[UseofWeapons1]

For a different take: Management Consultant

Workday:

- 8 AM - Wake up, shower, shave, etc.

- 8:30-9 AM - Ride the subway in to the office

- 9-12 PM - Calls, meetings, data analysis, output creation (primarily in word, powerpoint, and excel)

- 12-12:30 PM - Lunch (but this can shift around widely based on meetings)

- 12:30-7 PM - Calls, meetings, data analysis, output creation (primarily in word, powerpoint, and excel), usually with a half hour break at some point

- 7 PM - dinner is delivered to the office

- 7-~9PM - finish up work for the day

- 9-9:30 - head home

- 9:30-12PM - unwind (internet, side projects, video games, etc.)

It's hard to define an average day, as my end time can be 6 PM, 9 PM, or 1 AM, but 9 PM is probably close to average. The work that I do on a given day can also vary widely. I've got a light day today, hence the comment.

[ohstopitu]

How does one become a Management Consultant (and how much experience would one need to become one) ?

Is it something you enjoy?

[UseofWeapons1]

There's two major entry points to management consulting, straight out of college and post-MBA. I did an internship after my junior year, and took the full-time offer. Most firms also hire out of business school. There's certainly exceptions to this rule, especially when firms are seeking industry expertise, but those make up the majority of folks.

My level of enjoyment varies based on the cases I'm on. It's generally interesting, it's certainly fast-paced, and I very rarely count down the hours before I can leave work (there's no face-time policies). But after almost four years here, it can definitely get monotonous. Still, I've learned more than I would at almost any other job, and it's taught me a great work ethic, so I'm grateful for that.

[ohstopitu]

What sort of skills would come in use for such a position?

I'm a Software Engineer (graduated in 2016) and considering a full time MBA (2 yrs) next year. This sounds like something I'd enjoy - just wanted to get more info from someone in the field.

[UseofWeapons1]

At the pre-MBA level, interviews often just test for the right mindset and approach to problem-solving. Very little hard skills are expected prior, unless you're applying somewhere with strong expertise (life sciences comes to mind).

Post-MBA, they'll still hire from most industries and backgrounds, but take into account prior experience. The interviews will have case questions, where you'll walk through a small case with an interviewer (e.g. a multi-step case on a company, looking at their profit levels, expansion strategy, and similar). There really aren't that many hard skills required. However, the difficulty is in getting an interview. They generally recruit primarily from top 10 business schools, although the largest firms likely cast a wider net. I'm not entirely clear on the post-MBA recruitment process and what exactly they look for. I'd imagine coding skills would not be a negative, provided you could convince interviewers that you were actually interested in consulting, but I'm a little doubtful they would be seen as a strong positive either.

[stefek99]

9 PM average - normal in the industry?

[UseofWeapons1]

Relatively normal, yes. I have friends at a number of other firms, and most have had similar work-life balances. It has a huge variance to it though; in January I worked until 6 PM most weeks, but for the past month or so it's been closer to 10 or 11 PM on average.

With seniority in the industry comes flexibility, so many of the VPs are able to take 6-9 PM off to be with their family, but even they'll come back online after that for a couple of hours.