What Consulting Firms are Looking For
October, 2015
What is a consultant? * ASK the audience what they think….is not a test, just want to understand what you think * Acknowledge their thoughts….reinforce/add with…a consultant is many things: * An advisor * A thought partner * A counselor…personal and professional * An analyst * A strategist * A change agent * ….all focused on helping others succeed…must get your satisfaction, and feel successful in your career, by helping others succeed, rather than running something * All this starts Day One when you join a firm * But mix is very much skewed to being an analyst in the early days

The roles in a team…and the career progression is typically: * Associates: working with more junior client team members – often peers or a few years older, often with MBAs and other advanced degrees from schools as good as this one – to gather the data, do the analysis, develop first drafts of recommendations, write a lot of powerpoint slides * Managers (each firm uses a different term…Engagement Managers, Project Managers, Team Leaders): working with a more senior client executive appointed by top management to lead the project – often someone in their 40s or 50s with a track record of success in the company - still get to do all the stuff Associates do, but also to provide the overall guidance to the team and client to get the work done * Managers also work with the Partners (Principals, Directors, Senior Executives, Vice Presidents) to prepare and deliver the results of the work * Partners (most of the time) are the counselors, trusted advisors…the consultants to the CEO, SVP, General Manager, Head of Marketing or Operations – often executives in their 40s, 50s, even 60s – and this happens when you are in your 30s * I like to think of a consulting