Many professionals aspire to become management consultants. However, not all pursue this career goal as they sometimes feel they don’t have sufficient business experience. Although management consulting is a prestigious field that requires a high level of business acumen, you can still land a consulting role even if you came from a non-traditional background. How?
Reflect
First you need to ask yourself why are you suitable for management consulting, even if you come from a non-business field. To help you answer this important question, create a list of characteristics or traits that make a good consultant either from researching consulting job listings or from what you’ve heard from people you know in the profession, then relate it to your own experiences, wherein you have demonstrated each trait.
By doing this, you prove to yourself first that you are indeed suitable for the consulting role. Also, preparing an answer to this question may help you when your interviewer asks you the same question. Firms are tolerant of “career changers”, but you need to provide a rational story about why you’d want to shift into consulting.
Get ready for the job
Once you have convinced yourself you are suitable to become a management consultant, it is now time to equip yourself with the required and recommended skills needed to be successful in this field. You should look for opportunities to hone the key skills such as your problem-solving, communication, leadership, and presenting to executives.
Compensate for your lack of business knowledge by continuously educating yourself. Read and follow industry news, and read relevant publications (e.g. Consulting magazine or CFO magazine) that can help you keep up with new ways to handle business problems in your functional area (e.g. finance, strategy, operations, etc).
Impressive undergrad education credentials
Consulting tends to attract smart individuals, regardless of educational or professional background. Strong undergrad credentials can further boost your chances of landing a consulting gig at a top tier firm. Remember, reputable firms are looking for intelligent people, so flaunt your impressive school credentials. It may also help if you come from an Ivy League or other top brand name educational institutions. For recent grads, having a high GPA can be a big asset to your application. Taking leadership roles such as being a Student Body President also attracts consulting firms.
Network your way in
No matter how hard you try to prepare for the consulting job you want, if you don’t know how to make connections, you might have a hard time breaking into this field but you will definitely have a hard time succeeding in it. In order to make it in this competitive industry, you need to network your way in and continue networking once you make it in. Think beyond your circle and maximize all potential contacts.
You can reach out to your school alumni, particularly those who are currently working in the industry. You can also use LinkedIn and other social networking sites to help you build a strong network of professionals. Or you may even ask your friends and colleagues for help. They may know someone who knows someone who can refer you to HR contacts or current consultants. You never know where your next opportunity will come from, right?
Prepare hard for case interviews
Regardless of how flawless your application documents are, if you are terrible with case interviews, you’ll never get that consulting job. So make sure to prepare thoroughly for this dreaded part. Aside from studying sample case studies on your own, it wouldd be in your best interest to conduct mock interviews with someone else to objectively critique your performance, preferably someone working in consulting or who is familiar with the consulting hiring process. Practicing with another person better helps you identify and improve your weaknesses to give you the best chance of you landing a management consultant position.
Want to learn more about the consulting industry and what it takes to how to successfully break into it? You can check out Consultingfact.com.
About the author: Consultingfact.com is an online resource for aspiring management consultants. We provide comprehensive guides on the entire consulting recruiting process – from writing resumes and cover letters, to case interview preparation.
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