The traditional consulting career model employed by top consulting firms like McKinsey was to develop generalist consultants who could apply general business principles and frameworks across different industries, sectors and functional areas.
Clients increasingly value industry experience and specialized knowledge, and so firms are evolving the traditional consulting career model to accommodate these changing client demands.
Consulting firms often expect generalist consultants to specialize within two or three years of joining the firm. As a junior consultant you need to be pro-active in managing your career since you can quickly become pigeonholed. For example, if your first few projects relate to “big data” you could become the firm’s in-house expert and then work primarily on projects relating to big data.
[For more information on the management consulting industry, download “The HUB’s Guide to Management Consulting“.]
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