At IIT Bombay, we tend to tire of clichés. Over the time we spend on campus we learn enough about the ‘IITian’ to take the compliments showered upon us with a pinch of salt. What, then, does one make of the world’s best consulting firms showing up at the LT, showering praise upon us and (miracle of miracles) actually hiring a few of us in ‘consulting’ roles. 

Given the long list of recruiters on campus this year, consulting is one of many options you’d have. Opinions on the consulting job range from extremely cynical (“arre they just do excelgiri”) to outrageously optimistic (“five years from now… I am going to take over the world!”). The following paragraphs attempt to help a large number of you give careful consideration to consulting as a career choice in the short term based on the life of an Associate at the Boston Consulting Group.

The toughest question you have to answer is, “Will I really like consulting?” There are, and have been myths on campus classifying consulting as a ‘lifestyle career’. Consulting is not the ‘work hard party harder’ model that consulting firms would have you believe. Enjoying consulting is most importantly about enjoying the job and its challenges. The partying is there but largely incidental. As a consultant you’ll always have enough money to splurge, it is time that will be at a premium. Put simply, you will love consulting if you’re meant for consulting and if it meets your goals and aspirations. As an IITian, you will always love the partying.

The biggest adjustment one makes in the initial months is from rubber slippers to leather shoes. The rest tends to fall in place. The core work is not too different from your BTP (assuming you actually did some work). Just replace the “Heat Exchanger Network Optimization” with “International Growth Strategy” and you should get the picture. It’s a lot of thinking and a lot of analysis. As an associate you’d be expected to handle both in equal measure. Contrary to widespread opinion, IITians are hired for their contribution to the thought process rather than analysis. Analysis in consulting, as in research, is an offshoot of thought.

In fact, as a twenty odd year old associate you will find yourself responsible for work you wouldn’t have dreamed of at the age of thirty. You will learn more about business in two years as an Associate than many would in business school or even in multiple years at another job.

Consulting gives you the unique advantage of looking at businesses from a detached point of view. Your work will not revolve around day to day process. You will work with a new company and possibly even a new industry every 4 months, avoiding the monotony that tends to set in with most other jobs.

However, contrary to campus life, as a consultant you will have to prioritize everything; your work, your personal life, your friends, partying (not necessarily in this order). Time, at times, comes at a premium and needs to be managed. You will begin to appreciate the value of planners and outlook and secretaries (no kidding!). The average Associate work day stretches up to 10hrs and once in a while beyond. What you do with the time might vary dramatically from meetings with CEOs (who will promptly ask you how old you are) to calls to car dealers in Brazil (“Hallo, you speak English?”) to re-phrasing presentations and engaging in involved analysis. You will have to use every skill you’ve learnt over the years and you’ll have to learn more in what can only be described as a ‘vertical learning curve’.

Take another look at the workday. If you believe that you can perform in these situations and also enjoy them (as opposed to just living through them) you are meant for consulting. For those among you that fit the bill, consulting is the best job you can land post IIT. (Note: This is a bold assertion, not entirely backed by facts. But then, the author is a consultant).

The peer group at consulting firms is unique. The diverse backgrounds of people around you (ranging from double doctorates to economics graduates and from artists to lawyers) will help you put your abilities in perspective and keep you in touch with reality. Among the biggest advantages of working with a global consulting firm is that you can use the expertise available in international offices (from nations as distant as Brazil or as culturally differentiated as China) on your work in India and also meet some interesting people and visit some unusual places in the process

A large part of what has been put down will seem distant to you. However, ten months from now you might just be writing the next version of this article. As a last word of advice, make your choices carefully and like everything that you will hear through recruiting season, take this article with a pinch of salt. Many among us look at a career in consulting as a shortcut to an Ivy League business school. Consulting is a career choice and in more ways than one, a way of life.