Consulting after business school?
As many readers of this blog know, consulting is a top career path targeted by veterans at business schools. As someone who has been in those shoes before, I wanted to share some insights that go beyond the typical selling points.
The following are a few common reasons why veterans are attracted to management consulting:
Business exposure: Gain experience across different industries and functional areas in real-world corporate environments.
Career optionality: Have a wide range of post-consulting career options, building on the broad skill set and brand prestige of management consulting.
People: Highly motivated and intelligent people, along with working in small tight-knit teams in a fast-paced environment, much like what many veterans miss from their days in the service.
So far that sounds good to any first or second year student and certainly every step of the recruiting process will highlight these pros along with many others. However, like with any potential job, there are other nuances to consider which are not as obvious or discussed between students.
Business exposure: Yes, you will gain valuable business experience and it will put to use many of the lessons taught in business school. However, also realize that consulting work usually fits in one of a number of standardized types and the industries that you work in may be often out of your control. In other words, it’s possible to get exactly the experience you’re looking for but it’s just as likely to often feel like a square peg forced into a round hole. Also, another important point is that your role will by default be that of an advisor or recommender, providing insights but not necessarily executing or implementing.
Career optionality: This upside is certainly real and for the most part I have found coming from consulting to have positive connotations. The main caveat is that functional or industry experience as a consultant, while better than none, will likely not be as valued as the direct relevant industry experience. To be fair, consulting experience is very well suited for corporate strategy roles, especially for internal strategy groups. Note also that with longer tenure, most consultants can develop valued expertise in a specific area, though that also means a longer time away from industry as well. In other words, unless going into a corporate strategy group, consulting experience will often not be as valuable as actual industry experience when targeting employment in a specific industry.
People: I found my colleagues to be both top-notch and generally pleasant to work with. That being said, something to consider is that your consulting peers will be a self-selecting group coming largely from top business or graduate schools. Going upwards in the pyramid, this effect becomes more pronounced in terms of personality and working styles. A good gauge of what this means for you is to ask current entry-level consultants what they think a typical partner or director is like.
This was meant to be just an overview but each point could merit a lengthy post of their own and I didn’t even touch upon lifestyle. The best way to characterize that topic is many people enter consulting despite their reservations about quality of life but most eventually reach a point where the negative effects outweigh the benefits that attracted them in the first place.
All things considered, my experience as a consultant was a net positive but in hindsight I would have approached my due diligence towards the career path somewhat differently. With that in mind, I’d leave veterans with the following two recommendations, one tactical and one strategic.
- Think about what you really want to do and give your instincts credit. Sounds easy enough but business school students are notorious for having a herd mentality and at the end of the day you’ll be the one facing the daily grind.
- When it comes to doing your research, don’t just talk to recruiters and other students. Go on LinkedIn or your school alumni directory and seek out other veterans that have at least a year in consulting or already left. Think about your personal pros and cons of being a consultant and ask them questions about both. In other words, seek out contrarian opinions and don’t just reinforce the notion that consulting is the right career choice.
Best of luck, whether you are still applying to business school or already choosing a career path!
MtB Blog Notes: As a reference point, of all the veterans who went into consulting from the HBS Class of 2011, all but two have left consulting. Many left within the first 12 months. To be fair though, most HBS graduates leave their first employer within 24 months, so that should also be taken into consideration.
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