IIT Kanpur career awareness

workshop: Consulting
04th January 2009

Agenda
What is consulting?
- What is the role of consultants
- Why do companies hire us
- Major companies globally and in India

What are the career options after consulting?

Pros and cons of consulting
What is a typical day in consultants job
- Hierarchy
- Job profile of an undergraduate in first 2 years

Are you fit for consulting?

- What skills matters
- What should you be expect from you first job

How to prepare for consulting job?

- Resume
- Interview

Other careers similar to consulting

What is consulting?

Broad based
strategy advisors

Expertise Providers

SI Houses

Accounting Firms

Global majors: Bain, BCG, McKinsey

Boutique consulting: Opera, Parthenon

A.T. Kearney, Hewitt

Accenture, IBM, Infosys,

TCS, Wipro

PWC, KPMG, Deloitte

What do strategy consultants

do?
CEOs & top managements most important strategy issues
How do we respond to a
rapidly
growing new
competitor?

Should we acquire
another
company to
win in our market
place?

How should we expand

geographically?
Organically? Through
acquisition?

How do we respond to
changing consumer
behaviour?

How do we create the

optimal manufacturing
and distribution
footprint?

How do we create a
flexible and dynamic
organization?

Managements important operational and implementation issues

How to reduce cost and
streamline
manufacturing?

How to implement
changes in the
organisation: Program
management

Why do companies hire

strategy consultants?

We dont have the

time or resources to
focus on solving
long-term problems

They provide
an external,
objective
perspective

They have
specialist skills
that we dont
have in-house

Agenda
What is consulting?
- What is the role of consultants
- Why do companies hire us
- Major companies globally and in India

What are the career options after consulting?

Pros and cons of consulting
What is a typical day in consultants job
- Hierarchy
- Job profile of an undergraduate in first 2 years

Are you fit for consulting?

- What skills matters
- What should you be expect from you first job

How to prepare for consulting job?

- Resume
- Interview

Other careers similar to consulting

Consulting can be a great

spring board for your career
Go to business school

International business
schools

Explore other careers

Private equity

Investment banking
Indian business schools

General management

Corporate Strategy /
business development

Agenda
What is consulting?
- What is the role of consultants
- Why do companies hire us
- Major companies globally and in India

What are the career options after consulting?

Pros and cons of consulting
What is a typical day in consultants job
- Hierarchy
- Job profile of an undergraduate in first 2 years

Are you fit for consulting?

- What skills matters
- What should you be expect from you first job

How to prepare for consulting job?

- Resume
- Interview

Other careers similar to consulting

What does consulting offer

you?
Great learning opportunity
Interesting, varied work
Constantly challenged
Interesting and fun people to
work with
My performance to be
recognized and rewarded
Springboard to other things I
may want to do in the future

What consulting does not

offer you?
Industry specialization
High intellectual work
Leadership roles in the first 1-2
years
High responsibility
40 hours a week job
International travel

Agenda
What is consulting?
- What is the role of consultants
- Why do companies hire us
- Major companies globally and in India

What are the career options after consulting?

Pros and cons of consulting
What is a typical day in a consultants job
- Hierarchy
- Job profile of an undergraduate in first 2 years

Are you fit for consulting?

- What skills matters
- What should you be expect from you first job

How to prepare for consulting job?

- Resume
- Interview

Other careers similar to consulting

What is the hierarchy in

consulting?
Partner
IIM graduate
Manager / EM
(4-5 years)
Consultant / Associate
(3 years)
Senior associate consultant/ Junior associate
(1 year)
Associate consultant / Business analyst
(2-3 years)

IIT graduate

What is a typical day in an

associate consultants job
Tools and resources used by
junior consultants

Activities performed by junior

consultants

Power point for client

presentations

Internet research to collect

information

Excel for financial models

Primary interviews with

industry experts

Specialized data research

Interaction with clients

middle management

tools to collect information

Data analysis and

implications for business
Slides to communicate
business insights

Case example
Example 1: One of the largest textile and apparel
company was losing market share and going into
loss, we helped them reduce cost and increase sales

Example 2: A first generation entrepreneur

wanted to formalize and expand his business, we

created a growth plan and targets and how he can
achieve those targets

Agenda
What is consulting?
- What is the role of consultants
- Why do companies hire us
- Major companies globally and in India

What are the career options after consulting?

Pros and cons of consulting
What is a typical day in consultants job
- Hierarchy
- Job profile of an undergraduate in first 2 years

Are you fit for consulting?

- What skills matters
- What should you be expect from you first job

How to prepare for consulting job?

- Resume
- Interview

Other careers similar to consulting

Are you fit for consulting

What skills matters

Ability to approach problems in

structured way
Objective and logical thinking
Decent communication skills
Drive / passion to excel

What should you be expecting

from your first job

Consulting is no rocket science

Exposure to different aspects
of business
Working in a young and
dynamic environment

Agenda
What is consulting?
- What is the role of consultants
- Why do companies hire us
- Major companies globally and in India

What are the career options after consulting?

Pros and cons of consulting
What is a typical day in consultants job
- Hierarchy
- Job profile of an undergraduate in first 2 years

Are you fit for consulting?

- What skills matters
- What should you be expect from you first job

How to prepare for consulting job?

- Resume
- Interview

Other careers similar to consulting

How to prepare for

consulting job?
What should your resume
reflect

How to prepare for case

studies

Academic or any other

achievements

Practice a few case studies

Drive to excel

Tips

Ability to take initiatives

Positions of responsibility

- Harvard / Kellogg case studies

- Find more on internet
- Approach problems in a
structured way
- Its the way you solve the
problem, not the solution
- Try to come across as an
energetic person

Agenda
What is consulting?
- What is the role of consultants
- Why do companies hire us
- Major companies globally and in India

What are the career options after consulting?

Pros and cons of consulting
What is a typical day in consultants job
- Hierarchy
- Job profile of an undergraduate in first 2 years

Are you fit for consulting?

- What skills matters
- What should you be expect from you first job

How to prepare for consulting job?

- Resume
- Interview

Other careers similar to consulting

Other careers similar to

consulting
Research and Analytics
-Inductis
-Grail research
-McKinsey knowledge center

IT & SAP consulting

-SAP
-IBM
-Accenture
-PWC
-Deloitte