TOPMBA
Program Guide
MBA in Consultancy
Consulting is one of the most varied career paths an MBA can pursue. As a consultant, you will spend your career helping companies in your area of expertise, with the vibrant nature of work coming from the companies and their intriguing problems.
The possibilities are endless – you could help a software firm in Silicon Valley facing financial difficulties during a buyout one week, then telling a Wall Street Bank how best to invest the week after.
In our recent QS MBA Rankings by Specialization for Consulting, we included 50 different schools which offer the best possible programs for you to head down the consulting route via your MBA.
Top consulting firms hire more MBA graduates than nearly any other type of employer. Students are prepared for a career in consultancy through their MBA as the program helps them to cultivate business expertise, allowing grads to offer deep business insight.
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Consulting skills developed by MBAs
There are consulting classes during MBA programs in the core curriculum and through electives, but any classes taken aim to hone your expertise and knowledge, helping you to develop consulting skills.
An MBA will help you fine-tune your unique strengths, those of which consulting firms – with their own expertise – will be on the lookout for.
Specific consulting skills developed in an MBA include:
- Business problem solving
- Communication skills across industries, platforms, media, and departments
- Analysis of business situations and issues
- Presentation skills
- Corporate strategy skills
How an MBA will help you break into consultancy
Making it easy for recruiters
Many recruiters will have set up recruiting systems to target the best schools – making the process really efficient.
Similarly, the success ratio from a target MBA program is usually higher, so recruiters will need to spend less time and money finding the candidate they want.
Demonstrating consulting skills
If you have an MBA – especially from a top-tier school – you’re demonstrating that you have acquired the basic skills and characteristics necessary to succeed as a consultant, like multi-tasking, a results-oriented approach, and the ability to prioritize.
You know why consulting is right for you
In comparison to candidate who may have a somewhat random background i.e. a joint degree in English and politics; a summer internship with the Department of Education; work experience with Teach for America – their application might make the admissions board think ‘why does this person want to do consulting?’.
On the flipside, a candidate with an MBA has already homed in on why consulting may be at the top of their radar. The real question is, ‘why do you want to work for this firm?’
You have an interesting network
It’s common knowledge that MBA students make valuable connections during their program. Many of your peers will become experts, leaders, and business owners in their chosen industries. Meaning the firm you land a position at, could eventually have access to these people as clients in the future.
MBA specializations that consulting firms look for
Strategy and management consulting firms can suit generalists very well, but there’s no shortage of options out there for those who would rather specialize (including the same strategy and management consulting firms), down to very small ‘boutique’ consultants. Basically, if your specialization chimes with a business sector – which it will – there’s a consultancy out there that may well want you.
According to QS TopMBA.com Jobs & Salary Trends Report 2018/19, the job functions MBAs hired into 2017 table found “MBAs are also valued for their technical skills, with finance roles accounting for a good deal of hiring, as well as the wide-ranging skills that see consultant (34 percent) and general management (38 percent) appear towards the upper end of this table of job functions.”
INSEAD has been ranked as the best business school in the world for specializing in consulting, with 47 percent of its graduates going into a relevant industry. The INSEAD MBA program is split between their Fontainebleau (France) campus and their Singapore campus, giving students a global experience. The complete top 10 can be found below:
1) INSEAD
6) The University of Chicago Booth School of Business
7) The Kellogg School of Management
8) MIT Sloan School of Management
Boutique versus large firm
One of the big questions you’ll ask yourself is whether you’d like to work for a large or small consulting firm. Both firms have advantages and disadvantages – a con for you may be someone else’s pro – and require different skills, with regards to consulting and interpersonal skills.
Large firm
There are typically more offerings of companies to work for within the network of large firms, as well as, higher salaries, upward mobility, the chance to manage other consultants, and the opportunity with household name brands.
All positives yes – but with those perks come longer hours, hectic schedules, lots of frequent (if not constant) travel and relocation (national and international) and typically higher stress levels.
Small firm
Smaller consulting firms are like any other small business where employees are required to be multitalented, highly functional, and motivated.
Consultants in small firms need to be competent enough to find their own work, act as accountants, work in sales, marketing, and strategy alongside their bread and butter consulting work.
Depending on the sector, the agency itself and its relationships, your workload may not be consistent. But this could be a positive as you may have a more flexible personal schedule, travel less, and enjoy a closer, more personal relationship with clients.
Salaries
According to data by indeed, the average salary for a Senior Consultant is US$96,269 per year in the US. Similarly, data by PayScale notes the average salary of a Consulting Manager is US$118,631 (with the potential of bonuses too of course), with high-flyers earning US$168,571.
Whereas the average salary of a Management Consultant at McKinsey and Company, Inc. in the UK is £62,479, with top earners bagging a salary of £124,000.
QS TopMBA.com Jobs & Salaries Trends Report 2018/19 found the average consultant salary globally was $90,900. Adding, “Consulting salaries remain in line with other sectors, as small firms intermingle with the traditional big industry names, who continue to offer some of the biggest returns available.”
Consulting internships
The big-name firms are unsurprisingly those most targeted by MBA candidates and all offer established internship programs which can lead to full-time positions – if you put the work in of course. However, Vault.com’s top 10 summer consulting internships is by no means an exact replica of its top 10 firms overall.
• Infosys InStep Program
• Bain & Company Associate Consultant Intern (ACI) and Summer Associate (SA) programs
• Protiviti US Intern Program
• CapTech Elevate Internship
• Accenture Summer Analyst Program
• PwC Summer Internship Program
• KPMG Internship Program
• Bates White Summer Consultant Program
• Cornerstone Research Summer Associate Program
• Oliver Wyman Consulting Internship
Switching careers to consulting
If you’re looking to switch careers, an MBA will help you improve your expertise, channel it, and move into another area.
An internship during your MBA can be one of the best tests to see whether consulting is for you. Alongside the opportunities, you’ll be able to get involved in real-life projects throughout.
Top consulting firms
US and Canada
According to Vault’s annual survey for 2019, the top 10 consulting firms in North America are:
- McKinsey & Company
- Bain & Company
- The Boston Consulting Group, Inc.
- Deloitte Consulting LLP
- Oliver Wyman
- Putnam Associates
- EY-Parthenon
- PricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory Services LLC
- Bridgespan Group
- Accenture
Europe
Vault.com’s top 10 consultancy firms to work for in Europe are:
- McKinsey & Company Europe
- Bain & Company Europe
- Oliver Wyman Europe
- Roland Berger Europe
- A.T. Kearney Europe
- OC&C Strategy Consultants Europe
- Simon-Kucher & Partners Europe
- Implement Consulting Group
- QVARTZ
- Arthur D. Little Europe
Asia
The equivalent top ten 10 for Asia is not dissimilar:
- The Boston Consulting Group, Inc. Asia
- McKinsey & Company Asia-Pacific
- Bain & Company Asia
- Deloitte (Asia Consulting Practice)
- Roland Berger Asia
- A.T. Kearney Asia-Pacific
- Oliver Wyman Asia-Pacific
- OC&C Strategy Consultants Asia
- Alvarez & Marsal Asia
- Simon-Kucher & Partners Asia-Pacific
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