Ivey Guide to Consulting 1 Ivey HBA Guide to Consulting Created: August 2006 La

Ivey Guide to Consulting 1 Ivey HBA Guide to Consulting Created: August 2006 Last Updated: July 30, 2011 Ivey Guide to Consulting 2 Table of Contents INTRODUCTION: GUIDE TO CONSULTING ...................................................................................... 4 THE CONSULTING INDUSTRY .............................................................................................................. 5 COMPENSATION ........................................................................................................................................ 5 WORKING HOURS – “WORK / LIFE BALANCE” ....................................................................................... 6 TRAVEL SCHEDULE ................................................................................................................................... 7 THE WORK OF CONSULTANTS ................................................................................................................. 8 CAREER PROGRESSION ............................................................................................................................11 TRAINING AND GROWTH .........................................................................................................................12 INDUSTRY CULTURE ................................................................................................................................13 CONSULTING FIRMS THAT RECRUIT FROM IVEY .......................................................................14 WHAT CONSULTING FIRMS LOOK FOR IN CANDIDATES ........................................................................14 Accenture.............................................................................................................................................15 A.T. Kearney ........................................................................................................................................16 Bain & Company .................................................................................................................................18 Boston Consulting Group ...................................................................................................................22 Deloitte Consulting .............................................................................................................................26 McKinsey & Company ........................................................................................................................28 Mercer Management Consulting ........................................................................................................31 Mercer Oliver Wyman .........................................................................................................................32 Mezzanine Business Consulting .........................................................................................................33 Monitor Group ....................................................................................................................................34 Roland Berger .....................................................................................................................................37 Secor Corporate Consulting ...............................................................................................................39 ZS Associates .......................................................................................................................................40 THE RECRUITING PROCESS ................................................................................................................41 PRE-RECRUITING .....................................................................................................................................43 Getting to Know the Firms and the Industry......................................................................................43 Writing Resumes and Cover Letters ...................................................................................................44 Preparing for Case Interviews ............................................................................................................45 RECRUITING SEASON ...............................................................................................................................48 Job Postings on Ivey eZone ................................................................................................................49 Information Sessions – Preparation ...................................................................................................49 Information Sessions – During ..........................................................................................................49 Information Sessions – Reception ......................................................................................................49 Information Sessions – Follow-up .....................................................................................................50 Submitting Job Applications ...............................................................................................................50 Interview Shortlist on eZone ...............................................................................................................51 First Round Interviews – What to expect ...........................................................................................51 Offers for Second Round – What to expect ........................................................................................52 Second Round Interviews – What to expect .......................................................................................52 Job Offers – What to expect ................................................................................................................53 Sell Round – What to expect ...............................................................................................................54 Handling Interview Scheduling Conflicts ..........................................................................................54 Handling Multiple and Exploding Offers ..........................................................................................55 POST-RECRUITING ...................................................................................................................................55 Contingency Plan – What to do If You Don’t Receive An Offer .......................................................55 Unsuccessful Summer Recruiting ......................................................................................................55 Unsuccessful Full-Time Recruiting ...................................................................................................56 PREPARATION FOR RECRUITING......................................................................................................58 Ivey Guide to Consulting 3 RECOMMENDED READING .......................................................................................................................58 CASE INTERVIEW PREP: MENTAL MATH ...............................................................................................60 Multiplication ......................................................................................................................................60 Division ................................................................................................................................................61 Working with Percentages ..................................................................................................................63 CASE INTERVIEW PREP: GRAPHS, DIAGRAMS & CASES ........................................................................64 Graph 1: Lifetime Profitability Curve ................................................................................................64 Graph 2: Client ROE Performance ....................................................................................................66 Graph 3: Sales Mix of a Car Dealership ............................................................................................68 RECRUITMENT TIMELINE: SUMMER AND FULL-TIME ...........................................................................70 HBA 1 Recruitment Timetable and Action Plan ................................................................................70 HBA 2 Recruitment Timetable and Action Plan ................................................................................71 Ivey Guide to Consulting 4 Introduction: Guide to Consulting Purpose of the Guide This document is designed as an operational guide specific to the consulting industry that should be read and referenced prior to and during the recruiting season in order to help fully prepare YOU, the candidate, to get a job in consulting. It can be used as either a direct source, or as a reference tool to lead you to information and prep materials that will help you:  Decide if consulting is right for you  Differentiate between the firms that recruit at Ivey  Navigate the entire recruiting process Relevance and Applicability This guide has been written by graduates of the Ivey School of Business who have recently been successfully recruited by top consulting firms. We believe the information contained within is up to date, relevant and readily applicable to your recruiting efforts. Enjoy! Your Recruiting Responsibility You have likely heard it before, but it is worth repeating: YOU are the only one responsible for your recruiting success. You must take ownership of your entire recruitment effort. While the Career Management (CM) team is an invaluable resource provided by the school, it is not a guarantee of employment. You must use and internalize the materials available to you to prepare yourself to outshine and outperform candidates from other schools. Ivey Guide to Consulting 5 The Consulting Industry Supporting Materials for Reference Title Location Cost Vault Career Guide to Consulting Ivey eZone Free Company Websites Internet Free There is a lot of upside from starting a career in Management Consulting. Yet with everything, there are tradeoffs to be made, and these tradeoffs are best viewed in a relative context to the other major industries that recruit HBAs from Ivey. To do this we have developed a list of seven criteria (ranging from the tangible to the intangible) to consider when choosing an industry for employment. There are obviously other things to consider, and this is only a start when considering your future career:  Compensation  Working hours (often referred to as “Work / Life Balance”)  Travel schedule  Type of work (what you do on a day-to-day basis)  Career progression  Training and growth  Industry culture Compensation Management Consulting firms pay significantly more to their new recruits when compared to industry jobs and most other professions. Yet even under the broad definition of “Management Consulting” there is significant variation in compensation based upon the type of consulting work being performed. Base salaries can range from ($60,500 to $84,000, with a median of $65,000 – all figures quoted in Canadian Dollars CAD unless otherwise specified) Section Objective: This section is designed to help you determine if consulting is a profession you would be interested in pursuing. It will do this by comparing the consulting industry to the other main industries that employ Ivey graduates. Ivey Guide to Consulting 6 Exhibit 1: Median Base Salaries of Industries that Recruit from Ivey (2009-2010) 1 Working Hours – “Work / Life Balance” Weekdays – While hours will vary dramatically based on the amount of work and timing of deadlines, an 11 hour day could be a reasonable expectation (9 am – 8 pm). There is the potential for a much shorter and much longer day / night based on client and project needs. Weekends – Consulting firms do not expect you to work on weekends, though it is always possible that a particular client engagement is time sensitive and requires the added effort – in this case it would likely be expected of you. 1 http://www.ivey.uwo.ca/HBA/pdfs/IveyHBA_2009-2010_Employment_Report.pdf Note: They pay more for two reasons – Firstly, they hope to attract the best talent to work on client engagements, because that is what they promise to client companies. Secondly, they can justify the higher compensation, as they are able to bill clients for many hours at a substantial hourly rate when compared to counterparts in other industries. Ivey Guide to Consulting 7 Vacations / Holidays – The firms respect national and religious holidays, and often offer about two weeks of paid vacation time per year. Travel Schedule Out of all jobs at Ivey, consulting may require the most amount of travel. Depending on the firm, this could mean travel in Canada, North America and even international destinations. While this sounds exciting, many consultants report that the novelty soon wears off, and the reality is that you’re away from friends and family quite often. You will hear the popular “3-4-5 Model” quoted throughout consulting information sessions. Some Consulting firms always work at the client company, while others choose to go there on a needs basis. Regardless of which model they prescribe to, it is possible you will be asked to travel. While you can request to be staffed in your home city, it is never certain they can accommodate you. On the upside, the firm or the client will often pay for you to fly home on weekends, and with many firms you get to keep the air-miles you accumulate. Warning: If you don’t like traveling or have commitments to stay in a particular city, consulting might not be for you. Research the expected commitments carefully. 3, 4, 5 Model: The “3-4-5” refers to spending 3 nights a week away from home (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday), coming home the 4th night (Thursday night) and spending the 5th day in the office (Friday). With long hours at the client site, there is often little time for sightseeing. “Smart Travel” Model The alternative approach to travel is what some firms call “smart travel”. This basically means that they will only go to the client site if it will add value to their analysis or work. This means less travel and fewer nights away from home. Why Do Companies Hire Consultants? Consultants are often asked this question by executives from their client companies: “Why do I need someone, who knows nothing about my industry or my problems to come in and tell me how to run my business?” Ivey Guide to Consulting 8 The Work of Consultants Beyond the question of “why hire consultants” (see above), people often ask “what do consultants actually do?” In its simplest description, Management Consultants are hired to help companies identify and solve problems. They often do this by helping companies answer questions about their business that can vary from the broad (“What should our strategy be for the next five years?”) to the specific (“What is the profit potential of market X?”). Answering these questions is the heart of what consultants “do” (See Exhibit 2) – they gather information, analyze it, and present it to their clients in a way that answers their question and prompts them to action. Ivey Guide to Consulting 9 Exhibit 2: The Work of Consultants HBA: Undergraduate recruits enter consulting firms at what is typically called the Analyst or Associate level. This is the lowest level of the organizational hierarchy (See Exhibit 3: uploads/Management/ overall-guide.pdf

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  • Publié le Jan 26, 2022
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