Client Interaction & Team Collaboration in Post-MBA Consulting
For post-mba strategy consulting, how much time is spent interacting with clients and working with other people vs. doing independent analysis and preparing slide decks?
I’m planning to apply for MBA programs in the coming year, so I’m thinking really hard about post-MBA careers. I was in an FLDP program out of college, and I’m now in FP&A for a tech company. I do find some aspects of my job interesting, especially higher-level strategic analysis. But I absolutely can’t stand the lack of human intereaction. The vast majority of my time is spent analyzing spreadsheets and preparing slide decks. “Collaboration” usually means splitting work up between people, who then work independently. Sure, we have meetings and reviews. But during some projects, I can literally go for days without having an actual conversation at work. Anyway, I can’t stand this kind of solitary work. It doesn’t fit my personality, and it sucks the life out of me.
Will consulting be like this? Even if the subject matter is more varied, strategic, and interesting, I feel like I really need work that involves human interaction and collaboration. How much of this is there in day-to-day post-MBA consulting work?
Consulting is very similar post/pre-mba until you hit the Engagement Manager level. The difference is the amount of responsibility or 'ownership' one has over deliverables.
In terms of the overall work environment, I am constantly engaged with my project team. Although there are specific work products I am responsible for, it is a very collaborative and iterative process to produce the analysis. Because you are traveling with your team, eating dinner, going to meetings etc., you often develop strong bonds with them.
Consulting is also, as previously mentioned, a very iterative job. You will rarely have to create anything from scratch, meaning that you build upon the lessons and past experience of your team members. If you are looking for a way to solve a specific problem, produce a specific slide or do a specific type of analysis, it's rare that someone, somewhere hasn't done this before. Therefore, a lot of the problem-solving and work will be done with two individuals with a whiteboard, hashing things out.
Client interaction depends on the project, but expect to see a fair bit even at junior roles. At my firm and on my project, it was the goal of the project managers and leadership to make sure that the client becomes familiar with you from an early stage. If you are a rockstar and showcase capability, you will often be working directly with the client, all the way up to senior levels.
Hope this answers your questions. In my time, I have found that consulting truly is "team-oriented", unlike many jobs that only claim to be on the posting. Your project team will be your colleagues, confidants and friends on the road and for the rest of your career.
Thank you, pr4mence. This is actually very helpful (and reassuring). If anyone else has experience/input, I'd definitely appreciate that as well.
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