Consulting as a Career path: What is it, and how do I do it?

Apr 28, 2023

Consulting Image

What is consulting?

Our friends at the Wellesley College career services provide this great overview(1):

A consultant provides “external advice for organizations that require specialist experience or an objective outside perspective on their business.” There are many different types of consulting, including management, strategy, economics, healthcare, human resources, and technology. 

Although the specifics of different consulting companies and positions vary from job to job, overwhelmingly consultants will work on teams that are assigned to clients (for-profit companies, governments, non-profits, etc.) or specific projects. Typically, there is a lot of variability in the kind of work consultants engage with on a day-to-day basis.  If you are interested in exploring consulting, being comfortable with critical thinking, data analysis, problem solving, and group work will help prepare you for the type of work you’ll encounter.

Types of Consulting

As previously mentioned, there are several different types of consulting.

  • Management Consulting: these firms help to improve an organization’s structure, management, efficiency, and profits, and plan strategies for short- and long-term development.  You can think of management consulting as “making statements” and providing clear information for specific problems or projects a client has.  
  • Strategy Consulting: these firms focus on strategic topics (ex: organizational strategy, policy, functional strategy, etc.) and advice. Although Strategy Consulting and Management Consulting can sometimes be grouped together, Strategy Consulting focuses more on “asking questions,” or giving advice to firms based off of their current situation rather than overseeing implementation or specific details of recommendations.
  • Economic Consulting: these firms use applied economics, economic theory, and economic techniques to help their clients solve various problems that arise.  While you don’t necessarily need a degree in economics, knowledge of various statistical methods and some economics concepts is important.
  • Environmental/Sustainability: these firms infuse ethics, sustainability, and purpose into businesses.
  • Engineering/IT/Technology Consulting: these firms help clients with the development and application of their technology within their organization(s). Types of work done can include process management, system integration, cyber security, IT forensics, data analytics, etc.



Additionally, you can join firms who specialize in healthcare consulting, retail consulting, financial consulting, education consulting, environmental consulting and on and on.



(1) Source: https://www.wellesley.edu/careereducation/resources/consulting

How do I get started?

The recruiting timeline for consulting internships can often start EARLY – in August or September sometimes! So if you are seeking an internship in this field for next summer, I would suggest getting your resume in order early. Learning which consulting organizations accept applications from first-years, sophomores, as well as juniors.

The top-tier consulting companies, a.k.a. “The Big Three,” a.k.a. “MBB” are McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group, and Bain & Company - the three most prestigious firms in the industry.  Other excellent consulting companies to look into include Deloitte, ATK, Oliver Wyman, LEK, Fidelity Business Consulting, IBM Watson, EY, Accenture, Innosight, Simon Kucher, PwC, and Forrester Research.

Here are some resources to boost your application:

Additionally, think about what extracurriculars might help build your resume to make you an attractive candidate to consulting companies. Leadership opportunities in clubs are a great experience to add to your resume if you can get into that (or have already done so). Babson has a Consulting Association, and Wellesley has a consulting club called 180 Degrees Consulting- you might see if you can join and get involved in some of their work or events.  Case competitions are another short-term beneficial thing to do that you can add to your resume.

Be sure to take advantage of our peer colleges who have established relationships with consulting companies and support students in this career path. Check out some of these resources:

  • Article written by Wellesley staff about different types of consulting, plus lots of great advice and resources: Wellesley Consulting article (You can find lots of great case interview resources here, including recorded case interviews and practice cases – great place to spend a couple hours learning about case interviews and the consulting job search.) Wellesley also has a consulting club called 180 Degrees Consulting- you might see if you can get involved in some of their work or events.
  • Tufts University “Finance, Consulting, Entrepreneurship & Business” career community resources page includes some GREAT page of consulting resources including case interview tips.
  • Babson College’s career services department offers  resources to connect with employers, help finding an internship or job shadowing opportunities, and advising and preparation tools. (If interested in accessing these resources from Babson, see PGP.)
  • Wellesley and Babson allow Olin students to attend their career fairs- going to those career fair events to see what kind of consulting recruiters are there, and talk to them to learn about the opportunities they are recruiting for, application deadlines and requirements.

I hope this intro to consulting has sparked your interest and helped you learn a bit more about this field! Good luck!

Want to learn more about consulting? Check out this blog about Sarah Bloomer's perspective!