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Since the debut of consulting industry in early 20th century, business consultants have been playing an even more important role in company start up, development and restructure processes. With the quick growth of the industry in 1980s and 1990s, the integration of consulting and business operations accelerated at a even faster pace beyond imagination. Why are companies so needy of management consultants and why do so MBA graduates each year crave for an opportunity at top tier consulting firms like McKinsey, Booz, BCG and Bain? Following factors explain the importance of being a consultant.
Business perspective
In process of business development, thorny issues and situations beyond inner problem solving capability often stagnate and even hamper the whole business plan. When inner power and resources become limited, it is natural to seek external help. This is where management consultants come handy. Businesses hire management consultant for some of these reasons:
1. Third party objectivity. When it comes to issues like recruitment, salary scaling, layoffs, and benefit restructuring, it is hard to make all parties satisfied if decisions are made by an internal part of the organization. Hiring management consultants specialized in these fields can be a good solution to this dilemma.
2. To obtain best practices. Experienced and resourceful consultants know which solution is best for specific problems through project experiences. Very often, different companies could encounter same obstacles that are not addressable by internal perspectives. The advantage of outside management consultants in this regard is that they can bring in best models in broad sense and cater them to the specific business.
3. Outsourcing for cost-effective productivity. It is not impossible and unrealistic for business to recruit all kinds of talents in reservation just for one or two rare situations, nor is it economically viable to enter long-term contracts for transitory changes. Therefore, one motive behind the necessity of consultant might an economic one. Although commissions are high for top firm consultants, it is cost-effective in the end. Besides, the analytical expertise of management consultants is very hard to obtain by short-term internal trainings.
Career perspective
Now, let's discuss the position of management consultants from a career perspective. Management consulting jobs are some of the most popular types of job for MBA's and graduates with the necessary education. There are a coupe of reasons for that.
1. Financial consideration: admittedly, many business school graduates considering top-notch consulting firms are not only applying for the jobs out of love for this industry. At least not in the first place. Although the salary for management consultants is not as high as for investment bankers, it comes close. Management consultants are well paid and their salary is well above the salary of average graduate positions.
2. Professional skills: due to the demanding nature of consulting, management consultants have to be elites with edge-cutting skills and expertise. Once you join a consulting firm, you can expect lot of trainings from software skills to business knowledge. Perhaps the best part of being a management consultant is that you will keep learning and taking in new perspectives paid by employers. Your learning curve will be extremely steep.
3. Networking consideration: consulting is all about cooperation and collaboration. Teamwork is necessary for management consultants. You might have heard of the travel buzzes about management consultants. Indeed, consultants travel around a lot for different projects. This entails you the opportunity to work with various kind of people and the opportunity to form your personal networks for future careers.
4. Reputation consideration: working for a top consulting firm will look great on your resume. Management consultants enjoy high career reputations in business industries. For better or worse, you will pride on the fact of being a consultant once regardless of your later career plans.
