One key area of opportunity for technology undergraduates and graduates is the management consulting field. It is often assumed that management consulting Firms like McKinsey look for MBAs. It is indeed true that a lot of management consultants do have MBAs, but at the starting levels (i.e., business analyst) MBA is not a requirement. What these Firms look for are - core problem-solving skills, analytical horsepower, and ability to handle data. This has always been the forte of STEM graduates. A workable knowledge of finance and business is taught by the Firms to their new recruits. The Firms follow the apprenticeship models where new hires are trained by more senior people. For STEM graduates who want to apply the core principles of data, logic, and analysis to real world business problems, this is a great opportunity.
The cornerstone of getting ready for a management consulting interview is to practice Case Interviews . This is a mini business case that is provided to the interviewee, with limited business knowledge needed to solve it. Most of the answers could be reached by apply common sense and real world knowledge, and core data analytics (for which data is provided by the interviewer) and logic on the fly. This may sound easy, but in reality a lot of practice is needed. Harvard Business School publishes a book called Case in Point, which is great to practice for case interviews. It provides techniques and actual cases with answers.
The interview process for Management Consulting is always through campus recruiting. It is very difficult to get an interview by applying on one’s own. Hence, prospective applicants should be part of the Consulting Club on campus and in touch with Career Placement Offices to know when Firms are going to come for interviews.