Job Responsibilities
My main responsibilities were to strategize with company
operations staff and executive management teams to determine the
optimal way to improve operations, whether it be on-the-ground
plant operations, policies and procedures, future investment and
expansion plans, or whatever else they needed. This amounted to a
full-time job (in terms of hours). In addition to that, I was
involved in, and had, some internal management committee and team
duties and responsibilities. These duties and responsibilities
included helping to make sure that my company had a vision and
clear path forward, with measureable goals and milestones and a
plan for growing into new markets. The internal management duties
were particularly interesting and challenging (and rewarding)
since these were duties typically not taken on by someone of
relatively junior seniority. As a result of this, I traveled even
more than I otherwise would have given the nature of the
consulting work I was performing around the country.
|
Job Requirements
In order to pursue a career in this field, typically someone
needs at least an advanced degree in the sciences or engineering.
It is unusual for someone who holds only a bachelor's degree to
be hired to perform in the role of a consultant for an
engineering or technical consulting firm. The coursework required
is many and rigorous, from core fundamentals such as calculus,
differential equations, inorganic and organic chemistry, physics
and upper-level statistics. In addition, economics, biology
and/or public policy work is also helpful and, while not a
prerequisite to this kind of career per se, is also certainly
useful on a day-to-day basis. Natural/applied science and
engineering classes tend to be more harshly graded than social
science and humanities classes, since the former are graded on a
curve (thereby limiting the number of students that can achieve
the top grade) whereas the latter tends to allow for everyone to
get good grades if they perform the work at a sufficiently high
quality and level.
|
Uppers
Travel is a constant, so if one enjoys travel then this job is great. The
interplay between natural science/engineering, social science and politics is
also interesting and challenging. Having an opportunity to put your arms around a
technical problem that requires quantitative thinking, while at the same time
being astute and aware of political problems and socio-economic issues and
factors, makes for a challenging and rewarding job. The job requirements change
from week to week because the work of a consultant, particularly a
technical/engineering consultant, is project-based only and therefore is
performed as a matter of doing what the firm is hired to do. The firm itself
exists only in the sense that the consultants all work under the same umbrella.
This is much different than working for a typical corporation that produces
something tangible. It is very much a service-oriented job where the client is
your boss more than your official internal boss is your boss.
|
Downers
Travel can be tiring and living out of a suitcase (even if
staying in a nice hotel) and eating restaurant food (even if
eating in nice restaurants) can get old after a while. In
addition, there is, in some sense, not much continuity to your
job as the people you interact with and "work for" change from
project to project. It is unusual to do a project for a repeat
customer, because the nature of the technical/engineering
consulting is such that the project is probably unique and
unlikely to be repeated in the future (or, at least not by the
same client). That is the nature of consulting -- to have sort of
a transient existence.
|
Lifestyle
Generally, the dress code and etiquette called for is whatever the norm is at
the company you are consulting for has as its norm. In other words, the
consultant adopts the norms of his or her client. Hours can be described as feast
or famine. One either has too much work or not enough. Since it is project based,
you need to put in whatever hours are necessary to get the job done within the
given time period. On the other hand, sometimes things are light and there isn't
much work and you don't have much in the way of administrative tasks or chores so
you are free to leave early and enjoy the day. It is a job that requires lots of
flexibility, but that can work to your advantage if you are truly flexible,
because this kind of job allows you to sometimes get out of work very early in
the day and take care of personal things whereas other jobs do not have this
flexibility and balance it out by not having crazy, long hours during
time-sensitive projects.
|
Compensation
Typical starting salary is between $40-50K, plus a full package
of benefits. Quite early on, however, there is opportunity to
earn significant bonuses in the form of either or both cash and
stock options. Depending on how the company operates, the bonus
may be based on your individual performance, some subsection
(such as a division or department) of your company, the company
as a whole or some combination of the three. The bonus will
typically range from a few thousand dollars to 50-100% or more of
the base salary, depending on exactly what you do.
|
Advice to Jobseekers
I would advise that you get a good grounding in science and
engineering while in undergrad and grad school, because the more
social science and policy stuff is easier to learn on the job
without formal training. Once armed with this knowledge, there
are many opportunities available. This field is always looking
for additional, qualified and eager individuals. Perhaps
primarily because most people aren't well qualified, firms in the
field end up with lower quality hires than they would otherwise
prefer. So, if one wants to put themself in a really good
position, getting that good science or engineering background
(ideally a degree) will put them in a great position for a plum
job with a top tier consulting firm. The outlook for this field
is very good, because as more and more companies turn high tech
as a matter of course, and more high tech companies come to
dominate the employment field in our country, technical
consultants will be in great demand and short supply. This is
definitely a growing field, particularly because companies can
never hire the right amount of staff and will always need to turn
to experienced, competent and comfortable outside consultants.
|
|
