Consultancy

Source: https://www.york.ac.uk/students/work-volunteering-careers/options/sectors/consultancy/ Parent: https://www.york.ac.uk/students/work-volunteering-careers/options/sectors/

Consultancy offers independent advice and expertise to clients on a variety of issues (like improving company performance and business planning).

There are different types of consultancy across a range of sectors, including business, management, environmental, social media and IT.

Together with finance, consultancy makes up one of the largest sectors to recruit graduates. Employers range from international companies to small businesses. Some firms have in-house consulting departments, while others hire external consultancy providers.

Find out about consultancy

Key resources

Prospects:

Prospects’ generic job profiles:

Research the sector and keep up with current issues by reading the websites:

Management Consultancies Association (MCA)
Chartered Management Institute (CMI)
Consultancy.UK
Association of Consultancy and Engineering (ACE)

Check the Environment job sector page for more information about environmental consultancy.

Use of AI in consulting

AI has the potential to transform the consulting sector. AI can analyse huge data sets, facilitate forecasting and decision making, and improve efficiency in routine administrative tasks. It can also perform more complex tasks such as designing new services and strategies. There are some concerns around confidentiality and the security of client data. Alongside the rapid adoption of AI, human connections, creativity and insights remain important. Look at websites to keep up to date - the Big4 consulting firms, and others, regularly publish articles and blogs on the applications of AI in their work.

What skills do I need?

Jobs in consultancy are often high pressure and involve working long hours. Depending on the kind of role, you will need to demonstrate these skills:

business/commercial awareness
analytical skills
problem-solving
communication
accuracy
negotiation
initiative
time management
organisation
interpersonal/people skills
project management skills
digital literacy and use of AI tools

For more information about professional skills and how to develop them, see the York Strengths Professional Skills page.

Work experience

Work experience is essential for this competitive sector. You should think about:

Insight days and shadowing opportunities - many large graduate recruiters run insight days to give you a taste of the sector. You can also send speculative applications to smaller finance companies to try and arrange short work shadowing opportunities to help you decide if a certain job is suited to you.
Internships during your first year - some firms offer short internships or insight schemes open to first year undergraduates. These are typically shorter than the summer long internships offered to second year students.
Summer internships with finance and consulting firms are very competitive but give valuable experience. Some students are offered graduate jobs with the firm they intern with. Internships are advertised on Handshake and on websites like TARGET Jobs and Prospects.
You can gain experience in other ways. Look into opportunities available with York Community Consulting or volunteer for a finance/treasurer role in any student society.

There are opportunities exclusively for students from black, asian or other ethnic minority backgrounds (BAME) to gain work experience in consultancy. Some popular schemes include SEO London and the Windsor Fellowship. Visit the drop-in in Careers and Placements for help finding more schemes.

Find jobs

Large graduate schemes are advertised through general graduate vacancy sites like TARGETjobs and Prospects. You will also find these on Handshake.

Many consultancy firms are based in London; Prep Lounge has a comprehensive list of London-based firms with the industry each works in, Glassdoor ratings and starting salaries. Cambridge University careers service has also produced a consultancy directory.

If you're interested in a particular area of consultancy, start searching by looking at these examples of specialist vacancy sites:

Environmental consultancy: ENDS Report
IT consultancy: CW Jobs
Management consultancy: Consultancy UK
Recruitment consultancy: PM Jobs

More sites are listed in our other job sectors. Find different consultancies on the MCA's list of organisational members and check out recruitment agencies, specialising in consultancy recruitment, through Agency Central.

Most large employers in this sector have multi-stage recruitment processes with early deadlines, so give yourself enough time to apply. Smaller companies may have simpler recruitment processes and are more likely to recruit year-round. Use our pages on applying for jobs and the recruitment process to help with your preparation.

Practice interviews on Shortlist.Me

PwC consulting
EY actuary
more consulting interviews (search "Consulting"), workplace simulations with different employers, and several skills / competency / strengths based interviews you can use to practise
Register for the interviews or activities using your York email address.

What can I do at York?

There are lots of things you can do right now at university to help you get the skills and experience for a career in finance or consulting:

Network with professionals - look at events and find out about York graduates working in consultancy (see below for suggestions)
Develop your business awareness by taking part in enterprise activities
Go to our recruitment fairs to meet potential employers and find out more information about their graduate schemes
Consider a placement year to increase your chances of getting a job in this competitive sector
Apply for summer internships in York through York Internships
Join a student society like the Entrepreneur Society or apply to get involved in a project with York Community Consulting
Look at the student guide (and free student membership) from the Association for Project Management to acquire additional skills.

More resources: people to follow, podcasts, blogs

Connect with York graduates

Join York for Life to connect with our global network of alumni. Start building your own network - find people from your course, look at different careers, ask questions and request a mentor.

Use LinkedIn to make connections, follow organisations of interest, and find out what York graduates are doing. Find out more about using LinkedIn and networking.

Other networks

LinkedIn accounts:

Fishbowl is a US-based platform, with UK and Europe groups, useful for networking, helpful advice and you can ask (anonymous) questions.

Blogs and news

Podcasts

Practice interviews

You can use Shortlist.Me to prepare for job interviews. Try these interviews with employers working in consulting: