Yale Graduate Student Consulting Club (YGCC) presentation, 2012. All rights preserved.

1. S T R I C T L Y P R I V A T E A N D C O N F I D E N T I A L"
Introduction to Management
Consulting for J.D, M.D and
Ph.D
Yale Graduate Student Consulting Club (YGCC)
www.yale.edu/consulting
Chair – Alice Qinhua Zhou
Vice-Chair – Anit Raja Banerjee

2. Agenda
General Introduction
What is consulting
What is it like to work as consultant?
What they are looking for?
How to prepare yourself?
Q&A
A sample case
Networking time
2

3. What is consulting?
Serve the client to solve complex business problems
• HP – tech company
− Global leader in PC sales
○ PCs are a low margin business
○ PCs sales growth is slowing (in the face of Apple)
− New CEO Meg Whitman faced with a difficult decision:
○ Should HP continue to make PCs?
• How does Meg Whitman answer this question?
− PC-business execs want to keep their jobs
− Other VPs run their own business segments
− Analysis is complex
− Answer: Management Consultants
3

4. What is consulting?
Wide Scope of consulting engagement
Functional Practices Industry Practices
Business Innovation Financial Services
Corporate Finance Retail and Consumer Goods
Strategy Energy and Agriculture
Organization Media & telecommunications
Operation Public sector
Marketing Transportation / Travel
Risk Healthcare
High Tech
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5. What is consulting?
Diverse positioning of consulting firms
• Functional: e.g. Simon
Kucher & Partners
• Industry: e.g. Frankel
Group
5

6. Agenda
General Introduction
What is consulting
What is it like to work as consultant?
What they are looking for?
How to prepare yourself?
Q&A
A sample case
Networking time
6

7. What is it like to work as consultant?
Work with a team and the clients
Source: McKinsey presentation 7

8. What is it like to work as consultant?
Career Path: UP …
JDs, MDs, PhDs Partner
MBAs Principal
Undergraduates,
(Some) Master s
Engagement Manager / Project Leader
Associate / Consultant
Business Analyst / Associate
Election to Partner in roughly 8 years
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9. What is it like to work as consultant?
… or OUT: Open doors to the future
Five years from entering the firm
Public sector and Gov
Hedge Funds
Asset Management and
Equity Research
Non-profit
Private Equity
Entrepreneurship
Corporate
Upper
Managment
Consulting
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10. Agenda
General Introduction
What is consulting
What is it like to work as consultant?
What they are looking for?
How to prepare yourself?
Q&A
A sample case
Networking time
10

11. What they are looking for?
Yale JDs, PhDs, MDs and beyond are already armed with many of
the skills you need to succeed in consulting
• Team-player (solving problems as part of a team)
• Current:
• Analytic skills, curiosity, original thinking
• Energetic, hard working
• Potential:
• Fast learning, coachable
• Client-ready (personal representation of the firm)
• Strong Listener
• Clear articulation of ideas
• Natural leader (grow the business of the firm)
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12. Agenda
General Introduction
What is consulting
What is it like to work as consultant?
What they are looking for?
How to prepare yourself?
Q&A
A sample case
Networking time
12

13. How to prepare yourself?
What you would like to do from now on?
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Invited
Intern McKinsey Insight / Apply
Full time
Interviews Bridge to BCG Intern
Interviews
Apply
Full
time
Full time
Interviews
• Learn about the business world, industries, firms and yourself
• Gain experience (including club activities)
• Prepare for interviews
Note: Date ranges are historical estimates – some firms may decide to buck the trend and hold their
events outside these windows. So you should be sure to check specific dates of events on firm’s websites. 13

14. How to prepare yourself?
How can YGCC help you prepare?
• Stay up to date by signing up our newsletter: http://www.yale.edu/consulting/
SignUp.html
− Weekly Interview Practice
− Business Seminars
○ Partner's Perspectives Series (McKinsey)
• Location: Mason 107
• Date: Wed, Jan. 25th
• Time: 6:00-8:00PM
• Sign up and submit your questions on YGCC website
− Consulting Bootcamp
− Networking Opportunities
− Case competition
− Pro-bono consulting
14

15. Agenda
General Introduction
What is consulting
What is it like to work as consultant?
What they are looking for?
How to prepare yourself?
Q&A
A sample case
Networking time
15

16. Agenda
General Introduction
What is consulting
What is it like to work as consultant?
What they are looking for?
How to prepare yourself?
Q&A
A sample case
Networking time
16

17. Remember our earlier question about what firms are looking for…
Shall I hire you?
Can I put you in front of Would I enjoy working
Can you do the work?
the client? with you?
… get answered during a typical 40
minute interview!
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
(mins)
Meet your Fit
interviewer Questions Case Q&A
Can you do the work?
Can I put you in front of the client?
Would I enjoy working with you?
17 17

18. Case Interview Flow
30 Introduction Structure Analyze Summary
min (3-5min) (1-2 min) (20-25 min) (2-3 min)
§ Pose problem to § Provide data and § Wrap up interview
Interviewer
be solved with context only within time limit
basic details when asked
ü Clarify your ü Layout a ü Seek data to test ü Recommendation
understanding of structured list of hypothesis (actionable)
Interviewee
the problem related factors ü Interpret data ü Reason (with
ü Identify key ü Drive insights assumptions to
drivers verify)
ü Risk
ü Next step
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19. The Case Itself
19

20. How to prepare yourself?
Useful books
Consulting Mindsets
• The Ten-Day MBA – by Steven A.
Silbiger
• WetFeet Insider Guide to Consulting
for Ph.D.s, Lawyers, and Doctors
Consulting Mindsets
• The Minto Pyramid Principle – by
Barbara Minto
• The McKinsey Way – by Ethan Rasiel
• Say It With Charts – by Gene Zelazny
Interview Preparation
• How to Get Into the Top Consulting
Firms – by T. Darling
• Case in Point (esp. the cases) – by Marc
P Cosentino
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21. How to prepare yourself?
Other useful websites
• Case Interview related:
− ConsultingCase101: www.consultingcase101.com
− ManagementConsulted: managementconsulted.com
− ConsultingFact: www.consultingfact.com/
− CaseInterview: www.caseinterview.com/
• Consulting firm reports:
− McKinseyQuarterly: www.mckinseyquarterly.com
− BCG Focus: www.bcg.com/expertise_impact/publications/default.aspx
− Bain Insights: www.bain.com/publications/index.aspx
− ConsultingMagazine: consultingmag.com
• Business News:
− Wall Street Journal: online.wsj.com
− Financial Times: www.ft.com
− Bloomberg: www.bloomberg.com
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