Strategy & consulting

Business & Economics

Helping organisations solve hard problems and make big decisions.

What the work actually is

What the work is actually like

Interviews, analysis and slides. You are dropped into an industry you knew nothing about a fortnight ago, interview the people who do know it, build the analysis that structures the problem, and present a recommendation to people far more senior than you. The craft being trained is structured thinking under time pressure — and the ability to say something clear when the data is incomplete.

The catch

Travel and hours, and a peculiar kind of distance: you recommend, others decide, and you often leave before finding out whether it worked. It is also famously an 'up or out' career structure in the large firms, which is bracing rather than secure, and the constant novelty means you rarely become deeply expert in anything.

What people get wrong about it

That consultants are hired because they know the answer. They are usually hired for capacity, an outside view, or political cover for a decision already half-made — understanding that is what separates people who are effective in the job from people who are frustrated by it.

The jobs inside this area

Management consultant
Business analyst
Strategy analyst
Supply-chain / operations analyst

A list, not a recommendation — you narrow it, we don’t.

What this kind of work usually offers

Earning well · Working with peopleA generalisation about the sphere, not a promise about a salary. Pay and security vary enormously by country and employer.

How you get there

The one-line version

Business, economics or a strong analytical degree. Case competitions mirror the actual work.

Stage by stage

While you are still at school
Debate, case competitions and any position where you had to persuade a room. Learn to structure an argument in three points and defend it — that is the entire selection criterion later.
What you study
Business, economics, engineering, law — the large firms recruit broadly from strong analytical degrees. What they screen for is the case interview, which is a learnable skill you should start practising a year before you apply.
How the first years actually go
Analyst on one workstream of a larger project: research, models, and the slides that carry them. Feedback is fast and blunt, which is the main reason people find the first two years steep and valuable.

Test it this month

Free, and finishable in a few evenings

Take a real local business, spend an hour working out how it actually makes money, and write three slides on the one change you would make. Force yourself to defend it against the strongest objection you can think of.