Why would I work for a Consulting Firm?

Now a days, I am having conversation with a lot of young minds, who have recently graduated or are going to graduate in the coming fall. Most of their concerns are, “I am not looking to work for a Consultancy at this very moment. Consulting firms are the last option.”

85% of fresh graduates have this same thought in their minds. Here are some reasons, why working for a Consulting Firm should not be the last option.

Some of the benefits you are all aware of, like, Travelling, Good Pay and the Nice Suits (if you are into it). But there are some other more prominent and lesser-known reasons to work in consulting—that might provide a little more meaning.

If you’re feeling on the fence about the field, go through these five potentially better reasons to choose, explore, or stay in consulting.

1) You Get to Explore a Lot More

The #one drawback for most of the direct full-time opportunities is the monotony. You have to go to the same place over and over again for as many years as you want to.

With Consulting Firms, you get to travel, due to its nature of frequently changing projects. Consulting allows those who pick the career to rapidly try out different functional areas, industries, and even geographies to see what they like most.

Even if you are certain of a specific industry, consulting gives you the opportunity to meet new people within the company and see different company cultures, which can be a major step in picking somewhere you can be successful in your next career move.

2) Hop the C-Suite Line

Often people spend their entire lives climbing the corporate ladder to begin working on the core company-wide strategic problems. A very few professions get the opportunity to bypass the years of executing day to day duties and hop straight to working on and solving these problems.

With a consultancy, you won’t be a CEO (yet!), but, you will be provided with a unique opportunity to stretch and exercise your strategy muscle and get exposure to this type of thinking.

Staying with a Consulting firm is your choice completely but knowing what keeps senior leaders of big companies up at night—and knowing that you are the one who can help them address those issues—is a huge reason to get into the field.

3) Unleash the Power of a huge Network

If you wish to unleash the power of a huge and valuable network, then Joining a consulting firm is one of the quickest and most effective ways.

On one side, you will get the chance to work with multiple stakeholders and clients through the course of your different projects, which will provide you the opportunity to build relationships across multiple organizations (mostly with quite senior individuals) that can even turn into great job offers, other consulting engagements, or even into mentorships.

On the other hand, working on various projects in different industries will allow you to know individuals who share many of your same characteristics (sort of like a gathering of A-type personalities). You will have a special bond with all the people you would have worked for that will continue for years to come (remember that time when we worked crazy hours squished into a tiny boardroom working on that project?).

The people you will get in contact with will build a large network for you which will likely span across companies, cities, and seniority levels—and is one of the best reasons to work in consulting.

4) Expert in the shortest time

The speed at which you learn in consulting and get real-time industry experience is unparalleled. There are a plenty of formal training programs to take advantage of (which are not to be underestimated), but you will also be able to learn on the job.

Because of the fast-paced projects and the team you get to work with, you get to learn quickly and find yourself becoming a “quick expert” in all kinds of fields.

5) Higher Number of Opportunities & Benefits

If you are good at what you do, you will be rewarded with amazing benefits like insurance, higher increments, etc. and—unlike many other jobs—in order to progress, you don’t have to wait for your boss to leave.

Sure, consulting has its downsides, but if you look at all the benefits, it Is worth it and surely doesn’t deserve to be “Your Last Option”.