Management consultants are in great demand. The nature of the job suits both the employee as well as prospective clients of the consultancy firm. It is a high-paying job if you do well. However, fixed work hours and holidays might be farfetched.
An MBA passout has a lot of options to choose from as a field of work. Mostly it all depends on your specialization. However, there is one profession which doesn’t necessarily require a specialization and that is of a management consultant.
There are various consultancy firms in India, big and small. Consultancy firms basically provide the knowledge and expertise to a company on particular matters to help them overcome a problem or simply grow in business. It is expensive to keep full-time analytical thinkers on staff, so companies reach out to consultancy firms for the necessary advice from time to time.
What do management consultants do?
Management consultants are people who work for a consultancy firm and as a part of it, their job is to help another business. They advise them on ways to increase their turnover, research markets, offer organizational ways and much more. It could be anything that deals with the business in question.
Education
Normally, consultancy firms in India prefer to hire MBAs for the job. However, undergraduates are being hired in large numbers as analysts who work on small projects. If you do well, chances of a quick promotion are really high.
Career as a management consultant
Career as a management consultant is filled with ups and downs. There are a lot of good things but some negatives associated with the job as well.
Positives:
1. Variety: The best thing about being a management consultant is that you get to work on various kinds of businesses. You might be expected to advise an IT firm one day and a fast food company the other. You get to learn a lot about how different businesses are run and the difference between their various aspects. It is all about tackling business problems, small and large.
2. Expertise: As an adviser to different kinds of companies, you gain expertise in lots of types of businesses. You become experts on certain aspects which is a great think to show on your resume.
3. Salary and perks: A management consultant of a good position can demand the salary equivalent to that of a CEO of any company. This is how powerful the job is. Besides, you get to travel around a lot, that too in style.
4. Meeting people: You get to meet the best minds in the business. You can talk to them and know about their thought process which is a great thing for your future as well.
Negatives:
1. Deadlines: As you are working for other people, you need to work according to their deadlines. So you don’t have a personal deadline but need to work the way your client wants you to.
2. Work hours: Do not expect to get 8-hour shifts. You might have to work day & night if the client wants you to. There are no fix hours of work. In fact, you may have to kiss you social life goodbye. Working for different types of businesses does lead you to live an erratic life.
3. No implementation: There would be times when your advice is not even taken into consideration. So learn to deal with rejections.
Management consultancy is no doubt a high-profile job which has its perks as well as disadvantages. So if you are planning to tread this path, be ready for all this.
