EA Career Advice on Management Consulting

Management consulting has been discussed as a EA career option for many years, but opinions on the relative impactfulness have changed over time. We think that consulting can be a promising path for some people, but there can be a lack of information on exactly what is possible with different career paths. 

Therefore, in this sequence, we present an insider perspective on management consulting, based on a series of interviews and inputs from over 15 consultants (members of the Effective Altruism and Consulting Network). 

We cover the following: 

  1. Beginning your Consulting Career: Whether consulting is a good choice for you, and if so, how to enter the field
  2. Having an Impact During your Time in Consulting: How to have immediate and future impact as a consultant.
  3. Exit Opportunities in Consulting: How and when you might want to exit consulting, and what options you have.

We primarily interviewed consultants from top strategy consulting firms, and have noted where advice may be less relevant for other kinds of consulting firms. We recommend readers do some independent research as well. The sequence does not represent the views of any consulting firms mentioned, nor does it reflect the views of all contributors.