Sunday, July 30, 2006

What is Consulting?

The consulting club conducted its first major event today. It was a panel discussion on a Consultant’s work profile and culture across different consulting firms. The discussion was moderated by our Deputy Dean Ajit Rangnekar.

Three Alums: Bejoy Suri from Accenture, Anshuman Biyani from BCG and Rohit Kapoor from Mckinsey took part in the discussion.

Most of the discussion was centered around the kind of work consultants do in general with focus on strategy firms. What is consulting? What kind of work the consulting firms do? How is a typical day in a consultant’s life? How do you grow and learn in a consulting firm?—All these and many more such questions in the minds of many students looking at consulting careers post ISB were effectively answered.

The alums discussed in detail the kind of projects they have been doing since they joined their respective firms. The spoke at length about their experiences and touched upon the various assignments they have been involved in, to give the students present a deep insight into the life of a consultant. Ajit provided us with his valuable comments and narrated his own experiences as a consultant to add to the discussion and drive home the issues being discussed.

A consultant’s typical day was also discussed and it was emphasized, that though consulting careers give you a great opportunity to constantly learn, innovate and challenge yourself, it’s a tough job at the end of the day and you need to be one up always to succeed. Further, it was clearly mentioned that consultants had to travel a lot and keep away from their base offices for long periods adding to the challenges of the job.

Later an interactive session with alums was conducted to build upon the discussions and answer certain unanswered questions in detail.

The consulting club would like to thank Bejoy, Anshuman and Rohit for taking time out to be with us. We also thank Ajit for agreeing to moderate the discussion and provide us valuable insights on consulting careers.

-v

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

What is Consulting?
that Q was never ans. in ur post!!!

cmmon it wld be a good idea if u cld give some insights abt it n any informatiive link for the same and/or link for the consulting club

Anonymous said...

Great job Co2007! Please promote this blog amongst the alums... i will also do the needful.
--Yash

Venkat said...

Jasmine,

In a nutshell management consulting is all about solving business problems. A consultant typically deals with CEO's problems.

Most of the consulting firms deal with problems related to business and operational strategy.

Websites of McKinsey or BCG should give you a good idea-- as the kind of work they do is pretty much the benchmark for consulting.

There are various smaller firms as well that undertake specialised consulting assignments.

Anonymous said...

Read the book "How Management Consultants Steal Your Watch and Then Tell You the Time" By Martin Kihn

Anonymous said...

Could you please post MOMs ( :-) ) ,if at all made, of such sessions. This will help people outside ISB or applicants to know more about ISB.