<p>I hear about people talking about how they want to "get an economics degree and work in consulting" or a think tank. Or Investment banking.</p>
<p>But what does this work entail? What is it like to be a "consultant"? Who do you consult? What do you do? What skills do you need? A consultant could simply be a kid who tells other kids what kind of candy is the best. So what does an actual "Consultant" do?</p>
<p>And what is it like to work at a think tank? Do they just sit in a circle and discuss things? I have no idea.</p>
<p>What is IB? Apparently the best, most lucrative career a business major can get. What do they do? Do they tell companies what field to invest in? Or is this what a consultant would do?</p>
<p>Consulting and think-tanking: These are prestigious, very well-paid jobs that don’t actually produce anything and that any intelligent person should be able to do for him- or herself. Basically, you’re getting paid for thinking for other people.</p>
<p>Consultants become experts at some area of business, anything from investing extra business cash to IT systems, and provide this expertise to lots of different companies. It’s hard for people who are mired in the day-to-day operations of a business to spend the time to investigate one thing. They could hire somebody permanently on staff to do this and large companies often do, but sometimes it’s more cost effective to hire a consultant to provide an answer for a question they might have in a particular area. Even if they need the consultant full-time, it can be useful in some instances to have “outside” expertise put the stamp of approval on a plan in order to sell it to reluctant staff members. Also, consultants often have a more well-rounded and global picture of an area than someone only working for one company would have. As an easy-to-understand example, companies often hire a consultant to evaluate their pay structures to make sure their salaries are in line with the industry averages. Right now at my company we have hired a consultant to audit our energy use and tell us where we can save energy. These guys have expertise in this area, having done this for many companies. For someone in my company to come up to speed in this area would take more time and money than the consultants charge.</p>
<p>Actually, the OP’s question is a very good one. You see lots of posts on CC from posters who want to get a job in “management consulting” when they graduate . That’s really hard to picture when most people think of a consultant as having some significant expertise and experience. So, is there anything in terms of their expertise or experience that qualifies those wannabe consultants?</p>
<p>I think new hires in consulting firms are given research to do which aids a consulting project. They are the ones gathering the data about stocks or salaries or computer packages. In gathering this data they learn about a particular area and build their expertise.</p>
<p>Here’s what the federal government’s Bureau of Labor Statistics says about the field (they use the terms “management analyst” and “management consultant” somewhat interchangeably):</p>
<p>When students talk about wanting to “work in consulting” they’re generally talking about going to work for one of the “Big 5” management consulting firms. These firms have large rosters of business clients both domestically and internationally. They pay very well and work their associates very hard. They do hire entry-level people out of top MBA programs and elite undergraduate institutions; basically they’re looking for very smart, very hard-working people who will throw themselves into very demanding work. Competition for these jobs is fierce, and most of their hires are made out of the top schools. Burn-out rates are high, and the business model of these firms actually requires a high turnover rate as they want to limit the number of people who stay around to become partners and split the profits. Their entry-level hires are people they’ll train to do research or perform other tasks; in most cases no prior business experience or expertise is required, though some knowledge of economics and a high level of mathematical ability are usually a plus. The consulting firms will often steer their associates to soft landings elsewhere in the business world when they become expendable to the firm.</p>
<p>So consulting has to do with business. Are there like foreign policy consultants for the government? Like, if I want to help craft domestic/foreign policy without being an FSO or politician, do consultants do that?</p>
<p>More like: “Consultants take your watch and then tell you the time . . . but only if you pay them a handsome fee.”</p>
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<p>Oh, there are plenty of consultants working for government agencies, many of them in the DC metropolitan area where they’re popularly known as “the Beltway Bandits.” Consultants are by and large pretty mercenary; they’ll work for anyone who pays them, public or private, subject to certain conflict-of-interest constraints (which they can usually get around by setting up internal “firewalls”). Not so much in the foreign policy arena, though, I suspect. That’s what the CIA, NSA, and a zillion other government “intelligence” agencies are for; not to mention State Department political appointees and career officers, lots of people at the Pentagon and at the foreign desks of other government departments and agencies, White House and Capitol Hill staffers, legitimate and/or self-appointed experts in academia and Washington think tanks, lobbyists for foreign governments and various business interests, and on and on. The government is not wanting for advice when it comes to foreign policy. There are a few “international strategy consulting” firms, like the Albright Group headed by former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright who served under President Clinton. But their clients are primarily transnational corporations seeking to trade on the access and international connections people like Albright bring to the table.</p>
<p>Yeah it sounds like CIA/FBI etc. would be right for you. It used to be an elite organization of bowtied ivy leaguers with lots of field experience but now there’s more a focus on the more desk related work such as the crafting of domestic and foreign policies.</p>
<p>Well, Ireland’s fate has just been put in the hands of a bunch of experts (read consultants) because the Irish government’s economic policies were awful and led the country to financial ruin, so the EU has decided to step in and appoint some real economists to the job of ruling the country.</p>
<p>So yep, there are ways to work in government as a consultant. A lot of government policies, in the US as well as elsewhere, are either proposed or crafted by private contractors hired by the government.</p>
<p>I have a question about working with/in the government. Is it true that you have to take a polygraph? If my dream is to work in the State Department or CIA, should I drop it because I may have used drugs/drank underage? Or do they not care about that?</p>
<p>quomodo: I agree with your take on despair.com I have been tempted for years to put up one of their posters in my office at work, but I’m afraid it might be interpreted as a “bad attitude”. The posters are so good that it’s hard to choose a favorite. A good candidate is the picture of the iceberg with “It could be that the purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others.” :)</p>