What is the most/least stressful area of strategy consulting
Hi guys,
I recently graduated and have interviews in BCG and Bain as well as some other firms. McKinsey did not work out for me but also was not my highest priority. I did not graduate in business or any related area, but I am used to work very long hours in R&D, spending months in the lab without weekends or days off. However, consulting is something else and because I am not specialized in anyhting and have more or less a choice what kind of projects I am interested in, I would like to get into an area that is if possible slightly less stressful and energy consuming. I know that nothing is easy in consulting and that a lot is dependant on the team I get into but as with everything there should be some differences between sectors and between the specific tasks. So basically any information on what the more/less demanding parts of the different areas are would be really helpful to me to get a better understanding where I could fit in.
You come in as a generalist, so you get little say over your industry or service line. Furthermore, especially at the analyst level, all are going to be exhausting. It's a steep learning curve, and you're on the bottom of it. Plus, you're expected to do all the grunt work. And you're coworkers are mostly super hard workers and you'll be expected to match them.
I'd try other firms. ZS Associates, which focuses on healthcare, is known for keeping its employees under 50 hours a week.
I have a PhD and some work experience outside of consulting so I am in the process for a level above analyst (as far as I understand consultant/senior consultant/associate depending how each firm calls it). Also, I was at least promissed to have some freedom in choosing which industry I want to try out but of course I agree, when you just came there choices will be limited. I want to try one of the big names because in combination with my previos work it opens great exit opportunities. Also, there is no need that workload is limited to 50hr/week. That is bellow the hours I work now. It is rather, I know in consulting you work crazy hours, but which types of projects have the craziest hours and which types of projects you have a chance of getting less crazy hours. That is all I am asking.
Avoid the due diligence projects then, those are very popular at Bain.
I believe these projects are staffed out of a separate group though (PEG), correct?
M&A and RIF (layoffs) are both pretty stressful. The first is stressful due to time constraints, the second due to the fact you are the axeman.
Would you say that an area like Turnaround & Transformation is more demanding then others?
I think this is 2/3 people, 1/3 topic or industry. You can be in the same industry and work for some complete psychos and have a hellish life or work with some great people who keep things sane.
In my experience, the combination of an understaffed project team, a very demanding partner, a highly political client environment, and an inexperienced project manager who doesn't effectively push back or manage project scope
I agree with this statement 100%.
Political clients are the worst. This summer I spent countless hours trying to re-word mundane process documents simply because of those political considerations.....did absolutely nothing to either add value for the client or to improve my CV
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AFAIK, PE, M&A and Oil&Gas practice have the longest hours and the most stressful.
In terms of the work, probably PE / M&A due to the compressed timelines, although any group can have an extremely stressful project. However, like others have said, probably a greater contributor to high stress levels is a bad team, either because of unrealistic Partner expectations, unrealistic client expectations with a Partner / EM who refuses to push back, a generally shitty Partner / EM, a team with poor work ethic / high propensity to complain, etc.
Depending on your lifestyle, the travel can be a great source of stress. A couple of years ago my girlfriend was laid off when I was in the middle of a trip.... It really sucks to be several hundred miles away in those situations and is definitely a MAJOR source of stress.
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