Which is more important to consulting firms?

sakky
Mon, 20 Jun 2005 20:25:13 +0000

Bern700, if you don’t believe me, you can just go straight to the source. Here it is from the horse’s mouth.

Careers at Bain | Bain & Company;
Careers at Bain | Bain & Company;

Notice how people who are experienced hires can, depending on their qualifications, get hired for positions are Bain Consultants (not AC’s) for a 2nd or 3rd year role.

What you say is true in that those who don’t know the toolkit will have to learn it, which means they have to attend the consulting ‘mini-MBA’ program. But once they complete that, they can immediately step into a more senior position within Bain because of their industry expertise.

Kfc4u, the consultant’s toolkit is basically the mannerisms and behavior of a consultant, with all the special methods of communication and doing business that that implies. It means knowing how to use buzzwords, learning a speaking and writing style with which to present your data, how to do quantitative analysis of a business, etc. Most of that can be picked up in a good MBA program. For those who didn’t get their MBA’s (and even for some who did), consulting companies run an intensive set of courses for new hires designed to teach you these techniques. They sometimes call that a ‘mini-MBA’ program.