What is “consulting” in the business world

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They are spreadsheet monkeys typically crunching numbers in excel so mid-level managers and VPs can manipulate data in order for senior level principals to create expert reports and testify that huge corporations that knowingly polluted water sources, inflated consumer pharmaceutical costs by 900% for end users, or ripped off a small entrepreneur’s patents win lawsuits brought against them. It is largely soulless, mind boggling tedious and boring work. You’ll work for geeky PhD economists who exact revenge from their school day bullying on anyone of a lower rank, and scumbag clients who don’t care how many people have died due to their vehicles’ defective airbags so long as you can determine through leaked patient records that there were other underlying conditions (asthma, eczema) that lead to their death other than fiery car crashes). You’ll get paid decently (salary, no OT though 25 to 30% of your hours will be strict OT) but you’ll work nights. You’ll work weekends. You’ll work during the hour between your mom’s funeral and the wake. You’ll work on your wedding day and during 30% of your honeymoon. Ask me how I know.

Agree while not out of the question, not likely. Consulting firms are mostly looking forward. What can we do now that we can't pollute the water? Past stuff like this goes to law firms -- what water? Pay at top consulting firms is quite good out of college 100k. There is no OT but bonus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are spreadsheet monkeys typically crunching numbers in excel so mid-level managers and VPs can manipulate data in order for senior level principals to create expert reports and testify that huge corporations that knowingly polluted water sources, inflated consumer pharmaceutical costs by 900% for end users, or ripped off a small entrepreneur’s patents win lawsuits brought against them. It is largely soulless, mind boggling tedious and boring work. You’ll work for geeky PhD economists who exact revenge from their school day bullying on anyone of a lower rank, and scumbag clients who don’t care how many people have died due to their vehicles’ defective airbags so long as you can determine through leaked patient records that there were other underlying conditions (asthma, eczema) that lead to their death other than fiery car crashes). You’ll get paid decently (salary, no OT though 25 to 30% of your hours will be strict OT) but you’ll work nights. You’ll work weekends. You’ll work during the hour between your mom’s funeral and the wake. You’ll work on your wedding day and during 30% of your honeymoon. Ask me how I know.

Agree while not out of the question, not likely. Consulting firms are mostly looking forward. What can we do now that we can't pollute the water? Past stuff like this goes to law firms -- what water? Pay at top consulting firms is quite good out of college 100k. There is no OT but bonus.

Is it really $100K now (I’m assuming base only)? Goodness, it was $70k-$85k back when I started.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They are spreadsheet monkeys typically crunching numbers in excel so mid-level managers and VPs can manipulate data in order for senior level principals to create expert reports and testify that huge corporations that knowingly polluted water sources, inflated consumer pharmaceutical costs by 900% for end users, or ripped off a small entrepreneur’s patents win lawsuits brought against them. It is largely soulless, mind boggling tedious and boring work. You’ll work for geeky PhD economists who exact revenge from their school day bullying on anyone of a lower rank, and scumbag clients who don’t care how many people have died due to their vehicles’ defective airbags so long as you can determine through leaked patient records that there were other underlying conditions (asthma, eczema) that lead to their death other than fiery car crashes). You’ll get paid decently (salary, no OT though 25 to 30% of your hours will be strict OT) but you’ll work nights. You’ll work weekends. You’ll work during the hour between your mom’s funeral and the wake. You’ll work on your wedding day and during 30% of your honeymoon. Ask me how I know.

This is both the funniest and saddest comment I have ever read on this site. You were the Edward Norton character from fight club.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are spreadsheet monkeys typically crunching numbers in excel so mid-level managers and VPs can manipulate data in order for senior level principals to create expert reports and testify that huge corporations that knowingly polluted water sources, inflated consumer pharmaceutical costs by 900% for end users, or ripped off a small entrepreneur’s patents win lawsuits brought against them. It is largely soulless, mind boggling tedious and boring work. You’ll work for geeky PhD economists who exact revenge from their school day bullying on anyone of a lower rank, and scumbag clients who don’t care how many people have died due to their vehicles’ defective airbags so long as you can determine through leaked patient records that there were other underlying conditions (asthma, eczema) that lead to their death other than fiery car crashes). You’ll get paid decently (salary, no OT though 25 to 30% of your hours will be strict OT) but you’ll work nights. You’ll work weekends. You’ll work during the hour between your mom’s funeral and the wake. You’ll work on your wedding day and during 30% of your honeymoon. Ask me how I know.

Agree while not out of the question, not likely. Consulting firms are mostly looking forward. What can we do now that we can't pollute the water? Past stuff like this goes to law firms -- what water? Pay at top consulting firms is quite good out of college 100k. There is no OT but bonus.

Is it really $100K now (I’m assuming base only)? Goodness, it was $70k-$85k back when I started.

Depends on the firm. MBB is different from Big4. Big4 is about 80k plus bonus (not great this year and they are never more than about 10-15% of salary). MBB I knew people at 120k base starting out of undergrad and they have larger bonus comp. OT is completely incomprehensible in either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was in a third tier consulting firm, some of the projects I did was monitor wire alert suspected of money laundering activities by searching customer name on internal database.

I also did a project to reconcile legal document says we should open 10 accounts for this client but we only opened 6 in our system...

Very mundane work. But my social circle were not corporaty and that was my ticket into working for a big company with decent pay check down the road. I grow up poor and can’t even buy notebooks for school, had to unenroll from dance class because family couldnt get second car to transport me. Now my kids trip to Disney every other year 😎 and have extra curriculums.

This sounds like the "Managed Services" arm of a consulting firm. Been there, done that and yes, it is boring. Most of it is outsourced now. Very glad it was a ticket up for you though (in all sincerity! NOT DCUM snarky) sounds like it was a good path.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are spreadsheet monkeys typically crunching numbers in excel so mid-level managers and VPs can manipulate data in order for senior level principals to create expert reports and testify that huge corporations that knowingly polluted water sources, inflated consumer pharmaceutical costs by 900% for end users, or ripped off a small entrepreneur’s patents win lawsuits brought against them. It is largely soulless, mind boggling tedious and boring work. You’ll work for geeky PhD economists who exact revenge from their school day bullying on anyone of a lower rank, and scumbag clients who don’t care how many people have died due to their vehicles’ defective airbags so long as you can determine through leaked patient records that there were other underlying conditions (asthma, eczema) that lead to their death other than fiery car crashes). You’ll get paid decently (salary, no OT though 25 to 30% of your hours will be strict OT) but you’ll work nights. You’ll work weekends. You’ll work during the hour between your mom’s funeral and the wake. You’ll work on your wedding day and during 30% of your honeymoon. Ask me how I know.

Agree while not out of the question, not likely. Consulting firms are mostly looking forward. What can we do now that we can't pollute the water? Past stuff like this goes to law firms -- what water? Pay at top consulting firms is quite good out of college 100k. There is no OT but bonus.

Most consulting firms are hired directly by law firms representing clients, most often on the defense side, and in many many cases the underlying clients’ wrongdoing is expected by the law firm to be covered up and explained away through any means possible of data manipulation. Its how the world works so no major surprise. I work for a top 10 economic consulting firm and completely agree with the “spreadsheet monkey” PP response. The money is very good though.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like a soulless job for geeks. Thank god I have enough money that I don't have play that game.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They are spreadsheet monkeys typically crunching numbers in excel so mid-level managers and VPs can manipulate data in order for senior level principals to create expert reports and testify that huge corporations that knowingly polluted water sources, inflated consumer pharmaceutical costs by 900% for end users, or ripped off a small entrepreneur’s patents win lawsuits brought against them. It is largely soulless, mind boggling tedious and boring work. You’ll work for geeky PhD economists who exact revenge from their school day bullying on anyone of a lower rank, and scumbag clients who don’t care how many people have died due to their vehicles’ defective airbags so long as you can determine through leaked patient records that there were other underlying conditions (asthma, eczema) that lead to their death other than fiery car crashes). You’ll get paid decently (salary, no OT though 25 to 30% of your hours will be strict OT) but you’ll work nights. You’ll work weekends. You’ll work during the hour between your mom’s funeral and the wake. You’ll work on your wedding day and during 30% of your honeymoon. Ask me how I know.

Agree while not out of the question, not likely. Consulting firms are mostly looking forward. What can we do now that we can't pollute the water? Past stuff like this goes to law firms -- what water? Pay at top consulting firms is quite good out of college 100k. There is no OT but bonus.

Is it really $100K now (I’m assuming base only)? Goodness, it was $70k-$85k back when I started.

Depends on the firm. MBB is different from Big4. Big4 is about 80k plus bonus (not great this year and they are never more than about 10-15% of salary). MBB I knew people at 120k base starting out of undergrad and they have larger bonus comp. OT is completely incomprehensible in either.

Big4 non-tech/implementation is still around 65k with no bonus. If they interview hard enough, they can land 90k+ within 3-4 years.

MBB is a different level, by having MBB on resume a whole different set of opportunities will open. I bet you $2 all these people who joke about consulting will jump at a MBB offer.

[Anonymous]

What tier is Booz Allen considered to be?

[Anonymous]

I was hired by a "boutique strategy consulting" firm in NYC in 98 right out of college. It was a complete sham. Boutique meant that only 8 people worked there, if you counted the receptionist. one of the partners had gone to Wharton, the other to Harvard (and his son worked there too.) The Harvard partner used to work in advertising. He wore slick suits and used to use very crass language, loudly, on the phone. The Wharton partner was an emaciated b, somewhere between 60 and 80, who would ask for pretzels and water for lunch.

The firm helped companies with branding, but they employed some new agey bullshit to divine the inner essence of brands. Due to the partners connections, they had huge clients, like Sam Adams, Colgate, SC Johnson, Fidelity, etc. Our work as consultants entailed ripping magazine pictures out that seemed to convey some qualities of the brand -- like a preppy white guy in a Ralph Lauren ad to show prestige. We wrote screeners to recruit people to focus groups and then the leader would show them these pictures to elicit words like "prestige, wealth, elite." Then we would sell these words in a "benefits statement" to the company. All of this was packaged in WORD DOCS. Powerpoint was kind of new, but not really. This firm was stuck in the dinosaur age. I tried to show them how to use Adobe products to make their presentations better, but they looked at me like I had two heads. Since I was more of a writer than the others, I was asked to summarize business books for the partners, like the 10 Traits of Highly Effective People. Memorable client meetings with executives at Elizabeth Arden, who were trying to make it a more youthful brand. They asked me what makeup I wore. I remember pulling a Stila lipstick out of my purse that had half melted. It was in a tube made from recycled cardboard. The Wharton partners' face shriveled in disgust, but the EA execs were fascinated. Their most profitable products were little plastic ampules filled with oil that were supposedly antiaging. Such a tiny amount of product, so much plastic, in packaging that made it look like birth control. I probably shared too many insights in those meetings.

I was fired within 4 months for "failing to meet the benchmarks," but they compliment my memo writing abilities and predicted I would become a writer, which I did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was hired by a "boutique strategy consulting" firm in NYC in 98 right out of college. It was a complete sham. Boutique meant that only 8 people worked there, if you counted the receptionist. one of the partners had gone to Wharton, the other to Harvard (and his son worked there too.) The Harvard partner used to work in advertising. He wore slick suits and used to use very crass language, loudly, on the phone. The Wharton partner was an emaciated b, somewhere between 60 and 80, who would ask for pretzels and water for lunch.

The firm helped companies with branding, but they employed some new agey bullshit to divine the inner essence of brands. Due to the partners connections, they had huge clients, like Sam Adams, Colgate, SC Johnson, Fidelity, etc. Our work as consultants entailed ripping magazine pictures out that seemed to convey some qualities of the brand -- like a preppy white guy in a Ralph Lauren ad to show prestige. We wrote screeners to recruit people to focus groups and then the leader would show them these pictures to elicit words like "prestige, wealth, elite." Then we would sell these words in a "benefits statement" to the company. All of this was packaged in WORD DOCS. Powerpoint was kind of new, but not really. This firm was stuck in the dinosaur age. I tried to show them how to use Adobe products to make their presentations better, but they looked at me like I had two heads. Since I was more of a writer than the others, I was asked to summarize business books for the partners, like the 10 Traits of Highly Effective People. Memorable client meetings with executives at Elizabeth Arden, who were trying to make it a more youthful brand. They asked me what makeup I wore. I remember pulling a Stila lipstick out of my purse that had half melted. It was in a tube made from recycled cardboard. The Wharton partners' face shriveled in disgust, but the EA execs were fascinated. Their most profitable products were little plastic ampules filled with oil that were supposedly antiaging. Such a tiny amount of product, so much plastic, in packaging that made it look like birth control. I probably shared too many insights in those meetings.

I was fired within 4 months for "failing to meet the benchmarks," but they compliment my memo writing abilities and predicted I would become a writer, which I did.

Funny I interviewed for a boutique strategy firm that specialized in transfer pricing. The entire company was formed by a group of ex-EY consultants and had about 80 employees back then. Among the management team there was only one woman, who did business dev and traveled on most days. The rest are men and they were clustered around this campus recruit (woman) on super day, leaning extremely close to her the whole time.

Needlessly I picked another toxic AF place but at least there wasn't behavior like that!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lots of good answers in this thread, except the post directly above, which while it has a kernel of truth behind it, is pushing it.

I spent 5 years in consulting, and have now been client-side for 12, and often hire consultants. I started as your typical 22 y/o out of a H/P/Y, and really enjoyed my time. You generally work with and for smart people, do interesting work, and make valuable contacts. Downsides are the hours (although not nearly as bad as IB) and the travel.

Examples of projects I worked on:

- A competitive benchmark of small business banks.
- A bundling analysis for several financial services clients.
- An opportunity assessment for a new B2B product in financial services.
- Cost cutting opportunities in a company’s customer service department.
- Creating a new strategic direction (ie vision, mission, purpose) for a travel company.
- An evaluation of an existing digital JV between two massive companies that wasn’t going well.
- An evaluation of whether a company should divest of a profitable business line that wasn’t growing no matter what they did with it.

How do you know about all this at 22?
Is this mostly a research job?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of good answers in this thread, except the post directly above, which while it has a kernel of truth behind it, is pushing it.

I spent 5 years in consulting, and have now been client-side for 12, and often hire consultants. I started as your typical 22 y/o out of a H/P/Y, and really enjoyed my time. You generally work with and for smart people, do interesting work, and make valuable contacts. Downsides are the hours (although not nearly as bad as IB) and the travel.

Examples of projects I worked on:

- A competitive benchmark of small business banks.
- A bundling analysis for several financial services clients.
- An opportunity assessment for a new B2B product in financial services.
- Cost cutting opportunities in a company’s customer service department.
- Creating a new strategic direction (ie vision, mission, purpose) for a travel company.
- An evaluation of an existing digital JV between two massive companies that wasn’t going well.
- An evaluation of whether a company should divest of a profitable business line that wasn’t growing no matter what they did with it.

How do you know about all this at 22?
Is this mostly a research job?

How do anyone do anything at age 22 or anything for that matter?

Leverage prior examples, industry research reports, brainstorming with your team, seek guidance from SME within the company.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New grads do some excel (or sometimes mores sophisticated data tool) analysis, a lot of powerpoint, and any grunt work that needs to be done. The new grads fancy themselves much smarter than the clients and able to learn about any industry in a handful of days and produce useful insights. I think that issilly. The firms do provide some in house training, too, but it is nothing special. It is mostly about how to sound smart and polished. They also have senior partners to help guide and mentor junior staff.

Companies hire these firms for a variety of reasons. The biggest advantage for a company is that they get an outsider perspective and a team of competent people to focus on a specific problem or issue that you really just can't solve from the "inside". The corporate sponsor, who is some sort of high ranking person in the company, gets some reputable firm to deliver messages or plans. Some (usually more lower tier) firms are more used for staff augmentation, like a high price temp agency with high quality employees. Top grads from top schools may never accept a job at Company X, but Company X can hire firm Y, and then use those employees in positions that they struggle to fill.

Thank you for the detailed answer! So what kind of problems are they typically being brought in to solve? I assume these aren’t simple accounting/number crunching sorts of things. Obviously there’s huge money in the work

NP, but typically they’re brought in for thorny problems that need a fall guy. Let’s say the CEO wants to cut costs and knows that layoffs will be unpopular. Well, drop some money on a big consulting firm (say, McKinsey) and blame everything on them! “Well, the McKinsey data showed that this is the beat way forward ... don’t blame me! They’re all smart and unbiased Harvard grads!”

On the staff aug side, PP nailed it. Bring in tons of young people who’ll do anything you ask out of an overachievement rooted in insecurity. They’ll stay late, respond to emails at all hours, and are very eager to please. You won’t find temps like that with a regular temp agency AND they’ll put up with more of your crap than needed.

Yes, I've been told that consultants often prescribe layoffs and other cost-saving measures.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Lots of good answers in this thread, except the post directly above, which while it has a kernel of truth behind it, is pushing it.

I spent 5 years in consulting, and have now been client-side for 12, and often hire consultants. I started as your typical 22 y/o out of a H/P/Y, and really enjoyed my time. You generally work with and for smart people, do interesting work, and make valuable contacts. Downsides are the hours (although not nearly as bad as IB) and the travel.

Examples of projects I worked on:

- A competitive benchmark of small business banks.
- A bundling analysis for several financial services clients.
- An opportunity assessment for a new B2B product in financial services.
- Cost cutting opportunities in a company’s customer service department.
- Creating a new strategic direction (ie vision, mission, purpose) for a travel company.
- An evaluation of an existing digital JV between two massive companies that wasn’t going well.
- An evaluation of whether a company should divest of a profitable business line that wasn’t growing no matter what they did with it.

How do you know about all this at 22?
Is this mostly a research job?

How do anyone do anything at age 22 or anything for that matter?

Leverage prior examples, industry research reports, brainstorming with your team, seek guidance from SME within the company.

They don't. They'll use Google with wild abandon, rewrite senior colleague's experiences in their own words, or just wing it.