How To Find Consulting Jobs On Domain_9

Consulting is non your typical 9-to-v task. It offers a unique career path, along with challenges and opportunities you lot won't find in a normal corporate firm.

Agreement the consulting industry, and career progression, can be really difficult. In this article nosotros'll cover the following:

Entry points into consulting
The 6 steps on the consulting career path
Agreement job titles across firms
Office snapshots
Exit opportunities
Costless resources to help you become into consulting

one. Entry points into consulting ↑

Past far, the biggest pathways into consulting are through targeted undergrad and MBA programmes. Withal, consulting firms as well rent experienced professionals, and graduates with avant-garde degrees (e.m. PHD, Doctor, JD).

The below table gives an overview of each entry point, including examples of role titles, target schools, and more.

Equally a note: don't be intimidated by the Ivy League target schools. Tiptop consulting firms definitely do recruit from schools like Harvard, and Yale, but they also pull from reputable public schools similar the University of Michigan and the University of California Berkeley.

One of the first things you'll discover on the entry points, is the impressive base of operations salaries in consulting. The salary figures below practise not include additional rewards like signing bonuses, performance bonuses, or visitor shares, which can make the real-world rewards even richer.

If your background puts you near ane of these entry points, then you already have a dandy start! Skip to the section below, to learn more than about what a career in consulting could look like for you.

On the other hand, if this looks like a long-shot for you, then we have good news and bad news. The bad news is that top consulting firms are extremely selective. The proficient news is, that thoughtful grooming and a great application can help y'all go your human foot in the door.

No matter how you find your way in, here's an overview of the steps y'all would encounter in a consulting career:

2. The half-dozen steps on the consulting career path ↑

Consulting firms typically take 6 roles from entry-level to partner. Moving from one position to the next typically takes 1 to 3 years. So condign a partner tin have ten+ years, depending on your starting level and speed to promotions.

As yous motion up the ladder your office will change. Entry-level consultants are typically focused on delivering assay and presentations. Mid-level managers brand sure projects are delivered smoothly. And partners and principles focus on selling projects and edifice client relationships.

iii. Understanding job titles across firms ↑

When because a job in consulting, you may come up beyond a multifariousness of part titles. You might see "Analyst", "Associate", "Consultant", etc. This can be extremely confusing, and without further context, those titles could mean well-nigh anything.

Making matters worse, is the fact that many consulting companies take different names for the same type of function. For case, the entry level position in consulting is chosen Business Annotator past McKinsey, Associate by BCG, and Consultant by Oliver Wyman.

In order to simplify this (and hopefully relieve y'all a few headaches), we've put together a generalised set of part titles. Below you'll find 2 tables, which map our generalised titles, to the titles used at specific firms. Using these mappings, you should be able to develop a clearer understanding of the roles listed at top consulting firms.

Levels at MBB+

Levels at Big iv+

4. Role snapshots ↑

Now that we've established the progression and naming convention for consulting roles, let'south further explore each individual level of a consulting career. Nosotros will proceed in order of seniority, starting from the entry-level Business Analyst role.

Notation: curious how nosotros got our numbers? For salaries, we've analysed data sourced from Glassdoor.com. For the years at level data-point, we've drawn from our first-manus noesis, and too the data presented past Rocketblocks.com.

Business analyst snapshot

In a typical case-based consulting project, a Business Analyst will be tasked with information gathering, analysis, and creation of PowerPoint slides. This work is all directly related to the final deliverable of the project, which illustrates how quickly you are given responsibility and high-impact work in consulting. At this level, you are typically less involved in client human relationship management and internal strategy.

Base salary: $65,000 - $lxxx,000

Years at level: 2 - 3 years before promotion

Pros:

Quick ownership and impact
Larn quickly from experienced experts
Protected from political conflicts

Cons:

Little control over your schedule
Little conclusion making ability
Less specialisation

Junior consultant snapshot

A junior consultant volition typically own a functional area. This could be a single work-stream, or a set of implementation requirements. In this part, in that location is a college level of buying compared with a Business Analyst. However, a Junior Consultant still has limited oversight/leadership responsibleness.

Base salary:$85,000 - $95,000

Years at level:one - iii years earlier promotion

Pros:

Ownership of a functional surface area
Greater opportunity for specialisation
Ability to clearly demonstrate personal impact

Cons:

Limited leadership responsibility
More decumbent to long-hours vs. Business Analysts

Senior consultant snapshot

This level is characterised by an increased leadership office, and/or increased specialisation. A Senior Consultant may pb a team of Business organisation Analysts, Junior Consultants, and fifty-fifty other Senior Consultants. In addition, a consultant at this level would be more than involved in internal discussions with the consulting team'southward leadership. They may exist asked for input from their team, or from their area of expertise.

Base salary:$110,000 - $145,000

Years at level:1 - 3 years before promotion

Pros:

Significant leadership opportunities
More than control over your piece of work/schedule
Potentially huge resume-boosting opportunities
Some influence on projection strategy and decisions

Cons:

Face pressure from consulting and client managers
More exposed to backside-the-scenes politics
Challenge of balancing leadership/delegation with chore-execution

Manager snapshot

A manager volition typically accept 5-10 years of feel in consulting, or in a specific industry. At this level, you will be expected to have wide-knowledge of the procedure and strategy for finer completing a project. You will lead multiple teams, and will written report to senior client and internal leaders. This level combines elements of project management, team leadership, customer relationship direction, and strategy. Managers may also be involved in assembling their teams, and interviewing prospective employees for the firm.

Base bacon:$135,000 - $175,000

Years at level: ii - 3 years earlier promotion

Pros:

Lead talented consultants (and maybe cull your team)
Meaning command over your piece of work/schedule
May command a budget, including discretionary spending for team events
Significant influence on project strategy and decisions

Cons:

Often responsible for explaining bug to the client
Increased demands to rest internal piece of work (e.g. interviewing, events, etc.)
Responsible for resolving interpersonal/team bug

Master snapshot

At the Principle level, you lot serve a dual purpose. First and foremost, y'all are responsible for the delivery of an unabridged project. You volition probable have multiple Managers reporting to you lot, each of whom lead multiple teams. Second, you will be expected to begin selling new piece of work for the consulting firm, by building relationships with your current client and through new connections.

Base salary:$185,000 - $230,000

Years at level: 2 - 3 years before promotion

Pros:

Ain entire projection, including strategy and final decisions
Command project budget, invoicing, and spending on internal/external events
Feel with the full project life-cycle (from sale, to delivery, to payment)
Significant control over work and schedule

Cons:

High pressure position between consulting leadership and client leadership
Difficult to balance project execution, with selling new piece of work
Ultimate responsibleness for major project failures
May be partially dedicated to multiple projects at once

Partner snapshot

As a partner, you take a footstep out of the solar day-to-day execution of projects, and into high-level strategy. At this level, your primary focus is selling new work and retaining existing clients. This is done through relationships, and an power to clearly demonstrate the impact of your firm's piece of work. Information technology'southward likewise critical to take a network of high-performers and specialists within the consulting business firm, who you tin can recruit to staff your projects. Broadly speaking, a partner manages a portfolio of projects, and is the conclusion maker for new contracts and initiatives.

Base salary:$500,000 - $5,000,000

Years at level: Indefinite.Later partner, the remaining promotion opportunities are executive positions, like CFO, COO, etc.

Pros:

Exceptional compensation
Influence on internal firm strategy
Ownership of a portfolio of multiple projects
Well-nigh total command of your work/schedule

Cons:

Work and progress are more ambiguous
Heavy focus on sales and promotion
Less hands-on project piece of work

5. Exit opportunities ↑

1 of the most bonny things that come along with a task in consulting, is the impact information technology has on your resume and future opportunities. A few years in the consulting manufacture, can requite you a long-term reputation as a high-performer.

In addition, meridian consulting firms can serve as a spring-lath that launches you down the path to your dream job or lifestyle. Whether you want to be a CEO, a political leader, or accept something unique in-mind, there's probably a consulting alumni who'due south fabricated information technology where yous want to go. Hither'south a few examples, for inspiration:

6. Want in? ↑

If the consulting career path sounds similar your kind of surroundings, so you lot're in the right identify. The interview and application process for consulting jobs is extremely rigorous, merely fear not! We've helped over 30,000 candidates navigate the application and interview process for firms like McKinsey, BCG, Bain, Oliver Wyman, etc.

If you lot're comparison different career paths, such every bit investment banking, take a await at our carve up guides to Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and Morgan Stanley.