Transport and logistics consultant - Rup Banerjee
Consulting makes for a brilliant business boot camp and will be attractive to anyone who wants to get under the skin of lots of different companies and how they work. Many of the people we spoke to loved the exposure they were able to get early on in the role, being in meetings with the senior management of Client businesses almost from the start.
Many consultants will specialise into a particular area of consulting like restructuring, integration, technology or logistics. There is also a broad distinction between strategy consultants and those that actually implement a strategy. The routes into consultancy are almost as varied as the job. You can join with no experience or as many do move into consultancy having gained some specific knowledge within a business. We also found that quite a few consultants were also chartered accountants as they had seen great benefit in really understanding how company financials work before embarking on a career in consultancy.
The huge variety offered by consultancy brings with it a great deal of travel and this may or may not be a positive thing depending on your preferences. It’s very common to be sent away to work on projects at a Client site for many weeks at a time and very often it will be too far away for you to travel to from home. So spending long periods away is part and parcel of many a consultants life. The work itself is likely to peak and trough quite a lot. When a project is on you’re likely to be very busy, regularly putting in late nights and weekend work. When projects finish and before the next one begins you could find yourself quite happily leaving the office at 5.30.
Salaries in consultancy are good and often include bonuses. Those starting out at the big firms should expect 30K+, rising to about 50K with three years experience. By 7 years you’ll be looking at upwards of 100K.