Business Consulting

Mefic_vest · 2017-06-22T20:59:22+00:00

Many larger companies with HR departments just use a degree as a filter to filter out applicants. While the degree may or may not have relevance, it allows an easy-to-confirm hard requirement of pre-existing skills that a list of industry acronyms may not be able to provide. Keep in mind that most HR departments have zero clue what the job entails, so they aren’t actually able to properly judge any application - they need checkboxes that they can check off in order for the applicant to advance in front of someone who actually knows something about the job and can properly evaluate the candidate. If you are dealing with an industry that has arcane buzzwords (IT is famous for this) and obscure subjects (IT, again), HR would be left utterly unable to properly gatekeep the application process. A degree is something they can use as a broad, sledgehammer-style filter to crop out those who may just be bullshitting and/or are entirely inappropriate for the job, without actually having a single clue what the job is about at all.

IMO the best thing you can do is highlight your industry experience in ways that HR would be able to understand. Focus on successes using skills, not skills by themselves. Focus on your job history, to detail how extensive it is.

TheLegionnaire00 · 2017-06-22T19:49:19+00:00

You can get a degree in Eastern Europe for ~2000$ if you really want one, it's just a piece of paper. If you really need it buy it from Eastern Europe: basically you pay the taxes(~500-700$ per year) and in 3 years you can have your degree. Of course, this apply to some private universities from around here. But you can go to a legit state university if you want(~2500-3000$). At most of them the presence in courses is not obligatory and you can just fly in here for the exams. There are some universities where you can bribe the teachers to give you straight A's with about 100$ per exam(not my university though).

OGlancellannister · 2017-06-22T19:50:04+00:00

Personally, I don't give a shit about your degree, it's not about your credentials on paper. What have you done? What have you accomplished? You're young, but if the answer is nothing other than "I'm very smart, and I have a passion for this," Well that's not going to be good enough. Words are words. If you've run a major marketing campaign that was a huge success, or developed and sold massive businesses, created something of worth — these are the things that show other people you're someone worth consulting. Wanting to be a consultant is not good enough. Even if you do have good ideas, you have to prove it first.

yunhaila · 2017-06-23T01:59:33+00:00

I've got myself in two consulting jobs at age 22 and 23 without ever submitting a resume.

The first one I got through engaging a speaker who happened to be the president of a small consulting firm.

The second I got through family connections.

I know my friend built a consulting business himself at the age of 33 after successfully launching his own brands and subsequently doing marketing consulting for small business owners.

From what I've seen, consulting itself won't make you a billionaire. But it leads you to connections that enable you to build billion dollar businesses. Its all about connections and industry knowledge. If you can sell and do it well, you can leverage this reputation to get bigger and bigger clients. If you cannot, you will shrivel and die.

What's your end goal? How does this job play a role in your plan to riches?

yes_we_can_t · 2017-06-22T23:07:38+00:00

As someone who went into consulting at 27 (software development), I highly suggest getting a mentor. Have you worked with anyone whose job you'd like to have? Reach out, many people enjoy being in a position to dispense their hard-earned wisdom to an eager and intelligent guy.

dragonfly08 · 2017-06-23T02:01:58+00:00

I have worked in consulting for the past 10 years at both 2nd/3rd tier firms and tier 1 firms.

At some of the 2nd and 3rd tier firms, you can get in without a degree, but its difficult. Its better if you come in through an acquisition or have a deep network OR have the PROVEN ability to "make rain" on the order of $10m+/year.

At the tier 1 firms (M/B/B), it is highly HIGHLY unlikely that you can get in without a degree, most who work there have MBAs from M7 schools (think Harvard/Yale/Stanford/Wharton/UChicago/Kellogg/etc).

How you can market yourself without a degree: Thought leadership. If you can write, and you can articulate well thought-out perspectives on a particular challenging business domain, and publish that regularly, you can create a position as a thought leader. Then you can use your position as a thought leader to "side door" your way into consulting. But then again, if you're a thought leader in a particular space, it's economically viable to parlay that into starting your own firm, especially if you know how to sell.

My advice: You're still young. A degree would help give you more options, especially if you are dead set on going into "business consulting". It will also give you a network of people who may very well end up in consulting themselves, and find a way to refer you for roles.

statface21 · 2017-06-23T03:53:41+00:00

Just get the degree, check the box, and move on. It'll be easier

yummyluckycharms · 2017-06-23T17:02:27+00:00

Management consulting is incredibly competitive environment - and depending on the country, most firms wouldnt take candidates without a degree. why would they - there's a huge surplus of talent. In canada, the percentage of people with a tertiary education (ie. masters degree has doubled since 2000, and canada already has the highest education level of any country in the OECD.

Case in point, broom sweepers or janitors now require a university degree - not because the job requires it, but because HR departments are desperately trying to cut down the number of received resumes.

If your dead set at entering into management consulting, look for a boutique firm in UK or USA - they arent as competitive in their requirements and smaller firms tend to care about what you can do.

Title	Business Consulting
Author	bozzie1991
Upvotes	10
Comments	12
Date	June 22, 2017 7:25 PM UTC (9 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/TheRedPill
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/TheRedPill/comments/6ivtmk/business_consulting/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/TheRedPill/business-consulting.44200 https://theredarchive.com/post/44200

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