Junior consultant, welcome to the best job in the world!

After the honeymoon period is over, consulting can quickly become overwhelming. The constant need to adapt, stretched working hours, client pressure, uncertainty, high-expectations, little formal authority – it all adds up against you. However, somehow after all these years, this is still the best job in the world for me.

If you’re flirting with this career but find yourself at an impasse, this article is for you. Below is my case for consulting – a labour of love, a subtle craft of solving for people, a relentless passion for a slightly better world.

Below are my 10 favourite things about my job and why this can grow into your best job in the world (for the right person) (for more or less time).

1. Problem solving that matters

My first consulting project was a blur – I could not understand why anyone would spend so much time arguing over PowerPoint slides…

I later found the significance and true depth of what I considered trivial. Consulting woke me up to a reality that’s far from complete and predictable, a reality that’s very much work-in-progress, a reality that some of us have the chance to solve for.

Behind the closed doors of corporations, in spaces where our consumer world is being engineered, decisions are much more complex and nuanced than I could have possibly imagined. And, over time, I had the privilege to help with how ideas turn into action and outcomes, how outcomes turn into new/ better services and products.

It’s like magic, albeit slightly messier than that at first. There’s a certain quality to a corporate primordial soup of effort, full of chaotic potential from which something beautiful might just evolve with patience, humility and the right nourishment.

The apps we use, the services we expect and the products we touch without thinking about it. All that is now so beautifully simple, frictionless and firmly attached to who we are has been forged in uncertainty by often anonymous teams of diligent heroes. Teams like yours, navigating through an intricate web of information and agendas, some convergent, some not – filtering the music out of the noise, and then allowing it to be heard. It’s amazing.

2. Best people by your side

Sure, some might not seem as easy-going or approachable at first. Others might seem like they have life figured out without you in it.

One thing is certain – each colleague of yours is extremely intelligent, driven, and absolutely infatuated with problem-solving. You may not choose to spend your weekends together, you will certainly grow to appreciate this amount of firepower in your corner when push comes to shove. When a hard deadline approaches, or when there’s an RFP that needs some answers, your team will reach a state of synergy, flow, and cohesion rarely seen in less pressured careers. It’s almost like a well-coordinated dance in a corporate setting, embellished with picturesque files and slides.

3. Access to the best training

Both at the beginning of your career, as well as in full swing, you’ll have access to the best training available. A few courses will end up in your “required training” basket, a few will be organised by your team. The majority of training though will be quietly waiting for you outside of your organisation (most of the time without you knowing it – I certainly didn’t at first).

You have to know this is not your typical job with a curriculum – this is a career where you have to take charge and shape yourself. The good news you must know early is that all is achievable if only you ask the right way (in this case, build a compelling business case). As long as the course is an investment in the immediately-lucrative asset that is you, it will be approved.

Bonus tip: training is not great just for your soul/ mind, but also for your network. You’ll meet interesting people who share similar interests with you and who will help you along the way.

4. You get an immediate head start

Typical job: you get assigned to a position, you learn what that position requires, you do it for a couple of years well, then you get an option to advance.

Rinse and repeat for about 15-20 years. Only now you’re at the level where consultants operate! If you’re a consultant, congratulations, you’ve just accessed the most amazing corporate shortcut there is.

You somehow avoided all the repetitive years of corporate grinding with little creative opportunities. You somehow avoided all the bureaucracy and red-tape, and got to the exciting parts of the organisation – the parts that move and make it tick.

Transformation, change, thought leadership. That is where consulting begins its story.

Bonus tip: finding yourself at tables with people who are much more experienced than you should not inflate your ego. Instead, it should make you humble and curious. You have everything to learn from the amazing people around you – which brings us to…

5. Hanging out with decision-makers

First, as I alluded to earlier, this is good for the soul since this is the vehicle that’ll help you avoid the bad bits of this corporate trip.

Second, it’s also good to shape and inspire realistic aspirations. As a consultant, you’ll see people who “made it” and learn from their success but, more importantly, their failures!

Third (and probably most valuable), it gives you a direct path to getting your project done. Without this, you might be an amazing thinker – your impact is going to be limited. Once you get the ear of powerful people within your organisation, then the real work starts!

Access to influential people has been the single most effective tool in my arsenal. Despite often lacking a team due to budget constraints, I was able to easily compensate for it with the right level of executive support. It’s remarkable how much side-of-desk help you can get if the right person makes the introductions.

Bonus tip: you should always go back to your senior supporters and recognise every single person who has helped you. Everyone wants to hear they lead a good team and it’s essential that you give back to everyone while staying humble. Regardless of individual skill, without other people’s work, a great conductor’s job is nothing more than empty aerobics.

6. Life transferable skills

There are many technical skills you’ll end up picking up that will make you employable across a range of positions. However, by far the biggest takeaway from consulting are the skills easily transferable into your life!

Consulting is the art of influencing outcomes with little-to-no authority (sometimes, also little-to-no data and little-to-no-resources!). Once you master this, you’ll notice that you get better at Amazon returns (even beyond what their policy states), salary negotiations, free warranty extensions, reasoning with your kids and partner, etc.

Consulting skills open up a door towards favourable outcomes. People will make compromises and go out of their way to help you and, instead of finding it a chore or resenting you for it, you are going to brighten their day.

7. Background agnostic

Consulting doesn’t just equip you with incredible transferable life skills – the profession also thrives on them! That’s why, during the recruitment process, your academic/ professional background will matter less than in any other professional service career.

Chemists? Yes. Mathematicians? Yes. Philosophy? Yes. Politics? Sociology? Yes and yes.

Consulting will take all of it, as long as you’re a quick learner, keen problem solver and astute communicator. This career is so rich in the problems it throws at us that no degree truly can prepare you for it completely – instead, we’re focused more on the person than on the CV. This also makes teams much more interesting to work in, since the cultural profile pool is so diverse.

8. Accountability, responsibility and ownership

Within the first couple of weeks into my first project, I had already spoken during a global call. A couple of weeks after that, I had become the sole owner of an entire end-to-end benchmarking exercise, to make it how I pleased (from design to execution).

This happened despite my lack of domain experience and questionable Excel knowledge. Just like me, with the right level of enthusiasm and commitment to learning, you will be offered plenty to shape into a success within the consulting business.

The beauty of getting stuck in and welcoming responsibility whenever possible is that it inevitably leads to a virtuous cycle. The more you practice your magic, the better you’ll become, and the more people trust you with bigger things to play with. By the end of the year, you’ll often be amazed by how much was achieved.

9. Work Variety

I kid you not – I worked in projects with C-suite exposure across Products, FMCG, Oil and Gas, Central Gov and Aerospace WITHIN the first year of joining consulting!

Then, I specialised in Financial Crime and within the next 2 years, I worked for all major banks, retail and investment.

It makes a huge difference to be able to see so much so quickly – through the power of natural osmosis, patterns start to emerge. You start to get a feel for what works and what doesn’t. Ideas too will flourish better with so much surface area to pull inspiration from.

A bonus dressed as a nuisance (aren’t they all?!) is that you also become an expert at becoming comfortable with change, from new people, new processes, new corporate culture, new environments.

10. Abundant exit plans

You and I will not get money rich because of consulting. The salary we get is just enough for a decent living, a couple of good holidays per year, an ISA, a mid-sized mortgage and a dog.

However, as you might have gathered from points 1 to 9, you do get enriched at an accelerated pace! Every year you spend in consulting will be difficult in its own way, but it’ll pay off dividends when/ if you decide to jump into an industry position. Our skills, interests, knowledge and experiences make hiring us into senior positions of responsibility an easy process.

Change and transformation are everywhere. Every company can benefit from your expert knowledge and proven track record of delivering outcomes time and time again! So buckle up, and start making your mark. Day, after day, after day!

Key take away

Consulting isn’t for everyone. Even if you fit the bill and the recruiters all keen to get your application started, you still have to do a bit of soul digging to figure out if this is worth it for you.

After looking with me at what are some of the opportunities of this career, I invite you to reflect on what motivates you (hint: it shouldn’t be getting Hilton Diamond status, although that does come with the job).