Most of the MBA students are confused, about which field to choose, as their career option. There are many lucrative options such as FMCG, Manufacturing, Consulting, IT sector, Retail, Telecom etc. In my professional career, before joining the MBA, I got the opportunity to work in Manufacturing as well as the Consulting sector.
I worked for one of the best-known consultants in the world and believe me, when they say Consulting is a tough job, they are not kidding. The amount of the work produced is more since you get to work on multiple projects and sometimes on all of them at the same time. So, managing the time at work and prioritizing the work becomes very essential, to respect the timeline of the projects.
At the same time, you will get the challenges and the exposure at the consultancy firm which you won't get anywhere else. Consultancy firms mostly take projects, from a wide variety of industries. So, you never know, in which field you are going to work. But as many consultancies have segregated their work and created different departments, which focus on the specific group of tasks, there is a set of responsibilities distributed among all. The timeline of the projects is highly followed and respected among the consultancies, so as a manager you always need to be on your toes, to finish projects within set deadlines. Following the deadline is very crucial for any consultancy companies, because most clients negotiate the delivery date rather than costs.
Once the project is near the finish line, you must put extra efforts for making sure that it will finish on the date which was promised. That's why working overtime is very common when your project is near the submission. Irrespective of the challenges said, there are many advantages in working for a consultancy firm such as:
1. Exposure:
You get a different kind of exposure, where you need to finish the projects which are very different from one another. So, in the process, you get to learn different client perspectives, different work cultures, different priorities of the clients, basic technical know-how of different sectors of projects.
2. Time management:
As all the project work is constantly monitored to finish within a specific task time, you need to be on your toe, to make it happen. This need forces you to manage your time very efficiently and at the end of the day, you start appreciating yourself, for work you have produced.
3. Go to places:
Most of the times, projects require you too frequently visit or work from the actual location site itself. This is a tremendous opportunity for the ones who like to explore and travel.
4. Unlimited career growth:
You get to explore different sectors of business; your management skills get polished a lot, as compared to the guys who work in a single domain. This increases your market value and you will be sought after by the single domain as well as consultancy firms.
As I mentioned above, there are many advantages or perks of working in a consultancy firm, but at the same time, you need to understand the challenges you will be facing: Work-life balance depends on the organization culture, but most of the times, consultancy employees work longer hours than the single domain working professionals.
But that’s life is all about, isn’t it? The one who manages to balance the work and personal life is the happiest of us all.
PS: My work colleagues became my close friends, so it was easy for us to plan and hang out together.