BCG' s session on Consulting Careers

Representatives from The Boston Consulting Group visited ISB on 17 August 2006 to conduct a session on “Careers in Consulting”. The main agenda of the session was to address the specific questions of students on careers in consulting and to dispel some of the common myths that enshroud the profession. The session was conducted by Arvind Subramaniam, Ravi Srivastava, Rohit Chhapolia, Vishal Sharma and Ramesh Jha.

The event started with the Arvind inviting specific questions and queries from the students. The key questions that were asked during the session were as follows:
What are the different types of Consulting?
How to make the most of the management programme at ISB from the perspective of making a career in Consulting?
What are the key characteristics that Consulting Firms look for in prospective candidate?
What does the life of a Consultant entail – Work Life balance?
What is the Career progression in a typical Consulting firm?
Myths about Consulting

The speakers started with clearly defining and differentiating between the different types of Consulting – Management, Functional and Operational. Further, they addressed the above mentioned questions by citing examples and instances from their own experiences and their career progression in the firm. They also gave an insight on the diversity of projects and engagements that they had handled and impressed on the fact that each engagement is unique to a large extent and entails its own set of challenges. The theme that emerged from the discussion was that Consulting is all about “Out of the Box” thinking and the tools and methodology used in one project cannot be blindly applied to all projects. They also gave an insight on the problems and challenges faced by them as consultants in their day to day work life and gave a perspective on how they went about overcoming these challenges. They elaborated on and dispelled some of the common myths that surround consulting and helped the students get a clear understanding of the profession as a whole.

Towards the end of the discussion, the speakers addressed specific questions regarding the recruitment process and how to prepare for the same. However, the specific details of the interview preparation process were not addressed and would be taken up in the interview specific sessions in the coming terms. It was a highly interactive session which ended with the speakers informally interacting with the students on a one on one basis. This exercise gave the students an opportunity to express their individual concerns and get answers to questions which were probably not answered during the session.

Posted by Sunanda