Management Consulting Discussion

[fuji]



The subject matter for starters. The idea of variety as every company would be different. I do have a long term relationship which long hours would dig into but I also think my gf is interested in going back to school or something once I finish my MBA.


Ideal job would be working for film industry trying to predict what projects would be worth undertaking but I feel consulting would be easier to break into

Lol this reminds me of applying for IBD "I want to work with clients to help create a unique solution to their financial problems" or when I was particularly interested in restructuring "I find the variety of debt products fascinating in how they can all be structured into creating a unique solution for the clients needs". I go through financial statements pic out numbers, put them into excel templates, make everything into the "house aesthetic", get bitched at because it's slightly off then remember my pie chart is supposed to use yellow for the largest section. No real difference between energy or pharma. I can't imagine MC is all that different.

 

[MSchapiro]

Lol this reminds me of applying for IBD "I want to work with clients to help create a unique solution to their financial problems" or when I was particularly interested in restructuring "I find the variety of debt products fascinating in how they can all be structured into creating a unique solution for the clients needs". I go through financial statements pic out numbers, put them into excel templates, make everything into the "house aesthetic", get bitched at because it's slightly off then remember my pie chart is supposed to use yellow for the largest section. No real difference between energy or pharma. I can't imagine MC is all that different.

MC will have considerably more variety in what you do and how you solve problems than IBD. In general IBD will have a couple points along the process where you need to be creative, but MC can have far more.
That, of course, isn't to say in any way that it is easier.

 

[aravenel]

^^ This is true for several years of your career. Then at some point, you start to see that no matter how you package it up, its always the same ****, and get tired of it.

/BurnedOutConsultant

On a serious note, at the junior levels, it is indeed pretty rote, but honestly, every industry is going to be like that.

 

[otc]

The one thing I was nervous about back when I was applying for internships (or maybe jobs...I don't remember...it was all back before I went for my niche instead), was getting to siloed into something.

It seemed ok at the BCG/Bain types of places where groups and teams were smaller and more varied, but at places like Deloitte, it seemed like you could get stuck. E.g. At a recruiting event I met someone at Deloitte who worked on some sort of healthcare implementation project soon after starting...and after that he only ever got pulled into very similar healthcare cases.

Obviously you can have a specialty, but I don't want to have *that* much of a specialty. I'd much rather be specialized to a type of work rather than a type of project. Like now, I tend to do programming heavy work on the quantitative aspects of cases, but those cases can vary greatly...so I can do what I am good at without doing exactly the same thing over and over.

 

[OmniscientCause]



The one thing I was nervous about back when I was applying for internships (or maybe jobs...I don't remember...it was all back before I went for my niche instead), was getting to siloed into something.

It seemed ok at the BCG/Bain types of places where groups and teams were smaller and more varied, but at places like Deloitte, it seemed like you could get stuck. E.g. At a recruiting event I met someone at Deloitte who worked on some sort of healthcare implementation project soon after starting...and after that he only ever got pulled into very similar healthcare cases.

Obviously you can have a specialty, but I don't want to have *that* much of a specialty. I'd much rather be specialized to a type of work rather than a type of project. Like now, I tend to do programming heavy work on the quantitative aspects of cases, but those cases can vary greatly...so I can do what I am good at without doing exactly the same thing over and over.

Pretty much summed up what i want...dont know if i can get into the big three...based on my ocs kick off yesterday at smith...pwc and deloitte are the main hiring companies for the program.

 

[ballmouse]

^^ This is true for several years of your career. Then at some point, you start to see that no matter how you package it up, its always the same ****, and get tired of it.

/BurnedOutConsultant

On a serious note, at the junior levels, it is indeed pretty rote, but honestly, every industry is going to be like that.

Yes. This is my experience as well. The subject matter of your projects may change, but even if it's an assessment, implementation, PMO, or regulatory work, the work is all pretty similar. And at the junior levels, there is very little control over what you're working on (at least in my experience). You just get pulled onto projects to bill clients and bring in revenue for the firm. No one really cares about anything else.

The consultants who appear to enjoy the work the most are the senior managers or partners that can control exactly what they're doing at all times (pretty much that they are able to navigate and avoid everything they don't want to do and only work on what they want). This from what I understand takes years of internal branding at a firm.

 

[Metlin]



Lol this reminds me of applying for IBD "I want to work with clients to help create a unique solution to their financial problems" or when I was particularly interested in restructuring "I find the variety of debt products fascinating in how they can all be structured into creating a unique solution for the clients needs". I go through financial statements pic out numbers, put them into excel templates, make everything into the "house aesthetic", get bitched at because it's slightly off then remember my pie chart is supposed to use yellow for the largest section. No real difference between energy or pharma. I can't imagine MC is all that different.

Depends on the firm, really, and the kind of work you do.

Sure, there are standard templates and some types of work are all similar (e.g., there are only so many different ways that you can do growth strategy, cost reduction, or PMI). But there are certainly nuances within each industry and within each client, and that's important.

 

[ryewo[i dmfsOZI490w]

Does anyone have any links to healthcare consulting in Toronto? I'm in the middle of masters in health admin, and trying to find a second 3-month admin residence at a consulting firm, to get exposure while hopefully adding some value myself.

 

[Artisan Fan]

Lol this reminds me of applying for IBD "I want to work with clients to help create a unique solution to their financial problems" or when I was particularly interested in restructuring "I find the variety of debt products fascinating in how they can all be structured into creating a unique solution for the clients needs". I go through financial statements pic out numbers, put them into excel templates, make everything into the "house aesthetic", get bitched at because it's slightly off then remember my pie chart is supposed to use yellow for the largest section. No real difference between energy or pharma. I can't imagine MC is all that different.

MC will have considerably more variety in what you do and how you solve problems than IBD. In general IBD will have a couple points along the process where you need to be creative, but MC can have far more.

That, of course, isn't to say in any way that it is easier.

Correct.

 

[Metlin]



Many of the people I know in industry mention the "strategy" work they are doing, which is what I'd actually consider operational most of the time.

I actively avoid strategy cases when I can -- when I was younger, it was quite different. However, as you get older, two things happen: one, you realize that strategy work is high burn, and that is not sustainable. Two, strategy work is also uncertain from a revenue perspective, while operational work is longer lasting and more cyclical/predictable.

 

[OmniscientCause]

what is the perception of federal consulting from a commercial consultants perspective? Being in DC i really only have a shot of landing a federal gig if I want to stay in the area.

 

[Harold falcon]

Asshole **** **** motherfuckers.

Oh wait, that's from a taxpayer perspective. My bad.

 

[ballmouse]

I'm under the impression they do more 'internal audit' type work.

 

[MSchapiro]

Asshole **** **** motherfuckers.

Oh wait, that's from a taxpayer perspective. My bad.

That made me laugh.

From my understanding there are some laterals, but it is not too common. More often commercial consultants occasionally sit in on federal engagements, although not as often as they used to. The federal consulting sector is huge, however, and one could easily spend their entire life there.

 

[horndog]

As a federal consultant you'll get to see first hand how incompetently your tax money gets spent!