Strategy consultants work with business organizations of various sizes to devise a plan to achieve the goals of the organization and help them implement this plan. The strategies could range from defining/expanding to new markets, cutting costs, or becoming competitive in the market. They study the current market and help to finetune the business directions for their clients. Usually, the engagements start with the C-level or executive suites to understand the objectives, then based on the need, consultants can work on other parts of the client organization. Strategy consultants possess knowledge of industry trends and market behavior.
Strategy can be defined as a plan to achieve a desired goal of an organization.
Education and Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in business administration, business analytics, economics, finance or something similar
- Master’s degree in business administration or an industry-specific degree
- There is no formal training available for this job; typically, they get on-the-job training.
- Certifications and Licenses: Though there are no mandatory requirements for strategy consultants, many choose to get various industry specific certifications to demonstrate their expertise. As consulting engagements are project based and short term (3 months to 2 years), certifications, licenses along with references, etc. can help strategic consultants in landing new clients or engagements.
Responsibilities and a Day in the Life
Most consultants work full time and around 40 hours a week but typically they may end up working beyond 40 hours a week.
The responsibilities of a consultant could significantly vary based on the engagement; but most will revolve around the following:
- Meeting with clients, usually at the executive management level, to discuss business goals and objectives.
- Conducting market research for the specific industry and studying market trends
- Analyzing the status of the client’s current business practices, if applicable for the engagement.
- Working with various client functions such as finance, marketing, technology, product teams, etc.
- Leading various projects and acting as a project leader/manager, mentoring junior team members
- Identifying problems within the client organization that require new or revised solution to meet the client’s goals
- Developing and presenting analysis to the senior leaders within the consulting team; fine tuning this analysis based on the feedback
- Presenting the analysis and recommendations to the executive management
- Once the client agrees, devising an implementation and tracking plan by engaging both the client as well as a consulting team
- Building a relationship with clients and peers
- Recommending changes to organization structure
- Overseeing the implementation of new/updated business plans and providing status updates to both the client and consulting firm
- Training the client team about the new processes and procedures
- Managing client expectations
Other Necessary Skills
- Decision making skills
- Leadership skills
- Critical thinking skills.
- Interpersonal skills and communication skills
- Detail oriented
- Project management skills.
- Excellent writing and presentation skills
Career Progression
- Consultant/Analyst –>
- Senior consultant/Associate –>
- Engagement Manager –>
- Principal/Associate Partner –>
- Partner/Senior Partner
After working many years for a large consulting firm, many decide to leave to avoid the constant traveling demands and long working hours by switching their career to Corporate Strategy, Business Development, Entrepreneurship, etc.
Salary
- Consultant: $80K+ with 10 to 15% bonus
- Senior Consultant: $110K+ with 10 to 25% bonus
- Engagement Manager: $175 to $200K with 10 to 25% bonus
- Principal/Associate Partner: $150 to 185K with 10 to 25% bonus
- Partner/Senior Partner: $200 to $500K: bonus could vary based on the total revenue and other performance stats; typically this could vary significantly from $100K to a few million
Job Growth
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics does not separately track Strategy Consultants. This role is covered under ‘Management Analysis’.
- 900K+ jobs
- Outlooks 14% (2020 to 30)
- Employment change 125K (2020 to 30)
Summary
If you are someone who finds the following characteristics of this job appealing, you should probably consider Management Consulting as your future career:
- Working with a new client every few months
- Love constantly traveling, staying in hotels, and eating in restaurants (and only returning home on weekends)
- Love research, data gathering, performing analysis, and interpreting data
- Working with various internal and client resources
- Presenting to upper management and client C-level executives
- Reasonably high compensation ($80K to 500K+)
