CDC Blog: Choosing to embark on a career in Management Consulting

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Choosing to embark on a career in Management Consulting

Posted At : March 17, 2010 8:01 PM by David Kunzmann

Graduate Programme: Consulting

The blog below was written by Caroline Cook. Caroline is an Associate Consultant who joined Capgemini in September 2008.

Choosing to embark on a career in Management Consulting was something of a side-step for me, and one that has provided variety, challenges and opportunities that I never imagined possible when I began the application process. 18 months ago (prior to joining the Capgemini Consulting graduate scheme) I was working in a niche Digital Creative and Marketing agency; my skill-set firmly built around visual design and an understanding of media theory and user behaviour – not a conventional Management Consulting background… or so I thought!

Since joining Capgemini, any initial concerns that I’d have difficulty keeping up in a business environment have proven to be completely unfounded. If anything, I’ve been able to harness my background to benefit my Consulting career! I still never cease to be amazed at the opportunities to apply knowledge from one (completely unrelated) area to another; interaction behaviour becomes designing e-learning methods to support change programs; design and branding are great when polishing proposals and presentations; accessibility legislation transfers nicely to huge public sector information overhauls; programming logic helps to design processes. Needless to say, the list is pretty extensive!

In my experience the key is to find the right opportunities. The Consulting graduate scheme is tightly integrated within the wider business (globally - not just within the borders of the UK) which facilitates this very effectively. In addition, we benefit from a structured and highly-effective training programme so that any knowledge gaps can be filled. In fact, the only thing that’s totally stumped me since joining is finding a way to answer the (seemingly unanswerable) question: “So... What exactly is it you do as a Management Consultant?” Answers on a post-card please.