No experience in consulting. Is consulting the right career path for me?

Question

I am a 26 years old woman. I have a degree in economics and a masters degree in Finance. I started working in a bank in the treasury department for 3 years and now I am currently working in the finance department of Burger King. I moved away from banking to finance at burger king because i felt that i was stuck, was too specialized at the bank, was zero competitive and wanted to have a more attractive background. Turns out my current job is the worst, the job culture sucks, i find myself with too much free time while i have to comply with office hours everyday and don't know if consulting could be for me.

I hate jobs that are monotonous, I want a job that challenges myself, where I learn something new everyday, all the time, and specially where I have a future. I want to be successful when i am older, to have a decent salary, and specially I DO NOT want to find myself in a few years wanting to change career paths again and leaving a good career in consulting for something else.

Basically my problem is that i dont know what to do. I need help. How can i know if consulting is for me? Is it a sustainable career path?

Answer 1

Hello!

You are asking very good questions and quite difficult ones. Ultimately, whether a career path is good for you or not is a decision only you can make. Here are a few thoughts you can consider that address your two other questions:

How can I know if consulting is for me? What can help is understanding what consulting is and what your own personality is (which seems you have a clearer view one). In terms of what consulting is and what it can offer you in terms of career, you can consider the following:
1. Possibility to work on interesting problems, within limitations: Depending on your industry and function focus, consulting can definitely meet this criterion. It also depends on what you find interesting, but given the variety of projects, you should be able to find something to your liking. This has limitations, as you might sometimes be staffed on a project based on its availability and your experience, and you might not enjoy it so much (thankfully, it is for a limited). Also, as you become more senior, you will have to think more about your key clients and what they need help with vs. what you like to do
2. Ability to continuously learn: Consulting can offer that too (e.g., I was in the PE team and had the opportunity to learn about new industries almost monthly and at a high pace). As you specialize in an industry/function, you might focus more on that, but there is still always something to learn
3. The evolution of your role in consulting from execution/analysis-focus to managing to then sales: As you mention that you like to learn and get bored easily, you should consider the focus of the different roles you will have in consulting. Initially, as an Analyst/Associate, you will do a lot of the analyses, so you will learn a lot. As a Manager, you will have to focus on the bigger picture of the project, but still be responsible with directing the analyses. As an Associate/Junior Partner and Partner, your role will be mainly a sales role. You need to decide whether you would enjoy / are comfortable with all these roles if you want to stay in consulting long-term
4. The 'outsider' role of consultants when working with clients: As a consultant, you will advise clients on what to do based on the analyses you / your team perform. It could be really important problems and very interesting results / recommendations. However, your client will be the one deciding what, if anything, they will actually implement from what you advise (e.g., if it's a strategy project). Even if you do an implementation project and work closely with the client, your role would be more of a project manager for the client, and the client will be responsible to get things done. Make sure you are comfortable with this role before you decide to move into consulting
Is it a sustainable career path? It depends a bit what you mean by 'sustainable'. If you mean whether you can achieve some kind of work-life balance within consulting, then yes, it is possible. It will depend on the choices you make regarding the industries / functions you get to work in and how much of a say you have in this. Sometimes, work-life balance vs. working on something interesting could be an either/or choice you need to make (e.g., sometimes the industries that are the most interesting/hot are also the most competitive and thus can have pretty bad work-life balance; this is not always the case, but just something to consider)

Consulting can be a great career path and it is very good that you are asking yourself whether it would be a great fit for you personally - this is a big part of what would make it fulfilling.

Best,

Maria

Answer 2

Hi,

A couple of thoughts from my side:

Get perspective
1. Speak to people to help you get more perspective on your career and what you could do / should do / way to think about it
2. It can either be trusted friends/family, or it could be a coach
3. Use this time to do 3 things
  1. sharpen and crystallize your own career goals
  2. find out what exists there
  3. get a deeper understanding of jobs you are already aware of
Map out several job options
1. From the research and information in the first step, start listing down several job options
2. List down the pros & cons of each and how it aligns with your values and goals
3. Prioritize a few to pursue
Figure out the path to get to your prioritized options

Consulting can be a very challenging but rewarding career. But it definitely ranks low in terms of sustainability. Some people choose to stick with it and become partners, but most actually will leave.

Lastly, if you are still interested in consulting, you can check out my article for people without a consulting/business background:

Breaking into consulting from a non-traditional background

All the best!