| Topic Name: |
What is the allure of consulting? |
| Message Name: |
Image vs Reality |
| Date Posted: |
08/28/2003 |
| In Reply To: |
I'm fresh out of college, and was wondering why consulting is such a hot career track. Is it salary? Exposure to different aspects of a business? Potential for upward mobility?
Looking forward to hearing what everyone has to say.
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| Message: |
Consulting has a very "glamorous" image, which is created and maintained partially by firm's PR and partially by consultants themselves. The travel between the world's greatest cities, the first-class hotels, meetings with power brokers where the fates of millions are decided, the all-expenses-paid lifestyle... And yes, you might find yourself in Paris, staying at the Georges Cinq, advising the board of Matra or Alcatel where they should open a new factory (or close an existing one). Equally, you might find yourself spending months living at a Motel 6 in North Dakota, trying to shave 5% off the manufacturing time for a tractor. In consulting, you have to take the rough with the smooth, because you go where you're told and you do what you're told. You might learn a huge amount about how multinational corporations do business... or you might just learn the more esoteric functions of Excel.
So, to answer your questions:
1. Salary is usually pretty good on paper, but you will work hard for it.
2. Possibly... it really depends on the individual career. Some get this exposure, some go really in depth in one thing (say, sourcing).
3. The career track for 90% of consultants is 3-6 years in consulting, maybe with an MBA somewhere in the middle, and then a management job in a large corporation. Consulting can be an early boost to your career, but almost no-one stays in for their whole career.
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