<p>I am an industrial engineering undergraduate and would like to get some sort of consulting job, preferably one with a lot of travel (I guess that would be any consulting job?) and hopefully even with at least some international travel. I don't find a lot of job postings online for consultants who are industrial engineers specifically, but the school I'm attending says that 40% of its IE grads go into consulting. Do they get regular generalist consulting jobs, or is there a branch of consulting that specifically demands industrial engineering skills? Can anyone direct me to any more specific search terms? Google doesn't give me much with "industrial engineer consulting." </p>
<p>Also, are the consulting jobs with international travel restricted to the big consulting firms (ie. MBB)? When I see a job posting that says "50% travel," I'm having a hard time figuring out if that means 50% of the time you might have to drive a couple of hours, or 26 weeks out of the year you'll be getting on planes and flying across the country/world.</p>
<p>I know that jobs involving a lot of travel have plenty of downsides, but I've had a taste of that lifestyle and know it suits my personality.</p>
<p>You should ask your school whether those graduates who go into consulting do so right out of college or do so later in their careers. I would venture to guess that it is later in their careers. If it is right out of school, then your school should be able to provide the companies that hired them as consultants.</p>
<p>My opinion: As a former engineering manager at a large engineering company, I would never consider hiring a “consultant” right out of college. College gives you a lot of theory and some amount of practice. But actually working on the field gives you a whole lot more practice and that experience and knowledge is what I am buying from a consultant. There are some fields that are just emerging and maybe in one of those there are few, if any, with experience and therefore a consultant right out of college would make sense. However, industrial enigineering isn’t one of thsoe that would come to mind.</p>
<p>I would concentrate on doing well in school and then seeing what job opportunities there are as you near graduation. Get the expereince and then think about consulting.</p>
<p>IE is the biggest feeder to consulting firms, especially since you’re at Georgia Tech, and many undergraduates go directly into firms. Accenture has been of the largest hiring firms of IE’s at GT, but IBM and Deloitte both have a big presence, and all three of MBB hired from GT last year. There are also several healthcare-specific consulting firms if you’re interested in that field.</p>
<p>There are boutique firms that hire on campus, but they’re looking for technical expertise (for IE, there are a firms that hire for OR, simulation, revenue management, and forecasting) and usually go for MS and PhD students. </p>
<p>To get started and get informed about who is on campus, what they do, and how to interact and interview with their recruiters, join the Undergraduate Consulting Club.</p>
<p>I was in a similar job before for a couple of months. What I can tell you is this:</p>
<p>You dont get to choose where you are flying and you will be flying to and from the same spots for a couple of months until your project is finished. Accomodation and airfare is paid, but they usually put a limit for the cost of food claimed. Clients might call you in the middle of the night if something screws up ( depending which industry you are in i guess). And on top of that you need to provide every single explanation as to why you claim Over time there and sometimes they will only give you timeoff instead of the extra pay rate.</p>