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As a college student, what sort of experiences would best prepare me for a career in consulting?

#internship #career #job #consulting

internship consulting
Thank you comment icon Christie becoming a successful consultant not only involves having a strong understanding of your area of expertise but perhaps as important is the ability to Listen to your clients objectives and being respectful to their desired outcomes Being transparent if you can't immediately accomplish a task or answer a question.... you ensure your client that you will diligently work toward that end Being flexible by working around stubborn problems that you cannot immediately resolve with the intent of solving other problems first and then returning to focus on that stubborn problem In summary, as important as earning respect as Subject Matter Expert, is to become a working member of your clients team by showing collegial and cooperative personal/project skills. Good Luck Monty Rosen
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Aaron’s Answer

Hi Christie,

For strategy consulting, I would recommend four potential areas of focus.

1) Seeking an internship at a consulting firm: the large firms are very competitive and recruit on some campuses, but there are many firms out there. Even if the conventional on-campus recruiting path doesn't work you can try to network to a smaller and/or industry specialist firm (which often have less formal internship programs). In either case, find contacts who work in consulting and speak with them about their experiences - which will help with the interview process and confirm your interest.

2) Quantitative major: focusing on computer science, economics, math, physical sciences, engineering is more typically sought out by strategy consulting firms (though I myself did not have one of those majors)

3) Developing analytical tool experience: take some side courses/study focused on statistical/analytical SW beyond Excel such as Alteryx, SPSS, etc. Analytics is becoming increasingly important for strategy consulting

4) Join consulting club at school: can hopefully get some experience and a flavor for the type of work


Hope this helps,

Aaron
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Tracy’s Answer

Great question. Consulting is about bringing your clients solutions to their problems. Typically when you are a consultant, you bring an expertise. That expertise can be in a number of different fields: Technology, operations, talent, communications, marketing, data analysis, etc. As you experience college or internships, think about what courses or projects that are piquing your interest. Get involved in various roles on teams or as a leader to learn more about teamwork, collaboration, project timelines, etc. Also, work on your all your EQ skills: interpersonal skills, active listening, relationship building, organizational awareness, self-awareness, initiative, and more. These are all skill sets that are crucial to being a successful consultant.
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Chi’s Answer

Consulting is a field that highly values relationships and the ability to demonstrate whole leadership - of yourself, your team, your client, and your firm. As a college student, any experiences that offer you the ability to participate in a team and have leadership opportunities - whether that's in school, a job, sports team, etc. - will inherently help you build these behaviors. The technical capabilities and business acumen will come, and is the foundation of delivering quality that your clients will view as valuable. To become a truly "trusted advisor," you will also need to differentiate yourself as someone who can take that knowledge/expertise and translate it in a way that is relevant and impactful to your client that is targeted and tailored to who they are as an executive, as someone who needs a partner in strategically enhancing their organization, and as a human being.
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Rose’s Answer

Hi Christie! Like some of the answers above, I joined a co-ed business fraternity my freshman year and it was one of the best decisions I made in college. Even without the formality of a club / group, I would suggest reaching out to upperclassmen who have interned / signed on to full time careers at the firms you're interested in. I also participated in several case competitions, which helped hone key consulting skills like presentation design, wrangling data, making financial models, storytelling, working in teams, etc. You definitely don't have to do case competitions to be a successful consultant, but I would suggest trying at least one to see if you like them. Finally, the career counseling center and professors at your school are there to support you and can provide tangible advice specific to your path. Good luck!
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Ananya’s Answer

1. Consulting club on campus: try reaching out to small businesses and nonprofits or startups to provide pro-bono consulting services!
2. Take analytical/quantitative classes
3. Get comfortable working in teams
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Carolyn’s Answer

That's great you are interested in consulting! I have been consulting for almost 6 years now and it is a lifestyle. I personally love it. I hope you like to travel and experiencing new places/people. I agree with the comments from the others that consulting is all about learning, networking, and delivering the best value for your client. You won't know the client's specific business or technical requirements day 1. But bring an open mind, willingness to learn and your base knowledge of your tech or functional expertise (inc. all MS products such as PowerPoint, Excel, Word, and Project Plan - all super helpful) and everything else will develop.

Also, one piece of advice that I provide all new joiners is to always research and do as much due diligence before asking a question. People are always willing to help when they see you have put some effort into figuring out the problem beforehand.
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Nikki’s Answer

It's good that you are looking into building a good foundation for a career that you are interested in! I worked in consulting for a few years and one important skill in this field is the ability to learn quickly. You will be working on projects where you may not have a lot of familiarity or expertise in and to be successful, you will need to quickly understand the problem that is being addressed, learn to work with a new set of people and in some cases, learn a new tool.

One experience that may help in developing this skill is to join a new club or group in your school or local community and offer to work on a new project they are undertaking. Ask a lot of questions, do some research that may provide value to the project and exercise your creativity and innovation when coming up with solutions for the project.
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chiara’s Answer

That's wonderful that you want to consult.

Consulting takes a lot of time, learning and experiences.

Other then building a solid portfolio in your experiences, and this takes time, I would start out by making sure that this is something you really innately want to do and that is best suited for your personalty type and naturally beautiful innate skill sets.

This is a fun time in life to explore curiosities and learn so very much, there are hundreds of personality and career enthusiast tests out there, but these sources, and tests, I have found to be interesting, fun and somewhat accurate (if the questions are answered most honestly to the self).

This is a grand time in life to develop further innate skills, pursue a passion and/or a dream!

Have fun:

- https://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test
- https://www.truity.com/test/big-five-personality-test
- https://careerwise.minnstate.edu/careers/clusterSurvey
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Vito’s Answer

I've been in consulting for just over seven years now, and the one experience I had that was incredibly formative was my time in a co-ed business fraternity. Not everyone in the fraternity went into consulting, but it surrounded me with fun, hardworking people who were all passionate about business. We had professional events where we had to dress in business attire and listen and engage with interesting speakers. We joined case competitions together. We all went through internship and interviewing process together. Overall, surrounding yourself with like-minded people, enjoying their company, and pushing each other to be your best will be a huge asset, whether that is a co-ed business fraternity or something similar.
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Megan’s Answer

Hi Christie! A lot of entry level positions for consulting companies are looking for the very similar things - come in with a solid foundation of core skills, an ability to learn quickly, work well with a team, and work hard.

What does that actually mean?

1. Core skills - understand how to use Excel and use it well; be familiar with PowerPoint - it will be your best friend!
2. Learn quickly - a lot of what you'll work on in any job you'll have never done before - be able to ask good questions and utilize your network (colleagues, friends, Google) to find the answers to situations you encounter on the job
3. Team work - you're never working solo as a consultant! Be able to work with with a group - I encourage going after some leadership positions in a student org to help you learn how to work for and manage a team
4. Work hard - consulting is tough, but rewarding! You'll learn a lot but it may require some late nights, travel and thinking outside the box
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Sam’s Answer

Networking is definitely the most important aspect. Also, possessing confidence and seeking out internships will help.
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Eric’s Answer

If your school has a consulting club, getting involved there would be a good start. If not, maybe you could start one. Invite firms to campus, host case study competitions and have teachers or some other outside parties be the judge. Getting used to presenting ideas with incomplete and imperfect information and getting a response will definitely help shape your consulting skills.
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Vic’s Answer

Hi! I would say experiences that allow you to build skills in:

- Communication
- Leadership
- PPT/ Excel
- Teamwork
- Collaboration

Overall, in my experience I found that taking on leadership positions has helped prepare me immensely for consulting.
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Ethan’s Answer

For undergrads pursuing a career in consulting, there are two primary 'feeder' tracks most large firms recruit for:

1. Technology Consulting

If you have a computer science or similar quantitative background along with the ability to solve problems and communicate with impact, you would be a strong candidate for an entry level position in an IT consulting role. Because consulting is a client-facing professional service business, your communication skills along with your emotional intelligence (EQ) will be just as important (if not moreso) than your technical ability. Consultants are also expected to demonstrate a high degree of professional maturity as in many cases you will be interacting with clients who are significantly older and more experienced with a corporate setting. This will get tested in your campus interview through a series of behavioral interviews which test how you respond to situations such as what you would do if a client asks you a question you don't know the answer to.

2. Management / Strategy Consulting

This track tends to be more difficult to get into as an undergrad because unlike those when strong technology backgrounds, you need to demonstrate the ability to solve unstructured problems. It is more difficult to demonstrate this in an interview vs. demonstrating you understand technology. In my opinion, it would be more beneficial that you understand how companies operate, what challenges they face, and how those challenges are typically solved. In other words, a strategy/management consultant needs to be able to solve problems that might require a combination of business process change, organization change, technology change, or a combination of the three.

So what experiences do you need?
First, any experience you can get that allows you to talk about a situation where you solved a business problem for a real company would be great. Some practical ways to do this are through your school's consulting club as was previously mentioned. Another option is to perhaps find a local business and approach the owner about volunteering to help them with their business in an area you are passionate about.

For example, let's say there's a local apparel store and they want to start selling online, but a struggling to keep up with what inventory they actually have to sell since it's going out of the front door with in-store purchases and out of the back of the store through shipments from online orders coming from eBay store, etc. Perhaps your 'project' could be to research solution options based on their needs and develop a presentation where you walk through through a thoughtful analysis of how you approached your research, what options your reviewed, how they ranked vs. your 'client's' needs and then a final recommendation.

If you have a technology background, another example would be to take the same approach and see if you could a side project leveraging your technical skills. This could be anything, but if you could demonstrate awareness of typical phases of a project (Design, Build, Test, Deploy) that would similarly help you articulate this in an interview setting.

While these are small examples, they demonstrates passion, 'hustle', and give great real-world experiences that might help you better understand what a Fortune 100 company might go through.
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Laura E.’s Answer

While different consulting firms vary in their skill specialties, there are core competencies you can develop that will support you in any type of consulting work. If you can take an Excel class to build up foundational knowledge before any sort of specialized application on the job, that will facilitate your onboarding process; others have also mentioned getting experience in analytical programs. Additionally, experiences or internships that can improve your interpersonal skills or demonstrate you have experience interacting with "customers" and meeting their needs can prepare you for the teamwork and client relationship aspects of consulting. Attending lectures or events that expose you to the business world can also be a source of information on current business activities and hot topics.

A consulting firm may or may not expect you to apply for a position already experienced in their specific area of work, but you will be a stronger candidate if you can show you have the more general skills already developed and in progress. It may be helpful to find a job posting at a consulting firm you are interested in and compare their requirements against your existing experience and skills, then see which areas you can improve on, perhaps by applying some of the suggestions listed above and in other posts. Best of luck!

Laura E. recommends the following next steps:

Compare your skills and experience against a consulting job posting's required and optional background.
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Jeff’s Answer

Hi!

One of the best experiences I had at college that helped prepare me for a consulting career was the project work. Whether it be through a summer or semester long internship, a research project or a class centered around one specific project that you work on throughout the semester. These were all extremely beneficial to me in the way I could approach a problem, work with a team and give remotes to managers/professors. Working in consulting you'll have a lot of projects with a variety of team members. Some ranging from 1-2 other teammates, while some to be substantially larger. Getting some experience in college with projects and working with a variety of different personalities is always helpful so you have that direct experience and learning experience on how to work with a variety of people.

Best,
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