You ever feel like your current job doesn’t take advantage of what you have to offer?
So you decide you want to become a management consultant. It’s the perfect way for you to share your expertise with the world and maximize your potential.
There’s just one minor hiccup.
You don’t know much, if anything, about what it takes to make the transition to management consulting, but you know you’ll excel once you do.
So you start wondering…does becoming a consultant require an MBA? How do you get access to the right people – C-level clients and consulting firm partners and decision makers – to ramp up your new career if you don’t go back for your MBA?
But these type of opportunities don’t just fall out of the sky. You have to put yourself in position for a firm to want to hire you. You have to craft your story such that consulting firms are proactively looking for you.
This is where people usually throw their hands up in frustration, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
Once you understand the consulting a landscape, there’s a handful of things you want to do:
Start thinking like a management consultant
Make no make mistake, there are skills unique to consulting. Some people view consulting as a fall-back career that anyone can do, but they miss an important fact. While you might call yourself a consultant, that doesn’t mean you will automatically have paying clients lined up at your door.
Overhaul your resume so it speaks to someone in management consulting
Want to know how convince someone that you’re knowledgeable in their industry? Use the words they use in your resume. Whether in conversation or in writing, the words you use indicate whether or not you communicate like the people who work in that space. You’ll also want to be concise while still highlighting the value you have delivered in the past. The distinction between results and job responsibilities is big in any resume, but it is non-negotiable in management consulting.
Prepare for the management consulting interview
Management consulting is notorious for relying heavily on case interviews. These are interviews where you work through a set of facts to come up with an answer to a question or recommendation to address a problem. You may also be asked to talk through how you achieved the results noted in your resume. Many books dedicated to “cracking the case” exist, but the key is to be structured and logical in your thinking even when the facts provided to you appear random.
Why all the theatrics? Because that’s often how clients will present information to you. They’ll give you some information believing they have a certain problem when the pain they’re experiencing is just a symptom of some less obvious issue. It is your responsibility filter out the excess and fix that issue.
In Summary
Great knowledge and technical skills make for a solid foundation for becoming a management consultant. Understanding how to package those skills so they resonate with a hiring manager will push you over the line.
For more quick-hitting tips that separate decent consultants from great ones, sign up for this consulting email course (10 mini lessons) today!