Inside the strategic toolkit: defining key skills from elite consulting firms

Management consultants (or “strategy consultants”) make up a highly coveted section of the talent market, especially those from the Big Three consultancies: McKinsey & Company, Bain & Company and the Boston Consulting Group.

A career path in consulting builds the “strategic toolkit” that has proven so successful in transforming businesses and driving value. This toolkit can be summed up in three categories: business analytics, problem solving and executive communication.

Organizations hiring strategy professionals often pursue candidates with a consulting background to utilize this toolkit in their own business.

In this article, we look at the typical consultant career path, define what the strategic toolkit really is and explain the best time for these individuals to leave consulting.

What is the average career path for management consultants?

One common path for consultants is to serve as an analyst for 2-3 years and leave consulting before earning their MBA to join private equity or more junior industry roles. Additionally, individuals with pre-MBA industry experience will sometimes join consulting as an associate after earning their MBA. Their typical exit comes 2-3 years into post-MBA consulting.

Other times, consultants will complete their undergraduate degree at a top business school, join a consulting firm as an analyst, depart to earn their MBA, rejoin their firm as an associate and decide whether to continue their career as a consultant or exit and take the strategic toolkit to their industry of choice.

Related: How to find your ideal exit opportunity from consulting

One notable development is the rise of “direct promotes.” This refers to top-performing analysts who move directly to the manager level without completing their MBA. Every consulting firm does this on a different timeframe.

While a long-term career in consulting is compelling for some, it’s not a great fit for everyone, which is why many choose to exit once certain they do not want to pursue the partner promotion.

Technology and private equity are consistently popular paths for top consultants making the pivot out of consulting because these industries provide ample opportunities to apply the strategic toolkit through go-to-market planning, transformations or general value-creation initiatives.

So, what is the strategic toolkit?

The strategic toolkit is the combination of analytics skills, problem solving and executive communication. Here’s how top consultancies teach these skills to their consultants:

Business analytics:

At the pre-MBA level, analysts spend most of their time mastering excel and gathering data for clients, which builds the analytical foundation critical to the strategic toolkit. Typical data sets include consumer insights, Google analytics, market comparisons, etc., but these can vary depending on the case and client. Post-MBA consultants are experts in Microsoft Excel and often utilize advanced analytics systems like Python or Linux.

Problem solving:

A consultant’s primary duty is to evaluate a business, compile and review data, identify the issues and create a clear plan of action. Early-career consultants like analysts and associates are the ones who primarily work with the data, and third- or fourth-year post-MBA consultants like managers and principals spend the most time on “case cracking,” or solving their client’s issue. This skill is ingrained through experience and the ability to “connect the dots” in relevant data.

Executive communication:

Even if a consultant can crunch the numbers and create an action plan, these skills fall flat if you cannot “tell the story.” This often means creating a compelling slide deck that thoroughly explains your data and solution, but communication skills are sharpened at every level of the consulting career path. As an analyst, consultants will learn how to locate the most important takeaways from large datasets, and higher-lever consultants learn how to lead client conversations and manage those below (or above) them.

At what level do consultants gain the “full” toolkit?

Most consultants will have built out the strategic toolkit after 2-4 years in consulting, typically at the associate or manager level. At this stage, consultants have mastered the analytics side of the job, presented their own data and led aspects of their own cases.

This is also the stage when some consultants begin thinking about whether they want to continue working in consulting or exit to an industry role.

Related: The second most popular question consultants ask Charles Aris: ‘When should I leave consulting?’

If these consultants were to stay at their firm after learning the full strategic toolkit, they would begin to spend more of their time leading cases and landing new clients. These skills are critical if pursuing the partner promotion but are less desired by industry hiring authorities, so those who want to exit tend to do so before making this pivot.

The takeaway:

The strategic toolkit taught at leading consulting firms consists of business analytics, problem solving and executive communication, which are developed through rigorous training and experience. Consultants typically gain the full toolkit after 2-4 years and often leverage these skills in industry roles or advanced positions within their firms.

To learn more about strategy recruiting, contact Blaine Ayres at (336) 217-9140 or blaine.ayres@charlesaris.com.