Upcoming Events
- Mar 18th -- Application for President deadline [3:00pm]
- Apr 1st -- Annual Networking Wine & Cheese Gala
Frequently Asked Questions
About Consulting
- What is consulting?
- What exactly does a consultant do?
- What is the work conditions like?
- Is there a reasonable work-life balance?
- What is the career path like in a consulting firm?
- Why is Consulting such an attractive field for top schools?
- Is management consulting right for me?
- How do I become a consultant?
- What are consulting firms looking for in successful applicants?
- What if I'm not a business students?
About the Club
- How can I join the UBC Consulting Club?
- Why should I join?
- I am an Arts student. Can I join your club?
- I am an Engineering student. Can I join your club?
- Is your club only for students who are certain they want to become a consultant?
- I want to pursue a career in consulting. How does your club help?
- What ever happened to Consult the Case?
- Is there any chance I could get involved within the club?
- How do I get informed of the event details?
- Do I have to be a member to attend your events?
- Do I need to get prepared before going to the event?
- I would like to know more about consulting. Any recommendations?
About Consulting
“Consulting” is a term that includes virtually any form of advice-giving in a business setting. As a consultant, you are hired by clients—generally corporations and businesses related to your area of consulting—as a temporary or permanent advisor to the company. In essence, your main goal is to provide recommendations based on your research and analysis that will help improve your client’s business.
Although there are many terms to what consulting may refer to, general business consulting is commonly referred to as management consulting, or strategy consulting.
Typical management consulting firms have a primary focus on one or more management services. Some specialize in strategy work (e.g. McKinsey, Bain and BCG) whereas others specialize in IT services (e.g. Accenture).
What exactly does a consultant do?
The type of work varies from industry to industry and project to project. However, regardless of whether you're a consultant in business strategy, IT, government or human resources, your work will be analytical, impactful, and teamwork based. Typically, consultants are placed on projects that may range from 6 months to 2-3 years. Once assigned a project, the work varies drastically. It could be researching a new market, designing and coding a large manufacturing control system, providing outplacement services, or restructuring an organization layout and strategy. A typical project life cycle in a consulting firm tends to start with selling the practice and research on the client, then moving on to analyzing the data and presenting the recommendation, and potentially ending with implementation and administration of the strategy. It is a problem-solving process, where the solution is fact-based, rapidly structured and hypothesis driven.
What is the work conditions like?
The working condition for a consultant is arduous and fast-paced as it might require intense traveling schedules and long hours, typically between 55 and 66 hours a week.
Is there a reasonable work-life balance?
Each firm promotes work-life balance in a different manner and its adequacy will depend on you. Most firms offer varying services and opportunities to balance work, community involvement and personal life through firm-sponsored volunteer positions, paid vacations to the Bahamas, and active social events and outings. Consultants typically work with clients from Monday to Thursday and spends Friday in the office, but that may vary from firm to firm. You can learn more about work life balance by visiting our sponsors' websites:
Accenture: http://careers3.accenture.com/Careers/Canada/AboutAccenture/WorkLifeBalance/
What is the career path like in a consulting firm?
Undergraduates typically start as an Entry-Level Analyst or as a summer intern. Each position and title afterwards depends on the firm you work at. A "typical" firm may have a similar structure:
| Position | Annual Salary | Requirements | Responsibility |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry-level: Analyst | $35,000 to $75,000 (signing bonus or year-end bonus) | Bachelor's degree |
|
| Consultant / Associate | $70,000 to $130,000+ (and bonuses) | Entre-level for MBA graduates or approximately 3-5 years of business experience |
|
| Senior Consultant / manager | $75,000 to $200,000 | 3 to 5 years of experience as consultant |
|
| Partner or Vice-President | $200,000 to $500,000+ | 3 to 5 years of experience as a manager |
|
Why is consulting such an attractive field for top schools?
The field of consulting attracts the brightest from the best schools (over 20% of HBS graduates start their careers in consulting). Some of the reasons people join the firms include:
- The opportunity to face challenging, fulfilling, and impactful work.
- Great compensation (starting annual salary for undergraduates can range from $40,000 to $90,000; starting annual salary for MBAs can range from $120,000 to $160,000)
- The people you work with tend to be driven and top rated colleagues that act as mentors.
- World-class training on leadership, management and engagement, and personal development. Many firms spend
- Great career trajectory. Consultants work with the world's top companies leading to great relationships and extensive knowledge on different industries. The training provided set up consultants with the experience and network to start graduate schools or embark on exciting new careers.
- Other benefits also consist of wide variety of projects, intellectual stimulation, chance to work for industry leading client and exposure to wide array of industries and functions.
Is management consulting right for me?
The best way to answer this question is to familiarize yourself with the industry and talk to people who have experience working with the firms. As a club, we hope to provide you with these opportunities with both our networking events as well as our skill- and knowledge-building workshops.
Generally, people who are attracted to the field have some or most of the following characteristics traits: they are people-oriented, analytical and logical, success-oriented, independently driven, flexible, and comfortable in social settings.
We also invite you to ask us any questions you may have about consulting to help you decide whether or not consulting is right for you. (email us at info@ubcconsultingclub.com with any general questions on consulting)
Pursuing a career in consulting can be a significant commitment. The first step is to do your research on the industry and find out if it's right for you. This includes getting involved on campus activities, attending information sessions provided by firm representatives, and conducting independent research. It also includes meeting people like yourself who are also interested in learning more as well as people who are in industry who have journeyed their way into consulting.
At that point, there are a number of different ways to become a consultant. Almost every way will involve polishing your resume and interview skills and going through multiple rounds of actual interviews with different firms. See our "events" page to see how our club can help provide you with some of these opportunities.
Firms tend to focus their campus recruitment efforts during early September. Application deadline for full-time positions are in September, and the interview are usually held in September and October. Internship positions interviews are held in January or February.
What are consulting firms looking for in successful applicants?
In general, a candidate must be able to consistently demonstrate academic achievement and analytical abilities, leadership ability and team work skills, excellent people and communication skills, emotional intelligence and community orientation.
What if I'm not a business student?
Consulting is in no way restricted to only business students. In fact, consulting attracts students from all faculties and are not limited to one specialization or major. McKinsey and Company, as well as most major consulting firms, hire a large number of undergraduates with non-business backgrounds including Engineering, Computer Science, English, Science, Economics, and Politic Science. Each set of academic training brings in its own set of knowledge and training that is beneficial for consulting. Furthermore, there are several areas of consulting, which include strategy consulting, IT consulting, sustainability consulting, government consulting, operation consulting, marketing consulting, finance strategy consulting, Human Resources consulting and E-consulting.
About the Club
How can I join the UBC Consulting Club?
Recruiting for our club starts at Frosh, Image, Business Week, and Club Week where you can come visit us at our booth, ask any questions, and learn more about what our club has to offer. Even if you happen to miss us at our booth, you are invited to come to our events and register as a member then. In addition, if you simply want to learn more about consulting before you want to join, please come and attend our Open House on September 24th where we will be inviting representatives from Accenture and faculty members to discuss the career of consulting and how to get involved (for more information, please see our events page) Also, for any general questions about recruiting, please email our VP Internal, info@ubcconsultingclub.com
Please see our "Why Join US" page.
I am an Arts student. Can I join your club?
As mentioned above, consulting firms are agnostic to options and even degrees! Our club has a large membership base of interdisciplinary students and look forward to meeting students from all academic backgrounds. We help provide resume and interview training and gear our events to suit our membership base! If you are a non-business student and have any questions, feel free to e-mail our VP Interdisciplinary, Jacky Leung, at jacky.leung@ubcconsultingclub.com.
I am an Engineering student. Could I join the club?
Absolutely. UBC Consulting Club is open for students in any faculties. If you would like to learn more information about the club, definitely check our first Open House event or drop by our booth during Club Week.
Is your club only for students who are certain they want to become a consultant?
Not at all! Our club is meant for students who want to pursue a better understanding of what consulting is. Our goal as a club is provide you the opportunity to learn more and become more. If consulting interests you or you are just curious, we have events that will help you learn and meet others who are on the same boat as you and others who are already certain. We offer events to train transferable skills such as resume building, interview skills, soft skills and presentation skills. Although, they are all very important for consultants, they are also very pertinent in all other jobs and careers.
I want to pursue a career in consulting. How does your club help?
Our club has a number of events that is geared to help you learn the skills required to become a consultant. We have three workshops that build around the most important requirements to get a job in consulting. We will also provide a tri-mentorship program that will pair up a junior undergraduate (1st and 2nd year) and a senior undergraduate (3rd and 4th year) with an industry consultant! Learn how they did it first hand! In addition, we have many networking events and socials such as our Annual Wine and Cheese Gala and our West Coast Consulting Case Competition.
Is Consult the Case happening again?
West Coast Consulting Case Competition, formerly known as Consult the Case is still going and is even bigger this year! Please visit our page for more information or contact our VP Internal, Donna Lalas at info@ubcconsultingclub.com for more information.
Is there any chance I could get involved within the club?
There will be many opportunities to get involved with our club. We will be hiring our promotion team during August. Also, our Open House will have more information on our VP First Year position and other volunteer opportunities. At the end of the year, executive positions will open up for applications. A great way to learn about the club is to be a member first!
How do I get informed of the details of the event?
As a member, you will receive our bi-weekly newsletter will include detailed information of recent activities. You may also choose to visit our events page or our Facebook group. If you have signed up as a member and have not received anything from us, please contact us.
Do I have to be a member to attend your events?
Yes. However, if you missed us at our recruiting events, you can come to our events to register then. Registration fee is $10, which will include all club resources and events and subsidy to the West Coast Consulting Case Competition
Do I need to get prepared before going to the event?
Preparation is necessary, but not required for all of our events. For example, our first Open house is a great chance for you to explore the consulting industry and what we could offer. All you need to bring is your enthusiasm and tons of questions. For events that require specific dress codes, all information will be provided for you in our bi-weekly newsletters and remainders.
I would like to know more about consulting. Any recommendations?
Our website contains a lot of valuable resources! Check our Resource page for additional sources of information on consulting. Also, as a member of the UBC Consulting Club, you will have exclusive access to material offered by Vault.com and Harvard Business Review for free!
For any club inquiries or questions on consulting, please feel free to contact us at info@ubcconsultingclub.com
