Are you intrigued by the world of business, want to become a top leader in the industry and have a knack for all things commerce? Take a look at how you could become involved with management consulting.
Unless you’re actively involved in the business world, the chances are that you don’t know much about it except that you might possibly be interested in pursuing a business career. Yet, the idea of being stuck in an office behind a desk isn’t appealing to you in any way.
Throughout the years, businesses have found themselves in somewhat sticky situations. They find themselves sitting in a company where change needs to happen to avoid the company caving in. What happens then? What do they do to save themselves and their companies? They call up a consulting agency and a management consultant comes in to their rescue.
What is Management Consulting?
The University of Pretoria Consulting Society gave us some great insight into what a Management Consultant does and how to get involved from an early age. First off, they explained exactly what the title ‘Management Consultant’ means:
“ Management consulting is the practice of helping organizations to improve their performance, operating primarily through the analysis of existing organizational problems and the development of plans for improvement.”
This pretty much means that as a Management Consultant, you’ll be working closely with companies to take them from average levels to badass levels.
How to Become Involved – UP Consulting Society
If you’re currently studying at the University of Pretoria (UP) or you plan to study there in the future, then you’re in luck. The UP Consulting Society is a great way to become involved with the world of management consulting from your first years of varsity.
The society is closely connected with Case Solvers, a Budapest based educational startup. Their aim is to prepare students for their case interviews – the interviews you would go through when applying for a job as a consultant at a consulting firm.
Why You Need to Prep for Interviews:
Once you’ve graduated and you’ve started applying for consulting jobs, the interview process will come in 4 steps. These are the four steps as provided by the UP Consulting Society:
Step 1:
- Hand in your ONE page CV, cover letter and transcripts.
Step 2:
- The firm will invite you to write a test where they test your problem solving, analytical and mathematical skills.
Step 3:
- Instead of a normal interview where you are asked a number of questions about yourself and then scenario based questions, consulting firms conduct something called a Case Interview where the applicant is given a question, situation, problem or challenge and asked to resolve the situation. The case is often a business situation or a business case that the interviewer has worked on in real life.
- The purpose of the interview is to test an applicant’s problem solving acumen, their analytical abilities, their ability to structure their thoughts in a coherent manner and also their ability to absorb large amounts of information and be able to discern what the question is actually asking.
Step 4:
- Most firms have another round of case interviews with some firms opting to make the candidates do a written case interview where they are given an information pack and given a short space of time to solve a problem and present it to the interviewer.
The problem with these case interviews is that most of the candidates aren’t prepared well enough. The case interviews can become extremely difficult and most people don’t make it past step 3. This is where Case Solvers and the UP Consulting Society comes in.
Case Interview Training
Case Solvers hosts Case Interview workshops at universities across the globe to prepare them for Case Interviews post-graduation or for Case Competitions. The preparation helps you improve on your problem solving skills and prepares you to think under pressure. Case competitions are mock interviews where students will compete against one another to come up with the best solution, the quickest.
On the 28th of June 2016, Case Solvers hosted a workshop with the UP Consulting Society. The course was facilitated by one of Case Solver’s trainers. 40 students attended the workshop and only positive feedback was received.
The next workshop will probably be hosted in September for those who are interested. If you’re still too young or want to wait until next year, head on over to Case Solvers and UP Consulting Society’s Facebook pages to keep up to date with their events.
A New World of Responsibility
By taking on the title of Management Consultant, you’re taking the responsibility of many companies and their employees into your hands. You will be leading them into a new way of doing things, an improved business ecosystem. Not to scare you, but that is A LOT of responsibility and you want to make sure that you do what’s best for all parties involved.
“Instead of waiting for a leader you can believe in, try this: Become a leader you can believe in.”
FundiConnect 2Cents
It’s never too early to start preparing for your future. By becoming actively involved with societies and activities at varsity, you’ll find yourself building connections, gaining a reputation and getting irreplaceable experience which will look great on your CV.
If you’re interested in participating in a Case Competition, fill out this form and Case Solvers will contact you ASAP ☺
