How To Get A Job In The Management Consulting Industry

Want a good career - business consulting industry is for you. It is an extremely competitive market to break into - but the rewards are a work experience and learning curve that is unsurpassable by any other industry. The amount of experience you can acquire in a short term is phenomenal because you are exposed to top tier thinkers of industry.

It's a dream job for many. But how do you get a job in this industry when it is so much in demand?

The answer is to know exactly what you are getting into, and exactly what they need. Experience and education are your own reflection of these skills and you will need to transform them into a mirror of those consulting capabilities.

Here are some tips on how to go about this.

1. Truly understand the strategy consulting industry: On the web there is a lot of criticism strategy consulting information, research and data - it takes time to assimilate. Your goals are:

• Learn what a consultant does typically from day to day. Understand the nature of the job. Best approach is to go and interview some consultants in the firms you are interested in.
• Learn how consulting firms make money. Even a strategy consulting market has to generate a cash flow - it's not different. Look at their business models and analyze what drives the value they deliver to clients. What drives their costs. You will already be ahead of 90% of your competition if you truly understand these things.
• Find out what the latest competitive and client trends are in the industry. What does the future of consulting look like? What sort of issues are partners of consulting firms considering today? What appears in their nightmares? If you understand and have investigated these issues, it will be easy to impress and connect with your interviewer (a partner who has to manage his consulting firm)

2. Identify the future growth areas of the industry: Consulting firms are a portfolio of skills and capabilities all wrapped up in their talent - the individuals that make up their firm. Just become the best candidate on paper for a business consulting industry firm by building the skills that they need for their growing array of client services. Explore the rising skills for the business consulting industry and the skills that are not so much in demand or falling out of demand. Exploring the latest press releases by the management consulting industry companies is where you start - because that's their growth areas. What is McKinsey Quarterly talking about this month? Analyze the path of the papers that the management consulting companies have on their websites - where you find the most, is where the demand is mostly found. It's really not hard to find these.

3. Mirror the needs of the consulting firms: Now that you have identified some growth areas how can you mirror the skills in talent that they are looking for. What electives can you pursue that are relevant? The subject can be explored by getting involved in school extra curriculars? It is all about concentrating the emphasis of your time on the subject matter. A strategy consulting market interviewer will look at your resume and see everything that he is looking for. If you are unable to get a job in consulting when you graduate from school you should get a job in a relevant skill area. Then later it will be easy to jump into consulting with a CV that fits exactly the consulting firms' needs.

4. Final touch - academic scores: Unfortunately the reality is that competition is tough out of undergraduate so make sure you get the best possible grades. In your graduation ceremony you need to be the one getting the top of class award. Focus. Work hard. The opportunity can only be accessed if you sacrifice some social time now - drop the girlfriend - it's not important.

Congratulations you have discovered the smart way to get into management consulting - now you just need to execute. The first step is to be taken now. Start understanding the consulting industry, look at consulting industry analysis, consulting industry trends and data.