Board 8 > Any consultants on the board, past or present?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm fairly fresh out of my MBA program and got an offer from a boutique firm today. It's pretty damn good, but I want to hear from people who aren't actively recruiting me or just went to business school. Whether big or small companies, what were your long-term experiences? Is it worth doing for at least a few years as a career move?

I worked under someone who ran an entire multinational company based around his personal consulting expertise for a few years. Not quite the same, but from him is it is very worthwhile as long as you are valued, your time is respected, and you can tell them to fuck off at any time without losing a lot of money based off the offer.

Mind you, this person consulted on things like government contracts previously so they were A+ status in the field, so I think it just depends on what you want out of it ;o. People can treat consults like shit and if the terms aren't good it can be very unfulfilling. Don't know if this helps at all

not a consultant myself either but have many friends who worked for large consulting firms (think Deloitte, BCG, Bain, etc.). Those ones whose entire goal is to run you ragged and burn you out in 2-3 years with insane turnover. That's likely going to be different at a boutique firm depending on the size. But that's always going to be the main pitfall for consulting firms - do they really care about you at all? I'd try and ask what turnover looks like, or maybe how long most people tend to stay at the firm / opportunities for advancement. If they're just trying to run you into the ground for a couple years and then replace you with somebody else when you're fed up I'd probably stay away.

The travel/food/pay benefits are always gonna be pretty good though so if that justifies the labor then it's a fine gig.

But again - this could all be totally be different at a small boutique firm. Sorry if this doesn't help

I appreciate you guys coming in here, don't worry.

The company's about 100 people and doesn't seem to have a bunch of churn; the position if open because they're trying to get more people so that they don't have to turn down work. The people I've spoken with have been very positive -- which, yeah, they're trying to recruit me, but it seems they really are pretty happy where they are. Apparently the owners didn't fire anyone during covid lockdowns and just ate the losses, which is a huge "wow" for me.