Getting into Management

Consultancy
Vinny Potter
LSHTM Careers

What is Management
Consultancy?
Analysis of a business or area of business to suggest
solutions and improvements
Specialist expertise or objective viewpoint
A definition of management consultancy from the
Institute of Consulting
The provision to management of objective advice and
assistance relating to the strategy, structure,
management and operations of an organisation in
pursuit of its long-term purposes and objectives. Such
assistance may include the identification of options
with recommendations; the provision of an additional
resource; and/or the implementation of solutions.

Types of Consultancy
services
Strategy
Process
and
Operations

HR

Management
consulting

Org design

Marketing

Change
IT

Types of firms in the

industry
Accountancy firms offering consultancy
Large non-accounting consultancies
Small specialist boutiques
Gurus
Independents

Major consultancies
Bain & Company
Boston Consulting Group
McKinsey & Co
Deloitte
EY
A.T. Kearny
KPMG
Arthur D.Little
Marakon
Mercer
PriceWaterhouse Coopers
Accenture
IBM

Some smaller or
specialist ones
Prederi
PPL consulting
Berkeley partnership
iMPOWER
Transform
Crown Agents
IMC worldwide
Social and Scientific systems inc
Social Sectors Development Strategies
HLSP (part of Mott Macdonald)
Taysha consulting

The Career Structure

Analyst: 28,000
These are roles for raw graduates or those with some sector specific post-grad work experience. As
recruiters we are rarely asked to find candidates at this level, so the figures come from the consulting
firms themselves.

Consultant: 50,000
Consultants at this grade typically already have three years delivery experience in consulting, or are fresh
recruits into consulting but with a recently obtained professional qualification or comparable level of
competence e.g. ACA, CIPD, blue-chip management training programme graduate.
Senior Consultant: 65,000
At this level the backgrounds of consultants start to diverge. Examples include: mid-tier strategy
house/boutique-experienced consultants with delivery experience; average performers with delivery
experience at a systems integrator or a full-service consultancy and some field management
responsibility; MBAs entering consulting for the first time.
Managing Consultant: 90,000
These tend to be consultants with deep project leading experience in the full-service consultancies, or
engagement managers/project leaders in boutiques. Sales involvement was claimed by about 60% of the
consultants we surveyed at this level.
Director/Salaried Partner: 195,000
These experienced consultants ranged from those with extensive delivery responsibilities at a boutique to
client relationship duties in general consulting.

Experienced Hire?
Consulting or research and analytics?

What they look for

Experience?
Communication skills
People skills
Problem solving
Analysis
Confidence
Impact
Initiative and motivation
Commercial awareness

What they look for

Commercial awareness means having a
good general understanding of the
business world, how consulting fits in, how
it's affected by political and economic
issues, and a firm grasp of what's
currently going on in the consulting
industry. It also means knowing how to
approach situations in a commercially
practical way.

Getting in
Case studies
Interviews
Psychometric Tests

Case Study Interviews

When answering case study style questions, make sure you
communicate your thought process clearly so your interviewer can
understand how you got to your answer. -L.E.K. Associate,
Durham Alumni.
Find a case study partner to practise with. Real-life interviews are a
rather different experience to what you read in interview guides!
L.E.K. Associate, LSE Alumni.
Practice, practice, practice. Get comfortable doing cases and with
multiplying and dividing. L.E.K. Associate, Imperial Alumni.
Be ready to be confronted with questions about industries you have
probably never heard about. It is all about asking relevant
questions, showing good reasoning and being confident. -L.E.K.
Associate, Stockholm School of Economics Alumni.

General SpecificsGeneral

Useful resources
http://mcaindustryinsightcentre.com/#what-do-management-cons
ultants-do
/
http://thegatewayonline.com/consulting
http://www.insidecareers.co.uk/professions/managementconsultancy/
http://www.mca.org.uk/careers-jobs/advice
www.careerstagged.co.uk search for Management Consultancy
http://www.bond.org.uk/resources/consultants