Consulting 101 — Part 1

A series of articles on landing a consulting job after an undergraduate degree

Hey everyone! My name is Ruthu, and I am a senior at IIT Kharagpur. I majored in Aerospace along with a minor in Computer Science and Engineering and a micro-specialisation in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. I will be joining Boston Consulting Group (BCG) as an Associate Consultant post graduation. In this series, I will talk about the consulting recruitment process end-to-end, from an introduction to the job to finally getting hired. If you are a college student unsure about what career to choose, or if consulting is something you want to pursue, or if you want a detailed look into the recruitment process with tips and tricks to crack the interviews, this series is for you. While some of the things in this series are specific to IIT Kharagpur students, most of the content is applicable for any university grad looking for an in into consulting. In addition, feel free to message me on LinkedIn if you have any further questions. Hope this helps!

Consulting: A bit of everything

Contents

1. What is consulting?
2. Why consulting?
3. Why not consulting?
4. Top consulting firms in India

What is consulting?

In a one-word nutshell, consulting is problem solving at its finest. It is the practice of solving and/or implementing solutions to complex business problems faced by a third party in an unbiased manner in exchange for a fee. In principle, consultants can work across any sector ranging from manufacturing, telecommunications, banking and financial services, public sector, digital transformation, and hospitality, among others. The main advantages that consultancy firms provide are -

• Unbiased outlook — They are able to provide their clients with a fresh and fact-based perspective without any existing bias that might creep in for in-house experts
• Knowledge advantage — They are necessary for problems for which specialist expertise is needed which is otherwise lacking on the clients’ end
• Cost-effective — Involving a consultancy firm can in some cases be more cost effective than if an organisation were to hire experts themselves
• Need-based — Consultants can provide expert capabilities on topics that businesses rarely face. For example, a company might only consider a merger or acquisition once every 10 years. If so, it makes more sense for them to hire trustworthy consultants when necessary rather than having M&A experts on their staff full-time

The main job of a consultant is to -

1. Define the problems or opportunities their client’s business faces
2. Collect and analyse data to better understand the problem/opportunity
3. Identify and recommended a course of action
4. Plan the implementation of that solution across the company

What is consulting?

For example, BCG worked with Indian Government stakeholders in preparing for the fight against COVID-19 including scenario mapping, planning responses and analysing trends, the impact of which can be directly mapped to the lives saved and vaccines distributed.

Why consulting?

Consulting offers the following advantages as a career option immediately after graduation -

• Exposure — Working with clients across industries and work functions will provide exposure into many different businesses and business models, and help gain a holistic perspective on the same which can be leveraged for specialising in a particular industry in the future or starting up a business
• Networking — Interacting and working with other consultants and partners, clients and business professionals provides an amazing peer group, a steep learning curve and a network of people that are useful throughout your professional career
• Exit opportunities — Consulting is mainly popular for being a direct feeder into career paths such as VC (venture capital), PE (private equity) and even specialised positions in other firms (Director, Product, Strategy, etc.) in ~2 years which would otherwise require extensive experience and/or higher studies degrees like an MBA
• Higher studies — Consulting is also a popular selection criterion for Ivy League MBAs (for eg. Harvard Business School has a 2024 incoming class profile composed of around 16% consulting careers)
• Travel — An average consulting career has significantly more travel opportunities compared to other careers since consultants travel to the client site if the work is onsite, along with which come other perks like fully sponsored accommodations, travel, recreational activities, etc.
• Payscale — The paycheck for a consultant is good in India (for a non-technical role), with bonuses, additional perks and a potential for meteoric growth in ~2 years depending on the quality of work

Why not consulting?

Like every job, consulting has some implications that should be taken into consideration while making a conscious career choice —

• Work life balance, pressure and expectations— Although the working hours largely depend on the client as well as the firm, as a general rule of thumb, the working hours are longer and more demanding in terms of quality and quantity because the client is being charged an enormous amount for a consultant’s services, and outstanding work and results is hence expected of the consultant
• Generalist — As a consultant, you gain generalist skills with exposure and knowledge about a ton of different things, but might lack the extensive knowledge required to gain a niche in any one sector, which may be a disadvantage if you want to specialise early on
• Acclimatization — Moving to new places, working with new people and solving different problems every few months can be exhausting and takes time to adjust to

Top consulting firms in India

The best consulting firms in India in terms of market share, clients, quality of work, peers and payscale are —

McKinsey and Company — hiring starts off at at Analyst level, with strategy and implementation cases, specialises in the energy and pharma sectors

Boston Consulting Group — hiring begins at an Associate level with the highest pay among MBB, specialises in financial services, consumer products and industrial goods

Bain and Company — hiring begins at an Associate level, well known for their private equity and growth tech sectors

There are many other boutique consulting firms including but not limited to Kepler Cannon, Arthur D. Little, L.E.K, Auctus Advisors, Fischer Jordan, etc. which occupy lesser market share and are more niche in terms of the industry they operate in, but are similar in terms of the work and exposure.

I hope this provided an introduction to consulting as a career option. In part 2 of this series, I will talk about the recruitment process and the number and nature of each of the rounds involved. Read on here!