What is the biggest differentiation between consultant/associate's capability versus PM's.

Hi there,

As a former Principal (on the 30's), I think I can provide a good answer. It is a bit detailed, but please note this depends on the specific firm, and also on whether we are talking on MBB/Tier2 vs. Big4/Management Consulting.

Principals:

• Significant industry experience
• Strong client management skills, including at C-Level. 
• Manage the client's sponsor
• Responsibility for any kind of project, regardless of size and complexity
• Coordinate multiple teams / projects 
• Plan the whole project methodology
• Performs quality check on the overall “answer” / recommendation
• May have commercial responsibilities

Project Managers:

• Some industry experience, but usually a generalist starting to specialize
• Good client management skills, but focused on the client operational team 
• Manage the client's project team leader (hands-on counterpart, not a decision maker)
• Manage a single project with 2-4 work streams
• Coordinate a team / project at a time
• Turn the project methodology into the day to day plan
• Manages day to day work, and performs quality check on the analysis
• Usually doesn't have commercial responsibilities

Analysts:

• Generalists
• Client counterparts are more junior/operational
• Manage a workstream, may support junior analysist
• Responsible for providing zero-defect client ready analysis
• Execute the methodology
• No explicit commercial responsibilities
   

Hope this helps.

Hi there,

This is indeed an interesting question which is probably relevant for quite a lot of users, so I am happy to provide my perspective on it:

• First of all, regarding your note on the age of people of the same level, please bare in mind that there is a great diversity regarding the career paths and roles within consulting (as in other industries as well). For instance, often enough Principals/ Associate Partners choose to follow an expert role in their company and as such stay Principals/ Associate Partners.
• The key differentiating factor between the different roles is a very clear job profile with associated tasks and responsibilities. While there might be occasional “step-up opportunities”, in general, you will fill the role on a project you also have in the company.

In case you want a more detailed discussion on how to get promoted fast (since you seem to be concerned about this), please feel free to contact me directly.

I hope this helps,

Hagen

Hi there,

Pedro has a super comphrensive answer here (love it).

Just to simplify it a bit, as you move up the ranks you progressively move away from “doing” (powerpoint, excel, etc.) and more towards “thinking” (feedback, reviewing, setting up projects, etc.) and relationships (client management, winning projects, etc.)