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Do most consultants enjoy their job or do it mainly for the money/exit ops?

consulting
New answer on Jan 20, 2020
6 Answers
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Anonymous A asked on Jan 13, 2020

Same as above - Do most consultants at top consulting firms actually enjoy their job or do most do it mostly for the money/exit ops/etc.?

(edited)

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Clara
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Jan 13, 2020
McKinsey | Awarded professor at Master in Management @ IE | MBA at MIT |+180 students coached | Integrated FIT Guide aut

Hello!

Both are right at the same time, not mutually exclusive!

The job is totally FASCINATING, from every point of view: fast-paced, meeting incredibly smart and driven people, taking a lot of responsability from very junior positions, driving change and impact very fast, etc.

However, the issue is all that comes with it in terms of lifestyle, traveling... Is not sustainable for most people in the long run -and also for partners and families, who are also forced to take this lifestyle even without having chosen it!-.

This is why normally people last between 2 and 3 years only, on top of the fact that the exit options are very atractive.

Hope it helps!

Cheers,

Clara

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Daniel
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Jan 20, 2020
McKinsey / ex-Interviewer at McKinsey / I will coach you to rock those interviews

I feel it's waves: sometimes you love it, sometimes you hate it – like everything in life :)

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Antonello
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Jan 13, 2020
McKinsey | NASA | top 10 FT MBA professor for consulting interviews | 6+ years of coaching

Hi,
in the first few years, most consultants enjoy the job, then they usually start to look round. The average tenure of MBB consultants is 2 years.

Best,
Antonello

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Luca
Expert
Content Creator
replied on Jan 13, 2020
BCG |NASA | SDA Bocconi & Cattolica partner | GMAT expert 780/800 score | 200+ students coached

Hello,

Like it happens for every work, you have both cases also in consulting.
However, considering the effort that is required, it's really difficult to perform well and spend yeaars within a consulting company without enjoyiong the work.

To give you an idea of the big turnaround, the average time spent by a professionist as consultant is +/- 2.5 years.

Best,
Luca

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Vlad
Expert
replied on Jan 13, 2020
McKinsey / Accenture Alum / Got all BIG3 offers / Harvard Business School

Hi,

It's a complicated question:

  • Do most of the people around us enjoy their jobs?
  • How is consulting different?
  • How ward it is to enjoy consulting? (spoiler: it's very hard)
  • Does every job has its loyal fans? (Probably yes)

Best

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Nathaniel
Expert
replied on Jan 20, 2020
McKinsey | BCG | CERN| University of Cambridge

Hello there,

It really depends from person to person.
Typically, what I have found is the work as a management consultant is 'intellectually satisfying'.

The extent of work that yopu do and the potential impact it could generate are vast, not mentioning the multi-industry and cross-functional exposure, fits for someone who likes dynamic situation (of course, one could argue whether impact could be delivered simply by providing recommendations, but more and more clients are expecting a full-suite solutions including implementation phase and firms are adapting).

The client counterpart are top level executives, trhat means youi can work on influential work such as organizational resturcturing and turnaround that normally is very difficult without strong support and enforcement from the higher-ups.

Many consultants who moved to industry mentioned they always missed this aspect of working as a consultant. Of course, with their current role in industry, they trade it off with opportunities on being a leader, managing departments or companies as executives, which have requires its own skillsets.

Hope it helps.

Kind regards,
Nathan

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Clara gave the best answer

Clara

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McKinsey | Awarded professor at Master in Management @ IE | MBA at MIT |+180 students coached | Integrated FIT Guide aut
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