As much as there is talk and excitement about cracking into Consulting, there is a similar buzz around Exit Options and life after Consulting.
There are valid reasons for it, I bucket this into 3 factors –
1. Early exposure to the C-suites – A year out of MBA, I got to work directly with Department heads of Finance & Accounting and IT at a Fortune 50 Telecom Giant on an ongoing basis which only happens in consulting or leadership profile (which are limited to come by)
2. Attention to details – the sheer number of edits and revisions, my engagement manager requested of me on my first project were numerous. But the surprising part wasn’t the magnitude but type of change request - they were primarily cosmetic changes – alignments, font size, line spacing. Consultants are drilled to check and recheck everything that they pitch
3. Diversity of experience – I have worked on diverse problem statements, working with companies that are industry leaders in their fields as well as start-ups in the process of setting up their operations in the past 6 years giving me a breadth of experience
To highlight richness of exit options, we turn the spotlight to Mr. Amber Dubey, Joint Secretary of Civil Aviation, who is a glorifying example of a great career in Consulting and after.
The traditional way to become a Joint Secretary is by cracking UPSC. But Mr. Dubey isn’t a career civil servant instead he is an IIT-IIM alumnus. But still he was appointed the Joint Secretary in 2019.
If you are wondering how this came to? Answer is a successful career in Management Consulting!
He was appointed his current role as a lateral entry specialist as a part a unique initiative by the current government to hire experts from private sector into government position as high as JS. He was able to clinch this opportunity thanks to Consulting where he climbed up the ranks of the proverbial Consulting ladder to become a Partner at KMPG India having previously worked at AF Ferguson (merged with Deloitte in India in 2004) and Arthur Anderson. In his illustrious consulting career, he consolidated and focused to become a Subject Matter Expert (SME) in Aerospace and Defense perfectly positioning him for being the JS of Civil Aviation. In his Consulting career he held multiple prestigious positions as an aviation industry SME.
The conversion rate for this first of a kind opportunity was about 2%. But his experience as a leading aviation consultant cemented his candidature to his current role in the Government.
Most successful consultants land on their feet in their career 2.0 after their stints in Consulting. Examples are a dime a dozen in the industry – Indra Nooyi (BCG), Sundar Pichai & Sheryl Sandberg (McKinsey) to name a few along with this fascinating story of our current JS.
