Does age matter in consulting?
I am hoping to break into consulting at the age of 34, starting with an associate level (McKinsey), or consultant level (BCG). Am I too old for that? Any advice or suggestion is appreciated.
Average Age of Management Consultant Associate
The typical career progression into an Associate position usually looks something like this.
- Business Analyst
- Top Business School
- Associate
Assuming your an undergraduate analyst at age 22. Then You'd return to school after two years and have an MBA at 26. That would mean that most associates would be in their mid to late twenty's. Therefore it's not out of the question for someone in 30's at an associate level job. There are no actual age limits for the job. However, consider the fact that 30 is the age most people start to " settle down" and put things like their family first. You may want to put your potential employer's mind at ease by letting them know your level of commitment to the firm.
reach out to people from your school at MBB. 34 isn't too old...I know at least a few people who started in the mid-30s at the level you're talking about. They generally come from industry, Ph.D. or were in the military.
Your not too old. I was a summer at one of MBB at 30, and then started full time at 31. Though most post-MBA consultants are 27-28, there are at least two guys older then me in my class.
That said, there are really only two feasible entries for someone older then 30:
Lateral from another top firm (most likely)
OCR from an M7 (+ Tuck) business school, preferably HSW
Lateraling over from industry or recruiting from a top 10-15 bschool likely isn't going to happen at your age.
Thanks Reset.. HSW = harvard, stanford or sloan, wharton?
What should I do if I am not from MBA programs but PhD programs? I found out about consulting quite late, and so the starting point is late for me.. that said, I am really interested in getting into consulting
Step 1: Change your username.
haha nice!
MBB recruits MBAs a lot deeper than top 8, more like top 15 schools. And concur that 34 is not too old.
They also all hire PhD students, although anecdotally they seem to hire more math/science PhDs than humanities. Your best bet is to find the name of the consulting recruiters for the business school at your university and shoot each of them an email expressing your interest and asking about the recruiting process for PhD students.
Also reach out to people from your school at MBB. 34 isn't too old...I know at least a few people who started in the mid 30s at the level you're talking about. They generally come from industry, PhD or were in the military.
Some companies will do on campus recruiting for PhD students, If that's the case for you, make sure you connect with recruiters and any contacts you have with the firm so ensure you get an interview. For companies that don't recruit on campus, applying online is like a black hole, so you need to network with anyone you know at firms.
MBB recruits a fair amount of PhD students, although you can expect rejection from Bain unless you know someone there that can pass your resume/CV to HR. McK and BCG generally have 10-20% of their post-MBA classes as PhDs, MDs, and JDs. Second tier firms are rarely recruit PhD students.
Are you a PhD student now? If not, beginning a PhD program is a really roundabout way of getting into consulting, especially since all the PhD consultants I know went to HYP-esque programs. If you're not in school, the MBA is the way to go.
Agree with this. Know a guy who had to jump through hoops to get into BCG after finishing his phd in math from a top notch state school. The only reason he even got interviews was because he went to P for college and his college buddies set him up with interviews.
I can attest to the two previous posts. The PhD-to-consulting path is often times someone that thought they wanted to do a career in science or academia and then realized it wasn't for them. I've never met any one that said "I really want to be in management consulting so I think I'll go get my PhD." That would be absurd.
Thanks a lot for your response, everyone. This is just a temp username, will not use it for job application :)
phdconsultant, it's interesting you raised the point about Bain, I have been wondering why they invited so few PhD candidates for interview even though they do campus recruitment for PhDs. What is the best way to approach them? I wrote to the recruiter two years ago, and met with a couple during the campus events, but still I didn't get an interview chance.
Does anyone have any idea on BCG re-application? What is the chances of getting a second chance? I applied to BCG two years ago, and failed during the first round, hope to try again this year. Do you think it is worth trying at all?
Thanks a lot for your response, everyone. This is just a temp username, will not use it for job application :)
phdconsultant, it's interesting you raised the point about Bain, I have been wondering why they invited so few PhD candidates for interview even though they do campus recruitment for PhDs. What is the best way to approach them? I wrote to the recruiter two years ago, and met with a couple during the campus events, but still I didn't get an interview chance.
Does anyone have any idea on BCG re-application? What is the chances of getting a second chance? I applied to BCG two years ago, and failed during the first round, hope to try again this year. Do you think it is worth trying at all?
I'm not sure what the best way to approach Bain would be. They do not recruit PhD's on my school even though BCG and McK do recruit PhD's on my campus. Bain recruits ug heavily here but nothing for PhD's/
If you have substantial business experience and/or you can get a current Bain employee to vouch for you to recruiters, then maybe you can get an interview. Otherwise, your time is better spent applying elsewhere. The structure of their workforce (very bottom heavy with undergrads) does not make it an easy place for a PhD to enter consulting.
Reapplications are usually at least one year and you should have new experiences that suggest you are a better candidate now than when you first applied.
imo the whole industry is based on the pursuit of ego gratification, delusions of gradeur. Some sort of networking launching pad for tomorrow's self proclaimed ceos. have a look at bain and co's website, it looks like it was written by a bunch of kids, probably was. consultants gets hired by corporations to provide legitimacy to decisions already made, "if the smart kids say so". what a waste of time and paper this being said, i hope u got the job u wanted. i was told by a Partner that by 33-34, u'd want to be on the Partner track, not starting, seems that age does matter quite a bit i'm sure it depends on the office and who you know is it really worth it tho? there are so many smaller consulting firms who won't think twice about it and give u the same exposure and networking opps.
One data point does not make an argument. Age doesn't matter much at all - there are analysts who join in their mid 20s [usually from countries requiring conscription) and associates who join in their mid-30s. The track is quite quick if you're good, and you'll probably leave after 2+ years if you don't enjoy it. Definitely helps career prospects long term, regardless.
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