Management Consulting Lifestyle
For candidates who are attached to family and friends, landing a job in consulting can be a struggle. Because of the demands of the projects you work on, you’ll find yourself spending less time with your loved ones. Find out how you can overcome this challenge in this article.
“Is the glass half-empty or half-full?”
Many would see the disadvantages of being employed by a top tier consulting firm like McKinsey, Bain and BCG straight away. Allotting 60 to 80 hours per week for work is no joke at all. Going home with the thought of going through your mails for 30 minutes before you sleep so they won’t build up can be a pain in the neck. The tasks on management consulting job descriptions are so time-consuming that many would say consulting is ideal for single applicants or married people with no kids.
Is management consulting still worth trying for?
People who prefer to see the glass half-full would always answer the question in the affirmative. They tend to focus on the countless opportunities a consulting lifestyle can offer. They see the positive impact of their research studies and recommendations in the organization, the countless opportunities to improve their skills, the learning and professional growth, the chance to interact with different personalities and the free tickets to a world of travel and wonder.
Tips to Help You Get Through
Time management can be very tough, but still very possible, for those in consultancy. This explains why many expert professionals are able to stick with the profession for a long time. They have learned helpful techniques to resolve the never-ending work-life balance issue among consultants. They have managed to make the people around them feel their presence despite their hectic management consulting lifestyle. How? Below are some tips:
Relationship Assessment
One feature of Facebook is to group your “Close Friends” so you would easily get updated with their whereabouts. If you are to use this feature, who would you add to this category? The metaphor may sound either corny or hilarious but assessing your relationship when your plate is overflowing can be very useful. You’ll be able to distinguish who among your contacts are important in your life and who just come and go. Once you have identified these people, make it a point to contact them regularly, despite your management consulting lifestyle. You can have a weekend dinner with them once in two weeks or exchange emails or Facebook messages from time to time.
Let Them Understand You
If you don’t explain how crazy your schedule can get, your loved ones might interpret your absence in parties and gatherings as negligence or aloofness. This isn’t healthy, of course. So when you get a chance to talk with them, share what’s cooking in your career. Explain what management consultants do and keep them updated. You don’t need to divulge everything, just make them understand that you are expected to do this and that. Share something interesting as well as burdening people with your responsibilities can be boring, too.
Get in Touch
If you lived three decades ago, you would have loads of reasons for not being able to communicate. Now that you live at the age of technology, everything is very convenient for you. You already have instant messengers, emails, mobile phones, social media websites, web albums and wireless Internet connections; what more can you ask for? You can send a curt message while waiting for your train. You can take a picture of yourself while at work and share it. You can always voice chat with your partner and kids when you’re away from home.
The field of management consulting can be full of business activities but this doesn’t mean it will cut your relationships off. But to stay connected with your loved ones, you must have the motivation to make it happen. And that motivation must be as strong as your need to meet your client’s requirements.