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I have recently had a chance to speak with a principal from one of the "Big 4" consultancies. I am going to keep his name and affiliation confidential for the sake of this blog post. But, I will try my best to include all the details of our conversation about management consulting and career opportunities within the industry. He is a veteran in the industry. He worked for big consultancies as well as boutique firms and investment banks as an executive. Therefore, his overall understanding of the industry is very comprehensive and diverse.  

He started the conversation with an overview of the industry and divided the consultancies in 4 categories:

i.              Classical Strategy Consulting houses such as BCG, McKinsey, Bain etc.

ii.             Strategy + Implementation e.g. Deloitte, Accenture

iii.            Boutique Firms i.e firms that focus on one type of the industry, single practice/operation or a single segment within the industry

iv.            Large implementation + outsourcing such as IBM Business   

Then, we mainly focused on the ones that are more likely to hire advanced degree candidates, particularly PhDs. He started with consulting firms which have a structured and systematic process of hiring PhDs such as McKinsey and BCG. He said that these firms do usually go after raw talent. However, he does not think that the talent would get any candidate a job at those firms. There are other qualities, skills and experiences that they look for in a candidate such as business background, leadership skills, and top-notch presentation skills. He also thinks that a mediocre or even a good performance in the business case interview part of the recruiting process is not enough. A superb performance from beginning to end is necessary.

We also briefly talked about possible challenges that an aspiring consultant with a PhD degree will face once she/he joins a firm. From his observations, the biggest issues for us to deal with are the intense pressure, pace and travel involved in the management consulting profession. He said that the intensity will not even be comparable to what we have been experiencing in our PhD programs. He thinks that a PhD may also find it difficult to adjust to the complicated and uncertain nature of the work.


Another topic that we discussed extensively was boutique consulting firms. He thinks that PhDs can leverage their skill-set and qualities better for these firms: our narrow but deep focus would make us more valuable in their practices. There are additional advantages such as limited hierarchy and an apprenticeship culture which can help PhDs fill their business experience gap more quickly and effectively than in larger organizations. However, he thinks that finding a job at a boutique consulting firm requires a strong network and initiative since they rarely advertise job openings and tend to hire candidates through their own personal networks.


It is the summary our 20 minute conversation - I hope that you will find it useful! Please do not hesitate to contact us with your questions or leave a comment!


Enjoy!

With this brief blog post, I would like to share Boston Consulting Groups (BCG)'s internship policy for Advanced Candidates in a nutshell. The below information was given by https://twitter.com/bcg_consultant. I would like to take this opportunity to thank him/her for his/her responsiveness and throughness: 
 
"In North America, MDs and JDs can do summers with BCG as long as their academic programs allow them to complete a 10 week internship. Phds/Post-docs are not eligible for the summer.

All MDs, JDs, PhDs, and Post-docs (in our language, ADCs) who attend a North American campus where we actively recruit are able to apply for the Bridge to BCG Program. This is a three-day workshop in several BCG cities where ADCs complete a case team exercise. It essentially gives these ADCs the opportunity to test-drive consulting. Students can check adc.bcg.com for more info on Bridge to BCG. 

In our Asia Pacific offices, all ADCs are eligible for the summer programs. The Europe and Middle East systems will consider ADCs for summers, but the process may vary by office."  


I hope this information is helpfull... 

As a part of our branding efforts, we are happy to announce that PhD to Consulting has a new logo. The logo is formed from the project's initials based on the PhD abbreviation. The lettering is custom developed and reflects the font style used in academic writing. The custom letters have been designed by a very talented young designer: Didem Ogmen who is based in Istanbul, Turkey working on visual identity, logo development, custom lettering and typeface design projects. 
You can reach her portfolio and her exceptional work at: http://didemogmen.com/ 
She also keeps a lettering diary: http://www.flickr.com/photos/didemogmen/. 

Please feel free to send us your comments about our new logo!

                
      As you’ve no doubt frequently heard, the key to acing consulting interviews is consistent and dedicated practice of fundamental business problem solving skills. In an ideal world, everyone would be able to arrange mock-interviews with similarly minded classmates or current consultants. However, candidates often have to make do with less, and so in this and future posts we will attempt to highlight some helpful web resources that can help fill the gaps. Even if you do attend a school with an active consulting club or have a strong corporate network, we hope your fill find these sites a useful complement to your non-virtual preparation. 

       RocketBlocks.me (http://www.rocketblocks.me/index.php) is an interactive practice platform for consulting candidates,  consisting of several practice ‘modules’ emphasizing particular interview skill sets, along with general information on the strategy consulting industry and the corporate world. Content is provided by a team of current and former consultants, who regularly update the site’s blog and practice questions. The current annual fee for a RocketBlocks account is $45.00 USD, and in the following section we’ll take you through the layout and features available to registered users. Signing into an account redirects the user to the primary navigation page, a dashboard containing a record of practice modules completed and a dynamic feed of industry news. The page header contains links to a number of additional resources. 

      The first, ‘Context’, contains an archive of videotaped interviews with current consultants about their experiences in the interview process and the industry environment. These videos range in scope from very specific interview strategies (‘Bain 1st vs. 2nd round interviews’), to more general thoughts on the consulting industry (‘Deciding on consulting’). 

     The next link contains a series of math modules, allowing RocketBlocks users to practice those back-of-the-envelope calculations that are so critical for success in case interviews. Practice questions can be customized by category (division vs. market shares, for example), and the number of questions desired. Once a practice set is generated, the site times the user’s responses and provides answers once the set is completed. In addition, the site maintains a running tally of user performance in each category of practice problem.

      The third and fourth units, ‘Structure’ and ‘Charts’, allows users to practice diagraming case interview problems and interpreting graphics, with suggested answers provided for the given scenarios. Similarly, the ‘Brainstorming’ section provide prompts similar to case interview questions, where users may enter hypothetical lines of inquiry and compare with a recommended solution.

       Finally, the ‘Notes’ tab allows users to keep a record of contacts made during networking events and other general information about the interview process. Notes are categorized into several classes (e.g., contact information, deadline) for easy indexing. 

       For a reasonable annual fee, RocketBlocks.me offers aspiring consultants valuable resources to practice interview skills, such as rapid estimation and framework execution, along with helpful information about the consulting job search process from current employees of top firms. As a supplement to live practice interviews, the site offers many useful tools to hone those analytical habits which distinguish top candidates. 

Have you used RocketBlocks.me or a similar service?  Drop us a note in the comments section about your experiences, or whether you think there are additional, unmet needs that the web could offer consulting interviewees. Thanks for reading!

We are proud to announce that ZS Associates, a global leader in sales and marketing consulting, outsourcing, technology and software, will be visiting Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine on October 13, 2011. The event has been organized by PhD to Consulting team in collaboration with Johns Hopkins Business and Consulting Club (http://jhbcc.weebly.com/).

Here are the details of the event:


When: Thursday, October 13, 2011 from 6:00-7:30PM
Where: Broadway Research Building's Tilghman Auditorium (basement level)


All PhDs, MDs, and post-docs encouraged to attend. 

To learn more about ZS Associates please visit the its company profile on our website:http://www.phd2consulting.com/zs-associates.html 

Vault.com recently featured(1) an article adapted from L.E.K. Consulting’s blog(2) where the author proposed 5 questions that you should ask yourself if you’re considering a career in consulting.  Here they are:

1. Are you passionate about solving complex problems and comfortable making tough decisions?
2. Can you spot patterns and trends while "number-crunching" data?
3. Do you have an analytical eye for almost everything that you do?
4. Are you constantly thinking about ways to improve your friend's new smart phone – or almost anything else within your reach?
5. Are you comfortable being a leader?

Those questions are terrific, and you should certainly have answered “yes” to most (if not all) of them if you’re seriously considering consulting.   These questions are great at assessing if you fit consulting. 

If you’re a PhD that answered “yes” to all of these questions, then you’re likely looking at different firms to see what each offers.  We’d like to propose 5 more questions that assess whether a consulting firm fits you.

1) Do I want to work in many different fields or just one?
This is perhaps the most important question that we propose here.  Most PhD’s have worked very hard in one field.  Your attraction to consulting might go down one of two routes:

a) “I’m really tired of science (or your PhD field), and I want to do something completely different like retail.”

If this sounds like you, then you might benefit from a career as a generalist where you’ll work on many different types of projects.  You’ll have the opportunity to “try on” many different fields to see what fits you best.  In the end, you’ll hopefully find a fulfilling and rewarding area in which to work.

b) “I’m really tired of academia, but I love the life sciences (to use one example).  I want to do something different yet life-science-related like biotech or pharmaceutical consulting.”

If this sounds more like you, then you should consider consulting firms that focus on your particular area of interest.  These are called boutique firms and they’re probably right up your alley.  You’ll be able to focus on the area that interests you the most, and you’ll be able to draw on your technical training that you received during your PhD.  It is also worth noting that generalist firms often allow you provide preferences for your engagements, so you might also be able to focus on your area of interest at a generalist firm.   The best way to find this out is to ask.

2) Do you like to travel?
Of course, you probably said “Yes!”.  Travel is fun, right?  Going to the beach, hiking a mountain, seeing the world… that’s not what we’re talking about here.  At many firms you’ll be traveling quite often, and you aren’t going somewhere to relax.   Try to imagine working 12-14 hour days Monday-Thursday, catching a flight back on Thursday night, and heading to the office for Friday meetings.  Perhaps you’ll even have some work to catch up on for Saturday and Sunday.  Then Monday rolls around and you fly out to the client’s location for another week.  It’s not easy to understand how taxing this lifestyle is unless you’ve actually lived it.  So stop and think, “Do I really want to be away from home 4 out of 7 days per week?”  If the answer is “no”, then you should consider looking at firms who travel less.  If the answer is “yes”, then you should consider a firm that travels more.

3) As a PhD, where do I fit in at this firm?
Some firms like PhDs more than others.  Heck, some firms don’t hire PhDs at all.  The point here is that there is a range of preferences for hiring PhD’s and a range of outcomes once a PhD is hired.  As a PhD, you will want to know where you fit on the preference chain as you’re applying and where you fit on the career ladder once there.  One firm might hire PhDs because they’ve heard some big firms do it and they want to see what it’s all about.  Another firm might create a special position to which PhDs can apply that caters to the PhD’s strengths and helps build in their weak areas.  A third firm might hire PhDs at the same level as a MBA and treat them exactly the same.  Which would you prefer?

In the end, you want to know how much value a firm places on your training (do they really want to hire PhDs), how previous PhDs have fared, and how different your career path is from consultants hired from other backgrounds (i.e. MBA, JD, or others). 

4) Do I want a work/life balance or a WORK/life balance?
Simply put, some firms expect you to devote the vast majority of your time to consulting.  As a result, you won’t be able to maintain an equal work/life balance.  In other words, you’ll have a WORK/life balance.  Within some bounds, this is fine for certain people.  If you’re single, young, and driven, then you could focus all of your attention on consulting and benefit greatly from this dedication.  Many PhDs aren’t single and young anymore, but we are driven.  As a result, many of us are looking for a consulting career with a work/life balance.  What are you looking for?

Firms have begun to focus on cultivating a good work/life balance among their employees, but this is something you need to explore for yourself.  Ask yourself what criteria would qualify as a good work/life balance for your needs, then ask the firm questions regarding these criteria.  You can e-mail recruiters/consultants, ask at recruiting events, or, if you’re lucky enough to have an interview, ask them directly in your interview. 

5) Where am I going?
This might seem silly, but do you really want to be a consultant?  I mean REALLY want it?

If you’re a PhD interested in consulting, then you’re likely looking to make a major career change.  Consulting is a very attractive option, but there are some downsides that you should know about.  One major issue is some firms have an “up or out” philosophy where you’re politely asked to leave if you don’t get promoted.  For some firms there is often a big dropout rate at each promotion step (especially the first step), so be aware that you might be out of a job if you don’t make the cut.  

One side effect of this is that many consulting firms have resources to help you transition out of the firm.  Also, consultants have learned many valuable skills that are applicable to many businesses, so you’re an attractive candidate for other positions.  In fact, this is what attracts many people to consulting in the first place.  For some, consulting is like a well-paid MBA where you leave with skills and connections that you couldn’t have built on your own.  For others it’s a lifetime career.  What is your plan?  Where are you going?

With this in mind, you should educate yourself about all of the options that are available to be sure you’re getting to your career destination by the most efficient route.  What are the good AND bad things about each option?  Make sure that you’re not latching on to the first thing that pays well and sounds interesting.  Consulting isn’t easy, and you’re going to have to work very hard to succeed, so make sure that you’re driven and excited about this career before you apply.

1. http://www.vault.com/wps/portal/usa/blogs/entry-list?blog_id=1261

2. http://ask.lek.com/blog/management-consulting-right-me

       While practicing case interviews with other aspiring management consultants can provide valuable experience for the application process, it misses one important aspect of real-life engagements: teamwork. In contrast, case competitions offer candidates the chance to solve cases in a group setting as well as acquire more formal presentation skills, since a team’s final recommendations are usually conveyed through a slideshow. Though business schools feature case competitions as a central part of their curricula, these sorts of events are increasingly offered by graduate consulting clubs as well. Besides the practical experience of solving case problems, the judges for these competitions are often practicing consultants. This not only  provides a realistic sense of what consultants look for in solving business problems, but also provides valuable networking opportunities to participants.

        On August 12th, several members of PhD2Consulting’s development team had the pleasure of participating in the Columbia Graduate Consulting Club’s 2011 Case Competition. Prior to the event, teams of 3-5 students were asked to submit their resumes in a group application: of 43 who applied, 16 were invited. Though we were given some initial hints from the competition organizers about the companies and industry that would be relevant to the case, we were not told the exact problem until the day of the event.

      We began the day with a brief keynote address by a current McKinsey consultant, who emphasized the possibility of branching out in the consulting world to address problems beyond the scope and disciplinary field of one’s previous education. Afterwards, each team was given an individual room, and packets containing the case description. We had only 4 hours to compose a 10 minute slideshow explaining our recommendations, and in retrospect the time constraints proved one of the most difficult aspects of this competition. Though we had previously met before the competition to brainstorm possible scenarios and strategies, we found that implementing such analyses rapidly and accurately challenging. We were helped by the fact that we had developed slide templates prior to the competition and managed to finish our presentation right before 1:45, when the first round ended.

        In the subsequent rounds of the competition, teams presented their case recommendations, testing both our analytical approach and communication skills. For the initial round of judging, the 16 teams were divided into four pools of four.  This round was a semi-final elimination format in which the top team in each group would advance to the finals later that afternoon. We had agreed before the competition that two of us would split the presentation, and had only about 30 minutes to rehearse. Following each team’s 10 minute presentation, we were given feedback by the judges. Since the finalists were not notified until the final round, every team had an extra hour to further revise their slides based on the judges’ recommendations. While we did not advance from our pool, it was interesting to see how differently each of the final four teams had approached the case problem and structured their presentations. Following the announcement of the winners, the event concluded with a networking happy hour at a nearby restaurant.

Ultimately, we feel like we gained some valuable case practice skills from this competition, and had a lot of fun exercising some of the approaches we have been learning for interviews. Here are some of the major lessons we took away from Columbia’s event:

1. Time is of the essence: ideally, if you have four hours to complete the presentation, you should ideally have a rough draft at the half way point. A lot of errors in our slides (including a perilously steep market growth curve caused by time discontinuities in the data) could have been avoided if we weren’t finishing our figures at the last minute.
2. Division of labor: we had decided roughly beforehand who would tackle which parts of the case, and that only two of us would present the slides. We also noticed that the teams in the final round only had one to three members of their group actually present, so it appears that others, as well, found it difficult to divide a ten minute talk between five individuals.
3. Backup gadgets: we had a laser pointer lose battery life and difficulties with wireless internet; it helps to have an ethernet cord or other accessories just in case.
4. Visual impact: for those of you who have taken statistics courses, it’s probably no surprise that R can provide some quick and beautiful graphics in pdf, jpeg, or other formats, and generally having a fast way of plotting data is important. Further, as we mentioned before, having slide templates ready beforehand can be a great time-saver the day of the competition.
5. Make connections: the networking events that often follow these competitions can be a valuable opportunity to meet potential resources at different firms as well as peers at other institutions if it is an intermural event.

      To find out about case competitions for graduate students, a good resource is your campus consulting club or that of a nearby school depending upon the event. Some, like the Columbia competition, are open to students from any university; others are restricted to particular institutions. Consulting club message boards (or, as we have heard, Phd2Consulting’s LinkedIn page), are a great place to find teammates. Formats can also vary: the Hopkins consulting competition, unlike the Columbia event, allowed teams several days to complete their first round slide presentations, thus allowing time for more in-depth research.

     Have you participated in a PhD-oriented case competition? Drop us a line in the comments section to tell us about your experience. If you are organizing such an event and would like to publicize through PhD2Consulting, we are more than happy to assist you: feel free to post a message on our LinkedIn or Facebook accounts, or let us know and we can post the relevant information in our blog. Thanks for reading!


Related Links:

Columbia University  - http://www.columbia.edu/cu/consultingclub/casecompetition/
Johns Hopkins University - http://jhbcc.weebly.com/

PhD to Consulting is the most comprehensive resource on the web for Ph.D. students and graduates transitioning from academia into management consulting. Since its inception, the PhD to Consulting team has been aiming to give academic candidates everything they need, irrespective of whether they begin with or without knowledge of the management consulting industry, to guide them through to the management consulting career of their dreams.

Now PhD to Consulting is looking for new team members to support its ongoing projects and to increase its current capacity to be able to help more candidates to complete their transitions. All you need is to be a PhD student or graduate, to have a passion for a career in consulting and time to dedicate in the PhD to Consulting project to take it to the next level. 

For those of you interested in joining our team, you will have the opportunity to become an expert in all aspects of the management consulting recruiting process and to gain experience that will enhance your profile in your own fit interviews with consultancies.

Please send us your resume/CV along with a brief statement (phd2consulting@gmail.com) about 

1) Why you would like to be a part of the PhD to Consulting team 

and 

2) How you would contribute to make PhD to Consulting project more appealing to candidates.

We look forward to hearing from you!

PhD to Consulting Team

phd2consulting@gmail.com

Let’s make no bones about it, it’s hard to secure an offer at a leading management consultancy. That is not always obvious from the websites of top firms such as McKinsey & Co. and BCG. There you will see welcoming messages implying that you will be an asset to the firm, messages that may fool you into thinking that all you have to do is be smart and confident, work through a few cases beforehand and turn up to the interview. While some candidates do just that and are successful, these candidates are a tiny minority. The rest walk away empty handed, many even without being invited to interview. So what are these firms looking for in their candidates?

Unfortunately, networking, which helps with so many aspects of the process, tends to be less help here. The reality is that most consultants don’t know why they were selected over the next candidate so they tend to offer unsatisfying descriptions of exactly what distinguishes the successful candidate from the unsuccessful. Most often you will hear some variant of the following: You have to make a good impression, be able to do calculations with large numbers, be structured and have some good ideas in the cases. And be relaxed. And have a bit of luck.

It’s not that this advice is wrong. It’s just that it makes it sound too easy. Every candidate who makes it to the interview stage is intelligent and the large majority of them believe that they will be able to make a good impression, be able to do calculations with large numbers, be structured and have some good ideas in the cases. It reinforces the impression from the website that you basically just have to turn up. Yet, despite the fact that all the candidates at the interview stage have the necessary intelligence, most will walk away empty handed and confused.

The fact is that the standards that the leading management consultancies apply when assessing your interview performance (for full-time positions) are immensely high. If we separate the interview process into two stages: gaining an invitation to interview and securing an offer (it is always good to think about these two stages separately), we estimate that the percentage of applicants invited to interview is 5 - 20%, depending on a number of factors like the company itself, the geography applied to, the demand within that geography at the time of application, and whether the candidate has networked or not. Then the percentage of interviewees offered a position will also be something like 5 - 20%. The percentage of overall applicants securing an offer lies in the range of 0.25% - 4%.

So as we said, it’s hard to secure an position at these firms. So what are they really looking for? As we have covered essential aspects of getting to an interview in other posts, let’s focus on what they are looking for in the interviews. How do they decide on that 5 - 20%?

Based on our experience in coaching calls with consultants in top firms and real interviews with those firms (and the feedback received from those interviews) we have compiled a list:

- Intelligence (most interviewees are outstanding here – you can judge it from the CV)
- Professionalism/trustworthiness with clients
- Friendly confidence
- Articulateness
- Ability to communicate impact
- Ability to respond productively to ambiguity
- Analytical/structured thinker
- Ability to identify key drivers of a new and complex situation
- Ability to quickly interpret complex graphical representations of data and draw out the significance of those data for  
   the question at hand
- Ability to recognise horizontal linkages between different aspects in a complex situation
- Ability to think of non-obvious opportunities

It’s a challenge to be outstanding at all of these consistently over 4-5 interviews under the pressure of the interview situation with the different styles of the 4-5 different interviewers, which is why only 5 - 20% of the already selected 5 - 20% of applicants secure an offer.

In stark contrast to the websites, the networking conversations and even the interviewers themselves, which are all usually welcoming, respectful and casual (stress tests aside), the decision making process is brutal. It doesn’t matter how much your interviewers think you are intelligent, have achieved a great deal, will one day be successful as a consultant and like you, if you are not outstanding at all of these elements consistently over the 4-5 interviews they will not hesitate to send you away without an offer. After thinking all you have to do is turn up and be smart and confident, that can come as quite a shock.

[From the PhD to Consulting LinkedIn group.]

Networking is this elusive thing before you've gained experience with it – and many people from academia have not been schooled in it. It was certainly elusive for me before I got started with it. Now I am passionate about networking and realise that it moves the world. If you're interested in people then it is also immensely fun.

Here I'd like to offer some really concrete comments about how to do it – with a focus on doing it through LinkedIn because LinkedIn has been successful for me. Through it I have secured interviews at the top firms. Then I recommend that you plunge into it to discover the joys of networking for yourself.

1. LinkedIn groups: join them. Some examples are: Strategy Consulting Network, Strategy Professionals Network, Management Consulting Professionals, Consultants Network. While it's true that management consultants don't tend to spend a lot of time loitering in LinkedIn groups, many of them (especially younger ones) have joined these groups and therefore you are able to send them a free message. You can use this message to politely explain that you are interested in their firm and request an 'informational interview' with that person or say that you would like to gain a personal perspective on the firm, or something like that and offer to call them when they have 20 mins free. At the end of the call (if you have been able to establish a good connection) ask them if there is an 'internal referral pathway' at their firm. Even though the people you most want to contact may not be active writing entries in the groups, do that yourself firstly because it's good to give, secondly because it will help develop your own thinking and thirdly because you never know what other possibilities will emerge from a particularly insightful comment on a discussion.

2. Alumni from your universities – do a combined search on LinkedIn for graduates of your universities AND the name of a consulting firm that you are interested in. Alumni are often willing to help. For smaller firms this search might not come up with much but for the bigger firms it is likely to yield some supportive alumni. Contact them either through groups or by sending them an contact request (making sure to explain politely why you are inviting them).

Outside LinkedIn:

3. Recruiting and networking events – some firms hold recruiting and networking events. Check their websites for this kind of info and check also the phd2consulting featured firm series.

4. Friends and family – ask all your friends and family if they know anyone from your favourite firms and if they do, ask them if they would be willing to put you in touch.

5. Twitter – a growing number of consultants (especially the younger ones) are active on Twitter. Twitter is a very open platform in which you can ask anyone a question and can make contacts that might otherwise be hard to reach in LinkedIn. Check out our Twitter list here.

This is probably enough to get started.

A few other tips:

– don't assume or expect that every person will be willing to help but know that there are people out there who will be willing to help.

– realise that management consultancies' main assets are their people so a lot of effort goes into building their businesses. That means that management consultants are often willing to have a conversation even if they are some of the busiest people on earth – it also means that in some firms, consultants receive a bonus for successful referrals.

– be patient (after sending a LinkedIn message, it has happened to me that I heard nothing from a consultant for months until they finally replied, saying that they would be happy to chat with me).

– ALWAYS be polite; NEVER burn bridges.