Best major for a kid who is interested in consulting

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How can an 18 year old be interested in "consulting?" I'm 49 and I'm not even completely sure what consulting is or what they do.

No one is. There’s always a joke following someone claiming to be a “consultant”.

[Anonymous]

Consulting job functions vary. Basically doing either problem solving or implementation. Usually done by small groups.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Op, you have this backwards. It's like you asking, "For a career, my kid wants to be an expert. How do I make this happen?"

I find it odd that so many people on DCUM have absolutely no understanding of the consulting industry. Let's just cut to the chase...when the kid says they are interested in consulting, they mean working for MBB, Booz Allen, Accenture, Deloitte, etc. These firms hire thousands of kids out of undergrad...it is a very well-known first job for many newly-minted college graduates.

I will agree with the PP that the vast majority of kids applying and accepting these jobs, actually don't have much career-direction or interests. They know these jobs pay well and their peers tell them that it is so prestigious to work for MBB...but they can easily do these for two or three years, hate much of their time at the firm...and just find themselves still clueless about their lives in 3 years.

Ironically, the friends I know that enjoyed consulting (BCG and Oliver Wyman), started as consultants...and they are still consultants to this day. Kind of amazing that they are the only two friends I have that remain with their initial employer (both very senior partners) since the day they graduated from college.

Do you have an understanding? I still don't.

Yes...read the post...consulting firms hire thousands of kids direct from undergrad. Spend two seconds looking at top college employers at say Top 50 schools and a bunch of consulting firms will pop up. What else is there to understand? That is what the kid means when they say they want to work in consulting.

Are you stupid? Pl was asking you what consulting was, and you're answering with who is hired. You're not explaining what it entails, on the job, daily.

PP highlighted the Consulting Industry...apparently, the two of you should get together and determine what other prevalent industries you are clueless about. Better yet, go to the McKinsey, Bain, BCG, etc. websites and see their blurbs about the day in the life of a consultant or do a Google search on the topic.

Clearly, you were never in the running to be hired by one of these firms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These jobs are a scourge on society

+1
It’s almost like they’re pretend jobs. “I’m in consulting.” What does that even mean?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think most people here are missing a vital aspect of consulting, and that is positioning oneself as a trusted advisor to the c-level. This requires certain intangibles to be sure. But an ability to understand a business, business processes, cost centers, organizational dynamics, change management, key performance indicators and scorecarding, training, employee unions, negotiation, facilitation, and communications are all skills of a good consultant. In my experience, the most valuable (or perhaps I should say most difficult to come by) of these is change management and facilitation.

This is a word salad of business jargon that essentially has no meaning.

[Anonymous]

Be smart and go to a top 20 school. Spouse was an Econ major and got swooped up. He launched on his own 3 short years later and tripled the salary he was making at Andersen at the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Be smart and go to a top 20 school. Spouse was an Econ major and got swooped up. He launched on his own 3 short years later and tripled the salary he was making at Andersen at the time.

A bunch of his friends took the same trajectory and went out as independent/self-employed consultants after 2-3 years. In the past 30-years there was never a huge wealth of projects at their disposable to pick and choose from.

[Anonymous]

I worked in management consulting straight out of college with an Econ degree.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Aside from IB, Consultants have some of the highest starting salaries out of undergrad. That’s what most young kids are chasing. Most go into Consulting knowing that over 3-4 years they will kill themselves, travel over 50%, some will travel every Sun to Thurs, but they learn a ton, gain outstanding training, and then pull the chute on an exit strategy to go into the field or industry they want.

The travel perks are amazing for single 20 somethings. You build up hotel points, air miles, rental car points. Everyone took a lot of fabulous trips. And sometimes instead of going home on Thursday groups would go to Mexico for the weekend then back to the client site on Monday. If you like to travel it's a huge perk.

On the corporate card? How does that help you when you leave?

Yes we got to keep our points and miles on the corporate card. Of course you don't keep it when you leave. I'm pointing out why it's attractive to people while they're doing it. It definitely appeals to a certain type of personality. If you're an introverted home body, this isn't the life for you.

I take that back you keep your miles and points even when you leave. They are on your personal profile not the corporate card.

I was client facing for over a decade. I have lifetime platinum status at SPG (Marriott, Westin) and I’m still using my airline miles 12 years after I switched to an “in house” role.

It’s a super fun way to spend your 20s if you like the “work hard / party hard” culture. You get to see the corporate culture at many clients up close and meet a lot of senior execs at big companies. It’s like a management development/ mentorship program on steroids if you invest the time to get to know your clients. I got face time presenting to COOs and CFOs of F500 companies in my 20s. I was able to see dozens of career paths up close and worked for a large software company, an oil and gas company, a pharmaceutical company, a large chemical company, and several cabinet level federal agencies.

Contrary to the belief that consultants are all Office Space jerks coming to drive efficiency and fire people, I’ve spent the bulk of my career implementing systems that automate the administrative drudge work so accounts and HR people can focus on the parts of their job that actually require human decisions and expertise. Designing and implementing accounting systems that cross multiple countries and corp divisions is not something a company can do “in house”.

What was your major/background in?

[Anonymous]

I design hiring systems for consultants. In addition to a particular topic area like finance, data analytics etc, don’t forget the other factors that set apart successful candidates who can progress in the field.

I would suggest a good balance of humanities, history, or social science so that they learn to write quickly and well. During school be sure take on public facing roles, this can be the traditional officer in clubs or things like hobby improv classes, reporter for school paper or even theater minor. Many kids can crunch numbers and are very smart. Fewer kids can communicate effectively with diverse groups. Even fewer can frame problems in a helpful way based on historical trends across industries/ geographies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most people here are missing a vital aspect of consulting, and that is positioning oneself as a trusted advisor to the c-level. This requires certain intangibles to be sure. But an ability to understand a business, business processes, cost centers, organizational dynamics, change management, key performance indicators and scorecarding, training, employee unions, negotiation, facilitation, and communications are all skills of a good consultant. In my experience, the most valuable (or perhaps I should say most difficult to come by) of these is change management and facilitation.

This is a word salad of business jargon that essentially has no meaning.

I give you points for picking up on “business”. But from your answer I can tell you have never worked with an MBA from a decent school.

[Anonymous]

Rough crowd, but here is my kid’s profile. Hope it helps, OP. I will preface with one acronym, ESG. Take a look at LinkedIn. You’ll be hard pressed to find a company that isn’t touting their environmental, sustainability, and governance initiatives. This is the hot button focus of most colleges curriculum. Who’s going to reverse climate change, break down the corporate foundations and build anew? Not us, them.

Rising college junior who interned from sophomore year of HS until college. Public k-12. Private college. He started at 16 as an intern supporting 20+ small businesses, startups, and the CEO at a private co-working hub (not WeWork). He also volunteered at a local non profit for many years, and eventually was asked to be on the board. So, consulting happened organically for him. He accomplished some incredible things during the pandemic when the companies he supported temporarily shut down. He connected them to his non profit to provide services for community residents in need— prepared meals, free services like taxes, immigration attorneys, et al.

His college essay wrote itself. Top 20 biz school. Interned the summer after freshman year for a student (USC backed) startup. Currently working as a paid summer intern at a hi brow, boutique consulting firm in NYC. He is client facing. They gave him the option to continue for fall semester 2023, and he chooses when he can be in person/remote, and the number of hours he can commit to based on course load. Fall internship will actually fulfill one of his major course requirements (3 or 4 credits).

Degree path is BSBA consulting with dual concentrations including sustainable business foundations (ESG). Minimum 17 credits per semester. Freshman/sophomore years are rigorous core courses (2) finance, (2) accounting, micro & macro, (2) stats, (2)info systems, management, data analytics, marketing & communications, strategy simulation, and heavy liberal arts core. The first two years involved applying these courses to solve real world company issues- team cohorts assigned to the same courses/professors and aligned with their specific company’s risks/strategy/goals. The cohort teams competed in a final consulting competition judged by corporate heads and alumni.

If your consulting kid is still in HS, getting an internship before college is great. It can be any business. If an early college student, it’s imperative to have an internship the summer before sophomore year and beyond. Use college career center, and LinkedIn. Shotgun as many resumes as possible. Interview experience is worthwhile even if they get rejected after their 3rd or 4th interviews. This is the norm, thick skin required. DS had countless call backs and interviews from the “Big” firms. Ultimately, he connected with an alum (cold) on LinkedIn chat, and this person created the position he has now. He loves the boutique consulting experience so far, which makes sense since his passion was born from past experience with small businesses. Apply to colleges with a very strong alumni network. It matters! Consulting is multifaceted, so any internship experience on a resume should include consulting key words in their skill descriptions.

[Anonymous]

Consulting is like DEI but for white people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Consulting is like DEI but for white people.

Best response ever. And so true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rough crowd, but here is my kid’s profile. Hope it helps, OP. I will preface with one acronym, ESG. Take a look at LinkedIn. You’ll be hard pressed to find a company that isn’t touting their environmental, sustainability, and governance initiatives. This is the hot button focus of most colleges curriculum. Who’s going to reverse climate change, break down the corporate foundations and build anew? Not us, them.

Rising college junior who interned from sophomore year of HS until college. Public k-12. Private college. He started at 16 as an intern supporting 20+ small businesses, startups, and the CEO at a private co-working hub (not WeWork). He also volunteered at a local non profit for many years, and eventually was asked to be on the board. So, consulting happened organically for him. He accomplished some incredible things during the pandemic when the companies he supported temporarily shut down. He connected them to his non profit to provide services for community residents in need— prepared meals, free services like taxes, immigration attorneys, et al.

His college essay wrote itself. Top 20 biz school. Interned the summer after freshman year for a student (USC backed) startup. Currently working as a paid summer intern at a hi brow, boutique consulting firm in NYC. He is client facing. They gave him the option to continue for fall semester 2023, and he chooses when he can be in person/remote, and the number of hours he can commit to based on course load. Fall internship will actually fulfill one of his major course requirements (3 or 4 credits).

Degree path is BSBA consulting with dual concentrations including sustainable business foundations (ESG). Minimum 17 credits per semester. Freshman/sophomore years are rigorous core courses (2) finance, (2) accounting, micro & macro, (2) stats, (2)info systems, management, data analytics, marketing & communications, strategy simulation, and heavy liberal arts core. The first two years involved applying these courses to solve real world company issues- team cohorts assigned to the same courses/professors and aligned with their specific company’s risks/strategy/goals. The cohort teams competed in a final consulting competition judged by corporate heads and alumni.

If your consulting kid is still in HS, getting an internship before college is great. It can be any business. If an early college student, it’s imperative to have an internship the summer before sophomore year and beyond. Use college career center, and LinkedIn. Shotgun as many resumes as possible. Interview experience is worthwhile even if they get rejected after their 3rd or 4th interviews. This is the norm, thick skin required. DS had countless call backs and interviews from the “Big” firms. Ultimately, he connected with an alum (cold) on LinkedIn chat, and this person created the position he has now. He loves the boutique consulting experience so far, which makes sense since his passion was born from past experience with small businesses. Apply to colleges with a very strong alumni network. It matters! Consulting is multifaceted, so any internship experience on a resume should include consulting key words in their skill descriptions.

It’s nice that you are so proud of your child. But if I met him in real life I would want to gag at his overzealous earnestness. He probably think he is doing the world some good too.