Do I have what it takes create a career in Management Consulting? What areas do I need to improve or focus on?
Asked by Tiffany B
Education: *** Masters of Business Administration- May 2007 ***Bachelors of Business Administration- November 2004 Experience: ***Analyst- January 2007- Present *** College Professor (Business)- July 2006 - Present ***Change Management Consultant- July 2006- March 2007 *** Small Business Consulant- January 2002- June 2006 Entreprenurial Projects: **2005- Present- Community website that showcases local businesses online; more than 1000 businesses in 39 cities to date. (Competencies gained include: B2B marketing; public and community relations; marketing management, strategic partnerships) **2004- Present- Online informational resources for small business owners who are starting, managing, or growing their business. More than 100 case studies, articles, and webinars (strengthened public speaking, writingm, & consulting skills) **2007- Present- 29 Online college courses for students to prepare for CLEP exams (learned instructional design and techology, curriculum design)

Best Answer:
If you want to go into Management Consulting and you want to work for a big firm, I suggest researching the consulting firm and finding out what type of interview they perform (how they go about it, what they look for, etc.). One good source of information is Vault.com (there may be better ones but that's the one I used to look at when I used to work for other people). You're right to improve your resume as much as you can. However, a good resume probably won't get you hired. In fact, it may not even matter that much. Here's why I say that... I used to work for one of the "Big Four" consulting firms and interviewed many people. We had a very specific interviewing methodology. In the first phase of interviewing, we looked for specific things that we considered indicators of probable success with the firm. In the second phase of interviewing, we use the "Critical Behaviors" method of interviewing. I asked the applicant to tell me stories about their experience in certain areas. For example, "Tell me about a time when you disagreed with your boss." They would describe the scenario in great detail and I would probe for detail, looking to see if he or she exhibited certain behaviors that we valued. It really didn't matter if the applicant disagreed with their boss at Goldman-Sachs or their boss at McDonalds. We were looking for behaviors; not flashy name-dropping. We would rather have someone who displays the right behaviors at McDonald's than one who does not display the right behaviors at Goldman-Sachs. One of the most critical abilities of a Management Consultant is to think critically and adapt quickly. (There are many others.) As an employer, I would be far more interested in a candidate whose resumes reflect valuable qualities than a list of impressive companies (not that it's "either-or"). After many years as a Management Consultant, I had worked for a bunch of clients on a bunch of client engagements. Every engagement could be different and my role on each project could be different. It's not practical to pack all of that detail into a couple of pages of a resume. What I did instead was to organize my resume by "skills." I made each skill a heading (such as "Program/Project Management" or "Business Development") and then listed the "highlights" of my Project Management experience under that heading and the highlights of my Business Development experience under that heading. (And by the way, I did a little name-dropping by adding a laundry list of clients in a separate section. I just listed them; I didn't go into detail about what I did for each client.) In short, Management Consulting firms will look far more closely at your mind and behaviors than they will your resume. Here are a few qualities I think you should have as a Management Consultant: o Communication skills o Organization skills o The ability to think ahead and plan ahead. o Critical thinking. o Project Management skills. o FLEXIBILITY (It's unbelievable how often and unpredictably things change). o Relationship skills (you need to be able to work well with everyone from CEOs and Customer Service Reps) o THICK SKIN (As a consultant, you're always on the "outside" so you may be the butt of many criticisms and an ever-present potential scapegoat for anything and everything that may go wrong; if you get your feelings hurt easily, this may not be the right profession for you) o CYA skills (this is part of being organized; make sure you document everything. This is not only for CYAing but for keeping everyone on track. People tend to forget what they said and decided. If you get everything down on paper, that won't be an issue.) o Quick Learner (You'll be in different environments quite often; the faster you can learn, the better.) o Confidence (You will be called upon to do lots of things you don't think you can do. You get used to doing things you've never done before. Don't get scared. It works out.) That's all I can think of at the moment. If you have other questions, feel free to contact me. Good luck!
20 years as a Management Consultant and Project Manager in the Mortgage Banking Industry.
Answered by TruthMastaT

Where did you get your BBA and MBA? GPA/rank? Also, what do you do? You need to bullet point out your experience, clearly defining some of the problems you faced, and the solutions you crafted. Management consulting firms want to know whether you can handle cases and clients, but the bottom line rests on your ability to solve problems. Top stats (GPA, GMAT, GRE, etc.) from top schools (Harvard, MIT, IIT, LBS, etc.) show them a glimpse. In addition, leadership roles further support your position. You should pick up some consulting guides in order to familize yourself with Case Interviews. (Case in Point by Marc Cosentino is a good one). Good luck. It's not easy to break into the management consulting world, but once you're in, it opens up a bevy of doors.
Answered by GW

Some good points in the above posts, but here's what you need in your resume - brands. Harvard or INSEAD is a fantastic brand. Companies in the Fortune 500 have fantastic brands. So if you've worked for them you are good. Managing non-brands makes you look like someone who wasn't able to make it big in corporate so he is simply shifting into consultancy. However, if you had done well in corporate, people assume that you have the experience, structure, and some magic "hidden" skills which only the big shots posses. Having real numbers to back you up is good too. Stuff like successfully upselling X resulting in a contract from my employer worth Y million. Hope that helps.
Answered by CouchTomato