Black MBA - Winter 2007/2008 - (Page 72) CAREER Market Forecast Industry Profile: Consulting Growing Job Market Makes the Field Trendy Among MBAs CURRENTLY ONE OF the most popular career fields among MBAs – graduating MBAs expressed an 88 percent rise in interest in working in the consulting field in the 2007 GMAC ® Global MBA® Graduate Survey – consulting, in both definition and practice, is rapidly expanding. The big questions being asked recently are, how is the field of consulting characterized? And where is consulting headed? Today, consulting is a $150 to $175 billion global industry. Thanks to steady American and international demand for consulting services over the last 50 years, this field has consistently prospered, with the exception of a small industry drop from 2001 to 2003. Recently, at a consulting forum at the Columbia Business School in New York, 22 companies attended to attract potential MBA employees. London, especially, and the European market in general, is currently experiencing an upsurge in management consulting jobs, and offering MBAs higher starting salaries than individuals in banking and finance jobs, ranging around $110K plus signing bonuses. Much of the growth in the consulting industry has been due to businesses trying to use their resources more efficiently. Rather than maintain staff with technical, strategic and project management skills, business managers conclude, they can save money by cutting staff and hiring consultants who perform these skills better and cheaper. For this reason, the U.S. subprime market collapse and impending economic recession is actually good news for consultants; now more than ever, businesses are calling on consultants for help. The demand for MBAs in the consulting field rose 35 percent from 2004 to 2005 and is continuing to increase, according to a Recruitment and Salary Survey conducted by www.TopMBA.com. The consulting field is currently one of the top employers of MBAs, especially among international employers. Economists predict that Europe’s consulting industry will continue to rise through 2010, mostly because of the reliability of such traditional markets as transportation, communication and healthcare in Germany and Norway, IT Why Consulting? A better question might be why not consulting? From management to IT, recruitment to finance, there are so many types of consulting, if you can find a niche, you can find a job. 72 BlackMBA • Winter 2007/2008 • www.nbmbaa.org ©Camptown | Dreamstime.com http://www.TopMBA.com http://Dreamstime.com http://www.nbmbaa.org
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.