Management consulting is the practice of providing advice to organizations to help improve their performance. Consultants work with companies to solve problems and optimize processes. This career path offers intellectual challenge, travel opportunities, and good salaries but is very competitive.
When choosing a consulting firm, know the difference between strategy consulting and management consulting. Strategy consulting focuses on the executive level and requires analytical skills to build business cases. Management consulting is more operational.
Key duties include:
- Understanding the client’s problem
- Gathering data
- Developing solutions
- Managing client relations
Consultants ask questions to start conversations that may relate to growth, technical issues, etc.
While demanding, consulting provides long-term benefits like ongoing learning. Consultants bring an outside perspective to identify challenges and opportunities, and they can complete projects more efficiently than staff.
There is significant competition for entry-level positions because the pay is generous and job security is reasonable. Digital transformation does impact consulting, mostly in how customer data is collected and used. Relationships are still vital.