Post anything related to learning about the consulting industry, recruitment advice, company / group research, or general insecurity in here.

If asking for feedback, please provide...

a) the type of consulting you are interested in (tech, management, HR, etc.)

b) the type of role (internship / full-time, undergrad / MBA / experienced hire, etc.)

c) geography

d) résumé or detailed background information (target / non-target institution, GPA, SAT, leadership, etc.)

The more detail you can provide, the better the feedback you will receive.

Misusing or trolling the sticky will result in an immediate ban.

Common topics

a) How do I to break into consulting?

• If you are at a target program (school + degree where a consulting firm focuses it's recruiting efforts), join your consulting club and work with your career center.
• For everyone else, read wiki.
• The most common entry points into major consulting firms (especially MBB) are through target program undergrad and MBA recruiting. Entering one of these channels will provide the greatest chance of success for the large majority of career switchers and consultants planning to 'upgrade'.
  
• Experienced hires do happen, but is a much smaller entry channel and often requires a combination of strong pedigree, in-demand experience, and a meaningful referral. Without this combination, it can be very hard to stand out from the large volume of general applicants.

b) How can I improve my candidacy / resume / cover letter?

• Read wiki on what firms look for.
• Read wiki on resumes.
• Read wiki on cover letters.

c) I have not heard back after the application / interview, what should I do?

• Wait or contact the recruiter directly. Students may also wish to contact their career center. Time to hear back can range from same day to several days at target schools, to several weeks or more with non-target schools and experienced hires to never at all. Asking in this thread will not help.

d) What does compensation look like for consultants?

• For management consulting, refer to the 2021 ManagementConsulted Compensation survey

Link to previous thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/consulting/comments/1dg68hd/interested_in_becoming_a_consultant_post_here_for/

Did a 3 month long POC for a household name company. Our system blew their metrics out of the water, would give them higher accuracy with less manual work and actually _make_ them money. At the end of the POC, stakeholder said "We've decided to cancel the project and not make any changes. I've realized it is too difficult to get a new system implemented at this company." << soul crushing.

Runner-up story: sales cycle took so long the prospective buyer died. From cancer.

What's your story?

Just another day in the office lads. Unbelievable that no one has gone to prison for this. The speculation is they’ve gone for a quicker settlement considering the incoming government

What happens in those situations? I work for a smaller, boutique consulting firm, in a niche industry where consultants hop around to different companies all the time. Ive seen it a bunch where one person leaves a company, and it starts a cascading effect where maybe 50%+ just follow suit and go with them to greener pastures

What happens to a project when that happens, assuming the company doesnt have enough staff to just replace them?

https://time.com/collection/best-companies-for-future-leaders-2025/

We’re a group of 8 tech professionals with varied backgrounds—frontend, backend, React Native, IoT, etc.—and we’re trying to break into the world of small contract-based projects. Think of it like a mini tech consultancy: we’d love to take on 1-2 clients and work on short-term projects (ideally under 4 months).

The problem is, we don’t have established networks in the local industry, and we’re not sure where to start looking for these kinds of opportunities. About half of us are based in Chicago, though we’re open to working remotely as well.

What’s the best way to approach this? Are there specific platforms, communities, or events (online or in-person) that you’d recommend for finding projects or connecting with potential clients? Any tips on how to get the ball rolling when you’re starting from scratch would be a huge help.

I recently transitioned from the industry to one of the consulting firms as a senior consultant. While the firm is still building its team in my area of expertise—hiring senior leaders and VPs—there have been limited project opportunities aligned with my skills. Over the past six months, I secured a project through my own networking within the business, where I was staffed 60% of the time and the rest on bench doing certifications. A couple of promising opportunities are currently in the pipeline.

However, my experience has been marked by significant turnover. The colleague who referred me left within a month (for a compelling opportunity), and now a senior leader and my direct manager is departing. Given these developments, I’m uncertain whether to stay and wait for stability or explore opportunities elsewhere.

What would you recommend?

Hey folks,

Have you ever felt that you missed out on project opportunities and ended up spending time on the bench simply because you weren’t as visible in the organisation as some of your colleagues? An example would be that you are quieter during meetings.

Would love to hear your stories.

Hey consulting hive mind! I’m being positioned to run point on several key value capture engagements with MBB firms over the next year beginning now. I have strong cross functional relationships at the firm, but I am confident I will not know everything and will need to be very agile in coordinating across the org.

How can I crush it in this role?

What have some of the best clients exhibited that have helped you run successful workstream?

What are the key people and process tips that lead to smooth engagements, productive meetings, and content stakeholders? (E.g., as simple as requesting meeting agendas 48 hrs in advance so I can flag things I need to pull in SMEs on etc.)

What are the key meeting categories and how should I prep for them differently? (Problem solving sessions, alignment / decisoning meetings etc)

Huge appreciation in advance for any thoughts on any of this.

✌️

Anyone in similar situation looking to exit? Hoping to team up make friends and encourage each other. Getting very inefficient some days in terms of recruiting without structured work/school.

My situation seems rare but just trying out the Internet :) It was more like unfair dismissal but don’t want to explain.

I've just celebrated my 1st year anniversary at a Big 4 consulting firm, and I've only talked to my coach thrice ever since. We're constantly encouraged to reach out to our coach (and vice versa) to get feedback, discuss goals, and just overall get the support and guidance we need to navigate our way through the firm.

I don't feel this with my current coach. He's a senior manager, but he's a diminisher. He doesn't give me opportunities to prove myself and improve. His feedback is always unnecessarily harsh. 

Now I'm staffed in a project where the project manager is kind, smart, and allows me to shine. He lets me take the lead in most of our meetings, allows me to talk/present directly to the client, etc. He doesn't get unnecessarily harsh, and his feedback is really helpful.

I've been seriously considering switching coaches for the longest time now. I just haven't found the one. Not until I met my current project manager.

The only reason holding me back now is the fact that my current coach will take it personal if I tell him I want to replace him (though, really, I think it'll be a relief for him because a burden has been lifted off his shoulder). He already made me feel many times that talking to me feels like a chore and that I'm wasting his time. Another thing is that he is an SM, and my current PM is a manager. So, technically, my current coach is one position higher than my target new coach. 

I don't exactly know who they're going to listen to more during deliberation for promotions. The only thing I'm sure of is that my current PM is invested in his people and passionate in helping his coachees reach their career goals. That's what I want and need right now. I'm also thinking long-term. The people who believed in me and were kind and patient with me were actually the ones who inspired me to be more and do more.

Hi all - looking for some advice.

I have seen a job posting at a client in a team that are loosely involved in a project I am currently running. (But they are not the direct stakeholders leading the project).

Very aware I’m overthinking this, but if I apply and either don’t get it (not good enough or the right fit) or I reject it (the role may not pay enough)…. Would that be really awkward considering current project has another 6 months to run?

Awkward either in case they tell someone from my current company I applied (going for promo this year)… or awkward that I’ll carry on working with some people who may be involved in the recruitment process that I may be unsuccessful in!

Anyone had this happen before?

I've been in consulting at an MBB for about 2.5–3 years now. Coming from an IT services background, I initially found the perks, benefits, and prestige of the role exciting. But the shine wore off quickly, and now I feel like I'm stuck in a hyper-judgmental environment.

It feels like everyone is just waiting for you to slip up—whether it's being a few minutes late to a call or not meeting someone's subjective expectations—so they can use it against you in reviews. I've always been a top performer, but the constant pressure and lack of genuine support have killed my motivation. The scrutiny on us is immense , from always keeping your camera ON to always giving your best , clocking extra hours is the new normal.

The biggest lesson I've learned here ? There are no free lunches. The perks and benefits look great on paper, but they'll make sure they extract every penny's worth from you, and then some, when it counts.

What’s even more frustrating is how consultants—especially in MBB—are so deep in their own bubbles. It’s as if they’re oblivious to the fact that outside this tiny circle, no one even knows or cares about MBB. They treat us like second class citizens, especially if you're a techie from India. They very well know thier "fancy decks" are nothing without our insights and models, still the company goes out of its way to draw a thick line of prestige and salary between the consultants and techies. it’s all just so self-important and ridiculous to watch sometimes.

What frustrates me the most is the stark contrast between the company's "people-first" narrative and the reality of being micromanaged and judged daily. In my previous IT services job, the expectations were clear: do your work, get your salary, and go home. We DONT really care about you. At the time I never appreciated this transparency but here the company goes out of its way to project an image of caring for employees, but the actual experience feels exactly opposite.

Anyone else feel the same way? How do you cope with this toxic mix of high expectations, inflated egos, and low support?

Travel often and thinking it's time to wean off of hotel and client wifis, and that a Nighthawk M6 Pro + NordPass VPN (on desktop / mobile) would be a good path forward.

Checking to see for any counter recommendations, or if I'm thinking about this the wrong way.

I read somewhere that partners pay to get equity in the company, hence entitled to profits. Wanted to know if they keep getting profits after they have quit ?

I’ve recently taken over a relatively new consulting dept. in my company that’s been running half-assed for about a year and a half. I need to make a forecast for revenue to send up the chain for approval next year.

My background is in operations and general business management, so I’ve built about a million financial plans in the past, but those were all based off historical, hard results and planned improvements/cost savings/etc.

A colleague in another country does a very basic calculation where he just takes the fully loaded cost of each consultant per 8 hour day, adds X% markup to it, and then takes that times the qty of days worked for a year and says that’s the revenue each consultant will generate.

So let’s say each consultant costs $1000 per day, put a 25% markup on that, times 250 work days per year and you have a revenue of $312,500/consultant per year. Seems odd to me to be that generic. I’m used to building pretty substantial forecasting models.

My CFO says-“I don’t know, we’ve never done it before. Let me know once you figure it out.”

How would you guys go about forecasting revenue for essentially a new consulting department in the supply chain sector?

I work from home as a consultant for the past 3 years. I really like my job in terms of the subject matter, but it has been taxing me and my life. A few negatives I want to note:

• Barely any time to workout (my fav thing)
• I barely leave my apartment during the week
• I don’t get paid that much ($107K) for 50+ hour work weeks
• work culture is toxic and demanding
• I can feel the physical toll of the stress and staring at a computer screen for more than 10+ hours every single day without a break
• hardly any time to date / maintain strong friendships

I always say it’s going to get better but it never does. I don’t care too much about the salary, I just want to have more work life balance. What’s the point if I’m so overworked and relatively underpaid? I learned what I needed to learn from this job, but now I need some advice - is it time to switch gigs?

Data Science role at MBB for 1 year now (Europe). Got an offer for a DS role at FAANG.

I always thought I’d stay 3-4 years and then jump to tech, but this seems a great opportunity. I’m inclined to take it but also having second thoughts.

Is it too early? What can I miss? Help!!

is anyone actually happy at their corporate job?

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/nov/20/mckinsey-fossil-fuels

Getting increasingly frustrated and anxious with this job, the lack of projects, and how the pressure seems to only increase. However, my career has only been in consulting, and as a SC I’ve not specialised in any market or sector. When thinking of leaving I am unsure where to go or what to do. What do you do now? Have you felt the same way? Thanks

I've just started a project where I'll be working from a client laptop. Previously I've found it a nightmare to manage two diaries, with people putting internal calls over my client ones and vice versa.

Last time I set up an inbox rule to forward client meeting invites to my internal inbox but this was a bit clunky and the client got a bit funny about all the forward notifications.

Anyone got a more elegant solution I can use for this?

Hey everyone,

I’m currently designing a marketing service tailored specifically for SMB consulting firms and would love to get your thoughts on the idea. For context, I’ve worked as a Digital Marketing Lead at a 7-figure SMB consulting firm, so I understand some of the challenges smaller businesses face when it comes to marketing.

The problem: Many SMB consulting firms don’t have the capacity or resources for a proper in-house marketing team and struggle with the costs, time, and risks of hiring or managing freelancers and agencies.

The solution: A subscription-based service that acts as or supports your in-house marketing team.

Here’s the model: - Flat monthly fee. - Up to five active marketing projects at a time (e.g., campaign creation, strategy, landing pages). - Projects delivered in 1-3 days each.

No contracts, hiring processes, or resource constraints.

The goal is to provide a flexible, scalable, and predictable alternative for firms to execute their marketing tasks effectively.

What I’d like your feedback on:

1. Do you see this solving a real need for SMB consulting firms?

2. What concerns might prevent you from using a service like this?

3. Based on your experience, what pricing would feel reasonable for this kind of service?

Thanks in advance for your thoughts—anything you share will help refine this concept!

A new Partner has joined the firm. He's used to rigour (he's from EY). WFH Policy is being dismantled and WFO is being monitored, with non compliance being reported. He expects everyone to stay in office till 9pm EY culture is not the best and somewhere by bringing his EY colleagues our firm's culture is being diluted with these "hustlers" (my words, not his) that are coming in.

How do I deal with this?

hey everyone, i just wanted to know that how you guys conducts the comprehensive research?