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(Darren Kaltved) If not, why don't we look at --
obviously we talked about a variety of different
types of consulting. What are some of those?
And how do they differ in terms of their clientele,
in terms of once they're in that organization how does
an entry level consultant different than
the middle or senior level consultant?
(Kari Kriesel) As far as entry level verses senior and
executive level consulting, I think probably a lot of the
responsibilities of the senior executive in a
consulting role is a lot more to do with
securing new business, new contracts.
As an entry level consultant you're probably down in the
nitty-gritty doing all of the hands-on work.
And it can differ, you know, whether you're doing
IT consulting or business consulting,
management consulting. But the bottom line is you're
working on a project.
Typically, at least for Accenture,
it's a long-term project.
You're going into a client site with a group,
a project team, and you are, you know,
putting systems together to solve their problems,
to help them perform more efficiently.
You know, we work in every industry across every kind of
discipline so it really does vary and I don't mean to be so
vague but...[laughter] You know, so you start out,
and the way I look at it, is an entry level consultant you're
kind of building your portfolio, you're learning what industries
you have an interest in, what capabilities you have an
interest in and as you move up the ladder so to speak you kind
of develop more of an expertise and a niche and then you start
hiring or bringing on the project teams
to lead your projects.
(Mohammed Aaser) I'll add a little bit to that.
So I think the entry level positions can vary
by consulting firm as well.
Typically, at least at McKenzie, we have this model sort of like
a pyramid model if you will.
So you have partners at the top and often what people do is
work very closely certified members.
So whether they're like a CFO, CEO, COO,
senior level folks, and helping them figure out what are
their problems, what are their issues,
and scoping out sort of how we can help them.
And then you have sort of a associate principles and then
below that you've got sort of managers who will
actually operate a team of three to four folks;
engagement managers.
And that engagement manager will usually interface with,
sort of, a client, and that client might be like a
Vice President or something, and helping them sort of day to day
and working side by side with a client and the client team
to do analysis, to create communications,
and then to also being able to communicate that.
Now starting out as an entry level,
or a business analyst, or an associate,
you might expect yourself to really think about,
you know, how do I structure these problems.
For example for a financial services company,
how would I design a compensation system?
Or if I'm doing an operations project,
how can I help this pharmaceutical company improve
how they're doing the drug development process so they can
be the fastest in accordance to FDA guidelines.
So you usually may conduct analyses,
and then also you may create presentations
that you will share.
So often you will work side by side several clients or managers
or directors or whoever they are on the client side.
So the next part is you're doing sort of,
a lot of sort of, intellectually rigorous type of work.
At the same time, you're also honing in on sort of your
communication skills, your presentation skills as you work.
And then over time you can sort of go up ranks, if you will.
But at the same time, while you're developing all these
relationships with clients you may find yourself saying,
You know what, I really like one of these clients,
I actually want to go work for them.
Or I really like this type of work because,
you know, I tried financial services,
I tried operations, I tried, you know, pharmaceuticals.
I tried all these different things.
I like this one a lot so I'm actually gonna leave now.
You'll see that often, people will leave
after a couple years and do it themselves. So.
(Jeff Lori) I think what I'd like to do is add onto that a little
bit tied into your upcoming question here at this point.
Coming right to that.
We have a number of panelists here represent large
international firms and inside a consulting firm of that nature
it can feel less consulting, meaning --
because there are so many responsibilities there but
what's important whether you're in a large organization
like that, or not even in the consulting organization itself,
is consulting is an attitude, if you will.
It is a frame of mind in how you approach things.
So Mohammed spoke of that you're not just
trying to solve a business problem.
You're not just putting in your hours.
You're actually there to help a customer.
If you're working for a non-consulting firm you're
doing the same type of thing but you've
got the consulting mindset.
Same thing, even if you go out into a smaller firm or even as
an independent -- if you're not doing that,
the only difference is the more independent you are the more you
live and die by your performance every day.
So the more you need to have that mindset in there that says
I'm here to provide value, I'm here to deliver something,
give results for the money that I'm getting out of this,
or the compensation my organization is receiving.
(Mohammed Aaser) I sort of want to add on to what Jeff said.
I think he's exactly right.
There's a piece I think with a lot of consulting see as a sort
of role dilemma if you will, at some point in time because what
you want to do is ultimately you know,
you're working for a specific client.
And you want to help improve the performance of their
division or the organization overall.
And part of that is how can you influence this organization
to do something differently.
Sometimes that means you have to be very aware of some of the
political situations that are going on in the organization.
Some of the challenges they have,
and some of the capability limitations.
And think about how can I communicate to this leader
of this organization, you know what,
in fact their division is performing quite poorly.
Or that maybe the system they've invested in for the last couple
years is not worth it to invest in any more.
And how you can make that sort of productive,
as well as, sort of influence them to ultimately make a
decision that will create value for that organization.
I think the communication piece you will
take everywhere with you.
Because if you're running a business,
and you're working with other individuals,
you will always need to somehow
influence them to do different things.
And you also hope they would do the same for you too.
So the skills that you learn in consulting
are transferable in everything.
[End]