Consulting Q&A - Working in Consulting Q&A with Kajol | work life balance | pros and cons | salary
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- Опубліковано 1 сер 2024
- What is it like working in management consulting? Going through a consulting Q&A to answer all your questions on life as a management consultant.
I asked you over Instagram to send across your questions and sat down with a cup of tea to answer a few of them. Two more series on trying to move into consulting and exiting consulting coming up too 😇
🎬 WANT TO SKIP AHEAD?
00:00 Intro
00:21 Dating in consulting
01:18 Rivalry between firms
02:17 What's in my ppt juice
02:19 Best / worst parts of consulting
03:09 Advice to new joiners
04:07 Best moment in consulting
04:48 Hardest task in consulting
06:08 Most embarrassing moment
08:26 Proving value as a consultant
09:36 Lowest salaries in Big4
09:50 Taking holidays in consulting
10:34 Advice for a directors round
11:02 Best perk of working at Deloitte
11:49 Transitioning between roles
12:55 Most used software in consulting
13:12 Introverted in consulting
14:04 Travel abroad
15:10 How to make a good impression
15:21 How to be professional at work
16:50 Horizontal vs vertical knowledge
18:23 Working with difficult stakeholders
19:15 Growth opportunities in consulting
20:32 Improve soft skills
21:16 Work life balance
22:23 Outro
🙋WHO AM I?
I'm Kajol, a Big 4 Senior Manager working in London, UK. In my spare time, I post content to do with career and life. My aim is to help you have more happier and successful work lives.
📞 CONNECT WITH ME
If you’d like to talk, I’d love to hear from you. If you want a quick response, Instagram is probably the best medium but feel free to email me too.
- Instagram: / kajolphadnis
- Email: hello@kajolphadnis.com
If you want to have an in person chat with me, I'd love to meet you! If you fancy coming down to London to my work office, I'll make / buy you a coffee. Drop me an email at hello@kajolphadnis.com with 'Coffee' in the header.
👩💻 MY APPROACH TO CONTENT CREATION
All videos are based on my four years of experience working in consulting. Topics where I've had no real life experience is based on research and 1-1 interviews with consultants who have the relevant knowledge.
🤓 DISCLAIMERS
*AFFILIATE LINK: This is an affiliate link that allows you to search the items I've mentioned in this video at ABSOLUTELY no cost to you. It helps and sustains my channel - thank you for the support!
My views do not represent the views of any company that I've mentioned in my video. Please do note that if I talk about a UK firm, counterparts in other countries are not always the same.
If you have any questions on consulting, leave me a comment and I'll get back to you by EOD 🤣
00:21 Dating in consulting
01:18 Rivalry between firms
02:17 What's in my ppt juice
02:19 Best / worst parts of consulting
03:09 Advice to new joiners
04:07 Best moment in consulting
04:48 Hardest task in consulting
06:08 Most embarrassing moment
08:26 Proving value as a consultant
09:36 Lowest salaries in Big4
09:50 Taking holidays in consulting
10:34 Advice for a directors round
11:02 Best perk of working at Deloitte
11:49 Transitioning between roles
12:55 Most used software in consulting
13:12 Introverted in consulting
14:04 Travel abroad
15:10 How to make a good impression
15:21 How to be professional at work
16:50 Horizontal vs vertical knowledge
18:23 Working with difficult stakeholders
19:15 Growth opportunities in consulting
20:32 Improve soft skills
21:16 Work life balance
this video is so helpful! i love how honest you are, need more people like you
Awww Farah ❤❤😭
I’m here for the affair tea auntie K and if you say TMI… I’m not skipping 😂
Seriously, I’m glad to hear some of my concerns about consulting are changing (work life balance and what constitutes professionalism). I was a little self conscious about my Scouse accent when trying to enter the “professional” services wold.
LOL I'm here for it too, gosh I really need to watch what I say HAHAHA. Honestly consulting (in my firm anyway) has changed so much from 5 years ago. It's mad, I finish at 6pm now lmao. I thought I wouldn't fit in either - I'm actually quite rough by what I do, I wear hoodies and leggings etc etc. Being unprofessional is the new professional hahahahha (and it's the work you do rather than how you look / sound) xx
This video is so good that it makes me want to get into consulting
🤣🤣🤣
Hello Kajol , I have just discovered your channel and have become instantly hooked.
Welcome 💜
Kajol, everytime you post a video I curse UA-cam for not configuring a Love button on your channel. Very informative and helpful video.
Too kind 🥳
I have literally been watching all your videos because I applied for the management consulting school leaver role at Pwc and I have my assessment day coming up soon.
I'm learning so much from you. Just want you to know that you've inspired an 18 year old here ❤❤❤
So so happy 😊 Good luck for PwC - you'll smash it
How did it go? I hope you got accepted.
That was quite thorough for all my questions! Just wanted to ask (more specifically); how has remote-working changed how consultants work (Work-life balance, getting on projects, developing relationships with colleagues, managers, and clients etc)?
Thanks a lot!
Again depends on the client. I'm on a project now where my client is in Barcelona but day to day I'm working from home and if there's a big workshop that'll come up, likely to travel to Barcelona. But that probably isn't going to happen anytiime soon. I like to go in once a week just to see people and 'stay in touch' / be updated of what's going on. Getting on projects you want to get on is SO much easier when you're in the office and just having a chat with people - it's so difficult from home, I found it hard. Remote working obv isn't the same for developing relationships as in person coffees are but for getting your head down and doing work, it's great.
@@KajolPhadnis are you able to tell the consulting company you are working for that you don’t want to travel much and only want to work with clients who are based in London? Or can you not do that? Also since the pandemic are consulting firms more generous in terms of work life balance?
Hey Kajol, thanks for the amazing video! I am wondering if management consulting has pigeonholing problem?
fellow deloitte employee, loved this video.
Aww thanks MacKenzie hehe 💙😭
Thank you very lovely
Hi Kajol! Thank you for this informative and amusing video 🤩 I’m currently applying for senior associate/consultant roles as I just finished my MiM, prior to this I have 2.4 years of experience as a consumer insights market researcher (customer experience, branding etc). What should I highlight during the application process in order to stand out from others? Thanks in advance!
P.S. Just wanted to let you know that I have utilised your meeting notes and powerpoint videos during my MiM Consulting project. I shared them with my colleagues and they found it extremely helpful!
Aww I'm so glad that it was helpful!! Long reply, sorry!! Okay so going to be honest, most people that do a MiM end up going for an associate / junior consultant role. It's people with MBAs who jump into a senior associate / consultant role. I don't agree with it - your education shouldn't determine what role you come in as but it should be your experience. However, if you're going for market research / customer experience roles (probably within Digital consulting) it's more than fair I think to apply for senior associate / consultant roles. But if you're going for more strategy consulting, they'll expect you to apply for grad schemes. Okay in terms of making your app stand out, really it's the 2.4 YOE you have and what skills you've learnt, what impact you made. MiM obviously helps too. Would say if you've done anything to show your passion e.g. led the consulting club in your uni, started a startup (shows your entrepreneurial skills) - always helps. In the interview process, it's how you communicate and work within a team (a team of 2 e.g. your case interviewer or a big group). Sorry if it's generic but to me, you stand out by showing 1) your passion and 2) you already have the skills of a consultant.
Omg thank you so much for the thorough reply, especially with the sentiment on MiM vs. MBA with experienced roles. I will look more into digital consulting as well to expand my opportunities. Really grateful that you took your time to answer my question, no need to be sorry!
Another quick question (sorry!), would the role of project/group leader of 5 for my MiM business consulting project (client was a local IIoT startup) count as showing entrepreneurial skills?
No worries and yes - entrepreneurial and leadership :)
Hey Kajol, this question is with respect technology consulting. Is hands on experience of development a pre requisite for applying for an experience tech consultant. I started my career as software tester 10 years ago with minimal coding and have grown into techno manager but not in depth coding experience. I do have cloud certification under my belt and decent understanding of Enterprise architecture. So was curious on what to expect from tech consultant interview and if they would ask those dreaded data structures n algorithms that they ask in developers interviews
Hey Neelesh!! If you're going for an analytics / developer role in technology consulting - it probably is for an experienced hire role. However, you've got tester roles, you got business analyst roles etc which do not require dev experience. Having cloud and EA certifications is great! For experienced hire roles, the interview is dependent on what type of technology consulting you're going for. E.g. you'll get some technical questions on architecture if you're going for an Architect role. They'll defo ask a small coding exercise if you're going for a developer role to see if walk the talk :)
22:04 I worked on KSA project amazing work life balance. (Friday no emails clients weekend, Sunday our weekend , Ramadan timing short working hours) on others days work will finish by 3pm max . No pressure or deadline as such we have to put deadline so we could wrap up !
One of the best and the smoothies project I ever worked on.
Sometimes it's so funny how ironic that these situations arise. Dubai was the same for me!!!!
Hey kajol I have a question does an management consultant works maximum 12 hours or more and how many hours a management consultant work normally ?
Why are the big 4 offices located right next to each in London, surely that’s already a conflict of interest lol?
Also how long are the hours? Do you get paid overtime for the extra hours you work? Or is the extra hours accounted for in the bonus?
No conflict of interest but actually, only PwC and EY are really close to each other. Otherwise, KPMG is in Canary Wharf and Deloitte near Chancery Lane. Hours depend on the project - I'm finishing pretty good hours right now as I've started a new project and they're trying to make sure people finish by 6pm hehe. I've worked on projects where for the whole project (6 weeks) I've worked till 11pm. You don't get paid overtime.
@@KajolPhadnis thanks! :)
Hello Kajol,
Which are the books on the table? What is the type of books you like to read?
Working on this - doing a business books one I love soon
Hey Kajol, what benefits do you get while on the job? As in free cab fares and free Uber Eats. Or is that just for people in IB...
You get that but only when you work past a certain time e.g. 9pm
Hlo mam I am 3rd year BTech student I want to know what's skill should I focus for consulting?
this will help: ua-cam.com/video/Z7LpIpxneVQ/v-deo.html
Hey kajol
Love your videos 💗
I wanted to ask Should I go for Master in management course to go in consulting sector ?
Okay what's the situation? What did you study for Bachelors? How many years between Bachelors and Masters and if not back to back, what have you been doing in the mean time?
@@KajolPhadnis Done with bachelor in financial markets ( 2019), as of working as underwriter in US firm, want to go in consultant sector, So planning master in management in France next year.
Is it right path or should I look into something else
Hmm, do you think you've picked up skills for consulting? I would apply for consulting (probably grad schemes if you don't think you have relevant experience) probably as well as Masters. See what you get but yes, Masters in Management sounds good.
@@KajolPhadnis thanks kajol 🥰
Beauty with intelligence
Is management consulting is worth it ? Or we can go to other sector ( as per your understanding )
In terms of money , work life balance and other things ?
Depends what is important to you / worth it and which country. In terms of money per hour, it's so much better than investment banking and work life balance is becoming a priority for most consulting firms here in the UK. Exit opportunities are fab and imo you do more higher level work than you'd do in banking. Feel free to expand on your question and I'll try to answer it. Using banking as a comparative but more than happy to do to another sector.
@@KajolPhadnis Great ❤️❤️
Thank you kajol
Keep making videos 🔥🕺
Haha no worries, anytime - if you have any specific topics you wanna hear on, let me know :)
@@KajolPhadnis Another great video Kajol! Do you listen to any podcasts ?
Hi Senior. How you organize your Outlook mails??
haha no need to call me senior, we are all friends here!!
@@KajolPhadnis Hey Kajol, why can't you make a video series on business email writing or official email writing. I'm facing difficulties to write a mail properly to the seniors on my team.
Okay I will for you :)
Will also do a vide on Outlook tips - is that good?
@@KajolPhadnis Yeah sure, Kajol thanks for your concern. I would have felt so happy if you were my Coach. As an Analyst I could have learnt so much from you to become a good professional.
Hello ma'am
I am currently pursuing bba business analytics and I am very much interested in management consulting.......so ma'am my question is do MBB or big 4 looks at your past academic record or your MBA grades ? And can we join management consultant firms from tier 1 mba colleges other than iim..... Eagerly waiting for your reply........
It works differently in India - I think grades, experience and referrals play a huge part there. In the UK, getting minimal grades is great but experience and passion plays a greater weight.
@@KajolPhadnis thank you ma'am for your reply 😊😊
Do you play guitar? I see that in the background.
Yupppppp
I reckon playing guitar is the most satisfying activity one can do after a day of hectic corporate life...
It really makes me feel better - my way of meditating
Bingo...Can totally relate to it .
@@KajolPhadnis you could also start your videos by playing some chords... Just a advice that you would not want ;-)
Have people at Deloitte messaged you (via Teams/Skype/DPN) out of nowhere about your UA-cam career?
Yes 🤣
And in the office
@@KajolPhadnis 😆 Thank you for your informative and entertaining content, fellow low paid Senior!
@@sanchito39 you're the one cracking me up hahahha 🤣