Consulting is a highly sought after professional option and involves one of the most difficult hiring processes in the corporate world. A certain type of person with specific personality traits is required not only to receive an offer, but also to be successful at work. It is a high-risk profession that involves a lot of work stress and emphasizes billable hours. The general culture is to praise employees for the hours they spend, and there are not many positions in major consultancies.
This is because in a single consulting project, the “hard yards” that analysts don't take as long. Competition for consulting jobs is extremely fierce, as it is the most popular career path for MBA students. Most candidates are working very hard to get a job they know almost nothing about. Joining a consulting firm is one of the fastest and most effective ways to build a large and valuable network.
You'll work with several clients and stakeholders throughout your different projects, allowing you to establish relationships between various organizations. The typical path that people see in consulting is that you work at a large consulting firm for two years, and then you leave and do whatever else you want to do. At the highest level, a consultant is someone who is an expert in something and helps other people, whether it's a consultant who helps a person or who helps an organization. At other consulting firms, sometimes you'll enter as an analyst, then you'll be a senior analyst, and then you'll be an associate consultant.
Overall, consulting is a challenging career that requires hard work and dedication. It involves long hours and intense competition for positions, but it can also be rewarding in terms of building relationships and gaining valuable experience.
