Consultants, tell us what your industry verticals are like

Lots of talk on Industry groups are on the banking side, but very little on consulting. What are the different industry verticals like? Obviously, there are changes from region to region and firm to firm and project to project, but I imagine at some generalizations arise:

Private equity groups work lots of hours, same for financial services, lots of travel for consumer/retail, etc.

What's the good, the bad, and the ugly? Are low-margin/challenging industries like aviation always going to offer crap work-life balance projects because they will hire a barebone consulting team?

C'mon consultants. A bit less capabilities talk, a bit more industry talk.

 

I have a lot of travel, almost across all clients. I am in many different countries/cultures/languages which is something I enjoy. Most trips are across the Americas and EU + CH.

  • Fintech is one of our core activities and many clients need a lot of education about concepts and where limitations exist. Some believe blockchain is going to resolve all existing issues (it won't).
  • retail banking clients are the easiest for us; easy as in BAU mostly. most interesting things are innovation products and roll-out within payments, digital, web, mobile
  • most challenging clients are venturing into a space that isn't compatible or "normal" in their society or within their cultural norms. Think consumer credit facilities in a cash country. Or mortgage and financing products in a rental heavy market.
  • Most annoying aspects are the "brainstorming minutes" after partners meet for golf or whatever they do on weekends. Like... hey, let's do some innovation consulting for gambling clients in Vegas. Or how about exploring new clients in South America or South Africa? Nobody seems to care we have neither competency nor employees in this field or location but I guess they had to come up with something.
  • M&A advisory is something that worked well for us (both billables and culturally, we have good contacts to startups) but apparently our relationship managers haven't been selling those services...
 

Thanks! Very interesting - fin tech being a core activity. Your consulting firm must be more on the cutting edge than most. Agree that blockchain is not the magic ticket. API stuff likely to have more of an impact.

The truth is you're the weak. And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin', Ringo. I'm tryin' real hard to be the shepherd.
 
  • Retail is all about detail
  • PE is a mixed bag - you have longer hours and somewhat pushy clients on the one hand and less travel and better perks (e.g. higher expenses budget) in the other
  • O&G/ Natural resources has some of the craziest (and arguably most fun) people I've met on the client side
 

Nice! That's the kind of observation I was looking for.

How about aviation? Telcos? Commercial banks?

The truth is you're the weak. And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin', Ringo. I'm tryin' real hard to be the shepherd.
 
  • FS tends to have a bad rep (e.g. less transferable knowledge, very conservative clients); many people at my firm blacklist it
  • I had two experiences in TelCo, one was incredibly interesting (bandwidth auction) and the other less so (aggressive short-term cost cutting); I would say that it's a notoriously nerdy field, which is not bad but quite different from CPG/retail for example
 

Not a retail specialist but I've spent some time in the field. The problem is that you end up conducting your analysis at the store-keeping unit (SKU) level. Depending on the product, this can mean tens of thousands of entries that are not necessarily reconcilable. (My team got a certain amount of "Oh! That category is manually attributed so shouldn't be trusted in xx-yy% of cases" comments from our client counterparts.) Therefore the data aspect can become somewhat chaotic. On the other hand the vertical is quite relaratable and allows you to see, well, retail in a different light, my favorite approach being dealing with retail environment strategy. Also never had truly bad experiences with clients, so I would recommend the environment.

 

I've worked across many different industries; now work mostly in our Technology practice in the SF Bay Area.

The biggest difference in tech is that the typical clients can be just as smart - or smarter - than the MBB consultants that they are hiring. Especially when working for FANG or more established startups like Uber, Airbnb. (More 'old line' tech companies like an IBM have a talent level more typical to big corporate in other industries)

Overall, I like this dynamic because it really makes you sharper as a consultant with what you are truly bringing to the table. It does make for a more stressful environment though.

 

The Bay Area isn't my scene but I imagine that FANG/Uber/AirBnB probably have comparable approaches to the IB/MC human capital pool, but Apple always seems to be the eccentric one, going about things their own way (people I know in the SF techie scene say there's a lot of horse jockeying amongst the others, but Apple somehow is its own world). Have you observed this?

The truth is you're the weak. And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin', Ringo. I'm tryin' real hard to be the shepherd.
 

is there at least significant wallet or work-life balance in insurance projects or is there not a single saving grace?

are these smart telecom/tech clients as demanding of your time/budget as they are of your intellect?

The truth is you're the weak. And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin', Ringo. I'm tryin' real hard to be the shepherd.
 

There's good money to be made from insurance projects, FS projects in general bring in a lot of revenue to consulting firms. But I think you see this come in the form of systems integration, technical program management, business process improvement. A lot of F500 insurance companies have top-notch corporate strategy teams already that do a lot of the strategic legwork. Work-life balance on insurance projects I've found to be pretty good. ~50hr weeks

Can you clarify "demanding of your time/budget?" For time it depends on the specific client stakeholder but I found that in order to keep up you find yourself working longer hours. 60-65 hr weeks are standard.

Not sure what you mean by budget, but I've seen a lot of revenue brought in from big technical PM projects done for telcos. Not too sure in terms of strategy projects.

 

I interned my senior year for a small natural resources firm and now am there full time. I highly recommend both the industry and opting for a small firm.

The work is primarily with utilities, public agencies and large industrial clients. Its incredibly interesting work including analyzing building energy usage, feasibility studies for renewable energy developments, policy analysis (aka trying to make sense of vague legislation), and program design. It's highly technical in nature, which is challenging but also rewarding because your constantly learning. Work tends to come in waves, but this is more likely due to the size of the firm than the industry. Being at a small firm naturally has its pros and cons, I don't travel very much, and my schedule is flexible but there is significantly more financial risk in it.

 
Best Response

As someone who has been at MBB for 3 years, I think I can share some things here (please note this can vary a LOT between companies and/or offices):

1) Consumer Goods projects can be a shithole, especially when it is a new client for the firm - Shit tons of data to treat and analyze - If product is extremely specific (e.g. devices for people with hearing impairment), it can be an enourmous mess to get the insights

2) Projects for private equities will have long hours but are super fun! - Client is sharper vs. avg. client - Topics are usually interesting (i.e., no PMO shit)

3) Projects for large industrial goods / energy players are quite interesting and impactful - Usually high impact (8 to 10 figures impact are common) - If you're dealing with shopfloor guys, they tend to be waaaaay nicer than the avg. dickhead in banks

4) Financial cases (banks, insurers, etc.) are super challenging because clients are usually very sophisticated - Having to outsmart the smart guys can lead to long hours and stressful projects - Nice impact and provides you with nice basic financial knowledge (especially if, like me, you have an engineer background)

5) Public sector projects can reshape the way you view the world - Sometimes the client hires you to work in a project you don't believe from the start (because of political views or whatever reason) and that is an enormous opportunity to see things through a different perspective - Easy to cause an amazing impact for your resumé

6) Telco projects: stay away - Shit tons of data, immensely margin-pressured industry - Every penny matters in this shit, they'll squeeze you like a fucking orange in order to find savings opportunities - Not that interesting from my perspective and discussions tend to end being super technical

In terms of project scope: - PMO projects: boring as hell but amazing worklife balance - Strategy projects: ranges from challenging to hell, usually super interesting - Operations projects: usually interesting but can have a lot of pressure (especially if sold with variable fees) - Cultural change / bla bla bla: bullshit as hell and can range from amazing worklife balance to shitty hours - Delayering: analytically boring but nice negotiation improvement opportunities (I always love the bargain session when you tell a manager he'll have to decide which 2 persons to let go)

Hope this helps you create your vision about the consulting industry.

 

Since everything is new for someone who is starting, I believe that industries/functions ("what") matter less than the leadership ("who") you are working with.

If you have any contact that is already inside the firm, try to get their opinion about: 1) who are the great managers to work with? 2) who are the great partners to work with?

If 1 and 2 do not point towards the same projects, 1 should have priority over 2, in my opinion. Then, once you know who you want to work with, go back to staffing and say "hey, I'm super interested in this X industry or Y function" -> this is way better than saying "hey, I want to work with this guy"

 
redninja:
MBB is elite relative to Booz and Deloitte, Booz and Deloitte are elite relative to Accenture.

oh please. Deloitte's S&O alone hires about ten times the number of McK, BCG, Bain, Booz COMBINED.

Throwing Deloitte and Booz together just shows what this "MBB" acronym has done to people who get all their info from the internet...

Booz is much, much closer to MBB than it is to Deloitte. Now, how much that "elite" label really is worth anyway would be a different discussion, however IF you are specifically making a statement about it at least get it somewhat right.

SlikRick:
Not sure if these are big names, but is recruiting comparable to a middle market boutique IB? Or is it a lot easier or harder? Are these jobs in which only 1% of applicants get interviews, or would you say 1 in 4 qualified applicants get called in? Is the recruiting time table similar to IB? Is networking critical (definitely too late for that)? Any help is appreciated.

if you are serious that you can't get any info from the search function gtfo consulting. completely serious. there is a thread literally on the FIRST PAGE of the consulting subforum, titled "How is breaking into consulting from undergrad differ from IB?"

 

MBB is recruiting at a target school 30 miles away from my nontarget. I don't have any interest working for MBB though, not qualified for that currently. To NYC, I have used the search function and Mergers and Inquisitions, but none of them really answer the whole IB to consulting thing (often the other way around). Is IB experience looked favorably in consulting circles? Not really looking for prestige rankings, just wanting to know how the interview process differs...

 
SlikRick:
Do you guys not like having fresh topics to read each day?

we love having fresh topics. and that's exactly why for old topics, we suggest you use the search function.

redninja:
Where do you work?

one of the usual suspects. no, not booz. have a lot of respect for that firm though - great heritage, great culture.

TAglobal:
Crazy, who knew MBB and Booz only hired ~10 MBA's total last year!

OP appears to be undergrad. Booz is notorious for only hiring small numbers of undergrads compared to the other firms, focus on MBA.

That being said, obviously we can argue whether it's 10-1 or 8-1, but Deloitte is simply a hell of a lot easier to get into than the other firms mentioned. Not even hating on Deloitte, but by sheer numbers it is what it is.

 

Yes, IB internship experience is looked upon favorably by consulting firms during recruiting. It has to be legit experience, though. If you're targeting non-MBB, it doesn't need to be bulge bracket IB experience, but it has to be legit.

Be very clear on why you want to switch from IB to consulting. The right answers are (1) gain exposure to broader set of industries/functions; (2) work in a more team-based environment, because that is how you work best; (3) develop the consulting toolkit of great problem-solving skills and strong client relationship building skills, which are more closely aligned to your long-term goals of being an executive at a F100 company.

All the 2nd tier consulting firms you mentioned are not that exclusive. Avg GPA at Deloitte, Accenture, Triage, etc., is probably 3.5 (vs 3.8 or 3.9 at MBB if you're not from H/P/Y/S/W, where you can have a slightly lower GPA, like 3.7, and still get interviewed). If you're well south of 3.5, you're probably not going to get a look.

Those firms you mentioned are all very different. E.g., Hitachi does tech consulting, whereas Triage does revenue cycle management consulting for hospitals. VERY different. So be clear on why you are interested in each specific firm. Demonstrate an understanding of their business, why your skills match that business, and why you're interested in that line of work.

You could probably get into Accenture's or Deloitte's IT divisions pretty easily. Their strategy groups are harder to break into, but their SAP implementation groups ALWAYS need people (it is boring work but pays the bills and is seen as reasonably good experience for top-15 MBA programs).

 
DagwoodDeluxe:
Yes, IB internship experience is looked upon favorably by consulting firms during recruiting. It has to be legit experience, though. If you're targeting non-MBB, it doesn't need to be bulge bracket IB experience, but it has to be legit.

Be very clear on why you want to switch from IB to consulting. The right answers are (1) gain exposure to broader set of industries/functions; (2) work in a more team-based environment, because that is how you work best; (3) develop the consulting toolkit of great problem-solving skills and strong client relationship building skills, which are more closely aligned to your long-term goals of being an executive at a F100 company.

All the 2nd tier consulting firms you mentioned are not that exclusive. Avg GPA at Deloitte, Accenture, Triage, etc., is probably 3.5 (vs 3.8 or 3.9 at MBB if you're not from H/P/Y/S/W, where you can have a slightly lower GPA, like 3.7, and still get interviewed). If you're well south of 3.5, you're probably not going to get a look.

Those firms you mentioned are all very different. E.g., Hitachi does tech consulting, whereas Triage does revenue cycle management consulting for hospitals. VERY different. So be clear on why you are interested in each specific firm. Demonstrate an understanding of their business, why your skills match that business, and why you're interested in that line of work.

You could probably get into Accenture's or Deloitte's IT divisions pretty easily. Their strategy groups are harder to break into, but their SAP implementation groups ALWAYS need people (it is boring work but pays the bills and is seen as reasonably good experience for top-15 MBA programs).

Thanks for the response! I'll definitely take your advice during recruiting season. Awarded you a silver banana for the insightful answer.

 

Posted career fair review: So I attended the fair at the nearby target school (coming from a nontarget). Thought I would share my opinions and advice. Overall, you have to go into the fair with low expectations. Of the 20 companies I spoke to during my 4 hours there (it was that packed), I would say 2-3 were great interactions, while the remaining were average at best. A couple firms turned me away as soon as I said that I wasn't from the school, so you have to bounce back from those rejections. Similarly, it's shocking how many nerds there are at these fairs. Many of the kids with perfect 4.0's are simply incapable of holding conversations with people, it's shocking. All in all, the trip was definitely worth it. Looking to schedule a couple meet ups with some of the people I met in IB/consulting.

Other Tips/Notes

  1. Definitely refrain from asking any question regarding the industry. This might sound counter-intuitive, but I can't tell you how annoyed recruiters were getting at answering the same question 50-100 times in one day. Anything like, "what's your favorite part about consulting" or "how has consulting made you a better leader" are poor questions to ask. Instead, stick to questions pertaining to recruiting and general information. Ask them questions about what they enjoy doing after work, or ask them the best place they've traveled to. One consultant just got back from Switzerland and started raving about it. Some people might disagree here, but I think it's the best approach.

  2. Try to set up potential meet ups right then and there if the conversation is going well. Go in there with a purpose, or else you'll get forgotten.

  3. Most importantly, ask for a business card. If you forget this, you're contact is basically done.

Hope that helped somewhat.

 
ConanDBull:
im going to a non target... you better believe i will be kicking down the door at every career fair in my area... this is going to be like a 3rd job lol

Wishing you the best of luck man. Talk to as many people as you possibly can and try to set up personal meet ups with everyone you meet. Honestly, I'd say have no shame and email everyone who gave you a card for informational interviews. Chances are you'll probably never see the people again, so what's to lose right?

 

Any of those mentioned are great and have good pays. The difference is just brand name (depend on how much do you want to brag about your job), the corporate culture (some friends of mine rejected MBB and went to Deloitte and Accenture), and the size of the deal. All will lead u to a top MBA if you put into hard work, and any of them will be invaluable experience.

 

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