Big Company, Small Tasks: Is This Normal for Consulting Interns?

Question

Hi everyone,

I'm currently doing my second internship in Management Consulting, and the tasks are completely different from what was described in the job posting and what was communicated to me during the interview. Now, I'm unsure whether I should quit or if these tasks are just normal for an intern in consulting.

For context: I previously worked in MC for a large company in a small project team. In that role, I directly supported my manager by creating slide decks, developing business case analyses and conducting research for expert interviews and many more tasks. Now, in my second internship, I’m staffed on a much larger project with multiple sub-teams. Instead of working directly with the manager, I’m supporting analysts. My tasks mainly involve tedious copy-paste work, adding and removing icons from slides, taking official meeting notes, and uploading documents.

I feel extremely underchallenged. I’ve shared this with my mentor, but he’s on vacation for the next few weeks and the project is so large that there doesn’t seem to be an opportunity for me to take on more independent tasks where I can actually use my analytical skills. As a result, I feel unmotivated at work, because my current tasks don’t align with my strengths at all and no one seems to care, but at the same time i get told i make mistakes all the time. I knew this internship would be different from my last one, but I didn’t expect such a significant change in the nature of the tasks. I honestly wouldn’t have applied if I’d known I’d mainly be taking notes and documenting things, because my skillset for these tasks i not that high in coparison to other tasks.

Now I’m wondering: are these kinds of tasks normal for interns in consulting? I feel like I’m being taken advantage of, as no one has asked about my strengths. Instead I’m just being assigned the tasks no one else wants to do...

Because of this, I don’t feel like a real part of the team. This is the first time I’ve experienced something like this. In my previous team, they made it clear early on that they wanted to keep in touch with me, and they even offered me a job. This time, that’s not happening at all. I mean, frankly, I’m not interested in continuing to work for this company, but shouldn’t the employer also make some effort to convince the intern to stay? Initially, I thought it might be due to my performance, but after reflecting on the situation, I realized that my team forgot about my onboarding days and didn’t inform me about the process afterward – I had to ask everything proactively, which wasn’t the case before. On top of that, I didn’t receive a proper project onboarding. They gave me bureaucratic tasks right away, and I thought they did it intentionally to test me, but my mentor later told me he did not know and apologized straight away.

So, I’m wondering: Is this the reality of consulting, or am I asking too much as an intern? Or am i just unlucky that this second project is an implementation project (which does not seem to be a match with me). If I want to continue in the consulting field, should I be prepared for the possibility of being staffed on implementation projects all the time? Or does it depend more on the consulting firm i work for?

Now, given the circumstances, i'm thinking about quitting. This internship has significant opportunity costs for me, as I could otherwise be preparing for my MBA. I only took this internship because I thought I’d learn a lot (like in my previous one), but that hasn’t been the case.

Regardless of whether I decide to quit or not, should I still include this internship on my CV? It’s a big company with a good reputation, but does the brand name really matter if the tasks I did were so "trivial" compared to my previous experiences? It feels like a huge downgrade somehow...

I would be happy about some insights!

Answer 1

Hi there,

definitely not the norm. I’d recommend reaching out to your HR counterpart or the project manager to see if they can adjust your tasks.

Best of luck,
Kairavee

Answer 2

Hi there,

Sorry to hear!

You did not mention the firm or tier.

For top-tier firms, your experience is not the norm.

Usually in top consulting firms, interns are employed like FT new hires, meaning they will do the same tasks and have the same responsibilities (e.g., handling parts of a workstream or even owning a smaller workstream if they are already more advanced with everything that comes with it).

I would flag it with some partners on the project and if the situation does not change base my decision to leave on how long the internship is still going. If it's just a couple of weeks more, might be worth it just because of the brand name.

All the best,

Florian

Answer 3

Hi there,

usually consulting firms use their internships as a recruiting tool to get early access to talent. It is therefore in their own interest to properly assess their interns by challenging them as well as trying to sell the company to them in an attractive manner.

That said, intern tasks vary based on the project setup. Not every scenario will allow you to work independently and do the tasks you like. But one thing you need to always work on is “zero defect”. You mentioned that you receive the feedback that you are making frequent mistakes (even at those simple and mundane tasks you are criticizing). So as a first step, and to strengthen your own case, you need to minimize such mistakes. Otherwise, why would your supervisors give you more sophisticated tasks if they didn’t feel like you can manage the easy ones on your own yet? And the fact that you don’t feel motivated is not a winning argument in this job.

Next, you should proactively voice your desire to support the team in a broader capacity. Let your manager know when you have additional free time to spare, talk to your mentor (and HR) that you would be interested in analytical tasks for your next project staffing. Good firms will staff their interns on multiple projects of different type during their internship.

I would not quit an internship to be honest. It is short enough that you can still complete it even if you end up deciding that you wouldn’t want to return to that company later on.

Best