Q. I am trying to decide between a corporate career and a consulting career. What are the major differences, and how will I know which is right for me?
Q. What does it take to be a successful consultant?
Q. What is the culture like at Booz & Company?
Q. What about opportunities for career development?
Q. How can I balance my career and my life?
Q. Every company is talking about diversity. What does diversity mean at Booz & Company?
Q. I am trying to decide between a corporate career and a consulting career. What are the major differences, and how will I know which is right for me?
Consulting offers a broad, cross-functional experience. At Booz & Company, you’ll work directly with senior and midlevel executives at our clients’ organizations to craft, support, and implement strategies that help them meet the challenges of their working environment. Success comes from two activities—developing your own innovative ideas and working with clients to turn winning ideas into reality.
A consulting career will usually expose you to a wider range of situations and opportunities than a corporate career. As a consultant, you’ll be able to learn about a variety of industries and functions, work on different teams with many interesting people, and experience growth that will be anything but linear.
Consulting is, by necessity, an open-ended, flexible, and interactive process. You will work with sharp, talented people; approach problems from a broad perspective; and be encouraged to grow in many different areas.
What you need to know, however, is that in consulting you will be asked to work and travel more than in a regular corporate job. You will also need to be comfortable with the fact that your schedule will often be driven by the requirements of your client rather than by your line manager.
Ask yourself:
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Do you enjoy diving into an ever-changing portfolio of new projects?
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Does the thought of transforming organizations excite you?
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Do you thrive on seeing your ideas through to implementation?
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Do you enjoy meeting people at various levels of organizations and synthesizing their perspectives?
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Do you demand an environment in which you are constantly expanding your horizons, seeing new perspectives, and facing new challenges?
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Do you enjoy working with new and interesting teams of people in a fluid environment?
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Do you want to make a difference?
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Are you ready to put in the extra hours and be highly flexible in return for the above?
If you answered “yes” to all or a majority of these questions, chances are that consulting for Booz & Company is a good fit for you.
Q. What does it take to be a successful consultant?
In many ways, it is consultants’ differences—in training, background, and areas of expertise—that make them invaluable to clients with specific needs. But the most successful consultants share several important attributes. They:
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Feel passionate about the work they do
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Enjoy working in teams of colleagues and clients
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Focus on results
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Listen eagerly to their clients’ needs
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Exhibit a drive to effect positive change where it is needed
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Possess the tenacity to work through the details as well as the vision to keep clients’ goals and the “big picture” in mind.
People who succeed at Booz & Company have demonstrated strong team and thought-leadership skills in their previous jobs or in their academic experience. They are analytical in approach, they are thorough in charting a course, and, most importantly, they have a curiosity and passion for solving problems. As long as people excel at what they do, almost any academic or industry background can be a good fit at Booz & Company—our business spans most industries and functional disciplines.
Q. What is the culture like at Booz & Company?
At Booz & Company, we hire the best and the brightest people and do what we can to keep them. One way we do this is to foster a culture in which people at all levels are encouraged to raise issues and think creatively. We applaud innovative ideas and encourage feedback about the firm. We have built Booz & Company’s Middle East offices into an outstanding global presence, and they continue to grow rapidly.
Giving back to our communities is a real priority at Booz & Company. We are committed to making a difference through employee-driven activities and pro bono projects focused on causes in areas such as fund raising, the environment, and health.
Some of our pro bono projects in the Middle East:
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Lebanon: Our consultants have supported SOS, an orphanage, in improving its fund-raising effectiveness by helping it to develop a more informed relationship with its donors and launching innovative fund-raising concepts.
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United Arab Emirates: Booz & Company is working with the Emirates Wildlife Society–World Wildlife Fund for Nature (EWS–WWF) in Abu Dhabi, an environmental NGO that has partnered with WWF International. We have been helping the EWS–WWF review its strategic mandate; reevaluate its partnership agreement; and develop an organizational framework based on its strategy, potential future growth, and legal requirements.
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Egypt: Our consultants developed a launch strategy for the Children’s Cancer Hospital, positioning it as the largest medical facility in the MENA (Middle East/North Africa) region exclusively dedicated to the treatment of children with cancer.
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Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: Al Nahda is the oldest Saudi charity, established some 45 years ago to support women in Saudi Arabia. We helped it refocus its mission and strategy to meet the modern challenges that face women entering the workforce. In addition to revising the charity’s governance framework and management structure to realize its new strategic priorities, we supported it in planning and managing training activities, career advising, and work placement programs more effectively.
Q. What about opportunities for career development?
To perform at the highest levels of strategy consulting, consultants need more than on-the-job experience and training. Success at Booz & Company requires a proactive approach to achieving personal and professional growth. We consider training and career development a top priority. In fact, we consider it the basis for successful management consulting.
At Booz & Company, professional development begins on your first day and continues throughout your career. All new hires undergo a comprehensive orientation, which includes learning about Booz & Company’s heritage, culture, and approach to consulting. Once on board, you will continue to find opportunities for growth, including:
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Mentoring and performance coaching
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A curriculum tailored to your development needs
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Cultivation of higher-order talents, such as leadership, judgment, insight, and business development, that will help you succeed in business and in life
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The career enhancement that comes from completing an MBA or Ph.D. at a top-tier business school or university.
Moreover, you will receive regular assessments of your performance. We know that constructive feedback is one of the most important factors fueling motivation and personal development. Therefore, at Booz & Company we take performance reviews very seriously. Regular appraisals are conducted by an impartial party using a feedback process that involves seniors, juniors, and peers.
At Booz & Company, you will be energized by what you achieve for our clients, for the world, and for yourself.
Q. How can I balance my career and my life?
Booz & Company realizes that there’s more to life than work—and that we all benefit when employees are happy and healthy and leading a well-balanced life. Although the firm’s working hours are above average, we try to help our consultants achieve a sustainable work/life balance. Some efforts that we make in this area: We try to limit weekend work, provide consultants with at least one working day per week in their home office, and organize leisure activities outside work. And we encourage you to be active not only in the business community, but also in the community where you live.
Booz & Company offers opportunities for flexible work arrangements, and is proud of its benefits packages. If you want to join a professional association, go back to college for another degree, or earn a certification, we will help cover the costs, under certain circumstance. The firm supports your need for community involvement with a full-time community relations department. To take people’s mind off work, many offices field sports teams and plan other after-work activities.
Q. Every company is talking about diversity. What does diversity mean at Booz & Company?
Our people are our greatest asset. Booz & Company recognizes that it takes exceptional individuals with different talents and perspectives to develop the innovative solutions our clients expect. And we believe the most effective teams reflect diverse backgrounds and thinking.
Booz & Company’s commitment to diversity in the workforce is immediately evident inside the firm. Our fundamental equal employment policy is to identify, attract, retain, and advance the most qualified persons, regardless of elements like race, religion, gender, marital status, disability, or national origin.