Many thanks to my colleague Ruth Donnelly for this post about careers in consulting. Definitely worth a read if you’re thinking about a career in consulting but I’d encourage you to take a look if you’ve not considered this career before – as the title says, it covers more than you might think. Later this week this blog will also be featuring a post on strategy consulting too so watch this space if this is a career area that interests you – Rebecca

Consulting has long been high up the list of career choices for Edinburgh Uni students. I met some new graduate Analysts from Accenture recently who summed up some of the appeal of working for a multinational consulting firm, including the wide choice of types of consulting to practise (e.g. strategy, finance, technology), global experiences (particularly 2 week induction course and international network that is developed through that); the organisation is firmly pro-female (all 4 Analysts on the panel were female); excellent colleagues and culture; having your drive and ambition rewarded; as well as the added interest that comes from becoming involved in client company cultures and the fact that employees are given 3 days per year to work in a charity.

Their top tips for success at assessment centre are to demonstrate confidence in your opinions and being able to defend your decision-making when challenged; being commercially aware (constantly reading the news so you know what’s going on in the world, what competitors are doing); having 2/3 solid reasons for choosing Accenture over other consultancies; and importantly, to avoid approaching assessment centres competitively – relax, work with others and be yourself.

Also good to know that there are various technical options available in consulting with lower entry requirements than the traditional consulting programmes, so worth looking into this if you either have a relevant degree or if you think you have an aptitude for using IT to solve problems.

Oct 26, 2015

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