suit me and how I can get it also. I'm not MBA and also doesn't have any plan to go for one. As, I don't have any interest to go for any other degree.

Total Corporate experience : 3 years, Age 29 years.

1. Working with Samsung Research, Bangalore, India as Senior Software Engineer for last 1 year 6 months. July 2011 to present.

Worked on following projects:

A) Worked on Bluetooth and NFC , communication/networking system and application part of Windows Phone 7 and 8 Platform. This project is about implementing various Bluetooth and NFC features in Windows based smart phone and tablets.
Technologies used : C/C++/C# under WINDOWS environment.

B) Worked on Yield Management System Big Data Database. This project is about implementing PIVOT functionality in SQLite database and improving the performance of GROUP BY and ORDER BY functionality by using suitable algorithm and Data Structure.

Technologies used : C/C++ under WINDOWS environment

2. Worked with Aricent Technologies Holdings Ltd. , Bangalore as a Software Developer for 1 year and 6 months.

Aricent Technologies Holdings Ltd. 11th Jan ’10 – 11th Jul ‘11
Telecom Software Services & Products Company

Here I undergone through a comprehensive training namely PRISM on subjects :

1. Data Structure & Algorithms
2. C Programming Language
3. C++ Programming Language
4. OOAD & Design Pattern
5. Shell Scripting
6. Programming Tools :

GCC GNU Compiler Collection .
g++ GNU C++
GDB GNU Debugger.
Splint Open source lint for C Language.
Valgrind Tool to check memory related errors.
Gcov Tool for Code Coverage.
GProf Tool for Profiling.
CVS Concurrent Versioning System

7. Networking and L2-L3-Socket Programming
8. Networking Protocols such as TCP/IP, UDP etc.
9. Computer Systems, IPC, Threads, Asynchronous Programming

And completed it successfully with 84.5 % .

Project Undertaken in Aricent Training :

1. DNS Server : This project was related to the development of DNS SERVER
using C, Networking, and database as MYSQL during
training period in Aricent .
Role : Developer

2. worked on UMTS Call Processing (3g/3.5g wireless) project for Alcatel – Lucent , telecom & wireless domain.

About Project : This project comes under CRNC . UMTS (3g wireless) Call Processing or simply CallP is a software that reside under TMU card under RNC (Radio Network Controller) . It deals with various protocols needed for signaling , synchronization, channel establishment for control & traffic & how the call flows between various components of 3G architecture.

Technologies used : C/C++ under Linux environment .
Role: Developer

3.) Here also, I worked on Android (application development) for some time for Verizon wireless.

Internship:
Internship at MINVELI INFOTECH, COIMBATORE between 15/12/08-15/05/09.
Project undertaken:

1) WAREHOUSE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM : This project was related to the development of Warehouse Management System. Ware House management supports warehousing processes by making it possible to define and manage complex warehousing structure.

Technology used : Java, Oracle
Role : developer

Achievements:
1. Secured 1st position in district in high school (10th) exam.
2. Secured 2nd position in district level quiz held during SSLC.
3. 1st prize in Carom Board (Single and Double) tournament held at district level (Gaya, Bihar) in 2004 and 2005.
4. Participated in the “ Symposium on recent trends in computing technology “ organized by Bharathiar University , Coimbatore.
5. Secured 1st place in marketing event in NEURO NEXUS v2.7 conducted by SRI RAMKRISHNA ENGINEERING COLLEGE , Coimbatore.

Till now everything was about my academic and corporate experience.

Now let us concentrate on my entrepreneurial drive.

1 ) I'm an entrepreneur by my heart. Most of the time , almost 24 hour, whether in office or home, I work on my ideas, business plan/model. I've also finalised the ideas (It is in 1. social media healthcare domain , 2. productivity and time management and again 3. Doing all activities at proper time for Balance in life ) which , I've to work on. I'm going to execute these one by one. Also, I work on these whenever, I get time. And my initial team is also ready. I mean one of my friend also work on these projects with me.

I know/have experience of complete life-cycle of entrepreneurship like intellectual property rights, vision, innovation, lean startup principles, product management, design, legal aspect of business, accounting aspect of business, finance side of business, how to start a venture, how to incorporate a business, how to raise fund for a venture,how to do market research for a venture, marketing, sales, business development, operations, how to exit from the business etc.

I attend various events related to startup like Startup Saturday, Tie Product conclave, Open Coffee club etc.

I'm frequently active on Hacker news, Quora, Business Insider, Techmeme, Gigaom, Hacker news, Mixergy.com, Pluggd.in etc. Also, I go through blogs of various entrepreneurs.

I read lots of books and magazines related to self help, marketing, sales, business, philosophy, psychology, product management, entrepreneurship etc.

I also go through biographies of various entrepreneues, researchers etc.

I also advise guys who are interested in entrepreneurship regarding how to proceed for it (entrepreneurship).

2) During my graduation days , I had started a coaching institution for guys up to class 12. And, I had worked on this for 1 and 1/2 yr. It was a moderate success.

Now coming to the problem what I'm facing rightnow is that, I don't want to work in the Corporate for even one moment in tech (developer) role. I had never thought that , I'll have to work in IT for 3 long years. I had always thought that , I'll work for maximum 2 or 2 and 1/2 year, after then I'll fully work on my ideas.

But, the problem is that due to some incidents, suddenly family responsibilty has come upon me. Infact complete family responsibility has come upon me . Earlier there was nothing like this and I was completely free. So, due to this , I can't leave job rightnow.

But, now I'm fed up with tech job (developer), I don't want to continue this tech job (developer) even for one moment. That's why I'm looking for some consulting role (even IT consulting will do). Because this is what (research, general consulting type of role) I do in my free time also.

I explore about various sectors and I always look for busineess opportunities. I've good domain knowledge of various sectors like education, healthcare, media, social network/media (web 1.0/2.0/3.0) ,entertainment, advertising, payment, big data, telecom/wireless, mobile, network, operating system, knowledge management, publishing, symentic web/linked data/web 3.0, Machine learning/Artificial Intelligence, E-commerece, productivity, Content business, philosophy, psychology, behavioural economics etc.

I explored all these domains while looking for some big opportunity while working on my business idea and to find that in which domain/field , I'd like to work for a good part/time of my life. I mean you can say, I explored through all thses domains while exploring myself, I mean while searching for what I want in my life.


Academic qualification :

1. MCA from School of CSE, Bharathiar Univ., Coimbatore, Passing yr.: 2006 - 2009, Grade : 5.92 CGPA out of 6. 1st in my university.
2. Advance Diploma in Computer application , Sai Softnet, Patna
Passing yr.: 2005 - 2006, Passing grade/% : A(85%)
3. B.Sc. in Physics Hons. from Mahavir college, Magadh University, Bodhgaya, Bihar
Passing year. : 2001 - 2005, Passing % : 65 %
4. 12 th from B.I.E.c (Bihar Intermediate Council)
Passing year. : 1998 - 2000, Passing % : 70 %
5. 10th from B.S.E.B. : 1998 , Passing % : 74.12 %
Topper in my district (Jamui, Bihar)


So, now I'm looking for your advice, how I can get some consulting role based on my profile/interest . Because, I think based on the current scenario (family responsibility), I'll have to stay in corporate sector for some more time.

Btw, sorry for long post.

ishi25 wrote:Hey Amit,

Really appreciate your advice and the initiative to start this thread..
I am writing to ask for some advice too. :)
:
Ishita :)

[Moderator edit: Duplicate post]

Hi Amit,
Thanks a ton for starting this thread.

I work for one the biggest IT services company in India. I have 4.5 years of work experience in support/development projects.

I have now got an opportunity to work in the consulting arm of my company in the IT process & service management division which helps clients get the ITIL/CMMI, lean sigma,etc certifications.

There is also a strategy consulting division in the consulting arm of my company, but they need experience in lean sigma or any such process consulting experience.

With the experience in process consulting , I can try to get into strategy consulting in my company.

My ultimate goal is to get into top strategy consulting firms and so I plan to my MBA in a couple of years from now from ISB/1 year course from IIMs.

Could you please let me know if only IT process consulting will add value to my profile and help me get into ISB?

Will only IT process consulting experience help me get into top strategy consulting firms?

Do I need to have prior experience in strategy consulting + MBA from ISB/IIMs to get into top strategy consulting firms?

Regards,
Sachin

Hello Amit,

Thank you so much for posting the information regarding the best strategy consulting companies, and their target campuses. As much as I had desired to, I could not complete my PGDM from an IIM/ISB due to family circumstances. However, the desire to pursue a career in strategy consulting has not diminished. Hence, I would appreciate if you could evaluate my profile and also advice me on how to get there.

I will describe my profile in two points - my educational experience and why I believe I can succeed in strategy consulting.

1) My educational experience
- I have completed my PGDM from Loyola Institute of Business Administration (Chennai), in 2012. I graduated with a CGPA of 7.01 (out of) 9.
- Prior to that, I completed my Bachelors in Electronics & Communication Engineering from Anna University, in 2010. My final score was 7.63 (out of) 10.

2) Why I believe I can succeed in strategy consulting
- I have had exposure to various industries throughout the last 6 years of my experience. The industries are - electronics, FMCG, automobile, construction and real estate. This has helped me improve my business acumen.
- In my current assignment, I have had the opportunity to display all the key skills which are required for a strategy consultant (further details can be shared in a personal mail). Furthermore, I have understood that Junior Consultants get the opportunity to work with different industries and functions. I relish the prospect of having new challenges thrust upon me.

To conclude, I believe that I will succeed because of my exposure and the skills I have displayed. Unfortunately, I have been turned down by two of the top 3 firms (on grounds of being non-IIM). Also, unlike their global offices, these firms do not have any 'coffee chats' or 'meet a consultant' events, so I do not have any opportunity to network with consultants either.

Amit, I would really appreciate it if you could evaluate my profile. I have even be preparing for the PST/Case Interview/PEI and if you have time to spare, I would be grateful if you could throw me a couple of cases to solve. I am really passionate about working for one of the MBB firms and any helpful hints would be greatly appreciated. If you find me a possible candidate, send me a ping and I would like to have a chat with you over skype.

Once again, I thank you for providing aspiring consultants like me with the opportunity to get ourselves evaluated. I hope to hear from you soon.

Best Regards,
Rohith.

Ishi25,

First, thanks for using so many different smilies / expressions all through your post - makes it look much more lively.

Now on to your questions:

1) Do Consultancies hire people who have no work experience and are quite young by industry standards?

Sure they do. Consultancies don't care much about how young you are - all they care about is whether you have a good head on your shoulders. If you can think logically, and if you can see through a maze of numbers or a wall as the case may be (translation: if you can break down a complex real world problem into smaller bits, and solve them), they would be interested in hiring you. The top consulting companies hire a few B.Techs that have zero work experience from the IITs every year.


2) Most consultancies seem to be hiring only from Top B schools in India or US B schools. My education fits in neither, even though my International university is highly ranked for running an incredulous course and is known for producing marketing pioneers. How do I surpass this?

Here's a (not so well kept) secret - consulting companies don't really care which school you are from. The reason why they go to top schools is because they would have already done a round or rigorous filtering for them. In other words, the first elimination round in their interview process was the admissions process (CAT/GMAT, GDs, interviews, etc.) of the school.

Students of big-name bschools do have an advantage though - their placement offices make sure that they at least get the opportunity to interview with these consulting companies. The way to get past this (unfair) advantage is by networking. Get acquainted with people that work for consulting firms, and get them to refer you to their principals / managers. The latter are always looking for people with varied skills and talents. Keep doing this for a while - things will click.


3) I am an entrepreneur at heart and it is my ultimate goal.I am honest and vocal about this goal, does that make me a wrong fit for a consultancy "job"?

Not at all - it actually makes you a great fit for consulting (provided you have the other skills as well - good quant, logic, etc.). The length and breadth of varied experience / exposure that one gains in consulting would be very useful when (s)he starts a business of his/her own.


4) What is a good way to approach these companies--LinkedIn, Emails to HR, Websites like "Naukri.com"..A video resume.. ??

See my answer to point 2 above. From my experience I can tell you that when we have had big projects coming in, HR is never able to recruit fast enough. We then turn to our team members and ask them for resumes of their friends, relatives, etc.


"Be the guiding light that this little moth..."??

Hmm, have you also considered writing as a profession? Give it a thought.

-Amit.

Rahul Kumar,

Thank you for your detailed post.

Two very interesting lines of work that you have been involved in, that I could sieve off your post, are:

1. Mobile devices
2. Big Data


Both of these are upcoming and happening topics. If I were you, I would concentrate and specialize in one of them. I would spend some more time (a couple of years) building a solid foundation in either, by:

1. Executing more projects
2. Serving as an architect / SME (whatever your company calls them)
3. Leading a team
4. Doing some amount of light consulting work


With a total of around 5 years of solid experience in either mobile devices or big data, you are going to be ready for an IT consulting role.

A few things to note:
1. Mobile devices is a huge field. You will need to focus on a small facet of it - being a generalist is not going to help.
2. Keep yourself updated with new happenings / technologies in your chosen field of specialization.
3. Don't switch jobs every 1.5 years. Find yourself a good role and stick to it for a while. You might not realize this, but managers / recruiters feel very uncomfortable hiring someone with 9 years of experience across 6 companies, 1.5 years in each.

Unless you have an idea such as what Gates or Jobs did when they started their companies, I would say give it some more time. For now, let it grow and ferment within you.

One last thing - looks like you also have the exact same questions as Ishita - I see you have copied and pasted her entire post (without the smilies)!

-Amit.

Sachin,

I used to know a manager at one of the top IT firms that did eactly that. He was into execution, then switched to a process improvement / Six Sigma role, and then went on to do his MBA (PGPX) from IIM Ahmedabad. Today he works for a pure-play consulting firm - he is in a business development role.

There is a very good chance that the path that you have charted out for yourself will help you reach your destination ("top strategy firm"). However, you will need a few other qualities to get there:

1. Logical thinking - If you read my earlier posts, you will know what I am referring to here.
2. Quantitative skills - You need to be able to crunch numbers effortlessly. Being comfortable with numbers is a key ask in consulting.
3. Domain knowledge - Specializing in a specific field helps.
4. Great communication skills - In the above example, the manager that got into IIMA and transitioned into a consulting role was a great presenter - he could sell water to a water seller. He was a perfect fit for business development.

Finally, I think it is clear from what I have stated above that it is not necessary for you to have prior strategy consulting experience to get back into strategy consulting after an MBA.

I am not qualified enough to answer any ISB-specific questions. I will leave it to Sameer and team. You can post them on the ISB forum.

-Amit.

RohithCG,

Recruiters from consulting firms usually have too many profiles to evaluate and too few vacancies. As a result, interviews turn into elimination rounds. Therefore, it is very important that interviewees stay focused and highlight points relevant to the vacancy / position.

It is also very likely that the person interviewing you will have lots of experience in a large number of domains / fields. Therefore, I would suggest that instead of highlighting the various industries you have worked in (which might lead him to ask deep/detailed questions on these industries), it would be better if you focus on skills. For instance, you might have done project management in construction and electronics, and design in automobile. Focus more on project management and design rather than on the industries.

If you would have had more experience in any one (or more) of the industries you have listed, it would have made sense to focus on them. Since I am assuming that that's not the case (since you have listed 4 industries through 6 years of work experience), better to focus on skills.

I don't have much else to go by. If you would have given me more details about your roles and responsibilities (past and current), I might have been able to give more specific advice and evaluate your profile better.

A couple of short case questions from recent interviews I have conducted are as follows:


1. "I own a company that manufactures premium fountain pens, each costing Rs.5,000, to be sold only in India. How would I determine who to target? My marketing budget being Rs.50 lakhs, what mix of marketing channels would I employ? What would be the total sales in 2013 (this question was asked back in 2012)?"


2. The lady that was being interviewed was shivering with fear (cold?). Therefore I followed a more conversational approach.

Amit: "Today is a very cold day (this is from one of the top campuses in North India, and it was a cold December evening). Is it usually this cold in the campus?"

Lady: "At this time it is. We have a generator running for this building - there are frequent power cuts. No lights on the streets - sometimes we have no power for hours."

Amit: "On the topic of power cuts, let's say I am a manufactuer of solar panels. The city (this was a large city in North India) wants to install solar panels atop every street light. How many solar panels would I need to manufacture to be able to cater to the requirements of the entire city?"

If there is interest I'll post more on this thread --> Consulting Case Interviews - Sample questions


To be fair to others on this forum, I will not be able to accept any emails, Skype calls or pings. If you have any other questions, please feel free to post on this forum. If you need more personalized guidance / assistance, Sameer and team might be able to help (details on sevices they offer can be found at the following link: Management Consulting Jobs Training).

-Amit.

Hi Amit,

To clarify my earlier statement, I have only 7 months of work experience and this is as a 'Sales Management Trainee' at a reputed commercial vehicle (CV) manufacturer. Although my work experience is limited, I have had the opportunity to display the skills that are required for an Associate Consultant. I would like to talk about three important skills that I have shown in my current role - project management, leadership & interpersonal skills and problem-solving & operational effectiveness.

Project Management
• Identified and segmented customers in the dealer’s territory, based on the type of business and vehicle usage parameters
• Improved sales in the new dealership territory by developing a sales strategy that focussed on improving coverage and building relationships with the financiers and key customers

Leadership and Interpersonal skills
• Managed a 7-member team at the Bangalore dealership comprising of 1 Dealer Sales Manager (DSM), 1 Team Leader and 5 Dealer Sales Executives (DSE) for the past 3 months
• Resolved conflicts that arose out of differences in sales experience and cultural background, both within the team and between the management and the team
• Partnered with an event-management agency to organize road shows, sales promotions and other customer-engagement activities across the entire territory

Strategic Problem Solving and Operational Effectiveness
• Tripled the quarterly market share in Bangalore territory from 3% in Q2 (July’12 to Sept’12) to 9% in Q3 (Oct’12 to Dec’12), within 3 months of taking charge
• Improved the dealer’s monthly conversion ratio from 30% in Dec’12 to 75% in Jan’13 by actively working with the Dealer Sales Executives (DSE) to close critical deals
• Tapped the seasonal demand for school buses in the dealer’s territory by organizing road shows, product demos and free service campaigns for prospective schools

Thus, I have proved that I possess the key skills required in a consultant. Also, I understand that management consulting will give me the opportunity to work with different industries/clients and solve different problems. As a person, I thrive in an environment where I am challenged to take up new projects where I can utilize my problem-solving and interpersonal skills to help my clients achieve their desired results. This, for me, is the best fulfilling part of a consultant’s life.

---

Here are my answers to the case questions. (Yes, this mail is getting loooooonger, but I'm sorry about that. :( ) I would appreciate if you could give me your feedback.

[Moderator Edit: Moving the case response to the case interview practice forum]

---

Phew!!! Yes, it was quite a loooooong reply. I would appreciate your feedback on both, my skills and my answers. Furthermore, I would like to try out more such cases. Could you share them in another thread? Kindly post the link here, for the benefit of all the users.

Finally, I want to thank you for giving me the two cases. They just brightened up my other-wise dull day!! I look forward for your valuable feedback and to solving more such cases with you.

Cheers!
Rohith.