Based on my current professional profile and age of 37, what are my realistic chances of breaking into operations consulting, and is this a viable career path for me at all?

I’ll be very direct with you.

For a large structured multinational consulting firm (MBB, Big 4 strategy teams, Tier-2 consulting firms), I think it would be very difficult given:

• your age relative to entry level hiring pipelines;
• the lack of exposure to the corporate world;
• no prior consulting experience;

Those firms usually hire either younger candidates they can train from scratch or experienced hires who already spent years in corporate, consulting, or large-scale transformation environments.

Where I think you may have a shot is:

• specialized operations consulting boutiques that serve SME (e.g. in jewellery retail, garments/textiles or retail operations)
• Independent consulting leveraging your industry expertise

Hopw this helps
Best,
Franco

It's tough to say. You definitely don't have a traditional profile. 

You could try, though, and then I would ensure a few things:

1. That you have a broad application strategy. Meaning, you don't only target 2-3 firms, but target entering the industry first and foremost. Then, potentially pivoting from there
2. That you work with an expert to prepare your application, especially your CV and your pitch (how you present yourself in these conversations). What will be critical here is to show clear parallels between the skills and experience you have and what the role in ops consulting will require from you. 

You might also find it useful to read these materials:

• • Expert Guide: Build A Winning Application Strategy

• • Expert Guide: How To Handle Networking Calls and Get Referrals

Best,
Cristian

hi! 

At 37, operations consulting is not closed to you, but the realistic entry point is smaller operations boutiques, Odoo/ERP implementation partners, supply‑chain consulting SMEs, or Big‑4 ops roles at the analyst/consultant level, not MBB or top‑tier strategy firms. Your strengths, 15 years running retail and manufacturing operations, vendor management, costing, ERP tools, GST, and hands‑on supply‑chain work, are directly relevant to ops consulting, but the hard disqualifiers for top firms are: no corporate experience, no prior consulting track record, and a non‑target degree. The viable path is to position yourself as a practical operations expert and target firms that value real execution experience. This career path is viable if you aim for the right tier of firms and accept that you’ll enter at a lower level than your age suggests. If your goal is prestige consulting, redirect; if your goal is real operations consulting, your background can absolutely work.

Alessa

1. Yes, operations consulting is accessible, but not through traditional top-tier paths.
2. Realistic targets. Indian boutique operations firms, ERP implementation consulting (Odoo, Tally, SAP partners), retail and jewellery industry specialists, independent consulting for SMEs, in-house operations roles at mid-market Indian companies.

Out of reach. MBB, Tier 2 strategy firms, Big 4 strategy at senior levels.

1. Hard barriers. No corporate brand on CV, no salaried employment, NMIMS MBA is respected but not at IIM or ISB level.
2. Pursue boutiques, ERP consulting, or build your own practice in jewellery and garments. Your domain depth is rare and valuable.

Don't chase MBB. Build realistically.

Good luck.