Moving from academia into management consulting

The question below is from a reader who is interested in Consulting, but doesn’t come from a traditional MBA background. She’s got a PhD, which puts her into a whole different candidate category. At my firm, we refer to this group as Advanced Professional Degree (APD) candidates and other firms have similar ways to reference them. I’ve talked to a few APD folks both at my firm and at others and have heard about some concerns, but I’m nowhere close to an expert on this, so I’d encourage anyone reading this to seek out APD people at the firms to get more clarity on the issue. As always, I’ll do my best to give a good reply…

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Ana wrote:

“Hi Marquis,


I recently found your blog and I loved reading though your adventures with all the interviews before you landed at McKinsey. It is wonderful that you share you story with us because it encourages other people to keep on trying and preparing yourself, and not to give up after some bad performances (or just bad luck). I am very glad that you finally got the position that you initially wanted and that you are having a good time at McKinsey.

I wondered if you could reply to my question in your blog, as I know many APDs will be interested. I am a postdoc in Neuroscience, (professionally a researcher, but also a problem solver!) and I have recently learned about management consulting, and about McKinsey in particular. I’ve been trapped by what I’ve learnt and I consider seriously working for McKinsey, it must be great to sit in the same room that people like you (a Stanford MBA!) and work together. I know there are many APDs at McKinsey, so I guess you have came across some of them. Could you tell me a bit about how they feel? do they encounter different problems than you (business background)? what advice could you give me about how to face the transition from science research to management consulting? if not from your own experience, at least form the experience of someone who works with APDs.


In any case, I mainly wanted to tell you that I enjoyed reading your blog, and that it is amazing how much people you are helping to walk the path you’ve walked. Thank you for that!


Best,


Ana”
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My response:

Ana,

Thanks for your kind words about my blog. After reading the first paragraph from your email, I wanted to make sure that I give you a great reply. Unfortunately, a lot of what I’ll have to say here will be “guess-work” because I’ve never explicitly asked one of my APD colleagues how they feel in their position. With that said, I have had discussions with several non-MBA candidates from my company and others and can provide you with some advice and issues for you to expect as you make your proposed transition into management consulting.

The following are some points you should consider as you approach the management consulting industry as a non-MBA graduate degree holder:

– The interview –> As you may know, a consulting case interview tests people on their problem solving skills but doesn’t necessarily test candidates on the deep levels of business concepts. This can be great for APD’s because the focus is on being able to break down a problem and develop a structured way to tackle it, but one does still need to understand business concepts in order to not get lost during the interview. I would recommend that APD candidates do a lot of practice cases prior to their interviews to get a feel for the types of questions that could come up. And, a review of basic business concepts is a MUST before trying to tackle a consulting case interview.

– Starting off as a consultant –> Once you join a firm, you will be seen as a “Consultant” just like your MBA counterparts, which has its own positives and negatives. On the positive side, you shouldn’t have to worry about being treated differently once you start the job and you’ll be on a level playing field with the MBA grads. On the downside, you’ll be held to the same expectations to perform and contribute on studies from the beginning, which can be difficult if you’ve had no prior business training. Remember, getting through the interviews tests your problem-solving and doesn’t require you to have a full B-school-level depth of business knowledge. I’ve been told that this can be of concern for some APD candidates coming into the job. Most, if not all, consulting firms will put APD candidates through some sort of “business bootcamp” to run them through a high-level summary of the concepts learned in business school to prepare them to join study teams. These “bootcamps” along with self-study and on-the-job training (ex. coaching from team members) often work well to bring APD folks up to speed much faster than one would expect…but be prepared for the issue.

– Relations with clients and team members –> The nature of PhD research is focused on mostly individualized work, which works well when it comes to writing a dissertation but doesn’t necessarily align well with the nature of Consulting. A successful consulting study usually hinges on a team of folks working together to complete a set of workstreams and, while this is a time-tested method, it may take some time for PhD graduates to get used to. Also, be mindful that you talk TO your team members and clients and not AT them…i.e. as peers instead of as “teacher”-to-“student”. This isn’t a concern that I found from anyone in Consulting, but it relates back to the way I noticed that PhD’s who presided over review session back in school sometimes interacted with students. It may not end up being a huge problem, but it would be something to be conscious of when making the transition from academia/research into the Consulting industry.

As a next step, I would recommend that you try to find some fellow PhD’s at your target firms and ask them these questions to get some “real” responses. I don’t know if you’re attending recruiting sessions for firms, but, if you ask the company representatives that you encounter, I’m sure they could refer you to some APD folks that they work with. Take care.