How to pick the practice to specialize in?

Hi there,

First of all, talk to people at your firm!

Ask your peers. Ask your mentors. As project leads (who recently specialized) what their advice is! Have conversations to tease out what you watn and what makes sense for you.

Ultimately, you should pick what you want to do and what you enjoy, but there it's a complex topic that takes some time to work through.

Give your highcurrent salary, consider investing a small % of that in a career coach! In just 1 session they would be able to help you make the right decision.

For something so big, why not be sure you're doing it right?

Hi there,

sorry to hear that your plans take an unexpected turn. With regards to your next step, if you want to move to another consulting firm, would suggest as follows:

1. Short-list the firms you're interested in
2. Get to know which industry needs these firms hire for 
3. Emphasize your CV according to those needs first, rather than your interests (for why, point 5). 
4. Apply - get options - pick the firm you like best
5. Once you're in the firm, recalibrate your industry preference. You will still be able to explore and pivot into different industries, as your tenure is still junior enough. 

So in a nutshell, get your foot in the door first by leveraging your experience. Once the door is open, pivot into what truly interests you - it's the safer approach in the current hiring environment.

If you need more specific advice, feel free to reach out. Happy to have a chat and see how and where I can help.

Hope this helps.

Regards, Andi

Hello,

I agree with Ian that networking and talking to people at the firms you are considering is going to be the key to understanding the needs at different firms and how it will be most advantageous to position yourself. I think it's perfectly reasonable to have several sectors you work across, or one that you've had more experience in thus far (financial services) + one that you are interested in exploring more (retail). There's no need to pigeonhole yourself completely. 

Hi,

Your question is a great question - and a perennial one that consultants ask after they spend a couple of years in consulting. This becomes significantly more important the more senior you become, but, depending on your geography and firm tier and firm culture - the answer varies a little. In general, sharing a couple of perspectives from my own experience and having observed how peers/seniors have landed where they have

1. People → arguably to me is the most important consideration
   • Pick a practice area leadership that you like working with and more importantly is willing to help develop and grow you
2. Topic → this matters, but even on most interesting topics if you are stuck with a bad team/bad case leadership, you will definitely still dislike your overall experience
3. Practice area strength → this is important especially as you are applying to a new firm. For long term longevity, you'd preferably want to pick a practice area that either 1) is strong or 2) you believe has significant trajectory. In other words, you may be an expert in FS, but if your new firm isnt strong in FS, then it is quite likely you wont have a good time trying to work on FS projects

In short - if getting a job asap is priority - i would use the strategy that gets your foot in the door first. Other than that, you shouldnt really worry about expertise too much at this level yet, IMO (geography dependent).

All the best!

Hi there,

you already have very good advice from the other coaches’ answers, would just add something from my experience.

1) if you think that down the line you will be interested in exiting to industry (Especially after manager) use this time to understand more which sectors and firms (clients, other multinationals) you like in an industry setting via projects and networking. You will accunulate very helpful knowledge that will position you greatly to go down the industry path when/if needed.

hope it helps

Hi!

No, you're not overthinking.

These are the right questions to ask. 

First of all, yes, this is not a great period, so realistically you might have fewer opportunities than you'd imagine. 

Go broad with your application strategy and make the best of what comes out. Here's how to build such a strategy btw:

• Maximising your chances of getting a consulting job during an economic downturn

If you want to be more targeted, then I'd suggest you take a step back and think:

1. where you want to be in 5-10 years in terms of your professional focus? e.g., do you see yourself in a more expert type role or in a more senior managerial-generist role?
2. what sort of skills you have that you could call an expert for? if you don't have a great answer for this one then the solution becomes obvious

Best of luck!
Cristian