Oxford

CONSULTANCY
Many students consider a career in consulting because
of the fast pace, wide variety of projects, and high
performance clients and teams with whom you can work.
Consultants can gain unique insights into a wide range
of sectors and organisations and work with staff at all
levels. Consultants can work long hours, travel extensively
and, at the start of your career, you may spend more time
conducting Excel analyses rather than strategizing with
the CEO in the Board Room.
Graduates are expected to take an active
and productive role in projects from the
start of their career, with the overall aim of
a consultant being to help organisations
improve their business performance. This
could include anything from entry into
a new market, identifying new revenue
sources, assessing the business case for
a new product, or innovating customer
experiences. It can also include advice
on scaling back, closing operations,
cutting costs and reorganisation. Skills in
team work, analysis, problem solving and
communication are key.
The type and range of clients you work
with will depend on the sort of firm you
work for. Consulting firms range from
large, multinational firms working across a
variety of industries, to niche consultancies
specialising in expert advice on a specific
industry, such as healthcare, media, or
financial services. Broadly, work tends to be
broken down into two types:
]]
Strategy consultancy: understanding
and finding solutions to strategic
problems within an organisation. This
could, for example, be understanding
competitors, the external market,
or future drivers of growth. Projects
tend to be fairly short, and these roles
generally involve significant amounts
of travel.
]]
Implementation consultancy: taking a
strategic idea or solution and making it
a reality. Consultants will work to make
sure that all elements of a business
– such as personnel, technology and
processes – come together to reach
a successful outcome. Projects tend
to be longer than those in strategic
consultancy, and consultants are often
based at the client organisation.
MORE INFORMATION
If you want to find out more about
this sector, visit:
www.careers.ox.ac.uk/concultancy
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GETTING IN AND
ENTRY POINTS
Most large firms accept applications from
1st September onwards for graduate
positions and summer internships starting
the following year; however, companies
including Deloitte, PwC, EY and KPMG,
regularly open even earlier in the summer.
Closing dates for large firms, such as
BCG, Bain and McKinsey, usually fall in
late October and early November. Some
consultancy firms recruit on a rolling
basis, so preparing early and making an
application in good time is advisable.
Other firms, such as Accenture, keep their
application process open all year round.
It is important to check individual firms’
websites so that you can apply accordingly.
Internships in consulting are becoming
more popular with the large firms, but they
are not the only route in: other commercial
experience is still very valuable.
Consultancies advise across all sectors,
so work experience in other industries is
valuable if you can reflect analytically upon
the experience.
The application process for consultancy is
very rigorous and once it starts, can move
quite quickly. Therefore, assuming you are
successful, you won’t have much time to
prepare before each interview round (and
there might be five rounds!).
The process typically starts with a written
application, moves to possible aptitude
tests (possibly on line), then to several
rounds of interviews and/or assessment
centres. The bulk of the interviews will
be based on Case Studies; these are
key to demonstrating that you can think
about business problems like a consultant
and you will need to do a good job on
every case, and an outstanding job on a
couple. You should prepare and practise
these in advance, especially if you feel
less comfortable working with numbers.
As for all interviews, we recommend that
you practise these with other people, out
loud. The Careers Service has a variety of
case study resources and workshops to
help you make a competitive application;
consultancies also run case study
workshops during term time and you
should try to attend several of these.
EXTRA-CURRICULAR IDEAS
+ + Join The Student Consultancy (p.29)
for training and term-time consulting
experience. Teams work on finding
solutions to real business problems
faced by local companies, charities and
other organisations.
+ + Sign up for Insight into Business. This
new learning development programme
aims to improve your business acumen
and your commercial awareness.
+ + Get involved in Oxford Biotechnology
Roundtable, which offers opportunities
in a niche field of consulting.
+ + Become active in a related student
society, such as the Oxford
Management Society, CapitOx
Consulting or the Oxford Guild.
+ + Get involved in a business activity
where you can demonstrate some
impact and commercial insight, such
as managing the budget for your
college ball, improving the marketing
of a concert, or streamlining an
administrative process in a society.
“
Victoria Morrison
Consultant, Bain & Company
Structured and analytical
thinking are absolutely
critical; consulting is about
breaking down problems
and attacking them with
different sorts of evidence
to prove or disprove a
hypothesis.
”