Being a consultant can be a demanding job, but if you enjoy working hard, staying busy, and having a lot of variety in your professional life, then this is the perfect career for you. The key is to do as little as possible to answer the question at hand and to put pressure on partners who want to over-analyze something when it's not necessary. A strategic decision to make, especially if you plan to work in consulting for several years and want to maintain a balanced lifestyle, is to consider the geographical dispersion of clients in an industry relative to your office location. Management consultants help solve their clients' business problems, such as CEOs, CFOs, division heads, and other leaders of large corporations (Fortune 1000, Fortune Global 500, etc.).
A day in the life of a consultant can be full of highs and lows, moments that really matter, sometimes physical exhaustion from pushing yourself too hard and sometimes feeling elated because you are exposed to things in life that you would never otherwise be exposed to at this point in your life. This post will be long because there are many types of consulting with specific travel and work requirements. I believe that the money and knowledge I gain from working as a management consultant will bring me closer to discovering what I should focus on to develop my potential and will give me the resources to do so. I remember when I was in my dead-end job, making the decision to do whatever it took to get into management consulting, and wondering what a day in the life of a consultant really looked like.
Suppose this consultant is part of a team that helps you design and implement new software to streamline operations. He's not on call for his clients, and because the consulting team sets project plans, big milestones and meetings are known well in advance. I was able to get a glimpse of the management consulting lifestyle, but I wanted to see the whole picture. Now, after many years in management consulting and team leadership, I know what I would tell my younger self to satisfy their curiosity.
But compared to banking, which is how most people compare it, consultants have a more balanced lifestyle. Of course, other consultants may have different experiences, but all I can share with you is my experience. One of the advantages and disadvantages of consulting, depending on how you look at it, is that things are always changing and you are always doing something different: working on different problems with different people for different clients. The life of a consultant can be demanding but also rewarding. It requires hard work and dedication but also offers flexibility and variety.
With careful planning and consideration of geographical dispersion of clients relative to your office location, it is possible for consultants to maintain a balanced lifestyle while still enjoying the benefits of working as a management consultant.
