Consultants are hired as advisors to corporations. They tackle a wide variety of business problems and provide solutions for their clients. Depending on the size and strategy of the firm, these problems can be as straightforward as researching a new market or as complex as totally rethinking the client’s organization, including whether to acquire a related company worth hundreds of millions of dollars or how to reduce the size of their work force by thousands of employees. Consulting firms provide anything from strategy, where only advice and direction are provided, to implementation, where firms actually work with the client to implement recommendations.
The work of consulting is data collection and analysis. Consultants add value by collecting information that is hard to get—often by pulling it out of people’s heads and then analyzing it in a way that defines attractive ways to solve managerial and competitive problems.
The things people like about consulting are similar across the board. They like the variety of working in different industries and functional areas for many different clients and the intellectual challenge of pushing themselves to the limit as they tackle complex business problems.
General Management Consulting provides a wide range of services depending on client needs. These services include strategic advice, information systems support, cost control, productivity enhancement, activity-based costing, competitive analysis, marketing strategy, and many others. Most of these firms have a recognized expertise in business process reengineering. They include Accenture, Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, Deloitte Consulting, and BearingPoint.
Typical Concentration(s)
Primary: Strategy, General Management, Finance, Operations, or HOP
Optional Double Concentration: Any combination of the above
Companies that Recruit Vanderbilt MBAs
- 3M (internal consulting)
- Adjoined Consulting
- A.T. Kearney
- BellSouth (internal consulting)
- Deloitte
- Kurt Salmon & Associates
- McKinsey
- Scott, Madden & Associates
- The Home Depot (internal consulting)
Owen Extras
Clubs, activities, events, and programs to help build your résumé:
- Management Consulting Association
- Owen School Student Association
- Strategy Club
- Case Interview Workshops (conducted by consulting firms)
- Owen Challenge (case competition)
- Operations Club
- Strategy Analysis Projects (for credit or hire)
- Atlanta Consulting Trip
- eStrategy Case Competition
Management and Internal Consulting Key Competencies
Do you have or can you build the following competencies as an MBA?
- Leadership
- Flexibility
- Passion for tackling complex business problems
- Financial/operational analysis skills
- Ability to analyze and make recommendations
- Ability to develop and deliver presentations
- Interpersonal and communication skills
- Team skills
- Project management skills
Does your résumé reflect these experiences or accomplishments?
- Strong history of achievement in school and work
- High GMAT
- Business/financial analyst experience
- Military experience
- Deep industry experience
- Project management experience
- Operations and process analysis experience
