Let’s admit it. At every single consulting interview the very first question you get is “why consulting?”. It’s also one of the most popular questions at networking events. There could be a variety of reasons you would like to truthfully shout out such as: high salary, prestige, MBA sponsorship, and travel. But hold your seatbelt before you do!
While these are all great reasons, you have to be more articulate with your answer to convince the interviewer and secure a spot in one of the most sought-after careers.
Below are three (3) other benefits of a consulting career.
1. You can’t possibly get bored
Often people have no idea what they want to do for work because, with minimal time available, there is hardly any chance to explore all the options available to discover what you truly like.
Well, consulting could possibly be a solution as it offers the opportunity to wear many hats within multiple industries, functional areas, and geographies. One day you could be helping a Fortune 100 company in the US to plan their 5-year strategy, while the next day you could be in the Middle East advising a foreign government on how to revise policies and procedures. You are frequently put in a new project and you are constantly in a learning mode so everyday is a new challenge (this is also a reason why consulting firms welcome applicants from all academic backgrounds and disciplines). Once you find an industry or functional area you enjoy, you can thrive as a consultant or, just as often, leave (with a pat on the back) and pursue that opportunity working with one of your clients or by launching a new startup.
2. Training, training, training
Consultants are the greatest assets of a consulting firm so they are heavily trained with both “hard” and “soft” skills.
You don’t necessarily need to be a business guru to make it as a consultant. What you need is the ability to apply knowledge and experience in a way that can be leveraged by multiple clients across multiple industries. As a result, training could be something technical like building a financial model from scratch using Excel, or something focused on soft skills, such as how to give an effective presentation.
Consulting can not only bring out the best of your analytical abilities, but also allow you to work with high achievers who are thinking at an intellectually higher level. At a very young age you can work with colleagues and supervisors who are experts in their field, so you have a chance to learn know-how and best practices from industry leaders, which can put you on an accelerated career track. Ultimately, this experience can equip you with a broad range of tools to help you be successful in any kind of job. No wonder there is a saying “2-3 years in consulting is equivalent to 5-6 years in industry.”
3. Step to becoming the next CEO
While consulting, at 4%, is ranked the least common early career experience among CEOs (“Forbes”), some highly successful CEOs have come form that world (John Donaho, CEO of eBay, Jerry Storch, CEO of Toys ‘R’ Us, just to name a few). Consultants are very attractive and qualified candidates to fill senior management roles.
As a consultant, you’ll likely spend your days working with clients at some of the top corporate firms and this provides immediate opportunity to establish strong relationships. You will already be getting some invaluable experience under your belt, so once you demonstrate how stellar you are you will likely get a number of job offers from clients. Additionally, strategy departments of corporate firms (where there is frequent interaction with the C-suite) are already filled with former consultants so you have an advantage in applying to these roles.
So now that you have explored some of the benefits of working in management consulting, make sure that you carefully consider your answer to the usual question, “why do you want to be a consultant?”
Jason Oh is a management consulting enthusiast with past experience in helping F500 financial services clients with product management, go-to-market, and distribution channel strategy.
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