I come from a Hi-tech/IT background. Is it possible to transition to management consulting?

First of all, let me say unequivocally that the answer to the above question is “Yes, absolutely”!! Each year Kellogg admits quite a few students with backgrounds in engineering and high-tech.  Given that Consulting firms are the biggest recruiters on-campus, it is only natural that many engineers recruit for consulting firms and get hired as well. As an ex-engineer, I count myself in that bucket. As I reflect back on my internship recruiting, here are some thoughts:

First the good part of having an engineering background …

• Analytical and problem solving skills: Consulting firms realize that engineers have strong analytical and problem solving skills and the firms value these skills a lot. A strong grasp of Mathematics also helps us engineers. Compared to my peers from non-engineering backgrounds, I found it much easier to work through the “public Math” portions of the consulting case interviews.
• Lots of engineers in consulting firms: During my recruiting, I met a lot of current consultants from engineering and high-tech backgrounds who are now at different levels at consulting firms ranging from new associates to partner. This was definitely very encouraging for me to learn.

The not so good part....

• Bucketed as an “engineer”: Some of our strengths also end up as weaknesses, as engineers tend to get bucketed as “analytical, mathematical” types who are not too well-rounded compared to other students
• Communication skills: Due to the nature of their job, most engineers tend to mostly work in their own solitary workspace cranking out “killer code or designs”.  As a result, engineers may come across as not having the best communication or people skills – skills that are critical to success as a consultant. 
• Business acumen: Engineers are also perceived (perhaps unfairly) as having limited business acumen, since they typically have not had exposure to higher level managers and higher-scope decision making. Moreover, cross-industry knowledge may also be limited.

Okay, I know the good and the not so good, so what do I do?

• Research: Read up on different consulting firms. Learn about consulting jobs. Stay up to date on the latest business trends and decisions through publications such as the Wall Street Journal. Learn high-level aspects of different industries (Consumer Packaged Goods, Financial Services, Health Care etc)
• Bring out the “non-engineer” in you: Outside of work, you’re more than just an engineer – so let that show. If you love a particular sport, or are passionate about a hobby, or love to volunteer don’t be afraid to share that part of your life as well. People want to peel off your professional layers and answer questions such as – “Is this person interesting? If I am stuck at an airport with him for 4 hours will I want to kill myself or will time fly by?”, “Can I work with her on a team in an intense pressure situation?" 
• The Fit Interview: The fit interview is critical to most consulting interviews. Consulting firms use the fit interview to dig deep into your experiences and understand how you deal with different situations and what your accomplishments are. This is where engineers tend to do poorly compared to others. Narratives that engineers share about significant projects typically tend to be variants of “I wrote wonderful bug-free code that shipped on time!!” I would recommend that you spend the time to really think through YOUR impact on the project and your experience. For example: 
• What were cross-group aspects of the project? Did you have interactions with marketing teams to get requirements
• What were the challenges that you faced?  How did you overcome them?
• What were the business implications/end-result of your work? Ex: Project shipped on time and enabled the firm to earn revenues of $X
• What did you learn from the project?
• Decide Early: Recruiting for consulting is a very heavy time commitment that includes attending company events, networking and working on case preparation. If possible, come to Kellogg knowing that this is your Plan A. The sooner you know, the sooner you can focus.
• Explore Business Technology Consulting:  Most of the major consulting firms have Business Technology or Strategic I-T practices. These practices provide business consulting focused on technology investments for companies (not to be confused with I-T implementation consulting!). Engineers may find these practices to be a better fit than generalist roles in consulting firms. I’d recommend that you explore these options as well. 
• Have a Plan B: Having said all this, know that recruiting for consulting is very competitive. It may be possible that despite your best efforts, you may not be able to land that dream consulting job. Have a strong Plan B as a backup in case you need to explore that avenue. Even if you don’t end up interning at a consulting firm, don’t despair. Each year, there are a number of students who land full time consulting offers, in spite of not having interned at consulting firms.

Finally, relax and keep things in perspective during recruiting season! Don’t forget to enjoy the Kellogg ride along the way.

Sachin Goregaoker (KSM '11) is a former director of the India Business Club and President of the Strategy and Business Development Club at Kellogg. Before school he worked with Microsoft and will be doing management consulting with AT Kearney in Chicago during the summer of 2010. He can be reached at sgoregaoker2011@kellogg.northwestern.edu

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What is the Global Initiatives in Management Program and why do students do it?

What is GIM?

Global Initiatives in Management (GIM), a part of Kellogg’s international curriculum, is a highly successful program involves 450 students (across full-time, part-time and executive MBAs). Every full-time MBA student at Kellogg is required to meet a one-credit global elective requirement and GIM is an eligible elective for that requirement. In each class, a group of 30-40 students learn about a country or region in great detail through a combination of guest lectures and a two week in-country visit during the spring quarter.

Kellogg Students with Infosys CEO Kris Gopalakrishnan

What will I learn in the course?

The course offers the students a unique opportunity to learn and experience a country or region as a whole. Though I had lived in India until my undergraduate education, I had not had a chance to work there (except for a two-month stint before Kellogg) and I was eager to take the GIM India class. Through the course, I had the opportunity to learn about various aspects of business in India. During every class, I got to listen to a guest expert’s perspectives on a particular topic or industry. This year, we had speakers from diverse industries like healthcare, venture capital, retail and entrepreneurship. Apart from the lectures, students also form small groups to research a topic of their choice relevant to the country or region and submit a final report with their insights. For example, our group is researched the opportunities for venture capital in the mobile sector in India.

What about in-country?

Most Kellogg students love traveling and I am no exception! During the spring break, the students follow up their in class learning with a two week field trip to their respective region or country to meet prominent industry leaders, government officials and conduct research on their projects. During our trip to India, we had the opportunity to meet the Union Home Minister, the Governor of Reserve Bank of India, the CEO of Infosys and other senior leaders in the industry. For our project, we had meetings with venture capitalists, entrepreneurs and network operators to hear their perspectives on the mobile sector. Personally, this was also a great opportunity for me to network with many accomplished professionals in country.

Another aspect of traveling to any region is learning and understanding the culture of that place. Apart from making the usual tourist stops at places like Agra, we made a trip to the Dharavi slums in Mumbai. It was interesting to know that the slum was also a small business hotbed (the annual revenue of the slums is estimated to be over US$500 million!). I was fascinated by how every entrepreneur makes use of the limited resources available to churn out products from oil tins to cookies. Finally, while there are many opportunities to bond with your classmates at Kellogg, the best way to do it is to travel with them.

Anil Goteti (KSM '11) is a member of the India Business Club and was the team leader of GIM India 2010 at Kellogg. Before school, he worked with Qualcomm Inc. as a systems engineer and will be interning with McKinsey & Company during the summer of 2010. He can be reached at agoteti2011 (at) kellogg (dot) northwestern (dot) edu

How strong is Kellogg for Investment Banking? As an Indian national will I face any visa issues?

Investment Banking as a career choice crosses the minds of many people coming to B schools. There are several merits and de-merits to a career in this field, which I won’t get into here (refer to the Investment Banking club for further details). I shall address a couple of dimensions –

• Recruiting implications for Kellogg as a result of the tremendous changes happening over the past couple of years 
• Unique challenges faced by an international student and how to overcome them

If you want to be a Banker, Kellogg is the right place. I say this with ample perspective. Many of our peer schools that have a stronger reputation for Finance attract a significantly larger percentage of students who will pursue Banking for their summer internship. Hence, their advantage is a stronger interview prep environment. However, it is important to internalize a couple of points here. First, Kellogg has an excellent Finance Department that stands on par with the best in the country. Second, our Wall Street reputation is very strong, driven by our very successful (and loyal) alum network. As a result, at the end of the day when Bankers came to recruit, I felt that Kellogg had a much lower number of students competing for the internship spots. Further, almost all the major banks recruit at Kellogg. A very few that don’t come on campus have strong and dedicated alum networks, who will facilitate your networking within those firms. Bottomline is this – If you want to do Banking, the numbers at Kellogg work in your favor. The deal is sweetened by the excellent collaborative culture that prevails here (yes, even among Bankers!)

Banking is a career path that is (H1-B) VISA friendly. In 2008, several Banks had to take Government assistance (TARP and its variations) which restricted them from hiring non Americans. In 2009 and so far in 2010, Banking and its sister career paths on Wall Street have bounced back and have proved quite resilient. All the major financial institutions have paid back TARP and are hiring international students now. VISA sponsorship will become a much lesser issue going forward than it was over the past couple of years. However, not all Banks hire internationals. Some of the smaller institutions (known as middle market firms) don’t sponsor VISAs. Knowing this, you can tailor your networking strategies appropriately, early on.

All the resources at Kellogg (CMC, second years, Kellogg alums) do an excellent job of supporting and helping to optimize your IB internship search. We have faculty members here who have worked for many years in some of the marquee firms on Wall Street before deciding to teach at Kellogg. All of them are very accessible and dedicate a lot of time to training students who are interested in Banking. Prof. David Stowell is a great example. Prof. Mitchell Petersen is another example of a stellar teacher. His Fin II class is very highly sought after at Kellogg.

As an international student at Kellogg, especially as someone from India, you are already perceived as being strong analytically. if you are looking to give your analytic skills a serious workout, look no further than Banking! 

Hithesh Raghavan (KSM '11) is a member of the India Business Club and an officer of the Finance Club at Kellogg. Before school he worked with Capital One as a business manager and will be doing investment banking with Credit Suisse in NY during the summer of 2010. He can be reached at hraghavan2011@kellogg.northwestern.edu

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I am a big cricket junkie, can I still be involved with the sport while at Kellogg?

While this is not going to be the deciding factor for most applicants to Kellogg, this was something that I certainly pondered over before coming to Kellogg. And, it was not just with cricket since I thought I would face similar issues with my two other favourite sports, F1 and football (the actual one, not the hand-egg version the Americans play:)).

Well, firstly, my fears were well-founded. Not only, did I find it difficult to see live cricket matches but I also found it difficult to adjust to the lack of interest in the game even amongst the Indian circle to a certain extent. But before you guys start worrying, let me attempt to put you guys at ease. It was initially more because of lack of awareness. As time progressed, I did manage to start watching live cricket online and I did find more folks who followed every game. Over the last year a few of us have also revived the Cricket Club at Kellogg. The club now tries to arrange live screenings of some games over the weekends, bring in speakers to talk about the sport and build awareness amongst the internationals and arrange for some friendly matches/practice sessions at the deering field during the months when it is not cold. 

Bringing in Rohan Sajdeh, a partner and MD at BCG’s Chicago office to talk about his proposal to the ICC on re-structuring test cricket last Spring was an event that was extremely well attended and appreciated. We also made a big statement by organising two cricket matches on Kellogg Sports Day last spring. The event was a big success and had many international folks trying their hand at the game for the first time. A story on the Kellogg Cricket Club activities was also featured on the Jan 2010 edition of the Biz Ed magazine and featured Usman Shuja, a Kellogg student who also plays for the US Cricket Team. We have also set up a match in spring with Booth (the ‘other school’) and expect a lot of involvement and excitement for that. Lastly, the Northwestern University Cricket Club is extremely active and organizes games almost every weekend at the nearby athletic facility (indoor during winter times) and this attracts students from all schools within NU.

I guess, in the end it comes down to how much passion one has for the sport, but there are many venues that can be explored and in Kellogg, people are always eager to learn new things about different cultures.

Mithun Subramaniam (KSM'10) is a member of the India Business Club and a VP of the Kellogg Cricket Club. He worked with Infosys Technologies before school and spent the summer of 2009 working with Dubai Sports City as a Sports Business Intern. He can be reached at msubramaniam2010@kellogg.northwestern.edu ________________________________________________________________________________________

How is the recruiting process in the US different from that in India?

I didn’t anticipate spending much time in recruiting at Kellogg. After all, I was an “engineer”, coming from a prestigious institution in India (IIT-M) and so assumed the whole process would pass by me. Could I have been more mistaken! Unlike, the placement week concept in India where everyone gets a job in 2-3 days and sometimes offers are signed on the same day, recruiting in US can take 3-6 months.

It is not just the resume and the grades

While I was used to being shortlisted based on my resume and grades in India, I was amazed at the effort I had to put in to get an interview call! Grades just didn’t seem to matter much. I had to attend company presentations, have one-on-one chats with company representatives, participate in cocktail and networking sessions and send thank you notes. While many speculate if this is important to get a spot for an interview, I took no chances. Coming from India, getting used to this process did take some time but was rewarding. It helped me lose my inhibitions about talking to new people, making a pitch for myself and ultimately forming relationships with people.

Fit with the Firm – What’s this all about?

I think this is one of the critical differences I found about recruiting in the US vs. India.  In India, we are used to the concept of companies coming on campus, picking up a bunch of graduates and then figuring out a place for them.  It is surprising to see the amount of time and effort companies take in connecting with students. Firms truly want to know if you fit in to their culture, adapt to new environments and can work well with people. I cannot underestimate the importance of showing fit with the firm in every interaction possible.

Not placed on campus? Ooh! 
Coming from India, it is taboo for a lot of us to not have a job through on-campus placements. This generates a lot of pressure during recruitment process. I was amazed to see that a significant portion students at Kellogg get jobs outside placements. They do so for a variety of reasons- primarily trying to find a right job in the company of their interest. I realized it is extremely important to get in to the company with the right fit than just finding a job on campus. Though this involves a lot of effort in terms of networking, informational interviews, research about the firms, it can be extremely gratifying. In fact, some of the best jobs on campus happen to be off –campus at Kellogg! Areas such as PEVC, Strategy/Corp Dev/Executive Search etc. are often off-campus.  

Is it that difficult to find a job?   
I must admit that Indians have been extremely successful in finding jobs in various industries. The top 4 management consulting firms have hired a bunch. But you really need to work hard and the journey is a rewarding experience. It made me reflect on what I really want, why I want and helped me make some of my best friends on campus, something which cannot be taught in theory and books!

Chandrika Rajagopalan (KSM'10) is a member of the India Business Club. She worked at the Aditya Birla Group in India before school and will be joining the Operations Practice of McKinsey & Company after school. She can be reached at crajagopalan2010@kellogg.northwestern.edu

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