Hanging out at the airport (flight delays, thanks polar vortex), and just came across this article ""Here's What Consultants Actually Do All Day". As a newish user, I can't post a link so either Execu|Search for it on Business Insider or read the highlights below:
4:30 a.m. — Wake up and head to the airport.
Tierney takes a cab or a car depending on what's easier. Deloitte covers all transportation expenses while he's on the road.6:30 a.m. — Catch the flight.
Usually the Monday morning flights are at 6:30 or 7 a.m.9:00 a.m. — Flight lands, hop in a car to get to the client.
10:30 a.m. — Arrive at office, get coffee, and start work.
Tierney says he spends the first few hours on site making "multiple coffee runs," sifting through weekend emails, and reviewing material before meeting the client.1:30 p.m. — Break for a half-hour lunch.
Lunch can be hit-or-miss depending on where you're working. "I was on a project in Columbus, Ga., at this bank, and Columbus is in the middle of absolutely nowhere," Tierney said. "So we're going to fried chicken places, and that's the only option."2:00 p.m. — Begin the day's meetings.
From 2 to 4 p.m., Tierney says he'd meet with the client to get a better understanding of their job and their company. He calls these "walkthroughs" and says they give you the "nuts and bolts" of the project.4:00 p.m. — Catch up on emails again and meet with the team manager.
Consultants spend the next few hours reviewing what they've learned, making sure they understand the client, and coming up with a game plan. When they're not doing that, Tierney says, they're busy preparing PowerPoint slides and fixing details like font size in existing presentations.7:00 p.m. — Grab drinks and dinner.
Assuming he's not swamped with a project (and needs to eat at the office), Tierney says he and the team will usually go out for drinks and dinner on Deloitte's dime. "That's always fun, especially if you're on a good team," he says.8:00 p.m. — Head back to the hotel.
On a normal night, Tierney gets back to the hotel around 8 and tries to find a gym. If he has a rental car, he also sometimes drives around the area looking for a movie theater or something fun to do.Rest of the night — Do a bit more work, and then get some sleep.
Most consultants will log on and do another hour or so of work back at the hotel, Tierney says. That includes checking emails, fixing proposals, and doing some internal stuff that Deloitte calls "partner development work." He tries to get six hours of sleep before getting up to do it all over again."TL;DR: A third-year at Deloitte gave his typical Monday, causing people in the comments to post, "I KNEW CONSULTANTS ONLY WORKED TWO HOURS A DAY!!!".
So, Business Insider, here is my typical Monday as a consultant. Please post yours as well.
3:15 am: Wake-up and fly to airport. I set my Keurig machine to brew at this time so I have a quick cup ready when I hop out of the shower. I'll fire up the laptop, check emails for last minute scheduling changes, check the weather for flight delays, and fire off some quick emails until my cab arrives at 4 am.
6:00 am: Catch flight. I try to get work done, but sometimes after a long weekend I'll use the flight to catch up on sleep.
9:00 am (two hour flight and one hour time change): Get to airport. I'll hang around the baggage claim area until a few others on my project arrive (from other home cities) and then go to the rental car station. Nothing says style like riding in a Ford Fusion!
10:00 am: Arrive at client site. I'll walk around the halls of the floor, stop in and say hi to some of the project team members (ask how the weekend was, little Johnny's t-ball game, etc.). I try not to schedule meetings before noon just in case of any outbound flight delays, so the next hour or so revolve around meeting with the project team and going over day, week, month, etc. status and objectives.
12:00 pm: There's no typical day, so a Monday afternoon will usually be made up of meetings with the client and Execu|Searchting work in between. Ratio of meetings to work is (on average) 50/50.
5:00 pm: The client team clears out, so I'll use the lull to catch up on emails and lower priority items I've put off throughout the day. If you're a third-year "fixing details in a Power Point," you probably never got promoted.
7:00 pm: Check-in at hotel. By this time I'm starving, and will be group texting project team members to see who wants to go out to dinner and who is too busy. Even when not swamped with client work, there are always internal initiatives to be working on. I'd say about half the team gets dinner while the other half stays in and works.
7:30 pm: Grab drinks and dinner. Being on the road destroys your waistline, so I'll try to eat healthy and limit the drinking to a minimum. Monday nights are usually the least busy of the week, so it's a great time to catch up with the team and see how everyone is doing both in and out of working environments.
9:00 pm: Head back to hotel. I've never seen a movie while traveling, and gym time is usually in the early morning, so my nights consists of work. This lasts until around 11 or 12, which is when I'll call for my 5:30 am wake-up call to start it all over again.
This was a little rushed, but I felt that would match the journalistic quality of Business Insider (and I have a gate change).
Here's the link: http://www.businessinsider.com/what-consultants-do-2014-2
This has been making the rounds at my friends firms, one of my friend's BAs says the kid in the article made a bunch of mistakes
This comment calls him out as well arealconsultant on Feb 5, 3:25 PM said: "Consultant" is a strong word for Tim, who works in company's ERS practice. His "average" workday is far off from what a real consultant at Deloitte (or any other firm for that matter) does.
Wow this sounds pretty tough...
Doesn't sound like my typical day at all.
Nailed it. Even on the same project with the same client, one day you might be in a day long meeting (for example some workshop going over process/system design or requirements), and the next you might have no meetings working on deliverables all day. The fact that my day-to-day tasks can vary that greatly is my favorite part of the job.
The travel can get rough, and it's the primary reason a lot of people choose to leave consulting after 3-5 years (especially if they want to settle down with a family). The good news is (as stated by the BI source) you don't pay for meals while on the road, and accumulate a TON of frequent flier miles and hotel points. Not only will you have enough miles for a trip to Europe (alt-travel sure as hell won't get you there), you'll have a high enough status where you get first class upgrades frequently.
I don't knock Tim for sharing his schedule, I knock Tim for not checking the final version of the article to see how he's going to be portrayed (and of course naming his firm, client locations, etc.).
Would be interesting in hearing more of these from real consultants. Sounds pretty miserable lol
Only 6 hours of sleep? I am not looking forward to that.
6 hours is a decent amount of sleep. Once you have done it for a while, your body will adjust and you will be fine. They key is to get some exercise as well so your body is a bit 'more tired' and your sleep is more restful.
First, to the aspiring consultants here please don't develop the attitude that this consultant seems to have. Phraases like "on firm's dime" really don't do our work justice. We are lucky to work for firms that give us this level of responsibility, and even more so clients willing to work with you. Not many twenty-somethings get the opportunity to work with Execu|Searchtives on their biggest challenges, so respect the privilege.
Sunday Night Fly-Out: I prefer to be well rested, so if I can I will fly out the night before. I will do reading on the plane, but generally find it difficult to do tasks requiring critical thinking or the attention to detail required. Formatting, or reExecu|Search / building templates are the only creating tasks I'll usually do. Once in the hotel I read my calendar for the week, and check my e-mail for the inevitable last minute / week kick-off messages.
Monday:
6:00-6:45 Shower and a balanced breakfast, usually from the inevitable free continental breakfast at the hotel (points usually). This way I'm not charging the firm or the client for my breakfast. I like to take this time to read a national newspaper - top stories and business section. I get suited up after breakfast, check my e-mail again, and then head to the client site.
7:30 Arrive at the site, and generally put my head down and work. Depending on the project we may have a check-in meeting around 8:30. In keeping with the first poster, the days are generally spread out between collecting information, reviews/brainstorming, and creating files.
I aim for a 30 minute lunch, usually 15 minutes though.
Generally I try to duck out between 5:00-5:30, and head back to the hotel. I happen to like working at the hotel room so I can to really focus. Arrive at the hotel around 6:00 and order room service. I use this delay to relax, and often just like to look out the window a bit and call my fiance.
6:30 is dinner, and I'll talk to the fiance while catching up on internal firm e-mails. Usually one or two that require immediate responses (other consultants looking for templates or advice, proposals, internal team projects). The rest tend to be updates to keep up with the office.
After I finish eating and checking the internal e-mails it's usually 7:15 or so, and I get back to it for a good focused 2-3 hours of additional work ending with a review of my calendar for tomorrow. During this session I like to put on discovery channel or the news in the background really quiet. Honestly, it's a habbit left over from University, I just like the background noise.
In a given day the summary is probably 9-10 hours of deliberate client work, with 2ish hours of internal work and prep.
Although as always it depends on the projects, I've worked 14-16 hours daily (including weekends) for an entire month straight. Another I pulled 3 all nighters in 2 weeks, and the rest were 12-14 hour days. On one I worked a relaxed 9-5 on a project that was textbook perfect. I admit that I tend to chase the projects with long hours as they tend to be more interesting - Operations Strategies, Restructurings, and Business Cases. Some consultants prefer the long implementations, where hours are better but the days get pretty monotonous. It takes a special person to keep pushing huge implementations forward.
Hope that helps - but it's just my experience. Respect your firm, reaspect your clients, and enjoy what you do.
TT
Columbus,GA has only one bank and it is easy to figure out. But, yes fried chicken is probably the only option there :)
The variability on projects sounds like the best part of consulting but being constantly on-the-go like that seems a bit rough.
That's a rough schedule. Personally, I prefer the banking life.
2nd yr analyst at a boutique consulting firm here. Most of our clients are in New York so there's not too much traveling involved. Typical day for me is getting in the office by 8:30 am, leave at 6-7pm, depending on how much work I have to do. The latest I've ever stayed at the office is 10pm, I've never had to work a weekend. Usually I have a lot of down time throughout the day waiting on revisions from VPs/MDs or waiting for clients to respond. I use this time to read (I download books on pdf), catch up on news, do some online shopping, etc. I have a small recording studio in my apt so I do a lot of Craigslisting looking for deals and people to trade music equipment with.
Similar schedule with the MDs/VPs, they work a little more than the analysts but not much. I'd say only the CEO's schedule resembles some of the comments here. He has to travel a lot for board meetings, he likes to get in early too and usually last to leave.
Anyway just some perspective from a more low key consulting environment. Not all consultants have to run around and work like that. Everyone at my firm gets paid below MBB market salary+bonus but not substantially, still quite competitive. Exit opps are pretty good, although the analysts here put in another year of work before applying to business school vs the standard 2 yr IB analysts. I'd say the biggest downside is the projects aren't as varied (we only work with finance firms) and being a small firm means not a lot of resources to train you. I had to do a lot of that myself by reading stuff online, taking online courses, etc. I'd like to get to know other industries/work more varied projects in the future, but all in all, def a good gig hour/travel/stress wise. Definitely lets me have a life outside of work
2nd yr analyst at a boutique consulting firm here. Most of our clients are in New York so there's not too much traveling involved. Typical day for me is getting in the office by 8:30 am, leave at 6-7pm, depending on how much work I have to do. The latest I've ever stayed at the office is 10pm, I've never had to work a weekend. Usually I have a lot of down time throughout the day waiting on revisions from VPs/MDs or waiting for clients to respond. I use this time to read (I download books on pdf), catch up on news, do some online shopping, etc. I have a small recording studio in my apt so I do a lot of Craigslisting looking for deals and people to trade music equipment with.
Similar schedule with the MDs/VPs, they work a little more than the analysts but not much. I'd say only the CEO's schedule resembles some of the comments here. He has to travel a lot for board meetings, he likes to get in early too and usually last to leave.
Anyway just some perspective from a more low key consulting environment. Not all consultants have to run around and work like that. Everyone at my firm gets paid below MBB market salary+bonus but not substantially, still quite competitive. Exit opps are pretty good, although the analysts here put in another year of work before applying to business school vs the standard 2 yr IB analysts. I'd say the biggest downside is the projects aren't as varied (we only work with finance firms) and being a small firm means not a lot of resources to train you. I had to do a lot of that myself by reading stuff online, taking online courses, etc. I'd like to get to know other industries/work more varied projects in the future, but all in all, def a good gig hour/travel/stress wise. Definitely lets me have a life outside of work
Only finance firms,
You must work at Capco.
No, it's not tech consulting, we just happen to have a lot of expertise in the finance industry. Still quite broad if you take into account that finance industry = IB, hedge funds, private equity, Asset Management, insurance, fund of funds, etc. Looks like Capco has multiple offices, 1,000+ employees, we're much smaller than that
Keurig. Sums up consulting. IBD all the way baby - then you can afford Nespresso.
delete
All about expensing that small-town non-chain locally roasted fair trade rainforest alliance certified breakfast blend goodness.
with social media today, i don't understand why anyone would agree to interview without using a pen name if your not someone well known already. Wayyyy too much backlash.
To anyone interested in getting into consulting - that article is wildly inaccurate. When I read that article I wondered if it was a Deloitte ERS "consultant" posing as someone who actually works for Deloitte Consulting. I'm not in finance, but I imagine that's like some 24 year old Financial Advisor from Hartford, CT telling a mag what a day in the life in IB is like.
What this also doesn't touch on is what the rest of the week looks like. Mondays are obviously rough due to early morning travel. Tuesday and Wednesday are longer hours. Thursday flight home is around 5pm, but usually have work to do on the plane. Fridays are easy, consulting firms have a lot of networking events and trainings, and you usually only have a few client related calls. I rarely work on a weekend, but if I do it's because I need to get something done for a Monday morning meeting. The travel takes a toll on some, while others really love it. I don't mind it, as I find it's actually sometimes more difficult to work on a local project in NYC (where I live) because it's difficult to balance personal life and work throughout the week, whereas when I travel, I get stuff done Mon-Thurs without distractions and then I get to enjoy Fri-Sun. Projects are typically pretty interesting, though you do have a few brutally lame projects along the way. Exit Ops are really good because of the skills you develop but even more so because of serious network you build through working with clients and other consultants who leave your firm for industry. Plus Alt Travel and vacationing with points are dope too.
Saying you work in "consulting", when you're actually in ERS is equivalent to saying you work in "banking", when you work in commercial banking (small business lending) at a BB. NOT the same thing.
I agree the article is a bit puffed up, but this is really unfair. The guy didn't represent himself as a Management Consultant, just as a consultant, which he is.
The world is not MBB+Deloitte S&O. Similarly, commercial bankers are ABSOLUTELY "bankers". In fact, they are what 99% of the USA would think of when they say "banker". It's just easy to lose perspective when you hang out on forums that obsess about a tiny number of 'top tier' jobs.
Wonder if it's location, but I've generally heard you come later and stay later. Most people I talk to wake up at ~6am Monday's and get to the office 8/9am Tues-Thursday. Hope that's the case, since I don't mind working late, but I hate waking up early.
I know this is an old thread but in case anyone out there is still looking for this kind of info I've written a blog post outlining a typical day when I was working as an Engagement Manager at McKinsey & Company in London.
It's available here: http://www.theconsultingcoach.com/advice/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-mckinse…
Thanks for sharing!
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