Many applicants would love to be part of major firms like McKinsey, Booz and BCG because of their global popularity. However, getting a spot in boutique firms brings advantages as well. Read this article and learn more about them.

Though most boutique management consulting firms employ only about 2 to 200 staff, size isn’t the main factor that distinguishes them from global firms. It’s the concentration. Let’s take LEK Consulting as an example. It has about 900 consultants in 20 offices in different parts of the world but it’s still considered a boutique firm because it only focuses on corporate strategy, mergers and acquisitions and operations.

Mastery of Skills

Boutique strategy consulting firms aim to help top management carry out decisions through recommendations. However, as boutiques focus on one or just a few niches, consultants gain a certain level mastery for every project they work on. They develop specific skills faster than expected.

More Effective Recommendations

As a result of improving their expertise on a specific industry,  consultants are able to make recommendations more efficiently. Since they are already aware of the best practices of companies in the same industry, they can readily pinpoint the business problem, indentify the factors concerning it and suggest action steps.

Wide Scope of Responsibilities

Because the team is smaller, consultants will be able to broaden their scope of responsibilities, participate more actively in meetings and have more chances of talking to executives and managers. They easily get labeled as experts and that builds up their credibility in the industry. They’ll basically experience everything written in the job description of a management consultant.

Landing a job in  boutique management consulting firms has risks too. Below are three of them.

Deprivation to Explore

One of the disadvantages with this setup is that consultants won’t be able to see their potential performance in other practice areas. Because they are focused on solving the same problem, they are deprived of the chance to discover other strategies and approaches.  This gets more inconvenient for those who haven’t realized what they are good at.

Unverifiable Services

Some boutique management consulting firms have fewer clients so the quality of their service is harder to verify. Unlike top tier firms, few boutique firms have established a brand name. Further, small boutique firms might not have well-established systems and their consultants might not have been trained thoroughly.

More Job Requirements

Having a broad scope of responsibilities has a disadvantage too. This implies consultants have to do everything, from data gathering to analysis. Because of the team has a smaller number of members, it is harder to delegate some tasks to specialist areas.

Which do you prefer, working for one of the global or boutique management consulting firms?

You Might Also Like...

• Major or Boutique Consulting Firms
• Top 10 Consulting Firms in Asia Pacific in 2014
• Top 10 Management Consulting Firms in 2012
• Top 10 Management Consulting Firms in 2014
• Top 10 Strategy Consulting Firms in 2013
• Top 25 Management Consulting Firms in 2013
• Top 25 Management Consulting Firms in Europe
• Top 5 Management Consulting Internships

The responsibilities of experts vary according to the size and nature of the company. They work on different sectors such as consumer products, health and education, among others. To give you an overview of their responsibilities, read the job description below and understand their role in the organization.

Management Consulting Job Description Summary

A consultant is responsible for helping a company or organization improve its efficiency, growth and profit through accurate data gathering, thorough analysis and valuable recommendations. They incorporate their knowledge, skills and abilities as they help top management strategically plan and implement strategies. They give objective advice based on market trends, the company’s financial capability and other important factors.

Specific Duties

Management consulting job descriptions usually indicate that consultants work on a project basis in their own satellite or in their client’s working premises. The project length depends on how complicated the business dilemma is and the kind of setup clients prefer. The following are some of their specific duties and responsibilities:

• Define the problem through consultations, meetings and case studies;
• Review and analyze information through different reports and researches;
• Interview or facilitate focused group discussions with management and employees;
• Develop and present recommendations for the management;
• Develop plans and programs for change implementation in the organization;

Job Specifications

Management consultants are graduates of any course, preferably with a business-related major. They must be knowledgeable on business development, risk analysis, cost management and other areas. They must be someone who can look at things from different angles with logical thinking. They must also possess excellent verbal and written communication skills, exceptional organizational skills and other critical success factors. They must have the ability to deal with different personalities, cooperate with other team members and work under pressure. Their primary values must include objectivity, accuracy, patience, meticulous attention to details, goal-orientation and quality output.

Importance of Consultants in Organizations

As can be deduced from management consulting job descriptions, experts play important roles in the organization. They bring in their functional expertise, experience and professional values to create an impact in the organization. Their know-how boosts their credibility and their extensive understanding about business operations let them assimilate the best practices from outstanding organizations. Their professionalism ensures that everything’s being carried out in a well-organized manner.

Criticism of Consulting Firms

Management consulting has its own pros and cons. One of the disadvantages consultants get is the slice of disapproval from people around them. At times, their presence push other employees to think that the company managers aren’t competent enough to resolve their own problems. Also, many frown upon the luxury they get from the company. Apart from their very expensive hourly fee, they also get benefits ordinary employees can’t avail. Lastly, many employees get scared because their recommendations might significantly affect their job. Retrenchment due redundancy might be one of their solutions to increase company profit.

You Might Also Like...

• Five Steps to Improve Your LinkedIn Profile for Management Consulting
• Job Description for a Management Consultant
• Management Consulting Glossary
• What are Some Things that Management Consultants Know but Most People Don’t?

Each group of employees develops their own jargon, terms that express ideas related to what they frequently do or discuss with each other. Find out the common phrases used by management consultants in this article.

The French philosopher Condillac said in 1782 that, “Every science requires a special language because every science has its own ideas.” This generally explains why management consultants formulate terms, phrases or idioms that are uniquely used and fully understood by those who in the industry. If you are preparing  a career in BCG or other top tier management consulting firms, you might as well master some of their jargon so you won’t get lost in the discussion.

We’ve already defined some terms in this post, so in this article we listed more phrases that can add up to your management consulting vocabulary.

At the End of the Day

It is used to introduce summary of discussions, goals and meetings. (At the end of the day, we must find out what caused the annual decrease of sales of this computer brand.)

Blue Sky Thinking

It connotes thinking creatively, unconventionally or from a new perspective. Just like the blue sky, ideas should come without limits. It’s similar to the expression, “thinking outside the box.” (Each brainstorming session requires blue sky thinking from all participants.)

Boil the Ocean

It suggests taking an enormous task or resolving a problem through an extremely difficult approach (e.g. to boil the ocean literally). (There’s no need to boil the ocean for this research. Even if we limit our study to two market segments, we can still get valid results.)

Deep Dive

To conduct an extensive management consulting study and analysis about a certain problem by going through reports, market trends and other data. (Have a deep dive on Company A’s new soap product. I’d like to know if it has something to do with our decrease in sales last month.)

Due Diligence

A comprehensive review, study or evaluation of a business opportunity to clarify expectations, identify risks and investigate all relevant factors. It may include any of these management consulting frameworks to structure answers. (Each business project requires due diligence before its implementation.)

On the Beach

It describes management consultants not getting billable projects from clients. The term derived from the idea of bumming on the beach during free time. (Many consultants have been on the beach since the 2008 recession.)

On the Same Page

To see things in a similar way or to talk about the same topic. (Could you explain your analysis on this expansion strategy? We don’t seem to be on the same page.)

Take the Lead on

To assign or delegate a menial task to someone. It is an expression more often used by senior consultants. (Could you take the lead on preparing these reports for tomorrow’s meeting?)

Touch Base

To meet at a certain time to talk about the project status, important tasks and other matters. (Are you free tomorrow at 3:00 p.m.? I’d like to touch base with you to discuss our market research.)

View from 30,000 Feet

To understand a strategy, business problem or anything in a bigger picture. Because you’re viewing things from a distance, significant details are dismissed without thorough consideration. (Before we decide on merging two companies, let’s have a 30-000 foot view of the current market.)

You Might Also Like...

• How to Craft and Deliver Your Elevator Pitch
• Management Consulting Brain Teasers
• Management Consulting Dictionary
• Management Consulting Glossary
• Top 10 Management Consulting Jargon Terms
• Top 10 Most Used Consulting Jargon Terms
• What to Include in a Consulting Resume
• Words and Phrases Management Consultants Use for Effective Client Communication

Consultants put on clothes depending on their management consulting firm, on the occasions they participate in and the people they’re dealing with. Continue reading this post to get familiar with dress codes consultants follow.

Some scientific researches support that clothes and accessories make a difference in how people perceive one’s capabilities and personality. People wearing thick, black-rimmed glasses are often labelled as “geeks”. Those who are not acquainted with the well-dressed man who just  got promoted to a managerial position will assume that he’s probably smart because of his getup.

These indicators are the reason why management consultants must be careful in choosing their clothes as they perform their duties and responsibilities. Since they interact with many people (including clients), they must ensure that they dress up accordingly. They are not only hired to provide solutions to business problems but also to promote the brand of their management consulting firm.  Below are three factors they consider on what clothes to put on.

Rules

Management consulting firms have their own rules on what clothes to wear. Some require their employees to wear suit for five working days while some implement the business casual policy on Fridays. Some companies do not have specific rules, but will let the consultants choose what they believe is most appropriate.

Occasions

When they are working at client’s premises, consultants usually put on suits and ties. Since they represent the company, they must project a professional image through their clothes, shoes, accessories and even scent. It would be too sloppy to show up in a meeting with the CEO or top management with jeans and polo-shirt on. Actually, this just does not happen in the real consulting world.

People

There are also clients who prefer consultants to dress casually when dealing with their employees to fit in. Dressing formally may cause aloofness between the two groups. Lew Sauder, the author of Consulting 101, narrated in this post that while he as in Ernst & Young, one of his clients said he would send the consultants home if they show up dressier than jeans.

Given the factors above, the dress codes of management consultants can be summarized into three. These are the following :

Formal Dress Code

This includes wearing a suit, a pair of pants or a dress skirt and for men, a nice tie. They must be cleaned and well-ironed. Accessories must not go beyond three pieces. The number of firms or clients who require consultants to strictly follow this on a daily basis has decreased in the last few years.

Business Casual Code

For men, this includes pressed collared shirts, cotton trousers and belt. For women, slacks and skirts with appropriate length paired with a dress shirt are acceptable. Ties and cufflinks are not required in this category.

Casual Code

This allows employees to work comfortably in jeans, informal shirts and blouses. However, clothing under this category must still be appropriate for office work. They can’t just show up with clothes used for cleaning the house, exercising or doing the laundry.

First impression may not necessarily last but it has a great impact on how others perceive a person. Since dressing smartly seems to be associated with credibility and professionalism, management consulting employees consider the three factors above before choosing the dress code perfect for the day.

If you’re an applicant who’s very particular with dress codes, research on what your target company requires. You can do so through the Internet but networking is better since you’ll get first hand information from different consultants. Don’t forget to check this post on showing a corporate image in consulting interviews too.

You Might Also Like...

• Consulting Wear: Tips for Projecting Your Professionalism
• How Should I Prepare for Interviews at Top-tier Consulting Firms?
• How to Show a Corporate Image in Consulting Interviews
• Management Consulting Case Study Interview Facts
• Preparing for an Interview at a Top-tier Management Consulting Firm
• What to Wear to a Consulting Interview

Management consulting has two faces: one shows off the advantages and the other tolerates the disadvantages. These opposite forces make the position both gratifying and taxing. Continue reading this post to learn the pros and cons of the management consulting industry.

What Are the Advantages of a Management Consulting Career?

Below are the four most commonly cited advantages of working as a management consultant.

Compensation

The five-digit salary has consistently attracted new recruits and kept incumbents in the  industry. Depending on the size of the firm, the country, and the assigned responsibilities, new graduates who get hired usually receive a five-digit salary. In addition to the generous compensation, consultants receive allowances, insurance, and other benefits. During a time of economic crisis, this package is an incentive to many job seekers.

Skill Development

The responsibilities of a management consulting position will sharpen a consultant’s analytical, organizational, and communication skills. These capabilities are utilized on a daily basis and therefore improve with extended experience. Even if a consultant decides to leave the industry, he or she will be able to employ these enhanced skills in future positions.

Rewarding Experience

A consultant’s responsibilities can be summarized as an individual who helps an organization improve its efficiency and profits. The research studies and market segmentation and competition analyses are focused on company growth, which indirectly help thousands of employees. This goal gives consultants noble aspirations and they continually enhance their knowledge as the job is highly intellectual.

Wide Network

Consultants are assigned to work for different clients on diverse projects. Because of this, they can widen their network without putting forth much effort. Their connections, if properly nurtured, can lead to more opportunities, better employment, and lasting friendships.

What Are the Disadvantages of a Management Consulting Career?

The management consulting position also has disadvantages; four of which are listed below:

Long Hours

Because of the nature of their job, management consultants work long hours, anywhere from 60 to 80 hours per week. Their time is consumed with client and team meetings, interviews, workshops, problem solving, focused group discussions, and client communication. Hence, consultants need to work extra hours to conduct analyses and evaluations so they can timely and expertly comply with a client’s demands.

Working hours do vary among firms, but in top-tier management consulting firms such as McKinsey, Bain, Booz, and BCG, expect to work over 60 hours a week on average.

Travel

One of the common misconceptions of aspiring consultants is that traveling is a glamorous part of a management consulting career. At first, traveling can be exciting, but when consultants realize how much of their time is spent on planes and in hotels, they miss the comforts of home. Traveling can also be exhausting; consultants  are constantly adjusting to a new environment, new culture, and diverse people. Furthermore, consultants do not have time for leisure and sightseeing during their trips because they are consumed with work.

Lack of Family Time

Because consultants spend a majority of their time working and traveling, they sacrifice time with their families. When they come home after work, their family has finished dinner and the kids are already asleep. Because of the demands of the job, missing birthdays, anniversaries, and other family gatherings is a common occurrence. Consultants need optimum discipline to manage their time.

Stress

The research, analyses, and heavy workload can cause stress for any management consultant. In addition, consultants frequently deal with chaotic management and difficult employees. Consulting team members don’t always get along because of differences in perspectives and personalities.

If you add up all the disadvantages listed above, you will realize that it can be extremely stressful to be a management consultant.

You Might Also Like...

• How to Shift Your Career to Management Consulting
• Management Consulting Work-Life Balance
• What are Some Things that Management Consultants Know but Most People Don’t?

Under the meticulous judgment of a recruiter, you will know how powerful a resume is. It tells whether an applicant deserves a chance to be assessed further for the vacancy. It is your marketing tool that represents your value in management consulting field. Read this post to know the information it should contain.

A resume can be divided into different parts but all of them must be ideally summarized in a document of one or two pages. If yours has more than two pages, consider revising it. It may contain too many unnecessary details or the information may not have been summarized properly. We have written the Guide to Consulting Cover Letters and Resumes to give all the details you need for each part. If you simply need an overview on how a resume should be written, here’s a checklist for you.

Contact Header

• Is your NAME bigger than the other text on the resume? Do you think its size will facilitate the recruiter’s information recall?
• Is your contact information updated and accurate for the management consulting firm to readily contact you?
• Is the provided email address simply structured? Will it not be confusing for the recruiter to accurately type it on the computer?
• Have you included a personal website that contains your portfolio or any information that will boost your credentials?
• Is your header simple and readable?

Summary and Career Objective

• For experienced candidates, have you come up with a career summary that includes sectors you’ve worked in and the major areas you’ve managed?
• For fresh graduates, have you highlighted your skills and traits that are necessary for a management consulting job?
• Do you believe your summary or career objective gives your application a sense of  direction?
• Is your summary or career objective specific and straightforward?
• Is your summary or career objective stated in one to two sentences?

Professional Experience

• Have you included your experience that’s significant to management consulting?
• Does your work experience information include the name of organization, your designation, the employment period and the summarized responsibilities?
• Have you concisely written about three bullet phrases that will encapsulate your results for each position?
• Have you used actions verbs like ‘Developed,’ ‘Organized,’ ‘Supervised,’ ‘Initiated,’ ‘Managed,’ etc.?
• Have you utilized percentages, ratios and other numbers in highlighting your achievements?

Education

• Have you mentioned your course, university, specific classes and years of attendance?
• For fresh graduates, have you stated your significant club involvement?
• Have you listed recent substantial academic achievements, scholarships or recognitions?
• If applicable, have you described your responsibilities during your internship programs?
• Have you included any related licensure tests you’ve taken, time of examination and if favorable, the test results?

Other Questions

• Have you enumerated the skills that will help you in fulfilling the responsibilities of the management consulting position?
• Have you inserted keywords such as quantitative research and analytics, project management, client interaction and relationship building with clients? These should be keywords that you believe are important.
• Have you listed the languages you can speak and important computer software you are master of?
• Have you inserted a line of specific interests and hobbies that tell something valuable about you?
• Have you stated the recent seminars and training you have attended that are relevant to the position?

You Might Also Like...

• Bain Resume Sample
• Consulting Cover Letter and Resume Tips
• How to Show a Corporate Image in Consulting Interviews

Management consultants have different preferences when it comes to sectors to work on, topics to research about and projects to be assigned in. But there are three success factors all of them must possess to carry out their tasks. Find out what these are.

Analytic Thinking

This success factor refers to the ability to understand the problem, break it into smaller parts and provide a structure for its resolution.

The management consulting problem presented by your client may be new or too complex for you. You may not have an idea about their industry or you may not have encountered their dilemma in books or in your previous cases. Hence, you must be smart enough to readily pick things up and elaborate it in your own simpler ways. At times, clients are not organized in presenting the actual situation so you must also have the ability to read between the lines.

To understand the problem better, break down the elements to get a full grasp of the situation. By analyzing the case in a step-by-step strategy, you’ll find out the affecting factors that cause the issue. For instance, if your client is threatened by the new product of his competitor, you can help him by conducting market researches, assessing the competition and evaluating advertisements.

Organization

In management consulting, you can make use of your organizational skills. This includes effective planning for a  course of action, timely implementation of plans and efficient time management. You need these capabilities as you’ll be bombarded with emails, reports and other information. Since you’ll be very busy with meetings, interviews and reports, you’ll wish for more than 24 hours a day.

Disorganization significantly affects productivity. When you are unable to coordinate scheduling, store information and consolidate information neatly, you’ll end up doing these tasks differently over and over again. This results to waste of time and energy. The minutes or hours you have spent on these simple tasks could have been allotted for major concerns. Being unsystematic may also lead to confusion, which might worsen the stressful work-life balance issues of consultants.

Communication

If you want to work for a management consulting firm, you must have the ability to express yourself in a clear manner. You will be interacting with your client, your client’s employees and other consultants; hence, be flexible enough to adjust your language according to the person you’re dealing with. Top management will more likely expect you to be formal and professional while frontline workers would appreciate a friendlier disposition. You must be emotionally intelligent to help you in this aspect.

Excellent written communication skills is also valued in management consulting industry. Since you are expected to come up with researches, reports and presentations, you must have the ability to concisely and eloquently express your thoughts in words. Remember that these documents will be circulated from one person to another. Your client might even keep your output for decades. Thus, your reports must be carefully crafted so people would easily understand and appreciate your analysis and recommendations.

Recruiters start assessing applicants with these three skills as criteria in mind. They see to it that the fit interview questions they ask include experiential and situational cases to be able to gauge your natural abilities.  If you’re pursuing a career in consulting, try to develop these three critical success factors as early as possible.

During management consulting case interviews, you will be presented with a business problem. You are expected to critically analyze it and come up with sound recommendations. This is quite tough because of the pressure you feel with the time limit and recruiter’s presence. Read on and get an idea on how to overcome this challenge.

With sufficient preparation for a consulting interview, we are confident you will be able to go through this recruitment stage. The first step is to be familiar with case frameworks. They help you structure your answer by giving you a step-by-step guide on what action to take. Then you can practice applying them to cases commonly used by recruiters of top consulting firms like McKinsey and BCG. As you work on it, you will realize that you’re also boosting your confidence. With your acquired knowledge, you will be convinced that you won’t mess up in the interview.

To help you prepare for it, we listed ten management consulting frameworks that you should know.

1. Market Situation

This framework is used for industry analysis. It includes finding out how attractive the market is. It focuses on analyzing four elements: customers, suppliers, competition and performance.

2. Market Segmentation

This divides the customers into groups because of their different responses to a certain product or strategy. It studies the geographical, demographical, psychological and behavioral parameters of each market segment.

3. New Market Entry

This determines whether  your client must enter a new market or not. It goes deeper into the market potential, how it matches the company’s background and the possible competition.

4. Competitor Response

This management consulting process determines how your client must react to the new service, sales gimmick or any strategy of competitors. This structure analyzes the new product, its price and its distribution to consumers.

5. Mergers and Acquisitions

This structure allows your client to decide whether to pursue an acquisition of the target company or not. It studies the nature of the target company and the benefits it can give to the acquirer.

6. Capacity Expansion

This management consulting framework determines if expanding the company facilities is a wise move or not. The structure checks the rationale behind the move, the target market and all the client’s possible options.

7. Profit Hunt

This framework explores strategies on how to improve the profit of the company by analyzing its costs and sources of revenue. It also considers the volume of production and the price.

8. Product Strategy

This determines the marketing strategy perfect for the new product. It concentrates not only on what the product offers but also on factors affecting customers such as prices, promotions and distribution process.

9. Product Development

This analysis aims to determine if developing a new product is necessary, beneficial or profit-gaining. Using this structure means studying the demand and supply, the market value and the company’s capability.

10. Pricing

This intends to come up with a price for a certain product. You study the customer’s willingness to pay, product substitutes and cost for producing the goods.

More Details on Each Framework

We have shown you a list of ten important frameworks. They will help you in by far most of the cases you will encounter. If you want a detailed explanation of the frameworks, download our Guide to Consulting Case Interview Frameworks. It has visual process charts to illustrate the frameworks clearly. It also has guide questions to walk you through the complete process, so that you know exactly how to use each framework.

Are you interested in landing a job in management consulting? If you are seriously considering this option, there are some questions you need to ponder. They will serve as your guide in getting your dream job. Continue reading and find out what these questions are.

Question 1: Have You Assessed Yourself for the Position?

Before the recruiters assess you, why don’t you do it on your own? You can start by reading their job description carefully and by checking if you have the required competencies. You can also conduct your own research about the company and see if your values fit their corporate culture. If you have contacts in McKinsey, Bain, Booz, BCG and other consulting firms, ask them about their regular duties and responsibilities and ponder if you’re willing to adapt their daily routine. Once you’ve done these steps, you will know if management consulting is the career path you should pursue.

Question 2: Why Do You Want to Be a Management Consultant?

The difficult times have pushed employees to put financial priorities on the front row. If this is the main reason for your management consulting application, every day at work is going to be a drag and every assignment is a potential cause of stress. You will end up having empty days, wanting to do other things. Ideally, you should have organizational growth and improvement as your noble intentions. This will give you the passion to get things done and consequently, the feeling of fulfillment.

Question 3: Have You Done Networking with Current Management Consultants?

Never underestimate the power of networking. In the field of management consulting, it’s one efficient way of landing your dream job. Through your contacts, you’ll get information on unadvertised consulting vacancies. They can also recommend you to recruiters and this will distinguish you from the rest of the pile. Remember that many candidates are highly qualified but your recommended application is more reliable than any well-written resume.

Question 4: Do You Have a Well-Written Cover Letter and Resume?

As soon as you’re done with the competency and motivation check, evaluate your management consulting cover letter and resume. Are they attractive enough to catch the attention of the recruiters? Did you follow a structure to make it concise and organized? Have you clearly emphasized your selling points and previous accomplishments? Have you double checked the grammar, spelling and format? Remember that recruiters sift applicants in the most efficient way they know. Their target is to hire the cream of the crop; thus, they don’t bother going through application documents that are inferiorly written.

Question 5: Are You Ready for Numerical, Logical and Verbal Reasoning Tests?

To be called for management consulting testing is already a milestone you must be proud of. If you get a chance to know what kind of tests you will take, exert some effort to finish related exercises. The more you are familiar with the process and the more confidence you exhibit, the less stress you feel on the day of the examination. This should improve your score. If you run out of time to prepare, stay cool. Try to comprehend and analyze the given information on each item and give it your best shot.

Question 6: Are You Ready for Fit Interviews?

During fit interviews, recruiters will probe on the information stated on your resume and cover letter. They will ask questions about your experience, education and personality to find out if you are the right person for the opening. Be prepared to answer in detail about your past accomplishments and the skills you’ve developed along the way since these are the indicators that you can successfully perform the responsibilities of the position you’re applying for.

Question 7: Are You Ready for Case Interviews?

The purpose of the case interview is to evaluate your ability to effectively resolve business cases and communicate ideas. Your business judgment, creativity, grace under pressure, quantitative skills and logical reasoning will also be assessed in this part. To prepare for this, be familiar with case interview frameworks because they provide structure to your answer. It would also help to research on business cases, ask those who have already undergone the process and have mock interviews beforehand.

Getting a job in management consulting companies is a long process. But once you get there, you will feel that it’s all worth it.

What are management consultants hired for? Does their presence mean the executives are incapable of resolving their own issues and analyzing their own systems? Why are consulting teams hired for hundreds of thousands of dollars for a list of recommendations? Read this article and understand their role in organizations.

What Exactly Do Consultants Do?

The consultants offer industry knowledge and specific solutions through their skills and expertise. They are mainly concerned with the operations, management, strategies and structure of an organization. They often assist and support organizational leaders in identifying options, making key corporate decisions, generating recommendations, implementing objective solutions and providing additional resources. They are often sought for sound advice with the primary aim of improving client’s business performance, maximizing profits and accelerating growth.

What Does a Typical Workday Look Like for a Management Consultant?

A typical workday for a management consultant is often varied as the consultancy jobs are project-based. Certain projects may be based in one site alone or across several locations. Also, a consultancy job may vary in length of service depending on the firm, client demands and consultancy type. Consultants can also either work as individuals or as a team.

For neophyte consultants, tasks often involve:

• Formulating a research plan, carrying out the research and data collection
• Analysis and interpretation of the collected data
• Using frameworks
• Facilitating workshops and running focus groups
• Interviewing management staff, employees and stakeholders
• Preparing business presentations and proposals

On the other hand, senior consultants are adept at:

• Identifying issues and forming hypotheses
• Leading projects and programs
• Formulating and carrying out solutions as well as recommendations
• Managing a team of analysts
• Ensuring client needs and expectations are met

What Can Consultants Bring to the Organization?

Management consultants are hired to help organizations improve their performance. This is possible because of the following:

Competencies and Expertise

Consultants have undergone rigid recruitment process. They went through resume screening and testing. They have undergone intensive review of consulting case frameworks to do better in the interview rounds. No one is hired without being able to prove he or she has the knowledge, skills, abilities, experience and commitment to do any kind of management consulting job. Apart from this, their functional expertise in a particular area such as technology, human resources, virtual management, etc. makes them credible enough to advise top management on what needs to be done.

Wealth of Experience

Consultants also bring with them the best practices they have observed in their previous projects. Their relationships and interactions with clients from different business sectors back them up in readily identifying areas for improvement and in determining applicable, effective solutions. Consultants can instantly do system benchmarking for the client based on their rich experience.

Objectivity

Consultants look into processes and routine activities of client employees with careful analysis. Further, because there are no personal strings attached between the consulting firm and the client, consultants can come up with unbiased proposals based on numerical data, research studies and gathered facts. It’s not difficult for them to propose heartbreaking layoffs or salary adjustment.

Why Do Management Consultants Sometimes Get Criticized?

Management consulting also get a slice of criticism from the people around them. These usually spring from any of the three factors explained below.

Fear

The mere presence of consultants in the company trigger fear among employees. Company officers get insecure because it would appear they’re not working hard enough to find solutions to their own problems or to recommend strategies for system improvement. The rank and file employees get scared of the possibilities of manpower downsizing and employment termination. Some are apprehensive because management consultants might reveal proprietary secrets. Others feel unready for any kind of organizational change they will bring to the company.

Expensive Professional Fee

A project from top tier consulting firms such as McKinsey, Bain, Booz and BCG costs several hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not more. Senior consultants easily charge clients a four-digit fee an hour for their services. On top of this, consultants enjoy other benefits such as free travel expenses, medical insurance and other allowances. These perks are definitely a great cut off the client’s budget. Hence, many question if hiring them is worth it.

Impractical Solutions

Another reason why management consultants are often criticized is because of their lack of implementation of their recommendations. Sometimes their short stay in the company doesn’t provide them with a possibility of implementing their solution. As a result, critics say that consulting recommendations are not always practical.