Surviving the Consulting Life Series – Volume 1

Consulting offers a rewarding yet challenging lifestyle, this article aimed at providing new and aspiring consultants with some useful tips to thrive in the highly competitive consulting environment

Tip 1: Network – Many times during engagements you land up in a situation where you have to become an expert in a key business area of an engagement in a matter of hours.

Quality and time are both of essence in consulting engagements. Many times it is much easier to work your way around problems by asking for help. This is where networking comes in handy. It is much easier to ask someone who has previously worked in similar areas to point you in the right direction.

For example, if you were working on an engagement which involved reviewing the inventory management process for a retail client. Before you can even begin the engagement you have to develop an understanding on the subject matter. The task is simplified if you can quickly call up your pal in the firm and gain an understanding on key areas and perhaps even get his research docmuments and cheatcheats.

Some of the best places to get to meet people are company cabs and events organized by HR/CSR teams in the consulting firms. Personally, i have made many friends during my Cab travels and CSR/HR events. Needless to say, these relationships have often come in handy during various time bound and quality driven engagements.

Tip 2: Research Skills – To be effective as a consultant, you need to have excellent research skills. Internet offers a vast pool of knowledge, a consultant with excellent research skills is always able to offer a deeper insight during team discussions.

Research skills also come in handy during client meetings and internal discussions. It is always a good idea to set up Google alerts for you’re area of expertise and be up to date with key developments in the industry.

Tip 3 Presentation and Excel Skills – As a consultant you’re days would fly by working on power point presentations and excel sheets. You need to master both PowerPoint and excel to be effective.

Tip 4 Review you’re work – Many times we fail to recheck and review our work before sending it client/manager/partner. It is important that as  a consultant you recheck your work( (as much as feasible) . It is always a good idea to get it reviewed by your colleagues for grammatical/formatting errors.

Tip 5 Speak up – Many new consultants think it’s a good idea to keep shut and learn during early years. Although from experience, I have learned that it always works to voice your opinion. Though I would advise that is always better to tone it down. For example instead of saying “I think this approach is wrong and right approach should be xyz” reword as “This approach seems to be interesting, however, I think approach xyz also has some merit”.

Tip 6 Track and Backup – Always backup your information and keep a track of all correspondence with the client. You don’t want to be caught in a situation where you cant back you’re recommendations with supporting documents such as you’re research and minutes of meeting documents with client.

Keep watching this space for more insights on the consulting lifestyle

These were some of the key thing’s i’ve learned during my consulting life.Email you’re tips for aspiring consultants to mohit.kant@consultingnetwork.co.in and we would be happy to publish them in future Surviving the Consulting Life Series

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About Mohit

Mohit Kant has written 40 post in this blog.

Mohit is a Consultant at a leading consulting firm. He Conceptualized and launched Consulting Network in 2008. Mohit specializes in Background Research and Anti Corruption due diligence projects Mohit claims to be a proud coffee devout and a social media enthusiast. You can reach him on mohit.kant [at] consultingnetwork.co.in LinkedIn Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mohitkant

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