CDC Blog: “So what do Management Consultants do exactly?”

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“So what do Management Consultants do exactly?”

Posted At : May 24, 2010 2:03 PM by Tim Antos

Graduate Programme: Consulting

The blog below was written by Laura Duggen. Laura is an Associate Consultant who joined Capgemini in March 2010

This is the question that I am almost invariably asked when talking about my job – generally it immediately follows the “So, what do you do?” question. Everyone you speak to knows that management consultants exist but have no real idea why they exist or what use they are, and whilst we are not quite regarded with the same level of suspicion as bankers, nonetheless there are likely to be a few “give them your watch and they’ll tell you the time” type jokes and general mockery. Trying to explain or answer the question is normally ill-advised. In true British fashion, whatever you say will provide further excuse for mocking from your friends. Which is all very well, but it did make me wonder– what is the ‘right’ answer to that question, and why is it that no one seems to know what we do?

I graduated in 2007, and spent some time working in a start up company before working for the water industry for a couple of years and making the decision to join Capgemini. I know why I wanted to be a management consultant; the variety of work and the intellectual challenge, and also why I wanted to join Capgemini specifically; the collaborative approach (a Capgemini term, which roughly translates as the idea of working ‘with’ as opposed to ‘at’ or ‘to’ our clients), and the feeling of cultural fit with the people I’d met. When I joined, I knew that I was going to do three weeks training but did I know precisely what I was going to be doing after that? Honestly, no. I didn’t know where I was going to be working (Scotland as it turned out) or who I would be reporting to, or what my day to day activities would be, but whilst some of my friends shuddered in horror at the very thought, for me it was part of the attraction. I haven’t been a consultant for long, but I have quickly learnt that flexibility, enjoying change and being willing to adapt to whatever comes your way are essential qualities for this job, and ones that are shared by all Capgemini consultants I have met.

Since I’ve joined I’ve seen consultants work in project management, communications, stakeholder management, HR, training programmes, website migration and supply chain. I’ve known them working in sewage treatment works, on trading floors, in breweries and with factory production lines. This is naming only a fraction of the roles and environments that you might end up being involved with and the only thing I can say for certain is that you can expect the unexpected!

Hopefully you can start to see the conclusion that I came to. The reason that it’s difficult to answer the question ‘What exactly is it that management consultants do?’ is not because we do nothing, but because we do so many different things. What we do in essence, is provide the expertise, guidance and support that helps our clients address their challenges and deliver value. This is determined by the client, their culture, their organisational structure, their industry, their timescales, their budget and their challenge. It’s as simple, or as complicated, as that. So whilst I’m sure there are many wiser and more experienced people out there who would be able to say this much more eloquently, for now I’ve found my answer – ‘It depends.’