The Consulting Life, Revealed


By Charmaine N. Clarke



A corner office on the top floor of an upscale high-rise, a blackberry full of meetings to discuss Big Ideas with Fortune 500 CEOs, off-hours spent flying business class and living in five star hotels.

Ah, the life of a successful management consultant - a dream job that brings you shoulder-to-shoulder with the world’s most influential movers and shakers, a position from which you can help shape the business world.

Such is the impression of many MBA students eyeing the consulting field as their first-choice career path after graduation. But life as a consultant can look different from the inside, say working consultants. This month, The LINK tracks down a group of CEIBS alumni working in the high-pressure consulting field to get the real story.

ROSY IMAGE

 “Students originally think that consulting is a very high-income job and that consultants fly everywhere in the world, talking to top-level executives - and that they can change the world,” says Jeffrey Teng (CEIBS MBA 2007), president of the CEIBS Management Consulting Club (CMCC). Teng finds that a few CMCC - hosted discussions with industry players is usually enough to bring them crashing back to reality. There is very little sugar coating during these talks by executives (often CEIBS graduates) working in big name consulting firms. The impact of the club’s events is dramatic: a number of audience members are scared off by what they hear.

For example, after recent club-sponsored talks by representatives from major consulting firms, the four-year-old CMCC’s membership base fell from 93 in October 2007 to 36 in January 2008. The speakers - one in November 2007 and two in January 2008 - did nothing wrong; in fact they did everything right. By providing a frank assessment of the industry, they helped provide direction for CEIBS students who may be better suited for other jobs and strengthened the resolve of those who know that being a consultant is their perfect fit. They also confirmed that some of the stories about the benefits of life as a consultant are actually true.

The positives include the strong possibility of fast-tracking your career. For example, a solid consulting background is an acknowledged way of landing a cushy top management spot once you opt to leave the industry and join an individual firm. And those who do stick with consulting can make it to senior management level in less than a decade.

Salary is clearly another benefit to a career in consulting. Industry insiders say China’s fresh MBA grads average about ¥25,000 per month, adding that this salary increases quickly as one moves up the corporate ladder. China-based consultants also note that while such a salary is competitive for China, entry-level consultants in the U.S. earn 16 times that amount, or US$58,000 a month on average, according to Vault Online Career Library. The good news, in China, is that local salaries are rising and the gap between local and international rates is narrowing.

Not surprisingly, insiders said that while the salary may be attractive by China standards, the trade-off is the amount of hours consultants put in - regularly working on weekends and sometimes even through the night.  It is often the consultant’s job to quickly sift through mounds of data, spot the problem and find a way to fix it, putting tremendous pressure on consultants to deliver immediate results to a highly demanding client.

Shanghai-based consultant Wakeman Gao (CEIBS MBA 2002) paints a clear picture of the ups and downs of the field.  After joining L.E.K. Consulting in China in 2004, he had worked his way up to Manager by early 2007. When Gao recently met with The LINK, he explained that he is still passionate about his job. Looking ahead, he views consulting as a fast-track career path offering the long-term option of seeking a senior management spot in the retail or FMCG industries if he decides to leave the field eventually. The downside of this job, however, is the pace; the long hours on the job have taken a toll on the 34-year-old. “It’s exhausting,” Gao says. When he just joined L.E.K., he worked the industry’s typical 65 to 70-hour workweek. For the last two years, he has worked 68 to 75 hours a week. “I feel a bit tired. But it’s still attractive in that it’s mentally challenging. I feel a lot of personal achievement.”

Mental stimulation and the opportunity to expand and apply that knowledge as you move up the corporate ladder are two of the most frequently mentioned advantages of a consultant’s job. Some interviewees even described consulting as an extension of an MBA programme. Little wonder, then, that consulting is among the top choice career paths for CEIBS graduates. In 2003, 2004 and 2005, consulting consistently ranked among the top four career choices for MBA alumni surveyed. Ten percent of the MBA 2003 class went to consulting firms; nearly 18 percent of MBA 2004 alumni chose the field, making it the second-most-popular field after Industrial (25%). Last year, 16% of MBA 2005 students (who graduated in 2007) chose the field (see graph, CAREER PATHS).

CAREER PATHS
OF CEIBS 2005 MBA CLASS




LANDING A SPOT

LEK Consultant Wakeman Gao (MBA 2002)


IS CONSULTING YOUR DREAM JOB?
Pros
Above-average income
Learn new industries, new management practices quickly
Fast progress in career path
Broad personal network
Top management mindset
Excitement of world wide travel

Cons
Extremely busy most of the time
High pressure in daily work
No specialization
Too 'academic'
Exhaustion of worldwide travel



Big name firms that recruited from CEIBS from 2003 to 2005 include McKinsey & Co., Monitor, BCG, A.T. Kearney, Mercer, L.E.K and Roland Berger. Each of these firms uses grueling recruitment processes that often include several rounds of interviews plus a 30-minute case study. Succeeding in this process, says McKinsey & Co. Junior Associate August Wu (MBA 2005), requires proving that you can think quickly and logically on your feet. “It’s not about the right answer, though the answer should be relevant. What’s more important is to show logical problem-solving skills,” Wu told CEIBS students during a January 10 CMCC-hosted forum.

The packed room of listeners to Wu’s talk was another indication of the popularity of the consulting field. Many of those who attended were not CMCC members but had showed up out of a genuine need to get answers about the consulting field. But oftentimes, those hearing a first-hand account of the consulting career end up disillusioned. CMCC President Jeffrey Teng explains: “After the club’s first event (last November) some club members realized they weren’t compatible with the job - for example, they need more time with their family. I expect more to quit after August Wu’s talk. Those who remain will really be interested in the field.” The club’s numbers did dip after Wu’s talk, but climbed back up to 42 by this February as fresh faces filled the spots left by those who had likely decided consulting was not for them.

For those who remain undaunted by the pressure and pace, what does it take to land a job in the consulting field? CEIBS Career Development Center Consultant Tracy Lee stresses that those who make it must bring something exceptional to the table. In this highly competitive industry, she says, almost everyone fills the basic requirements of being smart, having good communication skills and an MBA degree from a top school. It is vital, she says, for those eyeing the field to figure out early on what special skills they offer. Strengths that would come in handy include: leadership skills, a healthy dose of confidence, language skills, industry background (as a bonus), and a combination of expertise in the China market and international experience.

Lee says that students vying for a consulting job should first determine whether they are truly cut out for life as a consultant. “For MBA students, the typical choices are finance and consulting. I think they always forget about whether they fit as individuals,” she says. If the answer is yes, then proving your mettle is another critical strategy during the recruitment process. 

CEIBS alumnus Jenny Jing (MBA 2005) is one of those who seems made for the industry. Though she has only been a consultant at Roland Berger for just one year, Jing says the job fits her personality. Describing herself as action oriented and thriving under pressure, Jing usually schedules her time so that she finishes projects ahead of deadlines. The 26-year-old, who lives in Shanghai, has so far been able to maintain a desirable work-life balance.

Jing says the job has, for the most part, met her expectations but that may be because she did her research before she signed on. She used networking to ask current and former consultants what the job was really like, so she was prepared for both the pros and cons of the industry.

One of the biggest challenges for many consultants is finding the right work-life balance; many complain about not having enough time to spend with family and friends. However for at least one CEIBS grad who works for a major consulting firm in one of China’s large cities, her long hours at work are actually a bonus. With her boyfriend living in another city, working late helps her keep loneliness at bay. She believes she could eventually balance marriage and wok, but concedes that it may be difficult. “I think getting married and consulting is okay - as long as you don’t have kids, you can manage it. I don’t think I’ll have kids before I’m 30 so I don’t see a problem here,” she says.

However as many in the field have found out, the reality of the job is often different from their expectations. For example, at McKinsey & Co, August Wu was in for a few surprises when he began as a Junior Associate in their Shanghai offices in March 2007. One of the first surprises was the work itself. Wu was “shocked” at how much number crunching is involved. “I didn’t expect to deal with the details so seriously, the rigidity of working with numbers. I thought there was more talking about big ideas. We do, but we have to prove those ideas in a very detailed way,” he explains to The LINK. On the other hand, the job has met his expectations in terms of being “challenging and exciting, an opportunity to learn new things, work in different industries, on different types of problems, provide exposure to senior management, and work with smart people around me.”

CULTURE OF COMPETITION

One of the most difficult aspects of consulting work, insiders said, is the constant need to compete to prove your value with the firm. In an industry full of smart people, the highly competitive atmosphere at many consulting firms is one of the challenges that must be faced head on. That’s one of the lessons Hans Lou (CEIBS MBA 2004) learned fairly quickly after starting as a consultant with IBM in Shanghai. Lou offered the following advice for students entering the field: “You have passion and ideas, but so does everyone else. You need to build up your reputation as soon as possible in a specific area of focus. Then you can get someone at a high level within the firm to mentor you.”

At some of the big name firms that have an ‘up or out culture’, everyone knows that non-performers simply do not survive. Employees either move a notch up the corporate ladder or out the door. Wu views this constant culling as just another challenge to meet while working at McKinsey. “It may seem kind of cruel to some people, but it’s a fair system. It makes space for new blood. It means employees have to perform every year,” he says.


CEIBS Management Conculting Club President Jeffrey Teng (MBA 2007)

GRAGH SOURCE:
MBA2005 grads August Wu, Aaron Gong


ig-name firm has become so burnt out that he had to ask for a two-month sabbatical. The toll that the job has taken on him has come as a surprise to some of his former classmates who remember him as an energetic go-getter who was always a high-performer. While stressing that his need for a short break from work is not solely career-based and the intermission will be a chance to evaluate his life as a whole, the CEIBS grad did acknowledge that the job has negatively impacted his physical health.

The upside is that his company, eager to increase its retention rate, offers that option of a short break to recharge. Not all do, and the less attractive options include a reduced workload accompanied by a salary cut. In extreme cases, the employee may quit.
Others may narrow their focus by becoming internal consultants for individual firms. This is the path that took Hans Lou from IBM to Corning. For Lou, the wider consulting industry lost some of its luster since he left CEIBS in 2005. With an MBA under his belt and a passion to make a difference, he was ready to change the world when he joined IBM as a consultant in December of that year. In July 2007, still searching for a way to make an impact and tired of the breakneck pace and long hours that are the industry norm, he joined Corning as Strategy & Business Development Manager. 


As an internal consultant, Lou still experiences the buzz of formulating strategy but with the added attraction of now being able to follow through with projects and implement his ideas. “To really get results, you have to not only have strategic thinking, but to also execute the strategy,” Lou says of his move to Corning. “Otherwise it’s just words on paper.” His new role has given him a chance to remain in a field he is passionate about, and fuel that passion by implementing his ideas while at the same time improving his work-life balance. As a consultant for IBM, he spent about 80 percent of his time away from home and worked at least one day out of the weekend just to keep up the frantic industry pace. “Now, I’m still on a track and its still going very fast but I can control my own pace within this smaller environment,” he said.

HIDDEN "DOWN-SIDES"

In addition to exhaustion from the breakneck pace, other “down-sides” to consulting also exist. The overall picture that emerged from the CEIBS graduates interviewed for this story is that consulting is an often less-than-glamorous and highly demanding career choice that can wreak havoc on your personal life. Frequent travel quickly loses its  glamour, interviewees say. And even the work itself can involve detailed and boring drudge work at the early period. Thus, you do not get to change the world, at least not with every project.

Even more concerning, some alumni in the field were also concerned about what they called the “dirty work” of the industry. “It’s still called consulting strategy but it’s more like spying,” explained one interviewee. “We get more and more clients who want information on competitors, and we get more due diligence projects. Maybe in other countries it’s not like this, but in China they like to get the numbers of their competitors.” However, another interviewee strongly disagreed with the use of the word ‘spying’, pointing out that there are many ethical ways to do competitor research. “Consulting firms do not have to do all clients want. They can say no to unethical requests,” the interviewee said.

For anyone who thinks the benefits outweigh the less savoury aspects of the job and wants to remain in the wider consulting field for at least another three to five years, it is essential to have a plan to keep exhaustion at bay. Suggestions from CEIBS alumni in the field included: love the job; ensure that you have your family’s support and understanding; accept that you don’t have to be perfect; find a mentor; take regular vacations and get lots of physical exercise. Although not glamorous, it seems that following such basic but “tried and true” advice can be critical as a young consultant strives to win a seat in that high profile corner office, discussing ideas that will change the world.