The previous post covered finance and entrepreneurship.

Graduate school (MBA, JD, masters & PhD)

Percentage: 25%

Many undergraduate consulting hires pursue graduate school after a few years. Often paid-in-full by their firms (with the agreement to return post-matriculation for several years), it affords a break from the intensity of daily consulting work and an opportunity to pause before moving on to “phase 2″ of their careers.

The majority pursue business school, with law school and Masters/PhD programs coming in 2nd and 3rd, respectively. Consulting can position an applicant well for the best universities – particularly for MBA programs. Some thoughts on business school and consulting can be found in my interview with Marquis.

Which consulting firms are best depends on your intended academic path. For business and law school, aim for the top strategy consultancies. It’s good to look at:

• Where consultants at your firm went to school – this is a good indicator of the paths available
• Alma maters of partners at your firm – a good indicator of where your firm will be known and influential

If you’re interested in Masters/PhD programs, look at companies that specialize in that particular topic if applicable. For instance, Cornerstone – with its economics research focus – is great for prospective Economics PhDs.

Corporate roles predominantly in Fortune 500

Percentage: 25%

Another consulting exit opportunity is a jump to Fortune 500 corporate roles.

Consulting firms are feeders to strategy groups at large Fortune 500s – from Pepsi to Siemens, from Citigroup to Target. These relationships are mutually beneficial, as Fortune 500 companies hire consultants to support their own strategy work.

Click here for reasons why companies hire management consultants

Outside of strategy, consultants are a good fit in roles requiring research, analytics, project coordination, and personnel management. Functions that fit the above criteria include business development, corporate development, select Mergers & Acquisitions, and operating roles.

Benefits of corporate roles include a lighter work day, a more stable work environment, and potential to build an operating skillset. Cons include unpredictable upward mobility, reduced pay and benefits, and less flexibility in choosing projects, managers, and colleagues.

Every management consulting firm is well-suited for this path, although the more prestigious firms provide more opportunities.

Nonprofit consulting

Percentage: 10%

Many consulting firms offer nonprofit consulting cases as a perk. Many consultants choose to pursue nonprofit consulting work fulltime, which comes in several formats:

• Independent nonprofit consulting firm (eg, Logistics Management Institute, Wellspring Consulting)
• Non-profit consulting firms closely affiliated with for-profit consultancies (eg, McKinsey’s Touch Foundation, Bain’s Bridgespan)
• Internal nonprofit fellowships – more common at the largest strategy consultancies
• Actual nonprofits with a track record of hiring consultants (eg, The Clinton Foundation)

The benefits of this career path are clear – eliminating poverty in sub-Saharan Africa is more exciting than increasing operational efficiency 7% at a Philippines call center. Non-profits are closely tied to public sector institutions, so this path can be an interim step to public policy and government roles.

Cons include reduced pay and benefits, long hours, and challenging environments.

If you’re interested in this path, target consulting firms that are known for nonprofit and pro-bono case work, either internally or through strategic partnerships.

There are independent nonprofit consulting firms that offer flex-work arrangements regardless of your background as long as you have a valuable skillset. This can be a great way to get your feet wet. Company names are escaping me now, but I’ll update when I remember

Public sector and government roles

Percentage: 5%

The least typical of consulting exit opportunities.

Many consultants pursue political careers – Bobby Jindal (ex-McKinsey) and Mitt Romney (ex-Bain) are 2 visible examples. Few consultants enter politics and government service directly.

Those that do gravitate towards diverse roles, from advising political candidates to direct political appointments (witness Nancy Killefer’s failed attempt to become Obama’s Chief Performance Officer) to campaign work. These roles are flexible, prize business skills, and provide upward mobility. Few become civil servants in the normal, bureaucratic-sense.

Benefits to this work are clear for those interested in pursuing government careers. Cons include reduced pay, longer hours, uncertain career paths, and less talented colleagues (I’m aware this is a generalization).

Consulting firms best suited for this career path do a lot of public sector consulting. Booz Allen is one obvious example. DFI Consulting is another.

That wraps up our tour of consulting exit options. They are more diverse than investment banking exit opportunities.

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For a complete list of reader questions I’ve answered here at MC, visit the FAQ page. Ctrl-F to find what you need

On to reader questions through the last week:

Will attending a top business school make it much easier to get into management consulting?

Definitely. Target business schools provide a level of access that you don’t get anywhere else. Given how selective the recruiting process is, your best chances of breaking into consulting happen in-school.

If you don’t have that luxury but want to break into consulting, consider the following two elements when debating career paths: prestige and skill-development. Consulting firms respect brand-name companies, and they respect jobs where you learn a broad set of business skills.

What’s wrong with not including interests on your resume?

There’s nothing explicitly wrong. Including interests has no downside, and plenty of upside. So why wouldn’t you do it? It gives resume readers and interviewers an opportunity to understand you better, and there’s always the chance your interests will overlap with theirs. If that happens, it’s a huge boost to your chances (for instance, if you and your interviewer are both avid mountaineers).

How important is undergrad GPA for MBA recruitment. I have a 3.2 avg over all four years but a 3.7 over my final two years (got my act together). Is there anyway to spin this positively on the resume? I also got a 730 on the GMAT if that helps anything.

Not my area of expertise, Marquis talks about MBA recruitment issues at length. My guess is that undergrad GPA plus a variety of academic factors (eg, major, transcript, etc) play a large role in the admissions process. A 730 GMAT helps but won’t completely factor out the 3.2 GPA the first two years. The best way to spin this, if the issue arises, is to explain how the transformation in your approach to studies took place. Provide a good story, and then emphasize repeatedly the positive results that have come in the intervening years.

Is the nature of pre-mba experience important? Currently I work in the strategy/corp. finance department of a Fortune 500 company. I also moved up pretty quickly (only 2.5 years out of school, but promoted to Manager of Long-Term Strategy)

Definitely. Working at a brand name firm and being successful on the job (as shown by promotions, accomplishments, references) makes a huge difference in MBA recruiting (and consulting recruiting as well).

I’m a senior graduating in May 2009. I know that most firms have already done their recruiting this past fall, but unfortunately, I was studying abroad. Do you have a breakdown of how the firms recruit? Are there some firms that do their recruiting in Winter and Spring?

Most on-campus recruiting occurs in a concentrated time-frame (typically Fall for full-time, late-Fall and Winter for summer/internships). I do not have a specific breakdown of how firms recruit, but many will do recruiting on a rolling basis as well. Your best bet is to contact your school’s career services office, as well as HR/recruiting contacts that you have at target firms. As mentioned earlier, online consulting applications are not the best way to go.

In normal years, you may still have a shot – certain offices and departments may be looking to meet headcount; yield rates may be lower than anticipated. In today’s economy, that’s a lot tougher.

The thought of applying directly to the McKinsey New York office, for example, from Sydney never crossed my mind. Is this possible?

The broader question here is the feasibility of applying to international consulting offices. Short answer is possible but tough. Long answer is it comes down to a variety of factors – such as if you’re a good fit for that region (language expertise? local work experience?); the quality of their local recruiting class. Typically if you list international offices on your application and are a strong consulting candidate, they’ll consider you for the office provided language is not a barrier.

Out of curiosity, do you have any confidence that public consulting continues? Seems like exactly the time those things will be cut back.

Given the nature of public-sector consulting (eg, federal, state, and local government consulting) – the size of the clients, the large pocketbooks, the long-term nature of most projects – there may be a slight decrease in demand but I’d expect a larger decline in private-sector consulting.

I got a certificate in business administration from an extension program 2 yrs after a PhD in Mechanical Engineering – should I mention the certificate first in the education section of a consulting resume?

The question about certifications/licenses/etc is a good one. In general, I’d list a few of the most relevant ones – business skills, project management certifications, etc. If it’s not a generally recognizable certification (use common-sense here), provide a short explanation.

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It’s a catch-all title for someone who gets paid to give their advice on particular subjects to companies

In this post, I’ll attempt to answer 3 big questions:

-Who are consultants?
-McKinsey, Accenture, Monitor…what’s the difference between different consulting firms?
-What do consultants actually do?

Who are consultants?

Business consultants as people are generally:

1) Knowledgeable about the topic at hand
2) Well-connected within the industry
3) Have a reputation and/or brand (based on experience, publications, etc)
4) Effective communicators

Companies often face questions that they are incapable of answering or too busy to properly address. This is where consultants come in, armed with the above 4 traits, to help address precisely those questions.

Further reading: Why companies hire management consultants

McKinsey, Accenture, Monitor…what’s the difference between different consulting firms?

The consulting industry can be segmented accordingly:

1) Management consulting firms (eg McKinsey, Bain)
2) One-stop-shop and technology-focused consulting firms (eg Accenture, Deloitte)
3) Niche/boutique consulting firms (eg Mercer HR, Kurt Salmon)
4) Independent consultants (self explanatory)

My categorization isn’t perfect – for instance, boutique consulting shops provide management advice; one-stop-shops often focus on IT/technology and less on strategy.

In addition – many corporations these days have in-house consultings groups (often populated by ex-McKinsey-Bain-BCG-types).

And much of what the venture capital industry does when working with portfolio companies is similar to what Monitor would do for their Fortune 500 clients.

Further reading: Interviews with a McKinsey and Bain consultant

Finally, what do consultants do?

The answer is that it depends. If you’re an analyst/associate (the focus of Management Consulted), your job is to do the grunt work necessary to answer client questions.

You will work with the following pieces of software:

1) Microsoft Powerpoint
2) Microsoft Excel
3) Email…lots and lots of email

You will be provided the following pieces of hardware:

1) Blackberry
2) Durable laptop

Your day will typically include the following (with a more detailed post on this later):

1) Client meetings
2) Team (internal) meetings
3) Data gathering and analysis
4) Slide creation
5) Conference calls

With all the above, your job is to come up with the most comprehensive, data-driven insights and answers that your clients don’t already know. These will form the basis for recommendations that your team will provide, and from which your clients will (ideally) make changes to their business to result in one or more of the following:

1) Increased revenue
2) Reduced costs
3) Clear strategic direction
4) Gameplan for hiring and firing of employees
5) And so forth

Further reading: 11 tips for new consultants

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I offer resume editing and interview prep. I’ll help you stand out from 1000’s of other applicants and land consulting jobs