Overview

We have worked with many individuals who are leaving or have left management consulting careers, as well as with several top consulting firms themselves, and so have both a "bird's eye view" and a "worm's eye view" of this popular field. A career in consulting is somewhat difficult to describe because of the tremendous differences between what a consultant does in the early stage of the career and the later stages. Each stage allows for the expression of different interests, provides rewards that satisfy different values, and requires different abilities. For this reason we're going to discuss each of the stages separately.

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Before we get into that, though, we want to take a few moments and talk about consulting in general and about the different things people mean by the term "consulting." The American Heritage Dictionary defines a consultant as "one that gives expert or professional advice." Consulting as a field, then, consists of people and firms that advise others about virtually any subject matter. For the purpose of our discussion we're going to focus on consulting as it takes place within organized firms, though the issues involved in careers in firms parallel closely those in working as a solo practitioner.

There are literally thousands of consulting firms in the US alone, doing everything from toxic waste consulting to natural gas recovery consulting to compensation and benefits consulting to HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) consulting. At this point we're going to focus even further and concentrate on what is generally called "management consulting." Even this field needs to be divided further, and to talk meaningfully about management consulting.

Some firms focus on business strategy. They advise the top management of major corporations regarding strategic issues like the acquisition of other businesses, the feasibility of entering new markets, whether the company should form an alliance with another company overseas, if the company should sell off one of its divisions, etc. These are all issues of the overall strategy of the business as a whole, and the consumers of these services are typically large Fortune 500 class companies. The consulting firms themselves provide advice but do not get deeply involved in the implementation of their recommendations. Other firms provide companies with high level advice (to re-organize two divisions by merging their operations, for example) but, unlike pure strategy firms, do remain engaged with the client during the implementation of the plans. Then there are firms that specialize in one or another aspect of management, such as finance, human resource management, business process (the so-called "re-engineering" firms), information systems, marketing research, manufacturing processes, etc. The difference between management consulting firms and others is that these firms help management run the businesses they are in charge of -- as opposed to helping someone design the wiring system for a new hospital, for example.

In any firm, large or small, prestigious or unknown, there are two (or three) career stages, with a high hurdle to pass after each to qualify for the next. This is especially true for the transition between the first and second stages. The first involves doing a lot of the "in the trenches" work: gathering and analyzing data, proposing solutions. The second, if the firm is large enough involves managing the consulting project: deciding what data need to be gathered, what analyses need to be run, dividing the work among the consultants, formulating the presentation to the client and supporting documentation, and managing the day-to-day relationship with the client. The third (which in smaller firms will subsume the second) is the level of partner. Partners are ultimately responsible for the work, of course, but even more importantly they are responsible for the maintenance of current consulting relationships and generation of new business.

Some people say (with cynical humor) that as you move up in a consulting firm you actually do less and less: first you do the work, then you manage the work, then you only have to bring in the work. Of course this isn't true -- partners in consulting firms work just as hard and travel just as much as junior level consultants; they're just doing different things -- but it does illustrate the different demands and satisfactions of consulting careers at their different stages.

Consulting Careers: The Initial Phase
Different management consulting firms use various titles to describe this work role, but "associate" and simply "consultant" are the two most common. Most people hired into this role have MBA degrees, although more firms are hiring from law schools, other graduate programs (masters and doctoral programs) and, in some instances, from industry. (Many firms also have positions available for new college graduates who show high promise. Typically these people will be hired for a period of two to three years with the understanding that after that period they will be expected to go on to business school.) The hours can be long and are often unpredictable. Extensive travel is part of the package, and consultants often find themselves out of town three or four days of any given week. Work is done on a project team basis, but much of the consultant's time is spent alone, analyzing data and preparing presentation materials.

Consulting Careers: The Management Phase
Once again, different firms have varying terms for this work role, such as "engagement manager," "project manager," and "senior associate." "Consultants" advance to this stage when they have demonstrated mastery of the skills of consulting per se (such as fact finding, data analysis, development of recommendations, and report writing and delivery) and when partners feel that they are now capable of learning to manage other consultants and client projects. This is often a tough transition, in that it involves being something of a "player-coach," both working alongside other members of the team and managing them. Managing other team members means getting them to perform to their full potential, frequently.

In this role the buck stops with the manager, and he or she usually feels a great deal of pressure to deliver. If the client is dissatisfied with the work the firm suffers the consequences, and that suffering will certainly extend to the project manager. Usually the manager will at some point be expected to manage two cases, which requires the ability to juggle a lot of tasks and to prioritize time and resources -- not an easy task for most people.

Consulting Careers: The Partnership Phase
Those consulting project managers who show the most promise are elected to partnership in the firm. Again, the terminology varies from firm to firm. People at this level are described as partners, directors, principals or vice presidents. Their mission comprises several different elements. One is the management of the firm itself. Partners are the owners of the firm, and as such make crucial decisions such as whom to elect for partnership, how many partners the firm should have, whether the firm should pursue a certain line of business, open a new office, etc. Partners are also ultimately responsible for the consulting engagements carried out by the managers and consultants, and so must manage the project managers and oversee their work. They are also responsible for those managers' training and development. Perhaps most importantly, however, partners are responsible for the development of new client relationships (and the maintenance of current relationships). No one is likely to be promoted to partner unless he or she has shown the ability to develop new business. A partner may have a particular expertise or knowledge base that leads potential clients to contact the firm, or simply be skillful at forming new relationships with CEOs and other senior executives. But however it is done, a consulting firm, like any other business, needs customers for its services, and partners bring in those customers.

Finally, we want to point out that many people who go into management consulting when they come out of MBA and other graduate programs do so with no intention of making it a career. They may think that one to three years in consulting will open up other opportunities for them (and they may -- or may not -- be right about that), or that it will preserve their career options (which is true for some options and definitely not true for others). Moreover, these people may not really be interested in the actual work of a consultant, and may not share consultants' core interests, values or even their abilities. They are simply making a strategic career move. In discussing the interests, values and abilities of people working in management consulting we are not going to include these people in our descriptions. If you are considering consulting for a very limited period as a career stepping stone we encourage you to think carefully about that strategy -- it may be less sound than you think. But you don't need to worry about the degree of fit between your interests, values and abilities and theirs.

Now we want to turn to what we find to be the characteristics of people who make management consulting firms their career "homes."


Interests

In this section we will discuss interest patterns that are associated with careers in Management Consulting. In doing so we will use the Business Core Function model that is employed by the Business Career Interest Inventory (BCII). We will assume that you have taken the BCII and read its Interpretive Guide, both of which are included in the CareerLeader™ assessment process.

Firstly, for an overview of typical interests shown by consultants, please review our BCII Career Interest Pattern for management consultants, which shows Interest Patterns for both early career and senior level consultants.

No matter how large or small the firm, no matter who the clients are, no matter if the nature of the consulting is technical, strategy, process reengineering or some specific aspect of management such as human resources, consultants are hired to solve problems that the client company is unable to solve itself. Often this is because it is simply less costly for the client to hire the talent it needs than to keep people on the payroll who can do what the consultant can do. So consultants (in the initial phase of the career) who love consulting really enjoy solving problems, and not surprisingly they tend to be strongly interested in the Theory Development and Conceptual Thinking business core function from the Business Career Interest Inventory. This will be more true for people who take a more academic approach to the work, but even consultants engaged in more technical consulting tend to have higher levels of interest in Theory Development and Conceptual Thinking than business professionals as a whole.

Those consultants who love their daily work also tend to be strongly interested in the Quantitative Analysis function. The reason is clear: most management consulting involves a great deal of financial and other types of quantitative analysis. Consultants, especially at junior levels, spend a lot of time in front of their computers, and a lot of that time is spent running computer analyses on spreadsheet programs and other software. Of course, many of those consultants experience this as something they have to endure, "dues to pay" before they can delegate that work. But for those for whom this stage of their careers is a truly good fit, interest in the Quantitative Analysis function is going to be strong.

Communicating their recommendations in a clear and persuasive manner is another element that is crucial to an effective engagement. Getting the right answer is great, but if the client is not persuaded that this is, in fact, the right answer and fails to implement the consultants' recommendations, the project ended in failure. Beginning consultants may or may not have much air time when the team presents its findings and recommendations to the client, but their input in designing the presentation and the slides to be used in it is significant. Those who do not demonstrate capability in this area will not be promoted to the project manager role. So those entry level consultants who really enjoy the work tend to have elevated interests in the Influence Through Language and Ideas business core function.

Some management consulting firms organize their work into "practice areas," such as transportation, telecommunications, financial services, high tech, medical care, etc. Consultants who are have chosen to work in some of these areas (e.g. high tech) often have a strong interest in the Application of Technology function. For others a strong interest in this function may be absent.

There are no business core functions in which a strong interest is not found among management consultants. In other words, there is no interest that indicates that the person will not be happy in the consultant phase of a management consulting career. Rather, other interests carry implications for how the individual will carry out his or her work, and for the person's later career. For example, consultants with elevated interest in Counseling and Mentoring are likely to carry this interest and approach into their interactions with team members.

Most managers in consulting firms have made the decision to seriously pursue a career in management consulting. While many consultants come with the express intent of staying for only one or two years, project managers are, at the very least, seriously entertaining the notion of making consulting their career "homes" for an extended period. The interests of those consultants who become engagement or project managers and who enjoy the day to day work that comprises this role overlap greatly with those of entry level consultants. They are still interested in the abstract thinking and problem solving of the Theory Development and Conceptual Thinking business core function, in the activity of Quantitative Analysis, and in Influence Through Language and Ideas. Those for whom this stage is a perfect fit will also have an interest in Managing People and Relationships, however. The work of an engagement manager is multifaceted, and includes developing the skills of the consultants on the team. In other words, for the manager to be performing at full potential he or she has to manage the project and the people.

There is some element of Enterprise Control in project management, but interest in this function among managers is due more to their having chosen a career decision of going for partnership in the firm. Partners in management consulting firms, in our experience, are strongly interested in Enterprise Control, whether they actually started the firm or have simply advanced to partnership in an already established organization. The work of a partner takes place on a more macro level than that of either the consultant or the project manager, so interests in Quantitative Analysis and Theory Development and Conceptual Thinking may be lower without making for a bad fit with the position. Managing People and Relationships and Influence Through Language and Ideas remain strong interests for partners in these firms.


Reward Values

In this section we will discuss the work rewards commonly available in Management Consulting careers. In doing so we will use the work reward value dimensions that are employed by the Management and Professional Reward Profile (MPRP) and we will assume that you have taken the Management and Professional Reward Profile and read its Interpretive Guide, both of which are included in the CareerLeader™ assessment process.

Consulting provides ample Intellectual Challenge at each stage of the career. The work of a management consultant, after all, consists of solving problems that are sufficiently complex and answering questions that are sufficiently difficult that the firm's clients are willing to pay a consulting firm substantial amounts of money for their help. People who go into this career with the idea from the beginning that they are going to stay with it as long as they can are usually highly motivated by Intellectual Challenge. In fact, if you do not value this reward highly, but are considering a career in management consulting, you should carefully consider what you are getting into, and talk to people in the field to get a sense of what the day to day work comprises.

People interested in becoming career management consultants also assign a high value to Variety. These are people for whom routine, "steady-state" management would be like a prison sentence. Consulting careers offer a never-ending stream of different puzzles to solve, each with a sufficiently short time span that there is little chance of getting bored; and each enough different from another that the consultant experiences them as wholly new challenges. One point worth noting here is that if your valuing of the Variety reward is exceptionally high (that is, if the scale scores could go above 12 you know that your score would be about a 50!), you might select a firm that is not organized by industry practice areas. In this way you will be able to gain additional cross-industry variety in your work.

Most consultants (including managers and partners) we know prize Variety and Intellectual Challenge above all else. Of course, as they advance in their careers two things happen. They inevitably gain substantial expertise in a certain area, and that expertise is of such value to clients that the career consultant is almost forced into some specialty. Also, with advancement comes more distance from the actual problem solving of the consultation. (On the other hand, the challenges of managing teams and helping to manage the firm itself offer new varieties of challenge.) People who assign extraordinarily high values to these two rewards may find themselves wanting to stay more engaged in the actual work of the projects than other members of the firm, even when they are at the partnership level.

Other rewards that a career in consulting may provide include Prestige and Affiliation. Obviously, Prestige is in the eye of the beholder, but there are some management consulting firms that are known worldwide and highly respected for their work. These are the "brand name" firms that many people think of when the phrase "management consulting" is uttered, and some people who highly value Prestige are attracted to these firms for that reason. Affiliation is a bit more tricky. Consulting engagements are taken on by teams of people, so in that sense there is certainly some opportunity to work with enjoyable colleagues. On the other hand, on any given day a consultant may spend a great deal of time doing research or analysis, effectively working on his or her own. Upon advancement to manager level, however, much of that solitary work goes away, and certainly the daily work of a partner is highly interpersonally interactive.

Financial Gain can be high in consulting (obviously depending on your personal definition of "exceptional financial reward"). Of course, the real financial rewards accrue once you have made it to the level of partner, but most consultants and project managers are well compensated, between their salaries and bonuses. Although few people seem to choose careers in management consulting for the Security it affords, it clearly does provide a certainly degree of Security -- at least, assuming the "up or out" aspect of consulting doesn't force the person out. Recognition for your efforts depends on two things: how good your manager is at expressing appreciation, and how much you are involved in client presentations. Clearly, the higher you are in the firm the more visible you will be to the client, and the more likely you are to hear that your hard work is appreciated. In general, consulting firms are characterized by intense work, and one of the things that is left behind is the nicety of the "Good job!" from the manager or partner. If Recognition is a reward you crave, management consulting may not satisfy that need, especially in the early years.

The opportunity for Managing People is clearly not there in the initial phase of a consulting career. As a project manager and partner management is definitely part of the job, but it is a unique sort of managing you will be doing, since the people you manage will be uniformly very bright and highly motivated. Some people have said to us that, compared to other management experience they have had, managing in consulting feels markedly different. So if you are interested in a consulting career and have a high value for Managing People, the advice would be to try to imagine just what kind of activities you see yourself doing as a manager; then see if that picture fits with the management done in consulting.

Depending on their reading of the actual item, some consultants at all levels feel that they are exercising Power and Influence. They are, after all, advising senior management of Fortune 500 companies (and their international equivalents) regarding questions of great importance: whether to make a play to acquire another company, sell off part of their own company, enter a new market, etc. Other consultants, on the other hand, report feeling that they are always on the sidelines, not "in the action" where the rubber meets the road and they are responsible for their own decisions and work to implement them successfully. So if you highly value Power and Influence you need to ask yourself what kind of Power, and what kind of Influence, you have in mind -- and whether a career in consulting will give you those rewards.

Also depending on their reading of the item, some consultants feel a sense of Altruism in their work: that they are "helping others with their individual or business concerns." Other people read this item to mean contributing to the social welfare of society. If you assign a high value to Altruism, consider whether a management consulting career will give you that reward. (Of course, if it doesn't you can always find other activities outside of work that will provide you with this sense of helping people.)

Positioning yourself for future opportunities is one way many management consulting firms persuade people to join them. The idea is that in a few years in consulting (as a consultant and then as a project manager) you will meet many people in very senior level positions who will presumably be able and willing to hire you when you leave the firms. And at the same time, they say, you are keeping all your future career options open. The latter is clearly not true: by working for a few years as a consultant you will open some future opportunities, preserve some options, and close others; there is no way to "stop time." The key questions to answer are: "What opportunities will these years position me for?" and "What opportunities do I want to be positioned for?" Only to the extent that there is a match between the two will this reward be available. (For example, as a consultant for a top firm you are unlikely to meet people who run small high-growth high tech companies, so if that is your goal a few years in management consulting is probably not going to meet your desire for Positioning as a reward.)

Two rewards that are in decidedly short supply in management consulting careers are Autonomy and Lifestyle. This especially true in the early years of the career, when the hours are both long and unpredictable, and travel requirements heavy; and when the demands of the client pass right down the line to the most junior members of the team. While engagement managers and partners also spend a lot of time on the road and work long hours, they do enjoy more control over their schedules (Autonomy). But since you can't skip the first years and be hired as a partner, very high values for these rewards should be read as a warning sign if you are considering a consulting career.


Abilities

In this section we will discuss the abilities that are important for success in a Management Consulting career. In doing so we will use Business Ability Group model that is employed by the Management and Professional Ability Profile (MPAP) and we will assume that you have taken the Management and Professional Ability Profile and read its Interpretive Guide, both of which are included in the CareerLeader™ assessment process.

Not surprisingly, the abilities that make someone a successful management consulting partner are substantially different from those necessary for a successful consultant, and both are somewhat different from the abilities a project manager needs. We are going to focus only on those abilities that are most critical for success at each stage of the career.

Consulting Careers: The Initial Phase
Success in the beginning stage of a career in management consulting requires abilities in all three Business Ability Groups from the MPAP, but the need for Problem Solving ability is dominant. Given the day to day work of an entry level consultant, this is not surprising. Following are the abilities we have seen to be necessary for success in this career stage:

Problem Solving

• Able to think critically (define a problem and determine the information needed to solve it; understand unspoken assumptions; form and test hypotheses; and judge the validity of conclusions).
  
• Skillful in using quantitative analysis to understand business issues.
  
• Able to think creatively, generating new ideas and approaches to issues, and recognizing new opportunities.
  
• Have a quick intellect: I pick up new information and ideas easily and can "think on my feet."

• Able to juggle many ideas, responsibilities and projects at once.

• Feel and project self-confidence: I can be persuasive even in uncertain and difficult situations.
  
• A team player, cooperative, work well as part of a group.

• Able to think critically (define a problem and determine the information needed to solve it; understand unspoken assumptions; form and test hypotheses; and judge the validity of conclusions).
  
• Skillful in using quantitative analysis to understand business issues.
  
• Able to think creatively, generating new ideas and approaches to issues, and recognizing new opportunities.
  
• Have a quick intellect: I pick up new information and ideas easily and can "think on my feet."

• Ambitious, forceful, competitive, comfortable with using power and taking risks.
  
• Action-oriented: I am someone who makes decisions and then makes sure they are implemented.
  
• Able to juggle many ideas, responsibilities and projects at once.
  
• Leverage my time well (e.g. set priorities and keep to them, delegate when appropriate).

• Feel and project self-confidence: I can be persuasive even in uncertain and difficult situations.
  
• Able to lead, motivate, and directly manage other people effectively.

• Able to think creatively, generating new ideas and approaches to issues, and recognizing new opportunities.
  
• Have a quick intellect: I pick up new information and ideas easily and can "think on my feet."

• Ambitious, forceful, competitive, comfortable with using power and taking risks.
  
• Able to juggle many ideas, responsibilities and projects at once.
  
• Leverage my time well (e.g. set priorities and keep to them, delegate when appropriate).

• Feel and project self-confidence: I can be persuasive even in uncertain and difficult situations.
  
• Able to lead, motivate, and directly manage other people effectively.
  
• Socially venturesome and self-assured -- I form and maintain relationships easily.

Summary

Consulting careers are almost three careers rolled into one: working as a consultant, a project manager and as a partner. Different interests, rewards and necessary abilities are associated with each stage of the career. Early stage consultants, for example, are most interested in the Enterprise Control, Managing People and Relationships and Quantitative Analysis business core functions, while more senior consultants' interests are in Theory Development and Conceptual Thinking, Enterprise Control, Influence Through Language and Ideas, and Creative Production. (This is in part at least due to the fact that many people join management consulting firms just out of business school as a "stopover" career transition step with no intention of staying in the field.) The work rewards most available in management consulting careers are Intellectual Challenge, Variety, Prestige and Affiliation. And finally, while there are different abilities needed to succeed in the work of each stage, Creativity, Quick Thinking, being able to Multi-focus, having good Communication skills, and projecting Confidence are important at all stages.